Pass Me Not, O Gentle Savior: A Song History

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"Pass Me Not, O Gentle Savior" is a gospel hymn by Fanny Crosby, who wrote the text in 1868, with a tune by the industrialist and prolific tune writer William H. Doane.[1][2] The two had met in New York the year before, and Crosby later recalled that Doane supplied the title phrase as a subject for her to develop.[3] A frequently retold story places the hymn's origin in a prison visit in the spring of 1868, where an inmate is said to have called out a plea echoing the refrain.[4] Sources differ on this: the Hymnology Archive notes that neither Crosby's autobiographies nor Ira Sankey's writings mention such a visit, and traces the account to a 1947 collection of hymn stories, so it is best treated as legend.[3]

Book plate captioned 'At twenty-five', a portrait of the young Fanny Crosby

Fanny Crosby at twenty-five, plate from Fanny Crosby's Life-Story (1903). Library of Congress. Public domain (published 1903).

The hymn first appeared in print in Doane's Songs of Devotion (1870), published by Biglow & Main.[1][3] Its wider fame came through the revival meetings of evangelist Dwight L. Moody and singer Ira D. Sankey; hymnologist C. Michael Hawn credits their London revivals with its international reputation, and cites editor Carlton R. Young's judgment that it was the first of her hymns to become famous around the world.[4] Sankey and P. P. Bliss included it, with Doane's tune, in Gospel Hymns and Sacred Songs (1875), a collection presented as the songs used in their gospel meetings.[5] Not everyone has admired it: some Methodist and Baptist hymnologists have objected to the idea that the Savior might pass anyone by, a reading the Hymnology Archive argues misunderstands the text.[3][4]

The song has remained a staple of evangelical singing. Hymnary.org indexes the text in more than a thousand hymnals, including translations into Spanish, Korean, Swahili and other languages.[1] Today it is also among the 68 songs arranged for mountain dulcimer in Stephen Seifert's Join the Jam: Gospel Edition.[6]

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Sources

  1. Hymnary.org: "Pass Me Not, O Gentle Savior".
  2. Hymnary.org: "PASS ME NOT (Doane)".
  3. Hymnology Archive: "Pass Me Not, O Gentle Savior".
  4. Discipleship Ministries, United Methodist Church: "History of Hymns: Pass Me Not, O Gentle Savior".
  5. Hymnary.org: "Gospel Hymns and Sacred Songs (1875), no. 27".
  6. Stephen Seifert: "Join the Jam Gospel Edition".