In Bishop Heber's 'Life' it is briefly stated, that in the year 1819 a royal letter having been issued authorizing collections in churches, in furtherance of the Eastern operations of the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel, Heber, who was then Rector of Hodnet, went to Wrexham to hear the Dean of St. Asaph preach on the day appointed. He had written his well-known missionary hymn, and it was first sung in the beautiful church at Wrexham. But further particulars have been recently given, together with the facsimile of the original. The original belonged to the late Rev. Dr. Raffles, of Liverpool, and was exhibited at the Great Exhibition in London in 1851. The particulars given are as follow : On Whit-Sunday, 1819, the late Dr. Shipley, Dean of St. Asaph, and Vicar of Wrexham Church, preached a sermon in Wrexham Church in aid of the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts. That day was also fixed upon for the commencement of the Sunday evening to lectures which it was intended establish there; the late Bishop of Calcutta, who was the Dean's sonin-law, and at the time Rector of Hodnet, undertook to deliver the first lecture. During the preceding Saturday, the Dean requested Heber to write something for them to sing at the morning service, and for that purpose he retired from the table where the Dean and a few friends were sitting, to a distant part of the room. In a short time the Dean inquired: 'What have you written ?' Heber, having then composed the three first verses, read them aloud. 'There, there; that will do very well,' said the Dean. 'No, no,' replied Heber; 'the sense is not complete.' Accordingly, he added the fourth verse; and the Dean, inexorably refusing his repeated request, ‘Let me add another; oh, let me add another!' the hymn, which has since been so celebrated, was completed. It was sung, for the first time, the next morning, at Wrexham Church. An examin ation of the handwriting of the original has brought out the interesting fact that at the last stanza it changes and becomes trembling, as if the writer was much moved. 'MISSIONARY HYMN. 'From Greenland's icy mountains, Their land from error's chain ! 'What though the spicy breezes Bows down to wood and stone! Can we, whose souls are lighted The joyful sound proclaim, Till each remotest nation Has learned Messiah's name! 'Waft, waft, ye winds, His story, It spreads from pole to pole ; In bliss returns to reign!' Richard Baxter, the author of 'The Saint's Rest,' and other spiritual works, which have comforted and strengthened the faith of many a believer, maintained for himself, during seasons of persecution, imprisonment, and afflictions of all kinds, an unwavering confidence in his covenant God. He added to his beautiful hymn, 'The Covenant and Confidence of Faith,' this interesting postscript: 'This covenant my dear wife in her former sickness subscribed with a cheerful will John xii. 26: "If any man serve Me, let him follow Me, and where I am, there shall also My servant be; if any man serve Me, him will My Father honour."' 'THE COVENANT AND CONFIDENCE OF FAITH. 'My whole, though broken heart, O Lord, This hand, these words, are mine; Thy will and honour, all shall serve All that exceptions save, I lose ; The treasure of Thy love I choose, My God, Thou hast my heart and hand, I'll ever to this covenant stand, Though flesh hereat repine. 'I know that Thou wast willing first, Now I have quit all self-pretence, Take charge of what's Thine own; My life, my health, and my defence, Now lie on Thee alone. 'Now it belongs not to my care To love and serve Thee is my share, |