Fanny Crosby: Queen of Gospel Songs
Summer 2024
The hymnal of the Free Presbyterian Church of North America is entitled Hymns of Grace and Glory. This wonderfully edifying volume is primarily the affectionate production of Mrs. Joan Pinkston. In submission to the New Testament commands of Ephesians 5:19 and Colossians 3:16, the hymnal gives numerical primacy to the Psalms and Scripture paraphrases. Next in number are Mrs. Pinkston’s beautiful tunes followed by Charles Wesley’s hymns that were born during the Great Evangelical Awakening. During the broader evangelicalism of the 19th century, the gospel song grew in popularity. Among the composers of these songs was Fanny Crosby, known as the “queen,” who wrote over 8,000 hymns and gospel songs.
Since the Free Presbyterian hymnal includes a generous number of Mrs. Crosby’s songs and only three of them could be properly classified as hymns (494, 511,665), a sketch of the dear lady’s life is certainly in order. Rebecca Davis has provided an excellent, easy-to-read summary of Fanny Crosby’s life in just over one hundred pages. Her book is entitled Fanny Crosby: Queen of Gospel Songs.
Fanny was born in upstate New York in 1820. When she was only six weeks old, the complications from a common cold spread to her eyes, making them watery, reddened, and painful. Her constant, agonizing cries caused the whole household to lose sleep. Thus, they were willing to seek the services of even an unfamiliar and unproven doctor. He prepared a mustard concoction and spread it on her eyes producing more screams from the poor baby. The sad result was almost total blindness for the rest of her life.
Growing up in a loving Christian home provided the disadvantaged child with gracious advantages. Fanny’s mom, dad, and grandmother helped her memorize many complete books of the Bible and often took her on nature walks into the fields and the woods, carefully explaining what they were seeing, hearing, smelling, and feeling. When Fanny was eleven years old, sadness struck their family with her grandmother’s last illness and subsequent death. Fanny's grandmother asked her, “Will you meet me at the Father’s house above?” Fanny didn’t know what to answer, but she never forgot the question.
When Fanny was fifteen years old, she had the privilege of beginning her 23-year association with the New York Institution for the Blind. For eight years she was a student, but upon her graduation, she joined the faculty. One of her blind students during her first year of teaching was Alexander Van Alstyne, Jr. After he graduated, he also joined the faculty of the school. Fanny and Alexander grew to love each other over the years of their acquaintance.
In 1849, a severe cholera epidemic hit New York City, killing thousands of people. The school for the blind was also impacted with the loss of several students and faculty. Fanny refused to flee and stayed to nurse the dying. It was amid the deaths of some of the precious young students who literally died in Fanny’s loving embrace that the Holy Spirit began effectually to draw Fanny to Christ. Although Fanny had lived as an upright member of society, she was graciously forced to abandon all her own righteousness and to flee to Christ alone.
Thankfully, the epidemic ended and with its death passed Fanny’s years of spiritual death. Now alive in Christ, Fanny declared, “I am the happiest creature in all the world!” In 1858, Fanny and Alexander were married and the next year Fanny gave birth to a baby daughter. How happy the Christian home was with the new addition, but one night their precious child died unexpectedly in her sleep. Fanny was comforted as she composed the gospel song, “Safe in the Arms of Jesus,” which was sung at the graveside funeral for the little one.
Because her songs made Fanny famous, she was able to speak to several U.S. presidents and to both houses of the national legislature on behalf of the blind and disabled. Fanny lived to the ripe old age of 94, and she rejoiced that the first countenance she would ever recognize would be that of the Lord Jesus Christ. That thought embodied her song “My Savior First of All.”
This book was written especially with children in mind and is available online for under $10.
Rev. M. Mooney