John Killinghall › Texts

Killinghall, John. The date of his birth is unknown. He was admitted pastor of a congregation at Beccles, Suffolk, Oct. 13, 1697. Through some indiscretion of conduct he retired from the ministry for a time. Subsequently, about 1702, he became the pastor of the Congregational Church, Southwark, then meeting in Deadman's Place (the Church of the Pilgrim Fathers). He died Jan. 1740. His memoir is included in the Brief Record of the Independent Church at Beccles, 1838, by S. W. Rix. (Miller's Singers & Songs, 1869, p. 156.) His hymn:—
In all my troubles, sharp and long (Joy in Affliction) appeared in the Life of Faith exemplified and recommended in a Letter found in the Study of the Rev. Joseph Belcher, late of Dedham, in New England, since his Decease. An Answer to this question, "How to live in this World so as to live in Heaven?” To which is added a few Verses by the late Rev. Killinghall, upon reading of it. London. 1741. It is in 3 stanzas. of 4 lines, and is found in modern hymn-books in the following forms:—(1) "In all my troubles, sharp and strong," in Reed's Hymn Book, 1842, and others; (2) "In every trouble, sharp and strong," in several collections, including the Enlarged London Hymn Book, 1873, &c.; and (3) "In every trying hour," in several American books, as Songs for the Sanctuary, N. Y., 1865, &c. In several of the older collections this hymn is attributed to "Coombes"— why we know not.

--John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology (1907)

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