Safe in the arms of Jesus

Safe in the arms of Jesus. Fanny Crosby* (1820-1915). Like ‘To God be the glory, great things He hath done’*, this was first published in Songs of Devotion for Christian Associations (New York, 1870), edited by William Howard Doane*. It was written on 30 April 1868 in response to a request from Doane for words to fit his tune: according to Crosby, Doane came to her house on that day with the tune, and said that he had forty minutes before his train left for Cincinnati. She wrote the words in time for him to catch it. The tune has been called REFUGE, or SAFETY, or SAFE IN THE ARMS. It is one of Crosby’s most tender hymns, comforting and gentle: it has been thought very suitable for funerals...