Behold the saviour of mankind

Behold the Saviour of mankind. Samuel Wesley (I)* (1662-1735). There is a tradition that this hymn was found in the garden of the rectory at Epworth after the fire of 9 February 1709 in which the five-year-old John Wesley* nearly lost his life and became ‘a brand plucked from the burning’ (JJ, p. 121). This hymn by his father was published by John Wesley in his first hymnbook, A Collection of Psalms and Hymns (Charlestown, 1737), and later in Hymns and Sacred Poems (1739). It was entitled ‘On the Crucifixion’. It had six stanzas, which John Wesley shortened to four (omitting 2 and 6) in all his printings. This has been followed by almost all compilers. The text in 1737 was as...

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