Anna Letitia Waring › Texts

See also in:

• Hymn Writers of the Church

================
Waring, Anna Laetitia, daughter of Elijah Waring, and niece of Samuel Miller Waring, was born at Neath, Glamorganshire, in 1820. In 1850 she published her Hymns and Meditations, by A. L. W., a small book of 19 hymns. The 4th edition was published in 1854. The 10th edition, 1863, is enlarged to 38 hymns. She also published Additional Hymns, 1858, and contributed some pieces to the Sunday Magazine, 1871. Her most widely known hymns are: "Father, I know that all my life," "Go not far from me, O my Strength," and "My heart is resting, O my God." The rest in common use include:—
1. Dear Saviour of a dying world. Resurrection. (1854.)
2. In heavenly love abiding. Safety in God. (1850.)
3. Jesus, Lord of heaven above. Love to Jesus desired. (1854.)
4. Lord, a happy child of Thine. Evening. (1850.)
5. My Saviour, on the [Thy] words of truth. Hope in the Word of God. (1850.) Sometimes stanza iv., "It is not as Thou wilt with me," is given separately.
6. O this is blessing, this is rest. Rest in the Love of Jesus. (1854.)
7. O Thou Lord of heaven above. The Resurrection.
8. Source of my life's refreshing springs. Rest in God. (1850.)
9. Sunlight of the heavenly day. New Year (1854.)
10. Sweet is the solace of Thy love. Safety and Comfort in God. (1850.)
11. Tender mercies on my way. Praise of Divine Mercies. (1850.)
12. Thanksgiving and the voice of melody. New Year (1854).
13. Though some good things of lower worth. Love of God in Christ, (1860.)
These hymns are marked by great simplicity, concentration of thought, and elegance of diction. They are popular, and deserve to be so. [George Arthur Crawford, M.A.]

-- John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology (1907)

===============

Waring, Anna L., p. 1233, ii. Of her hymns we have found the following in Lovell Squire's Selection of Scriptural Poetry, 3rd ed., 1848:
1. Father, I know that all my life, p. 367, ii.
2. Sweet is the solace of Thy love, p. 1233, ii. 10.
3. Though some good things of, &c., p. 1233, ii. 13.
The statement in J. Telford's The Methodist Hymn Book Illustrated, 1906, p. 271, that Miss Waring contributed to her uncle's (S. M. Waring's) Sacred Melodies, 182G, cannot be correct, as she was then only six years old. [Rev. James Mearns, M.A.]

--John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology, New Supplement (1907)