George Matheson
1842-1906. Scottish minister and hymnwriter. A merchant's son, practically blind by his eighteenth year, he was a brilliant student of philosophy at Glasgow University. Licensed to preach in 1866, he was minister in Glasgow and Innellan (Argyllshire) before moving to St. Bernard's, Edinburgh, where he stayed until 1899. He was an influential preacher. He published books on theology which tended toward Neo-Hegelianism (e.g., Aids to the Study of German Theology, 1875); on apologetics (e.g., Can the Old Faith Live with the New?, 1885); and of devotion (e.g., Studies of the Portrait of Christ, 2 vols., 1899- 1900). His collection, Sacred Songs (1890), included “O Love that wilt not let me go” (which Tyler argues did not arise from a disappointed love affair) and “Make me a captive, Lord.”