Woman's Own April 4 1959 Page 14

The Taming of Laura
continued on page 18

EVERYDAY RELIGION By The Rev. DAVID SHEPPARD 

Words that let of the love of Jesus 

A SMALL boy was being taught the catechism, and complained that he found it difficult to understand. His godmother, a young woman of 20, was there, and she resolved to write some hymns so that children could understand better. 

"I believe in God the Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth," are words which can easily be learnt parrot fashion by a child without any real knowledge of what they mean. So Miss Humphreys, as she was then, wrote: 

All things bright and beautiful, All creatures great and small, All things wise and wonderful, The Lord God made them all. 

He gave us eyes to see them. And lips that we might tell How great is God Almighty, Who has done all things well. 

"AND in Jesus Christ His only son our Lord, who was conceived by the Holy Ghost, born of the Virgin Mary" - the godmother who understood children wrote one of our greatest Christmas favourites: 

Once in royal David's city Stood a lowly cattle shed, Where a Mother laid her Baby, In a manger for His bed; Mary was that Mother mild, Jesus Christ her little Child. 

When she came to "He suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, dead and buried," she wrote perhaps the best-known of all . children's hymns: 

There is a green hill far away, Without a city wall, Where the dear Lord was crucified, Who died to save us all. 

There was no other good enough To pay the price of sin, He only could unlock the gate Of Heaven, and let us in.

THREE years later Miss Humphreys became Mrs. Aleander and her husband was to be eventually an Archbishop. She continued to write hymns and poetry, giving all the profits from them to an Irish school for deaf and dumb children. Her hymns. have done much to teach children -and many grown-up children, too -in simple terms about the love of Jesus. 

Next week: The atheist who became a hymn-writer.