1858–1945

Introduction

Born: March 21, 1858, Bat­tle Creek, Mi­chi­gan.

Died: De­cem­ber 2, 1945, Mar­shall, Mi­chi­gan.

Buried: Oak Hill Ce­me­te­ry, Bat­tle Creek, Mi­chi­gan.

Pseudonym: A. N. O.

portrait
Courtesy of
Ellen G. White Estate

Biography

Franklin was the son of Ste­phen T. Bel­den and Sar­ah Har­mon, hus­band of Har­ri­et E. Mac­Dear­mon, and nephew of El­len Har­mon White, one of the found­ers of the Se­venth Day Ad­vent­ist de­no­mi­na­tion.

When he was eight years old, his fa­mi­ly moved to Ca­li­for­nia, where he first com­po­sed mu­sic. Due to breath­ing prob­lems, he lat­er moved to Co­lo­ra­do.

He ev­en­tu­al­ly re­turned to Bat­tle Creek, Mi­chi­gan, around age 30. He joined the Re­view and Her­ald Pub­lish­ing Com­pa­ny, and stayed in Bat­tle Creek un­til about 1910, when he be­gan writ­ing songs for ev­an­gel­ist Bil­ly Sun­day.

Though Bel­den’s lat­er years were marred by mis­un­der­stand­ings with the church lead­er­ship ov­er his roy­al­ties, he do­nat­ed his pa­pers and ma­nu­scripts to the church’s se­mi­na­ry at his death.

