Humble souls who seek salvation. J. Fawcett. [Follow the Lamb.] The earliest date to which we have traced this hymn (although probably it previously appeared in a magazine with which we are unacquainted) is in John Fellows's Hymns on Believers’ Baptism, 1773, No. 25, in 3 stanzas of 8 lines. It next appeared in John Fawcett's Hymns, &c, 1782, No. 117, with the heading "Invitation to follow the Lamb, Matt. iii. 15," and the following note:—
"The Author lays claim to this hymn, tho' it has appear'd under another name: he hopes the insertion of it, and the following ["Ye saints, with one accord"] will give no offence to those of his friends who are differently minded, as to the subject to which they refer."
With this note before us, we have no hesita¬tion in ascribing this hymn to John Fawcett. Its use is mainly confined to America.
--John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology (1907)
An orphan at the age of twelve, John Fawcett (b. Lidget Green, Yorkshire, England, 1740; d. Hebden Bridge, Yorkshire, 1817) became apprenticed to a tailor and was largely self-educated. He was converted by the preaching of George Whitefield at the age of sixteen and began preaching soon thereafter. In 1765 Fawcett was called to a small, poor, Baptist country church in Wainsgate, Yorkshire. Seven years later he received a call from the large and influential Carter's Lane Church in London, England. Fawcett accepted the call and preached his farewell sermon. The day of departure came, and his family's belongings were loaded on carts, but the distraught congregation begged him to stay. In Singers and Songs of the Church (1869), Josiah Miller te… Go to person page >
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