Immortal spirit, awake, arise

Author: Charlotte Elliott

Elliott, Charlotte, daughter of Charles Elliott, of Clapham and Brighton, and granddaughter of the Rev. H. Venn, of Huddersfield, was born March 18, 1789. The first 32 years of her life were spent mostly at Clapham. In 1823 she removed to Brighton, and died there Sept. 22, 1871. To her acquaintance with Dr. C. Malan, of Geneva, is attributed much of the deep spiritual-mindedness which is so prominent in her hymns. Though weak and feeble in body, she possessed a strong imagination, and a well-cultured and intellectual mind. Her love of poetry and music was great, and is reflected in her verse. Her hymns number about 150, a large percentage of which are in common use. The finest and most widely known of these are, "Just as I am” and "My God… Go to person page >

Immortal spirit! wake, arise. Charlotte Elliott [Morning.] Printed in her Hymns for a Week, 1839, and published in the same 1842, in 10 stanzas of 4 lines, and appointed for Tuesday Morning. It is based on Heb. xii. 1, "Let us run with patience the race that is set before us." In Whiting's Hymns of the Church Catholic, 1882, it is given in 6 stanzas, and in the Presbyterian Selection of Hymns Philadelphia, 1861, No. 4Q0, in 5 stanzas. The latter begins, "Lord, I to Thee commit my way," that is, stanzas v. and vi. rewritten, while stanzas ii.-v. are the original stanzas vi.-x.

--John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology (1907)