George Croly

George Croly was an Irish-born Anglican priest, preacher, poet, novelist, historian, journalist, and hymn writer born in Dublin in 1780. He studied at Trinity College Dublin, receiving an M.A. in 1804 and later an honorary LL.D. After ordination he served in Ireland, but around 1810 he moved to London and built a remarkably varied literary career, contributing to newspapers and periodicals including The Times and Blackwood’s Magazine and writing fiction, drama, poetry, history, biography, and theology.

In 1835 Croly became rector of St Stephen Walbrook with St Benet Sherehog in the City of London. Contemporary and later accounts describe him as a forceful preacher who drew substantial congregations to a church that had previously struggled for attendance. His better-known prose works included the novel “Salathiel” and writings on biblical prophecy and Revelation.

“Spirit of God, Descend upon My Heart” first appeared as a six-stanza poem in his 1851 “Scenes from Scripture; with Other Poems” under the heading “Holiness Desired.” Croly later included it in his 1854 “Psalms and Hymns for Public Worship,” prepared for congregational use. He died suddenly in Holborn, London, in 1860. Of his hymn texts, this prayer for inward holiness became by far the most widely transmitted.