Works

Sources

Lyrics

  1. Above the Clouds That Veil the Blue
  2. Adown the Arch of Az­ure Sky
  3. Afar from Earth, Where An­gels Dwell
  4. Afar from the East
  5. Again to Thee We Join in Sing­ing
  6. Again We Hail the Rest Day Sweet
  7. Again We Hail the Sab­bath Sweet
  8. All Hail for Youth­ful Vol­un­teers
  9. All My Class Not One For­got­ten
  10. Always Speak Kind­ly Wher­ev­er You Go
  11. Am I My Bro­ther’s Keep­er?
  12. Angel of the Lord En­camp­eth, The
  13. Angel Voic­es Sweet­ly Call­ing
  14. Angels Are Build­ing Fair Man­sions Above
  15. Answer the Call
  16. Are You on the Lord’s Side?
  17. Are You Tent­ing on the Low­lands?
  18. As for Me and My House
  19. As Home­ward the Lone Bird Is Wea­ri­ly Fly­ing
  20. Ask for the Guide Book, the Bi­ble
  21. Ask for the Old Paths, by the Pro­phets Trod
  22. Ask for the Rain
  23. Ask for the Show­ers of Bless­ing
  24. Ask Not to Be Ex­cused
  25. Ask of the Lord, and He Will Give
  26. At Ev­en­ing Time No Ga­ther­ing Night
  27. Awake for the Con­flict
  28. Beautiful An­gels, Watch­ing Close By
  29. Beautiful Ci­ty, Ha­ven of Peace!
  30. Beautiful Star Arose One Night, A
  31. Behold How Sweet, How Calm
  32. Beyond the Blue Is the Ci­ty of Gold
  33. Beyond the Years
  34. Bless Us, Lord, as We Part To­day
  35. Blessed Lord, How Much I Need Thee
  36. Blest Are the Pure in Heart
  37. Bravely Say No, When Tempt­ed to Sin
  38. Bring a Glad and Thank­ful Of­fer­ing
  39. Bring Your Trea­sure
  40. Broken, Con­trite Heart, A
  41. Build on the Rock
  42. Burdened Soul, There’s Rest in Je­sus
  43. By Thou­sands Now Re­ject­ed
  44. C-L-O-C-K—The World Is Like a Shelf
  45. Carry the Joy­ful Tid­ings
  46. Casting All Your Care up­on Je­sus
  47. Cast Out the Buy­ers, Lord
  48. Cheerfully Give
  49. Cheering Lit­tle Sun­beams
  50. Chiefest Among Ten Thou­sand
  51. Christ Is Born
  52. Closer Than a Bro­ther
  53. Come from Your Toil­ing
  54. Come, ’Tis Sab­bath Morn­ing
  55. Come, To­night
  56. Come, Ye Stray­ing, Sad, De­spond­ing
  57. Could You Wait?
  58. Count Your Ma­ny Bless­ings
  59. Cover with His Life
  60. Creation’s Lord Dis­played His Might
  61. Crown the Sab­bath with a Song
  62. Day Is Dead, and Egypt’s Night Re­turn­ing, The
  63. Dear as Thou Wert
  64. Dear Sav­ior, I Will Seek Thy Face
  65. Dear Sav­ior, Lead My Err­ing Steps Aright
  66. Desert Way He Some­times Leads Us, The
  67. Eternal Fa­ther, God of Love
  68. Even at the Door
  69. Fair Were Thy Fruits and Fade­less Thy Flow­ers
  70. Far Across the Roll­ing Sea
  71. Father, We Come to Thee
  72. Fear Not, Lit­tle Flock
  73. Fleeing from Des­truc­tion’s Fair Pal­ac­es of Strife
  74. For Je­sus, All My Morn­ing Hours
  75. Forbid Them Not, Our Sav­ior Said
  76. Forward Sol­diers, in the Ho­ly War
  77. Foxes Have Holes, Birds Have Their Nests
  78. Fresh from Above, for One and All
  79. Fresh from the Throne of Glo­ry
  80. Friend and Com­pan­ion
  81. From Day to Day, O Gra­cious God
  82. From the Lips of An­gels Spok­en
  83. Gather the Child­ren to the School
  84. Gently, Dear Sav­ior, Now We Bring
  85. Give, Said the Gold­en Sun
  86. Give This Year to Je­sus
  87. Give Up All for Je­sus, Wea­ry Child
  88. Give Your Heart to Je­sus Now
  89. Glad New Year to All We Bring, A
  90. Glory, Hon­or, Praise, and Pow­er
  91. Go Ye into All the World
  92. God Bless Our Sab­bath School
  93. God Made the Li­lies
  94. God of Light and Match­less Splen­dor
  95. God Shall Be First in Ev­ery­thing
