Fanny Crosby: Her Early Educational Life and Salvation

Fanny Crosby died at the age of 95 in 1915. She had written over 9,000 hymns, as well as over 1,000 secular poems. In her early life, she taught at the New York Institute for the Blind, the school in which she had been educated. Here, she gained fame for her poetry, and met and entertained many prominent statesmen and famous people of that era. In her later life, she threw herself into evangelistic campaigns and mission work, becoming the friend and confident of the lowest of the poor. What was it about Fanny's early training that allowed her to be so prolific throughout her life? What was the motivation behind all of her hard work?

Fanny Crosby was born March 24, 1820 to John and Mercy Crosby in the humble town of Gayville, New York. Scarcely a month later, she was struck with an illness that affected her eyes. The doctor that was engaged to treat her put steaming hot poultices on her eyes, which cured her infection, but left her blind for the rest of her life. When Fanny Crosby was 7 months old, her father died, leaving her 21-year-old mother to support Fanny. Her mother was forced to hire herself out as a maid, which left Fanny’s Grandmother Eunice to take care of the little blind girl.

Grandmother Eunice determined that Fanny was not going to be helpless because of her blindness, and set about to be her eyes. With the skill and wisdom of a master teacher, she patiently described the world in detail to Fanny, teaching her about the plants and birds and animals and color. She took the time to explain in minute detail these things to Fanny, until she could see them in her mind’s eye. She taught Fanny to recognize the feel of the different tree leaves and flowers. By the time Fanny was four, violets were her favorite flower, and would continue to be so for the rest of her life. She read to Fanny from the Bible and other worthwhile literature of the day, and gave her portions of the Scripture to memorize when she was eight.

A Switch of Teachers...

By the time Fanny Crosby was 11 years old, she could quote word for word from memory the Pentateuch, the four Gospels, many Psalms, all of Proverbs, Ruth, and the Song of Solomon. She was the champion in the Bible recitation contests in Ridgefield. The Bible came to be a part of her, and by the time she was 14, she knew the entire Bible by heart.

During this time, traveling singing schools were popular, and Fanny learned to sing. She acquired quite a reputation as a singer, and also mastered the guitar.

Fanny Crosby tried to attend school on several occasions, but the teachers did not know how to teach a blind person, and these forays into formal education always ended in frustration and failure for Fanny. It became the desire of her heart get an education, and though it seemed impossible, she cast her burden on the Lord, as her Grandmother had taught her to, and came to peace in the knowledge that one day, her heart’s desire would be granted.

Off to School...

The Institute became Fanny Crosby's home for the next two decades. Lessons were given in English, grammar, science, music, history, philosophy, astronomy, and political economy. The teaching was done by lectures and readings. Immediately after, the students were asked detailed questions on the lecture. The next day, they were required to paraphrase the entire lesson. Fanny learned quickly in this way. Her Grandmother had given her the capacity for detailed description!

She never mastered Braille, blaming her calloused guitar fingers. She relied more on her memory throughout her life. If she wanted to know what a book said, people would read to her, and thereafter the contents were stamped on her memory.

The Institute recognized her poetic ability and searched for a teacher to teach her poetic composition. They found one in Hamilton Murray, who claimed that although he could not write poetry, he could teach it. He required Fanny to memorize long passages of poetry, and taught her poetic rhythm, form, and symmetry. He required her to study and copy the style of the great poets.

By the time she 20, she had mastered the piano and organ, and had become one of the finest harpists in America. By this time, she had also acquired quite a reputation as a poetess, and had become one of the Institute’s model students in the traveling exhibitions that were put on to show the work of the school and attract more students. She was also called upon often to entertain the many men of renown that visited the Institution. She met many Presidents, statesmen, and famous people.

One day, the headmaster of the Institute, Dr. Silas Jones, called her into his office. Concerned that she was letting the high praise surrounding her accomplishments go to her head, he warned her in a very fatherly way to “Think more of what you can be than of how you can appear”.

At the Cross...

The year of 1850, when Fanny Crosby was 30, brought a cholera outbreak. Scores of people were dying, and Fanny stayed at the Institute to help with the sick, rather than go to the country. In this atmosphere of death and gloom, Fanny became increasingly introspective over her soul’s welfare. She began to realize that something was lacking in her spiritual life. She knew that she had gotten wrapped up in social, political, and educational reform, and did not have a true love for God in her heart. She had attended Methodist church meetings twice a week for several years, and although she helped with the music, she did so on the condition that she would not be called upon to testify.

During the time of her increasing despondency over her soul’s welfare, her close friend Theodore Camp, a fellow teacher at the Institution, invited her to attend revivals at the Methodist Broadway Tabernacle. Twice that fall, she went to the altar and received several hours of frenzied praying with the elders laying their hands on her head. The third time she went, torn with frustration and anxiety---“It seemed to me that the light must come then or never.” She heard the congregation singing the Isaac Watts hymn, At the Cross. When they came to the line that sang, “Here, Lord, I give myself away. ‘Tis all that I can do,” she says, “My very soul flooded with celestial light…for the first time I realized that I had been trying to hold the world in one hand, and the Lord in the other”.

Fanny Crosby believed in Christ’s full atonement for her sin at the cross, and was born again. That night, says Fanny, “the Lord planted a star in my life and no cloud has ever obscured its light”. She went on to use her poetic gifts for the Lord, and became the “queen of the gospel hymn”, writing such heart-stirring hymns as Blessed Assurance, Draw Me Nearer, He Hideth My Soul, Rescue the Perishing, All the Way My Savior Leads Me, Pass Me Not, Near the cross, Safe in the Arms of Jesus, and To God Be the Glory.

Fanny Crosby chose to remain poor throughout her life, though she could have lived affluently. On one occasion she said, “God has given me a wonderful work to do, a work that has brought me untold blessing and great joy. When word is brought to me, as it is from time to time, of some wandering soul being brought home through one of my hymns, my heart thrills with joy and I give thanks to God for giving me a share in the glorious work of saving human souls.”

Significant in this story of Fanny Crosby, is the fact that she memorized the entire Bible, prayed to the Lord often, attended religious meetings, and still was not born again. However, her early training in memorization yielded much fruit in her life, especially after her salvation at age 30. Surely, she drew upon her vast accurate knowledge of the Scriptures, and under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, wrote the gospel hymns that are still continuing to minister to people around the world.