W. P. Balfern

Balfern, William Poole, born in 1818, at Hammersmith; entered the Baptist Ministry in 1848; and has laboured chiefly in the suburbs of London, and in Brighton. Mr. Balfern is the author of Glimpses of Jesus and other prose works of similar character, has been a frequent contributor to Religious Periodicals, and has published the following vols. of poetry:—
(1) The Beauty of the Great King, and other Poems, 1871, Lond., Passmore and Alabaster. (2) Lyrics for the Heart, 1876. (Same publishers) (3) Hymns of the Passion, 1882, Lond., Nelson and Sons. (4) Pilgrim Chimes for the Weeks of the Year, 1881, is a selection from Mr. Balfern's poems made and published by Rev. Chas. Bullock.
Mr. Balfern's hymns have appeared in the Baptist Hymnal ; Psalms & Hymns for the Young; the Methodist Sunday School Hymn Book; Songs of Gladness (S. S. Union); Book of Hymns for Sunday School, Lond., Weeks & Co.; Treasury of Sacred Song, Kirkwall, W. Peace; and in a few collections of the Church of England.

They include:—
1. Come unto Me, the Saviour speaks [said]. Invitation.
2. Hark, dear children, hear the angels. Sunday.
3. 0 gentle Teacher, ever near. Divine Teacher.
4. 0 Lamb of God, most lowly [holy]. Holiness of Jesus.
5. 0 morning star, whose distant ray. Divine Guidance.
6. 0 Thou Who art enthroned on high. Praise.
7. Shepherd of those sunlit mountains. The Good Shepherd.
All these hymns were contributed to the Sunday School Union Songs of Gladness, 1871, and from thence have passed into other collections.
8. Say not, 0 wounded heart. Love of Jesus.
From his work, The Beauty of the Great King, 1871, into the Baptist Hymnal, 1879.
Whilst these hymns do not take a high rank as poetry, they are characterised by simplicity of expression, and by devout and earnest, often tender, Christian feeling. Balfern died July 3, 1887. [Rev. W. R. Stevenson, M.A.]

-- John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology (1907)