  96. Golden Harps in Yon­der Ci­ty
  97. Golden Light Is Fad­ing, The
  98. Great Joy to All Peo­ple
  99. Greeting to This Sab­bath Day, A
  100. Guests Are Few, the Hour Is Late, The
  101. Guide and Guard Us, O Our Fa­ther
  102. Hail! Oh Lit­tle Chris­tian Sai­lor
  103. Hallelujahs to Je­sus
  104. Happy Day
  105. Has the Cross of Christ Been Lift­ed?
  106. Have You Any Room for Je­sus?
  107. He Will Men­tion Them No More For­ev­er
  108. Hear the Voice of Lov­ing Du­ty
  109. Hear the Voic­es Call­ing o’er the Stormy Main
  110. He’ll Re­mem­ber Them No More For­ev­er
  111. Help the Err­ing, Help the Wea­ry
  112. Hem of His Gar­ment Touch Be­liev­ing, The
  113. He’s Com­ing Once Again
  114. He’s Com­ing Soon
  115. Hold Fast Till I Come
  116. Hold to the Helm, Sail­or
  117. Holy Day, Je­ho­vah’s Rest
  118. Hour by Hour Kept by His Pow­er
  119. How Slen­der Is Life’s Sil­ver Cord
  120. How Sweet to Rest in Je­sus
  121. I Am Not Ashamed to Speak a Word for Je­sus
  122. I Am Rest­ing in the Sha­dow
  123. I Am Safe if Je­sus Holds My Hand
  124. I Am Sa­tis­fied
  125. I Am Wait­ing for the Morn­ing
  126. I Can­not Drive the Nails Again
  127. I Cease to Sing of Sweet To­mor­row
  128. I Come to Thee, My Sav­ior
  129. I Have a Song, a Song So Sweet
  130. I Shall Abide For­ev­er
  131. I Will Not Let Thee Go, My Lord
  132. I Will Pour Wa­ter on Him That Is Thirs­ty
  133. I Will Sing of Je­sus’ Love
  134. If Any Lit­tle Word of Mine
  135. If I Were a Sun­beam
  136. I’ll Sing You a Song of a Ci­ty
  137. I’m Kneel­ing at the Cross
  138. In a World of Sin and Strife
  139. In An­cient Egypt’s Pa­gan Land
  140. In Him O Life of Glo­ry
  141. In Love’s Az­ure Fir­ma­ment
  142. In the Blood of Je­sus
  143. In the Path of Du­ty Lies the Pro­mise
  144. Jesus Has Some­thing for Child­ren to Do
  145. Jesus Holds Me Fast
  146. Jesus in His Tem­ple Ho­ly
  147. Jesus Is Pass­ing
  148. Jesus Is the Light, the Life, the Truth, the Way
  149. Jesus Is Wait­ing, Plead­ing, Call­ing
  150. Jesus, Je­sus, Chief­est Among Ten Thou­sand
  151. Jesus, Je­sus, Gen­tle Shep­herd
  152. Jesus, Je­sus, Ten­der Shep­herd
  153. Jesus Knows the Child­ren’s Love
  154. Jesus, Sav­ior, Hear Us Pray
  155. Jesus, Sav­ior, Pi­lot Me
  156. Joy By and By
  157. Joy To­day!
  158. Joyful Greet­ing to Thou­sands
  159. Judgment Has Set, The
  160. Keep Pray­ing as You Go
  161. Keep the Pag­es White
  162. Kind Words Are the Sweet­est
  163. Launch the Life Boat
  164. Let Ev­ery Lamp Be Burn­ing Bright
  165. Let Me Fly to the Rock in the De­sert
  166. Let Us Hear the Con­clu­sion
  167. Like as a Fa­ther, Pi­ties His Child
  168. Like Faith­ful Sol­diers, True and Brave
  169. Like Re­fresh­ing Show­ers in a Thirs­ty Land
  170. List, to the Chime, ’Tis Meet­ing Time
  171. Little Crowns Are Wait­ing
  172. Little Fish­er­men Are We
  173. Little Ones May Be Just Like the Fruit­ful Trees
  174. Little Vol­un­teers Are Need­ed
  175. Long Ago the Child­ren Sang a Song
  176. Long Years Ago, on Blue Ga­li­lee
  177. Look for the Beau­ti­ful
  178. Look for the Way-Marks
  179. Look Not Be­hind Thee
  180. Look to the Cross, Sin­ner
  181. Look up­on the Gold­en Im­age
  182. Lord Is My God and Cre­at­or, The
  183. Lord Is My Shep­herd, I Shall Not Want, The
  184. Lord Work­eth, Let Us Work Too, The
  185. Low Bend the Wil­lows
  186. Make Du­ty Plain, O Lord
  187. Many Are the Lit­tle Du­ties
  188. Merry, Mer­ry Wel­come, A
  189. Moment by Mo­ment, Hour by Hour
