O love that wilt not let me go

O love that wilt not let me go. George Matheson* (1842-1906). Written in 1881 in the manse at Innellan by the blind minister, it first appeared in the Church of Scotland magazine Life and Work in January 1882 and was included in the 1885 edition of the Scottish Hymnal. Matheson, who did not include it in his Sacred Songs until the third edition of 1904, described it ‘the quickest composition I ever achieved. It was done in three minutes. It seemed to me at the time as if someone was dictating the thought to me, and also giving the expression.’ There has been much speculation as to the source of the ‘real calamity’ that Matheson described as the cause of the state of depression in which he...