All of us in sin were dying

While preaching a series of doctrinal sermons at Haywards Heath, Andrew King was struck by ‘the lack of contemporary hymns on salvation which bring out the seriousness of our condition in sin prior to the gracious intervention of God in his gospel.’ He goes on to say, ‘Yet it is only in seeing salvation against the backdrop of lostness, guilt and hell that we appreciate what we have been given.’ He wrote this text ‘as an attempt to see the gospel in this way, and as a hymn of recommitment to live in the light of God’s grace, despite our short spiritual memories and sinful fickleness.’ Malachi 1:2–5, he says, is much to the point. The hymn featured in the local collection Praises for the King of Kings (1994) but like the previous item appears here for the first time in a main hymnal. Stz 3.1–4 and stz 4 are unchanged from the original text, but of the remaining 20 lines, 15 have been amended in discussion between author and editors. Among the changed lines are 2.1–4, ‘Sliding helpless through sin’s stages,/ falling, with no help at hand;/ then the Lord, the rock of ages,/ caught us up and made us stand.’

LLAN BAGLAN is named from the village birthplace in W Glamorgan of its composer D Afan Thomas. It has been judged the best of his many hymn tunes, featuring at National Eisteddfodda at Aberavon (1966) and Newport Gwent (1988), and at the unveiling of a memorial plaque at Cwmavon, the town nearest his home village, that same year. In CH the tune is set to Speak, I pray thee, gentle Jesus but is not yet well-known outside Wales. However, the author of the present hymn has loved it since hearing it at Brighton Tabernacle as a student. The words were written for it, though PKK also names EIFIONYDD (also rare outside CH and Wales) as another option.

b Wroughton nr Swindon, Wilts 1961. Raised in the Gospel Standard Strict Baptist tradition in a family circle familiar with its classic hymns; converted at Caterham Baptist Ch in 1971, where he grew to love a fuller range of hymnody. Studied at Dulwich Coll, Sussex Univ (BSc Biology 1982). After working as a sausage salesman with the Walls Meat Company and as a food technologist with Hygrade Foods in Peckham, he assisted the Minister at Grove Chapel, Camberwell, while studying at the London Theological Seminary 1986–88. Pastor/teacher at Haywards Heath Evangelical Free Church in Sussex 1988–2000; where he edited (with others) the words-only hymnal Praises for the King of Kings (see no.12, note) for which he contributed several texts. Enjoyed writing from his youth up, and wrote some 35 texts at Haywards Heath after his first, a version of Ps 2 written at Camberwell soon after his marriage to Cora. For a time he was a member of the modern songs team for Praise! From 2000 he worked in Brazil as a Bible teacher and preacher with UFM Worldwide (the Unevangelised Fields Mission), with a roving commission to train, teach and encourage others in biblical exposition, based on his home in Florianópolis. He returned to England in 2008 and currently (2011) works as a kitchen sales consultant, also running a photography business. His texts have also been published in Australia and New Zealand, with one each in Sing Glory (1999) and the 2004 CH. Nos.12, 306, 598, 631, 686, 795*, 912, 923.