Birthdays on June 23

Samuel Medley was born in Chestnut, England. As a youth he served in the Royal Navy and was severely wounded off Port Lagos in 1759. Medley was converted after reading a sermon by Isaac Watts. He joined the Eagle Street Baptist Church (now Kingsgate Church), London. He became a pastor first in Watford and then in Liverpool. His ministry in Liverpool was immensely successful, and the congregation became so large that a new edifice was erected in 1790. He wrote a large number of hymns. Among the best-known were, "O Could I speak the Matchless Worth," "Awake, My Soul, to Joyful Lays," and one of the several hymns titled "I Know that My Redeemer Lives."