LibriVox Forum

Joseph Swain (1761 – 14 April 1796) was a British Baptist minister, poet and hymnwriter. Born in Birmingham, and orphaned at an early age, he was apprenticed as an engraver in Birmingham and afterwards in London. He experienced a religious conversion in 1782, and was baptised by John Rippon in the Baptist meeting-house in Carter Lane, Tooley Street, Southwark, on 11 May 1783. He subsequently became a Baptist minister and pastor of East Street Baptist church in Walworth from 1792 until his death in 1796. He was a popular preacher, and during the period of his ministry it became necessary to extend the church building on three occasions.

He was also a writer of devotional poems and hymns, many of which remained popular through the 19th century, although now largely forgotten. - Wikipedia

Swain published the following:—
(1) A Collection of Poems on Several Occasions, London, 1781; (2) Redemption, a Poem in five Books, London, 1789; (3) Experimental Essays on Divine Subjects, London, 1791; (4) Walworth Hymns, by J. Swain, Pastor of the Baptist Church Meeting there, London, 1792, 129 hymns; with a Supplement, 1794, 192 hymns; (5) A Pocket Companion and Directory, London, 1794. - Hymnary