1752–1784

Introduction

Died: Au­gust 3, 1784, Ips­wich, Suf­folk, Eng­land.

Buried: Tack­et Street Bu­ri­al Ground, Ips­wich, Suf­folk, Eng­land.

Biography

A do­mes­tic ser­vant, Har­ris­on taught her­self to read and write. At age 20, she suf­fered an ill­ness, pos­si­bly tu­ber­cu­lo­sis, from which she did not ex­pect to re­co­ver. She gave man­u­scripts of her po­et­ry to John Con­der, a Con­gre­ga­tion­al­ist min­is­ter, who ed­ite­d and pub­lished her po­ems.

The pre­face to the first ed­i­tion of her col­lect­ed hymns, Songs in the Night (Ip­swich, Eng­land: Pun­chard & Jer­myn, 1780), states she was a ve­ry ob­scure young wo­man, and quite des­ti­tute of the ad­van­tag­es of ed­u­ca­tion, as well as un­der great bo­di­ly af­flic­tion. Her fa­ther dy­ing when she was young, and leav­ing a large fa­mi­ly un­pro­vid­ed for, she went out to ser­vice at six­teen years of age.

Songs in the Night went through at least 21 edi­tions in Bri­tain and Am­er­i­ca, mak­ing it one of the best sell­ing col­lec­tions writ­ten by a la­bor­ing-class po­et in the late 18th Cen­tu­ry.

This in­scrip­tion was placed at her grave:

SUSANNA HARRISON,
DIED 3D OF AUGUST 1784,
AGED XXXII.
DURING TWELVE YEARS’ AFFLICTION
SHE DISCOVERED A GRACIOUS SPIRIT,
AND WAS THE AUTHOR OF
SONGS IN THE NIGHT
BY WHICH, SHE BEING DEAD, YET SPEAKETH.

