Lyrics: Elvina Hall, 1856.

Music: John T. Grape.

Theme: “‘Come now, let us reason together,’ says the LORD. ‘Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red as crimson, they shall be like wool’”. Isaiah 1:18.

Mr. Grape was a member of the same Methodist church in Baltimore that Elvina Hall attended. Their pastor, Rev. George W. Shreck, was the instrument to bring words and music together when he “called on me (Grape) to select anything new that I had to offer. On hearing this piece he expressed his pleasure with it and stated that Mrs. Elvina M. Hall had written some words that would just suit the music. I gave him a copy of it and it was soon sung in several churches here in Baltimore.”

(I’m hoping to become just such an instrument for my friend Hannah, even though I know nothing about selling or or produing music. If any of you know about uploading music to iTunes or Amazon and selling it through those sites, please email me at sherryDOTearlyATgmailDOTcom.)

I hear the Savior say,
“Thy strength indeed is small;
Child of weakness, watch and pray,
Find in Me thine all in all.”

Refrain:
Jesus paid it all,
All to Him I owe;
Sin had left a crimson stain,
He washed it white as snow.

For nothing good have I
Whereby Thy grace to claim;
I’ll wash my garments white
In the blood of Calv’ry’s Lamb.

And now complete in Him,
My robe, His righteousness,
Close sheltered ’neath His side,
I am divinely blest.

Lord, now indeed I find
Thy pow’r, and Thine alone,
Can change the leper’s spots
And melt the heart of stone.

When from my dying bed
My ransomed soul shall rise,
“Jesus died my soul to save,”
Shall rend the vaulted skies.

And when before the throne
I stand in Him complete,
I’ll lay my trophies down,
All down at Jesus’ feet.

OR

And when before the throne
I stand in Him complete
“Jesus died my soul to save”
My lips shall still repeat .

Lyrics: Louisa M.R. Stead, 1882.

Music: William J. Kirkpatrick

Theme: Every word of God is flawless;
he is a shield to those who take refuge in him.
Proverbs 30:5

Louisa Stead lived an amazing life, one in which events must have tempted her many times to lose trust instead of resting upon His promise. And yet . . .

Louisa had always felt a calling to be a missionary and go to China. But due to fragile health she was kept home in the US. She married Mr. Stead, and the couple had a daughter named Lily. When Lily was four years old the family went on vacation to a nearby beach. While there, relaxing and enjoying their vacation, they saw a young boy drowning in the ocean. Mr. Stead swam out and tried to rescue him, but he was pulled under by the boy and both Mr. Stead and the boy drowned as Louisa and her daughter watched from shore. Louisa was left without any means of support except for God’s care. She and her daughter were in dire poverty. One day when there was no food in the house and no money to purchase any, Louisa opened the front door to find someone had left groceries and money sitting there for her. That same day she sat down and wrote “Tis so Sweet to Trust in Jesus.” She later became a missionary to Africa, remarried and once again was forced to return to the US due to her health. But once recovered she went back into the missionary field in Rhodesia and later died in Zimbabwe. Her daughter Lily married and became a missionary as well.

1. ‘Tis so sweet to trust in Jesus,
and to take him at his word;
just to rest upon his promise,
and to know, “Thus saith the Lord.”
Refrain:
Jesus, Jesus, how I trust him!
How I’ve proved him o’er and o’er!
Jesus, Jesus, precious Jesus!
O for grace to trust him more!

2. O how sweet to trust in Jesus,
just to trust his cleansing blood;
and in simple faith to plunge me
neath the healing, cleansing flood!

3. Yes, ’tis sweet to trust in Jesus,
just from sin and self to cease;
just from Jesus simply taking
life and rest, and joy and peace.

4. I’m so glad I learned to trust thee,
precious Jesus, Savior, friend;
and I know that thou art with me,
wilt be with me to the end.