  190. More Di­li­gence Give Me
  191. More of My Sav­ior, Says My Soul
  192. My An­chor Holds
  193. My First Thought Shall Be of Je­sus
  194. My Heart Is in the Home­land
  195. My Heart’s a Tune­ful Harp
  196. Nearer Thee and Ev­er Near­er
  197. Never Be Ash­amed to Own Your Sav­ior
  198. Never Come Late to the Sab­bath-School
  199. No Tears in Yon­der Home
  200. Not a Wast­ed Mo­ment
  201. Not in the Hour of Death
  202. Not One Sin­gle Jot or Tit­tle
  203. Now I Lay Me Down to Slum­ber
  204. Now the God of Peace Be with You
  205. O Beau­ti­ful Smil­ing Sum­mer Land
  206. O Bless­ed, Bless­ed Sunday-School
  207. O Bless­ed Rest When We Re­cline
  208. O Blest Are They That Mourn
  209. O Blest Are They Who Oft Have Said
  210. O Chris­tian, Idle All the Day!
  211. O Chris­tian, on the Bil­low of Life’s Sea
  212. O Chris­tian Trav’ler, Hold the Light!
  213. O Chris­tian, Tri­umph­ant­ly Sing­ing
  214. O Fa­ther in Hea­ven, Thy Pro­mise We Claim
  215. O Give Us a Part­ing Bless­ing
  216. O Guard Us Till We Meet Again
  217. O Heart Bowed Down
  218. O Ho­ly Book of Truth Di­vine
  219. O Je­sus, My Re­deem­er Thou Art My Joy and Song
  220. O Rain­drops Bright with Li­quid Light!
  221. O There’s a Bet­ter World on High
  222. O Thou, Who Dwell­est Up on High
  223. O Voy­ag­er, Id­ly Drift­ing Down
  224. Oh, the Won­drous Love of Je­sus
  225. Oh! There Is Joy, for the Sum­mer Is Past
  226. On Time’s Wide Waste of Wa­ters
  227. Once Again Has Come My Birth­day
  228. Once I Heard a Foot­step
  229. One More New Day for Je­sus
  230. Only Glean­ers in the Har­vest
  231. Only One Step to Je­sus
  232. Only Thee, in Joy or Sor­row
  233. Open the Win­dows of Hea­ven
  234. Open Thou Mine Eyes That I May Be­hold
  235. Our Fa­ther in Hea­ven, Thy Pro­mise We Claim
  236. Out up­on an An­gry Ocean
  237. Paradise! O, Hope of Ag­es!
  238. Pearly Por­tals Swing­ing Open
  239. Pillar of Fire
  240. Plant Blos­soms, Beau­ti­ful Blos­soms
  241. Praise Be to God and Songs of Thanks­giv­ing
  242. Praise Him, Migh­ty Cre­at­or
  243. Praise to God, the Ev­er­last­ing One
  244. Praise to Thee, O Dear Re­deem­er
  245. Pray for the Err­ing Ones
  246. Put on the Gar­ments
  247. Put on the White Gar­ments
  248. Raise the Ban­ner High
  249. Remember the Sab­bath Day
  250. Remember Thy Cre­at­or
  251. Rest, Sweet Rest
  252. Roll On, Thou Crim­son Stream
  253. Saints May Rest With­in the Tomb, The
  254. Saved to Serve in Any Sta­tion
  255. Savior, Keep Me Pure in Heart
  256. Savior, Meet Us While As­sem­bled
  257. Savior, Sav­ior, Be My Guide
  258. Scatter Smiles, Lov­ing Smiles, All Along
  259. Scatter Sun­shine, Scat­ter Sun­shine
  260. Seven Times Round the Boast­ing Walls
  261. Shall One Be Miss­ing?
  262. Shall We Stand at His Com­ing?
  263. Shepherd Di­vine, Thou Lead­est Me
  264. Shout for Joy! Your Trib­ute Bring­ing
  265. Shout Forth the Tid­ings Joy­ful­ly
  266. Silent in Death He Lies
  267. Sing, O Sing the Glo­ry of Im­ma­nu­el
  268. Sing to the Lord, Ye His Peo­ple
  269. Sleeping Sweet­ly on His Bo­som
  270. Snowy Robe Is Wait­ing There, A
  271. Soldiers in the Ho­ly Strife
  272. Some Glad Morn Not Far Away
  273. Someone Is Stray­ing in Down­ward Way
  274. Someone the Beau­ti­ful Ci­ty Shall See
  275. Soul, Amid the Earth Sor­rows Dwell­ing
  276. Sound an Al­arm, All Ye Watch­men
  277. Sowing in Sad­ness Through Long, Wea­ry Years
  278. Sowing to Death or Life, Sow­ing to Reap!
  279. Speak Well of the Land of Pro­mise
