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The True Story Behind "Rescue the Perishing" · Traveler’s Tales

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  Rescue the perishing, care for the dying. Those words are not just poetry, they are
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  marching orders. Behind them stands the remarkable life of Fanny Crosby, a woman who, though
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  blind from infancy, saw eternal realities more clearly than most of us with perfect
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  eyesight. By conservative estimates, she wrote around 8,000 hymns. Think of that. Thousands
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  of songs that have steadied believers, strengthened churches, and carried God's truth around
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  the globe. But Crosby's greatest contribution was not her volume of writing. It was her
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  urgency. She didn't merely write about salvation. She pleaded for it.
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  This is Traveler's Tales brought to you by Enjoying the Journey. I'm your host, Greg
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  Dowdy. You've possibly sung the song Rescue the Perishing hundreds of times and may even
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  have the words memorized. But are you familiar with the powerful story behind the song?
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  One hot August evening in New York City, Fanny Crosby stood before a gathering of working
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  men at a mission service. As she testified, one thought would not leave her mind. Some
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  mother's boy must be rescued tonight, or perhaps not at all. That was not part of her
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  prepared remarks. That was a burden that God put on her heart. So at the close of the meeting,
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  she made an unusual request. She asked that if there were any young men present who had
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  wandered from his mother's teachings, any mother's boy far from God, that he should
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  come forward. An 18-year-old young man stepped up. He looked
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  at her and asked quietly, did you mean me? I have promised my mother to meet her in heaven,
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  but as I am now living, that will be impossible. They prayed together, and that night the young
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  man trusted Christ. He rose from prayer with what Crosby described as a new light in his
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  eyes and declared triumphantly, now I can meet mother in heaven, for I have found her
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  God. That is what Jude meant when he wrote about pulling someone out of the fire. That
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  is rescue. Just days before that meeting, William Howard
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  Doan had sent Crosby a theme to write on, Rescue the Perishing. As she sat in that mission
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  hall, the first line formed in her heart, Rescue the Perishing, Care for the Dying.
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  She said she could think of nothing else that night. When she returned home, she wrote until
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  the entire hymn was finished. The words were sent to Doan, who composed the music we still
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  sing today. What began as a burden became a hymn, and what began with one young man
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  became a testimony that would echo decades later.
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  In November of 1903, more than 35 years after that mission meeting, Crosby spoke at a gathering
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  of the YMCA in Lynn, Massachusetts. After the service, a man approached her, visibly
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  moved. Miss Crosby, he said, I was the boy who told you that I had wondered from my mother's
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  God. That night at the mission, I sought and found peace, and I have tried to live a consistent
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  Christian life ever since. You never know what one obedient moment might
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  produce. Rescue the Perishing, duty demands it, so the song goes. Those words are not
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  merely lyrics, they are a calling. Fanny Crosby did not wait for perfect conditions. She did
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  not assume someone else would speak. She responded to a burden.
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  How many times has God nudged your heart about someone? A co-worker? A neighbor? A
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  family member? A mother's boy far from home? Do we feel urgency, or do we feel inconvenience?
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  Jude writes of compassion that makes a difference. That compassion requires movement. It requires
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  courage. Fanny Crosby was blind, but she saw the perishing. We have sight, but do we
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  see the perishing? One of the most powerful lines in the hymn declares, Strength for thy
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  labor the Lord will provide. That's more than optimism. That is a Bible promise. When
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  you obey the prompting of the Holy Spirit, God supplies what you lack. Crosby could not
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  see faces, but she could see the need. She could not walk easily through crowded streets,
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  but she could speak boldly. She could not save a soul, but she could point people to
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  the Savior. And so can you. The hymn says, Tell them of Jesus, the mighty to save. We
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  are not challenged to argue endlessly or to try to win debates. Tell them of Jesus, because
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  someone in your path needs rescued, and there is no telling what the Savior can do with your
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  obedient witness. Thank you for joining us today on Traveler's Tales. Our prayer is that the Lord
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  will use these stories to be an inspiration for your Christian walk. For more Bible study
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  resources and to find our full archive of episodes and devotional content, visit us at ETJ.Bible.