Words: , Hymns and Spir­it­u­al Songs, 1707. The original version has gone through con­sid­er­a­ble al­ter­a­tion in the Scot­tish Trans­la­tions and Par­a­phras­es, and Hymns An­cient and Mo­dern, among others.

Music: Elim, (1813-1858). Alternate tune:

• Bromsgrove, Psalmodia Evangelica, part II, 1789

When Dun­can Math­e­son, the Scotch evan­gel­ist, was work­ing in the Cri­mea, he was re­turn­ing one night, worn out, from Se­bas­to­pol to the old sta­ble at Bal­a­cla­va where he lodged. He was trudg­ing through mud knee-deep, and the siege seemed no near­er to an end, yet above the stars were look­ing down from the clear sky. He be­gan to sing, ‘How bright those glor­i­ous spir­its shine.’ Next day he found a sol­dier shiv­er­ing un­der a ve­ran­dah, with his bare toes show­ing through his worn-out boots. Math­e­son gave him half a sov­er­eign to buy a new pair. The sol­dier thanked him. ‘I am not what I was yes­ter­day. Last night as I was think­ing of our mis­er­a­ble con­di­tion, I grew tired of life, and said to myself, “I can bear this no long­er, and may as well put an end to it.” So I took my mus­ket and went down yon­der in a des­per­ate state, about ele­ven o’clock; but as I got round the point, I heard some per­son sing­ing, “How bright those glor­i­ous spir­its shine”; and I re­mem­bered the old school and the Sab­bath school where we used to sing it. I felt ashamed of be­ing so cow­ard­ly, and said, “Here is some one as bad­ly off as my­self, and yet he is not giv­ing in.” I felt, too, he had some­thing to make him hap­py which I had not, but I be­gan to hope I, too, might get the same hap­pi­ness. I re­turned to my tent, and to-day I am re­solved to seek the one thing.’ ‘Do you know who the sing­er was?’ I asked the mis­sion­a­ry. ‘No,’ was the re­ply. ‘Well,’ said Mr. Ma­the­son, ‘it was I.’ Tears rushed in­to the sol­dier’s eyes, and hand­ing back the half-sov­er­eign, he said, ‘Ne­ver, sir, can I take it from you af­ter what you have been the means of do­ing for me.’