My Jesus, while in mortal flesh. P. Doddridge. [Abidings—Faith in Christ.] This is No. 280 in Job Orton's posthumous edition of Doddridge's Hymns, &c, 1755, and No. 306 in J. D. Humphreys's ed. of the same, 1839. It is in 6 stanzas of 4 lines, and headed "Living while in the flesh by faith in Christ, Who loved us, &c. Galat. ii. 26." It is in common use in its original form, and as "Blest Jesus, while in mortal flesh." The latter form is mainly in use in America.
--John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology (1907)
Philip Doddridge (b. London, England, 1702; d. Lisbon, Portugal, 1751) belonged to the Non-conformist Church (not associated with the Church of England). Its members were frequently the focus of discrimination. Offered an education by a rich patron to prepare him for ordination in the Church of England, Doddridge chose instead to remain in the Non-conformist Church. For twenty years he pastored a poor parish in Northampton, where he opened an academy for training Non-conformist ministers and taught most of the subjects himself. Doddridge suffered from tuberculosis, and when Lady Huntington, one of his patrons, offered to finance a trip to Lisbon for his health, he is reputed to have said, "I can as well go to heaven from Lisbon as from Nort… Go to person page >
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