Lord, I hear of showers of blessing. Elizabeth Codner. [Divine Blessing desired.] Although we have the manuscrpt of this hymn in Mrs. Codner's handwriting, sent to D. Sedgwick from Weston-super-Mare, June 18, 1866, wherein it is stated to have been "written in the summer of 1860 " [S. MSS.], we have no personal facts concerning Mrs. Codner and her work except that she published one or two small books, as The Missionary Ship; The Bible in the Kitchen, &c.; edited the periodical, Woman’s Work in the Great Harvest-Field; and was associated for some years with the Mildmay Protestant Mission ( London). "Lord, I hear of showers of blessing" was suggested by the news of the religious revival in Ireland, 1860-61. It is in 7 stanzas of 4 lines, with the refrain “Even me” and is headed "Bless me, even me also, O my Father." The original text is in Spurgeon's Our Own Hymn Book, 1866, No. 607. That in I. D. Sankey's Sacred Songs & Solos, Pt. i., which is usually regarded as the original, is altered in several instances, and stanza v. is omitted. The hymn in full, or in part, is in extensive use, and is specially popular at Mission Services. In 1867 Mrs. Codner wrote a companion hymn of Praise, "Lord, to Thee my heart ascending," in 8 stanzas of 4 lines, for the Rev. E. P. Hammond's Hymns specially adapted for Seasons of Deep Religious Interest, &c, 1867.
--John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology (1907)
CODNER, Elizabeth (née Harris) was born in Dartmouth, Devon in 1823. Croydon, Surrey, 28 March 1919. She was interested in the mission field from an early age, and two of her early publications were entitled The Missionary Ship (1853) and The Missionary Farewell (1854) relating to the Patagonia Mission (later the South American Missionary Society). She married William Pennefather at the Mildmay Protestant Mission in London, and edited the mission’s monthly Woman’s Work in the Great Harvest Field. At age 17, she was editing a magazine for the Patagonia Mission, later the South American Missionary Society. She died in Croydon, Surrey on 28 March 1919.
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