Jane Borthwick

9 April 1813–7 September 1897

In 1854, MISS JANE BORTHWICK and her sister Mrs. Findlater published a volume of translations from the German entitled Hymns from the Land of Luther, which was received with great favour. Three other series followed. It was while spending some months in Switzerland that Miss Borthwick’s attention was first directed to this study by Baron de Diesbach. But it was at their father’s prompting, who said to them one day, “Could you not translate for me some of these German hymns which you say are so good?” that the sisters began the translations that have done so much, with Miss Winkworth’s and Miss Cox’s work in the same field, to place the rich treasures of German hymnology within the reach of English readers. “Jesus, still lead on,” a spirited rendering of one of Zinzendorf’s hymns, appeared in the volume published in 1854, and speedily found its way into many hymn-books.

From translation Miss Borthwick passed to original work, of which we have admirable specimens in such universal favourites as “Rest, weary soul,” “Come, labour on,” “Still on the homeward journey” “Thou knowest, Lord, the weariness and sorrow.” She wrote under the initials H.L.L. (Hymns from the Land of Luther), and was somewhat vexed when Dr. Charles Rogers, in his Lyra Britannica, revealed her identity to the world.

Though there is a tinge of melancholy in many of her verses, Miss Borthwick was of a bright and cheerful temperament, delighting in the society of young people, who also delighted in hers. Like so many of our gifted women hymn-writers, Miss Havergal, Mrs. Alexander, Adelaide Procter, she was an active and zealous Christian worker. For many years she held large classes in the Edinburgh House of Refuge and in one of the Reformatories, and helped in the Home Mission work of the Free Church. She was also deeply interested in Foreign Missions, the C.M.S. Mission at Singapore and the Moravian Mission in Labrador receiving her warm support.

Though dying at the advanced age of eighty-four, she retained her literary interests and her mental vigour to the end, which was painless and peaceful. “Gentlest, most unselfish of mortals that I have met during a twenty-two years’ ministry,” is the tribute of one who knew her well. Miss Borthwick received many testimonies as to the help given by her hymns. The following and most striking came to her through the Rev. John Kelman of Leith:

A student, anxiously seeking for light and peace, walking one day, pensive and sad, along a country road, saw a bit of printed paper lying in the mud. He struck at it, and it so adhered to his stick that he had to remove it with his hand, when he found it was the fragment of a tract, so mutilated that he could read only the verse with which it ended, a verse from one of Miss Borthwick’s hymns—

Rest, weary soul;
The penalty is borne, the ransom paid;
For all thy sins full satisfaction made.
Strive not to do thyself what Christ hath done:
Claim the Free Gift, and make the joy thine own.
No more by pangs of fear and guilt distressed,
Rest, sweetly rest.

The line printed in italics was God’s message of peace to his soul.

by Duncan Campbell
Hymns and Hymn Makers (1898)

Featured Hymns:

Be still, my soul! The Lord is on thy side

Publications of Hymns and Poems:

Hymns from the Land of Luther

Series 1 (72 pp., 1854): WorldCat
Third Thousand [Ser. 1–2] (144 pp., 1855): PDF
Series 3 (1858): PDF
Fourth Thousand [Ser. 1–3] (204 pp.): Archive.org
Fifth Thousand [Ser. 1–3] (204 pp.): Archive.org
Eleventh Thousand [Ser. 1–3] (204 pp.): PDF
Complete [Ser. 1–4] (348 pp., 1862): Archive.org
Rev. & Enl. (1884): Archive.org

[Thoughts for] Thoughtful Hours

1st ed. (1859): PDF
[2nd ed.] (1863): PDF
3rd ed. (1867): WorldCat

Alpine Lyrics (1875): HathiTrust

see also:

Free Church Magazine
The Family Treasury

Related Resources:

Edwin Hatfield, “Jane Borthwick,” The Poets of the Church (NY: A.D.F. Randolph & Co., 1884), pp. 86–87: Archive.org

James Mearns, “Jane Borthwick,” A Dictionary of Hymnology, ed. John Julian (London: J. Murray, 1892), p. 163: Google Books

Duncan Campbell, “Jane Borthwick,” Hymns and Hymn Makers (London: A. & C. Black, 1898), pp. 107–109: Archive.org

Eileen MacKenzie, The Findlater Sisters: Literature & Friendship (London: John Murray, 1964): WorldCat

John S. Andrews, “The Borthwick sisters as translators of German hymns,” Expository Times, vol. 94, no. 11 (August 1983), pp. 329–33: https://doi.org/10.1177%2F001452468309401104

Leon Litvack, “Jane Laurie Borthwick,” Oxford Dictionary of National Biography:
https://doi.org/10.1093/ref:odnb/48787