Peggy Nickles of Hymn Blessings sent me her list of favorite 10 hymns when I was taking votes back in May, and she told me about her new business. ‘Tis So Sweet to Trust in Jesus was on Peggy’s list, a combined list of her favorites and her customers’ most requested hymns. Here’s the short version of how she came to create Hymn Blessings:

“My collection of old hymn books, the ones in really bad shape with pages loose from their bindings, the ones that were battered, discarded, and rescued by me, were the inspiration for the first Hymn Blessing.

A loose page fell to the floor. I picked it up and found it to be one of my father’s favorite hymns Great Is Thy Faithfulness. I had an idea! I mounted the hymn on a very fine ivory linen card stock and painted my father’s favorite yellow roses around its borders. I slipped it into a warm, brown, wood frame, and later realized I had created the first Hymn Blessing.”

Submit your story about a favorite hymn before September 30, to be entered into a drawing to win your own Hymn Blessing.

Lyrics: Frederick Lehman, 1917.

Music: Frederick Lehman, arranged by his daughter, Claudia Mays.

Theme: As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. John 15:9.

Frederick Lehman: “The profound depths of the lines moved us to preserve the words for future generations. Not until we had come to California did this urge find fulfillment, and that at a time when circumstances forced us to hard manual labor. One day, during the short intervals of inattention to our work, we picked up a scrap of paper and added the first two stanzas and chorus to the existing third verse lines.”

Brother Maynard calls this hymn “The Greatest Hymn Ever Written” and recounts the entire story of its genesis, a story that includes an Orthodox Jewish rabbi and poet, an anonymous inmate in an insane asylum, and Mr. Lehman, a Nazarne pastor and hymnwriter.

The love of God is greater far
Than tongue or pen can ever tell.
It goes beyond the highest star
And reaches to the lowest hell.
The guilty pair, bowed down with care,
God gave His Son to win;
His erring child He reconciled
And pardoned from his sin.

O love of God, how rich and pure!
How measureless and strong!
It shall forevermore endure
The saints’ and angels’ song.

When hoary time shall pass away,
And earthly thrones and kingdoms fall;
When men who here refuse to pray,
On rocks and hills and mountains call;
God’s love, so sure, shall still endure,
All measureless and strong;
Redeeming grace to Adam’s race—
The saints’ and angels’ song.

Could we with ink the ocean fill,
And were the skies of parchment made;
Were every stalk on earth a quill,
And every man a scribe by trade;
To write the love of God above
Would drain the ocean dry;
Nor could the scroll contain the whole,
Though stretched from sky to sky.

I remember this hymn from earliest childhood because my mother used to hum and sing it frequently, and she still does. In fact, I heard her singing “It shall forevermore endure, the saints’ and angels’ song” just a couple of weeks ago in my car.

Lyrics: Frances Havergal, 1876.

Music: WYE VALLEY by James Mountain, 1876.

Theme:

For this is what the LORD says:
“I will extend peace to her like a river,
and the wealth of nations like a flooding stream;
you will nurse and be carried on her arm
and dandled on her knees.
As a mother comforts her child,
so will I comfort you;
and you will be comforted over Jerusalem.”
Isaiah 66:12-13Frances Havergal: “Writing is praying with me. You know a child would look up at every sentence and say, ‘And what shall I say next?’ That is just what I do; I ask Him that at every line He would give me not merely thoughts and power, but also every word, even the very rhymes.”

Like a river glorious is God’s perfect peace,
Over all victorious, in its bright increase;
Perfect, yet it floweth fuller every day,
Perfect, yet it groweth deeper all the way.

Refrain:
Stayed upon Jehovah, hearts are fully blest
Finding, as He promised, perfect peace and rest.

Hidden in the hollow of His blessed hand,
Never foe can follow, never traitor stand;
Not a surge of worry, not a shade of care,
Not a blast of hurry touch the spirit there.

Every joy or trial falleth from above,
Traced upon our dial by the Sun of Love;
We may trust Him fully all for us to do;
They who trust Him wholly find Him wholly true.

Thanks to Rebecca at Rebecca Writes: The North Valley Baptist Church Men’s Choir sings Like a River Glorious.

Sources:
Center for Church Music: Like a River Glorious.
Frances RIdley Havergal by LIzzie Alldridge at Wholesome Words.