Walk in the Light

Author: Bernard Barton

Barton, Bernard, commonly known as the "Quaker Poet," was born in London Jan. 31, 1784, and educated at a Quaker school at Ipswich. In 1798 he was apprenticed to Mr. S. Jesup, a shopkeeper at Halstead, Essex, with whom he remained until 1806, when he removed to Woodbridge, Suffolk, and entered into business with his brother, as a coal and corn merchant. On the death of his wife at the end of the first year of their married life, he proceeded to Liverpool, where he acted as a private tutor for a short time. He returned to Woodbridge in 1810, where he secured an engagement in the local bank of the Messrs. Alexander. This appointment he held for 40 years. He died at Woodbridge, Feb. 19, 1849. During the same year his daughter published his Poe… Go to person page >

Walk in the light! So shalt thou know. B. Barton. [Walk in the light]. Appeared in his Devotional Verses, 1826, p. 242, 6 stanzas of 4 lines, with the quoted text I. John, i. 7. In various collections the opening line is altered to "Walk in the light and thou shalt know," and st. ii. is omitted. The form in The Baptist Church Hymnal, 1900, begins with st. iv., "Walk in the light! and thou shalt own." The order is st. iv., ii., iii., i., v. and vi. rewritten. We feel that very few editors will follow this arrangement and doubtful improvement of the author's text.

--John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology, New Supplement (1907)