"Composed by R. Burdsal, York"

Richard Burdsal.
Richard Burdsal’s Book: A Selection of Hymns, on Most Occasions. Manuscript.
[York: Richard Burdsal, c. 1801–05]. (BRA2717)

Richard Burdsal (1735–1824) of Yorkshire, a hymn writer and Wesleyan minister for sixty-two years, used this notebook between 1801 and 1805 to transcribe hymns from other hymnbooks such as A Collection of Hymns for the Use of the People called Methodists (1780) and The Christian Duty, Exhibited in a Series of Hymns (1791). The manuscript includes twenty-four hymns by Charles Wesley, two by his son Samuel Wesley (1766–1837), ten by Isaac Watts (1674–1748), and five by John Newton (1725–1807), including “Amazing Grace.” An original version of the hymn for which Burdsal is best known, “The Voice of Free Grace Cries Escape to the Mountains” is also found in this volume. 

The displayed pages feature an otherwise unknown hymn, “Jesus to Me was Very Kind,” also “composed by R. Burdsal, York.”

Research by Rachel Tillay, MTS Candidate, Perkins School of Theology