Robert Seagrave wrote this hymn in 1742 for his own congregation whom he address every Sunday evening in the Lorimers, Hall in London. This was the headquarters of the guild of lorimers, makers of spurs for riders and leather straps and bits for horses. He had left the Anglican Church the previous year, dissatisfied with the lackadaisical attitude of the clergy generally and their lack of response to the reforming zeal of Wesley and Whitefield. He published the hymn in his Hymns for Christian Worship, 1742, and entitled it “The Pilgrim’s Song.” The words give some idea of the troubles experienced by the new Methodists and raise their thoughts from earth to heaven.

Seagrave was born on November 22, 1693, in the small village of Twyford, nine miles from Leicester, England. He graduated from Cambridge University in 1714, was ordained to the Anglican ministry, and joined John Wesley and George Whitefield in their revival campaign to preach the gospel to the masses. He wrote numerous letters and pamphlets between 1731 and 1746 in an endeavor to stir the clergy. Ultimately he joined Whitefield, became his intimate friend, and often preached in his tabernacle. He died in London in the year 1750.

The tune AMSTERDAM is one of six tunes adapted by John Wesley from J. A. Freylinghausen’s Geistreiches Gesangbuch (Spiritual Hymnbook), 1704, and published in his Collection of Tunes as They Are Sung in the Foundery, 1742. It has been attributed to James Nares (1715-1783) who was an organist at York Minster and later at the Chapel Royal, Windsor, and a trainer of boys’ choirs. He was christened at Stanwell, Middlesex, on April 19, 1715, and died at Westminster, also in Middlesex, on February 10, 1783. He received the D.Mus. from the University of Cambridge in 1756, and published treatises on singing and on playing the organ and the harpsichord. It will be noticed that the form is AABA, scores 1, 2, and 4 being almost identical.

📖 Reference: Companion to the Seventh-day Adventist Hymnal by Wayne Hooper and Edward E. White. Review and Herald Publishing Association, 1988.