"Dr. Matheson says this hymn was 'written in the Manse of my former parish (Innellan, Argyleshire) one summer evening in 1882. It was composed with extreme rapidity; it seemed to me that its construction occupied only a few minutes, and I felt myself rather in the position of one who was being dictated to than of an original artist I was suffering from extreme mental distress, and the hymn was the fruit of pain.' [L. MSS.] This hymn first appeared in the Church of Scotland magazine, Life and Work, in 1883. From thence it passed into the Scottish Hymnal 1884; and there set to special music by Dr. A. L. Peace. It is a beautiful and tender hymn and worthy of extensive use." —"O Love that wilt not let me go," in A Dictionary of Hymnology, (ed.) by John Julian (1892).