Sources

Lyrics

  1. All Glo­ry Belongs to Je­sus Alone
  2. Am I Indeed Born from Above?
  3. Arise, My Soul, to Je­sus Fly
  4. Attend, My Soul, and Trem­bling Hear
  5. Awake My Heart, My Soul Arise
  6. Away, My Doubts, Be Gone, My Fear
  7. Be Mer­ci­ful, O God, to Me
  8. Begone, My World­ly Cares, Away
  9. Behold, He Comes, the Sav­ior Comes
  10. Bring All the Brut­ish and Un­wise
  11. Chastened I Am from Day to Day
  12. Christian, Ex­am­ine Well Thy Mind
  13. Come, O My Doubt­ing Soul, At­tend
  14. Come, View the Field of Love Di­vine
  15. Condemn Me Not, Most Gra­cious God
  16. Deceivers Well Affect to Appear
  17. Gainst Thee, Thou Ho­ly, Just and Wise
  18. God and His Law Are My De­light
  19. God of My Days, God of My Nights
  20. Good News These Bless­èd Words Im­part
  21. Grace Will to Ev­ery Du­ty Bind
  22. Haste That De­light­ful, Aw­ful Day
  23. Hear This, Ye Fa­vo­rites of the Lord
  24. High in the Hea­vens Doth God Re­side
  25. How Are My Pow­ers All Tuned to Mourn
  26. How Oft Doth Beau­ty Lead to Sin
  27. How Should the Morn­ing of My Days
  28. How Suit­a­ble This Word to Me
  29. How Wel­come Is This News
  30. I Fear the God of Hea­ven and Earth
  31. I, Je­sus, Am As­cend­ed High
  32. I Lan­guish for a Sight
  33. I Think My Ta­ble Rich­ly Spread
  34. In This Ex­treme Dis­tress of Soul
  35. Is Je­sus Ev­er­more the Same
  36. Is This Thy Will?
  37. Is This Un­pleas­ing Cup Now Gi­ven
  38. Jesus Ex­alts His Fa­vo­rites High
  39. Jesus I Now Ad­dress Thy Throne
  40. Jesus My Ad­vo­cate and King
  41. Jesus, My Hid­ing Place Thou Art
  42. Jesus My Mourn­ing Soul Doth Lead
  43. Jesus, My Sav­ior and My Lord
  44. Jesus the Great, the Migh­ty God
  45. Jesus, Thou God of Na­tions, Bend
  46. Jesus, When I Can See Thy Face
  47. Law of God Is Just, The
  48. Let All My An­xious Cares Be Gone
  49. Let All the Hea­ven­ly Hosts Re­joice
  50. Let Me Adore His Bound­less Grace
  51. Let Me Lie Pros­trate on the Ground
  52. Let Not the Learned and the Wise
  53. Let Others, Wrapt in Self Con­ceit
  54. Look O My Soul With­in the Veil
  55. Look un­to Me, the Sav­ior Cries
  56. Lord, Can a Help­less Worm Like Me
  57. Lord, Cap­ti­vate My Ev­ery Thought
  58. Lord, I Con­fess My Guilt and Shame
  59. Lord, I’m a Faint, a Fee­ble Worm
  60. Lord, Is Not My Soul’s De­sire
  61. Lord of Lords and King of Kings, The
  62. Lord, Search and Try This Heart of Mine
  63. Lord, ’Tis Enough, at Length I Own
  64. Lord, What Am I With­out Thy Love
  65. My God, for I Can call Thee Mine
  66. My Life De­clines, My Strength Is Gone
  67. My Soul, What Dost Thou Here
  68. No Man, nor An­gel, Can Com­pare
  69. No More of Works I Vain­ly Boast
  70. Now Let My Soul Adore and Praise
  71. Now Shall My Soul Adore the Grace
  72. Now Whilst I Try My Heart
  73. O Could I Find Some Peace­ful Bow­er
  74. O God, How Mourn­ful Is My Case
  75. O Hap­py Souls That Love the Lord
  76. O Let Jehovah’s Li­ber­al Hand
  77. O Soul Re­viv­ing Word
  78. O What a Vain and Emp­ty World Is This
  79. Of Rest I Hear, of Rest I Talk
  80. Oft Has My Soul in Sec­ret Blest
  81. Rain Des­cends, the Tem­pests Rise, The
  82. Rapid My Days and Months Run On
  83. Remember Me, Thou Great I Am
  84. Riches Im­mense Are in My Hand
  85. Salvation’s Work Is Done
  86. Say, Is This Wild, Cor­rupt­ed Nation?
  87. Show Me the Souls to Doubt Ex­posed
  88. Take Cour­age, O My Soul, and Rest
  89. Tell Me No More of Earth­ly Toys
  90. Thanks to Thy Name, Thou God of Love
  91. Thee Will I Love, My Dear­est Lord
  92. Thine An­ger, Lord, How Short the Stay
  93. This Bless­ing, Lord, to Me Im­part
  94. This Pro­mise Is to Sin­ners Made
  95. This Wretch­ed Heart Will Still Back­slide
  96. Thou Art Ac­quaint­ed with My Heart
  97. Thou God of Jus­tice and of Grace
  98. Though I of Sin­ners Am the Chief
  99. ’Tis My Be­loved’s Aw­ful Voice
  100. To God I’d Seek in Each Dis­tress
  101. To Him That Brought Sal­va­tion Nigh
  102. To Him, to Him, Whose Love Hath Wrought
  103. To Thee, Again, My Gra­cious God
  104. To Thee, My God, I Make My Moan
  105. To Us, to Us a Child Is Born
  106. Tremble, My Soul, Fall Down Be­fore
  107. Triune God Above, The
  108. Turn, O My Soul, from Mos­es Turn
  109. Unfertile In­tri­cate and Strange
  110. When Will My Sweet Re­lease Be Signed?
  111. Where Is the Un­der­stand­ing Heart?
  112. Who Is This Hea­ven­ly Per­son?
  113. Why Do I Thus Comp­lain?
  114. Why, O My Soul, Those Gloomy Fears?
  115. Why Should the Dread of Sin­ful Man
  116. Why, Thus Cast Down, My Soul?
  117. Without the Aid of Sov­er­eign Grace
  118. Ye Highly Fa­vored, Who Pro­fess

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