BY PASTOR JËAN ROSS
Francis Jane Crosby (also known as Fanny Crosby) wrote some of the most popular hymns ever written. Among them are “Blessed Assurance,” “All the Way My Savior Leads Me,” “To God Be the Glory,” “Pass Me Not, O Gentle Savior,” “Safe in the Arms of Jesus,” “Rescue the Perishing,” and “Jesus Keep Me Near the Cross.” For many people, the most remarkable thing about her was that she had done so in spite of her blindness. She had only been able to see for the first six weeks of her life.
Born in Putnam County, New York, Crosby became ill within two months. Unfortunately, the family doctor was away, and another man—pretending to be a certified doctor—treated her by applying hot poultices to her eyes. Her illness eventually relented, but the treatment left her blind. A few months later, Crosby’s father died. Her mother was forced to find work as a maid to support the family, and Fanny was mostly raised by her Christian grandmother.
Her first poem, written at age 8, echoed her lifelong refusal to feel sorry for herself, she wrote:
Oh, what a happy soul I am,
Although I cannot see!
I am resolved that in this world
Contented I will be.
How many blessings I enjoy
That other people don’t,
To weep and sigh because I’m blind
I cannot, and I won’t!
While she enjoyed poetry, her real love was memorizing Scripture. She averaged five chapters a week, and before the age of 18 she could recite the books of Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, Proverbs, Song of Solomon, Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, and many of the Psalms.
Shortly before her fifteenth birthday, Crosby was sent to the recently founded New York Institute for the Blind, which would be her home for 23 years, 12 years as a student and 11 years as a teacher. She excelled in her studies, and it didn’t take long for her to get a name for herself. By age 23 she was addressing Congress and making friendships with presidents.
In 1858 she married a fellow student of the Institute for the Blind, Alexander van Alstyne, who was considered by many as New York’s best organist.
He was a devout Christian and wrote much of the music for Crosby’s hymns. Often, musicians would come to her for lyrics. One day the composer William Doane dropped by her home for a surprise visit, begging her to put some words to a tune he had recently written and which he was to perform at an upcoming Sunday School convention. The only problem was that his train to the convention was leaving in 35 minutes. He sat at the piano and played the tune.
“Your music says, ‘Safe in the Arms of Jesus,’ ” Cosby said, and with that she quickly scribbled out the words to the hymn and said, “Read it on the train; and hurry, you don’t want to be late!” The hymn became one of her most famous.
She could write very complex hymns and compose music with a more classical structure, but she preferred to write simple, heartfelt verses that could be used for evangelism. She continued to write her poetry up to her death, a month shy of her ninety-fifth birthday. “You will reach the river brink, some sweet day, by and by,” was her last stanza.