And must I part with all I have

And must I part with all I have. Benjamin Beddome* (1717-1795).  This was published in John Rippon*’s Selection of Hymns* (1787), in a section entitled ‘The Graces of the Spirit’. It was headed ‘Self-Denial, Mark viii. 34. Luke ix. 23.’ These verses contain Jesus’ command, ‘Whosoever will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.’ A more appropriate reference would have been to Mark 10: 21, reported in the other Synoptic Gospels (Matthew, 19:21, Luke 12:33, 18:22), in which the man who has kept all the Commandments is told to ‘sell whatsoever thou hast, and give to the poor’, and who ‘went away grieved: for he had great possessions.’ There were four stanzas,...