Sarah+Adams

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 * ===(1805-1848)===

Sarah Flower was born in England in 1805. She gave early promise of a brilliant and varied #|career. Her dream was to be on the stage to share the Gospel, but because of her bad health, she turned her talents to writting.

Her hymn, “Nearer My God, to Thee”, written in 1841, is based on the story of Jacob, as told in Genesis 28:11-17. Jacob, fleeing from Esau’s wrath, went to sleep on a lonely hillside, with only a stone for a pillow, and dreamed that he saw a ladder reaching up to heaven, with angels ascending and descending on it. In the morning he arose refreshed and named the place of his dream, “ Bethel, the House of God.” || ||
 * Few hymns have such a rich heritage of associations surrounding its use. It was the favorite hymn of the martyred President William McKinley, and brought #|comfort and peace to him in his last hours. His physician, Dr. M.D. Mann, reported that the dying president softly sang “Nearer, my god, to Thee, saying afterwards, “this has been my constant #|prayer.”

On the day of President McKinley’s funeral, September 19, 1901, this hymn was sung in his memory in countless churches, #|large and small, all over the land. In England, too, by the order of Kind Edward VII, the hymn was sung at McKinley memorial services held in Westminster Abbey.

In the last moments of the Titanic tragedy, on #|Sunday, April 14, 1912, the ship’s band played this hymn, while the vessel was slowly sinking after having struck an iceberg on its maiden voyage across the Atlantic. the prayer and perfect trust in these verses have helped men meet the greatest crises of human life. ||  || http://www.historyswomen.com/womenoffaith/SarahAdams.htm ||   ||
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