Scripture References:
st. 1 = 2 Cor. 12:9-10, Rom. 6:18, 22
st. 2 = Phil. 4:13
This text is the finest example of sustained use of paradox in the Psalter Hymnal. It is built on a series of paradoxes that amplify the New Testament concept of freedom, which can be achieved only by being a servant, or prisoner, of Christ (see 2 Cor. 12:9-10). By their cumulative effect the contrasts between "captive" and "free"; "sink" and "stand"; "my own" and "thine"; "unbent" and "leaned" grip our imagination and powerfully affirm our servanthood to Christ.
George Matheson (b. Glasgow, Scotland, 1842; d. North Berwick, Scotland, 1906) wrote the text during his stay at Row, Dunbartonshire, Scotland, in 1890. It was pub¬lished that same year in his collection of poems and hymns, Sacred Songs, with the heading, "Christian freedom: Paul the prisoner of Jesus Christ (Eph. 3: 1)." The four short-meter stanzas are taken from the first and fourth stanzas of Matheson's original short-meter-double text.
A brilliant student of philosophy at the University of Glasgow and its divinity school, Matheson wrote several important theological and devotional works, including Aids to the Study of German Theology (1874). This achievement is especially noteworthy because of his failing eyesight during his teen years and virtual blindness by the age of eighteen. He had to rely on others, especially his sisters, for all his reading, research, and writing. Matheson was a very able preacher, serving Presbyterian churches in Glasgow; Clydeside Church in Innellan, Argyllshire (1868-1886); and finally St. Bernard's Church in Edinburgh (1886-1899).
Liturgical Use:
Many occasions of worship, especially after the sermon; adult baptism; profession of faith; ordination; times of testimony to the joy of being "captives" of Christ.
--Psalter Hymnal Handbook
Matheson, George, D.D., was born at Glasgow, March 27, 1842, and although deprived of his eyesight in youth he passed a brilliant course at the University of Edinburgh, where he graduated M.A. in 1862. In 1868 he became the parish minister at Innellan; and subsequently of St. Bernard's, Edinburgh. He was the Baird Lecturer in 1881, and St. Giles Lecturer in 1882. He has published several important prose works. His poetical pieces were collected and published in 1890 as Sacred Songs, Edinburgh: W. Blackwood. In addition to his hymn "O Love that wilt not let me go" (q. v.), four others from his Sacred Songs are in Dr. A. C. Murphey's Book of Common Song, Belfast, 1890.
--John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology, Appendix, Part II (1907)… Go to person page >
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