  280. Speed Away, Speed Away Over Mount­ains and Sea
  281. Stand by the Bi­ble
  282. Stand by the Flag
  283. Stand by the Law Once Pro­claimed
  284. Stand for Je­sus, Fight­ing Bold­ly!
  285. Stand for the Right, O Chris­tian True!
  286. Stand Like Ca­leb
  287. Star of Beau­ty
  288. Suffer Them, the Lit­tle Ones
  289. Sweet and Low
  290. Sweet Be Thy Rest and Peace­ful Thy Sleep­ing
  291. Sweet Pro­mise Is Giv­en to All
  292. Sweet Sun­day School, with Hours So Full
  293. Thanksgiving
  294. There Are Lit­tle Cross­es
  295. There Are Rich­es Bet­ter Than Gold
  296. There Are Two Ways for Tra­vel­ers
  297. There Came a Stran­ger Knock­ing
  298. There Is a Land of Pro­mise
  299. There Is Some­thing at Home for the Child­ren to Do
  300. There Is Sun­light on the Hill­top
  301. There Is Sweet Rest for Feet Now Wea­ry
  302. There Was a Star That Shone in Splen­dor
  303. There’s a Cross to Be Borne
  304. There’s Life in a Look at the Sac­red Cross
  305. There’s No Oth­er Name Like Je­sus
  306. There’s Room for You to An­chor
  307. These Two Lit­tle Hands Were Giv­en
  308. This Is the Love of God
  309. Thou Art Com­ing
  310. Thou Hast Kept Us, Bless­ed Sav­ior
  311. Thou Sav­ior of the Sin Sick Soul
  312. Though Seas Like Mount­ains Hedge Thy Way
  313. Thro’ All the Year, Most Gra­cious God
  314. Through the Gloom That Ga­thers o’er Us
  315. Thus One by One Our Loved Ones Go
  316. ’Tis Love That Makes Us Hap­py
  317. To Obey Is Better Than Sac­ri­fice
  318. True Hearts Are Need­ed to Work for the School
  319. Until We Meet Again, Di­rect Our Steps Aright
  320. Wake, Free­men All, Whose Homes Are Dear
  321. Wake the Slum­ber­ing Me­lo­dy
  322. We Are Build­ing Every Day
  323. We Are on the King’s High­way
  324. We Are Sen­ti­nels for Je­sus
  325. We Build on the Sure Foun­da­tion
  326. We Come with Joy to Greet You Here
  327. We Greet Thee Here, O Glad New Year
  328. We Know Not the Hour
  329. We Love the Bless­ed Bi­ble
  330. We Love to Tell the Sto­ry
  331. We Nev­er Stay Away from Sab­bath-School
  332. We Of­fer Prais­es
  333. We Shall Meet Be­yond the Skies
  334. We Should Be Like Gar­dens
  335. We Should Nev­er Be Late
  336. We Sing About the Home of Beau­ty
  337. We Thank Thee for Thy Mer­cies
  338. We Wel­come This Blest Sab­bath Day
  339. Weighed and Want­ing
  340. Welcome, Wel­come, Mer­ry Wel­come
  341. We’ll Give This Week to Je­sus
  342. We’ll Live in the Sun­light
  343. We’ll Shine as Yon­der Stars
  344. We’ll Tar­ry by the Liv­ing Wa­ters
  345. Were Al­ways at the School with Joy­ful Greet­ing
  346. We’re Com­ing, We’re Com­ing with Songs of Rejoicing
  347. We’re Faith­ful Daugh­ters of the King
  348. We’re Go­ing Home, a Pil­grim Band
  349. We’re Lit­tle Chris­tian Sol­diers
  350. We’re Loy­al Sol­diers of the Lord
  351. What Says the Bi­ble?
  352. What Shall I Do for Christ, My Sav­ior?
  353. What Shall I Do with Je­sus?
  354. What Shall It Pro­fit a Man?
  355. When Cir­cles Are Brok­en?
  356. When De­parts This Hall­owed Day
  357. When Is­rael Came to Jor­dan’s Side
  358. When Je­sus Calls His Jew­els
  359. When Je­sus Shall Make Up His Jew­els
  360. When Soft­ly Fades the Dy­ing Day
  361. When Soft­ly Falls the Twi­light Hour
  362. When Soft­ly the Spring­time Breez­es Are Blow­ing
  363. When Temp­ta­tion As­sails
  364. When the Cross Is Hard to Car­ry
  365. When the Cross Seems Hard to Car­ry
  366. When the Judge Shall Weigh Our Mo­tives
  367. When the Load Looks Big to Car­ry
  368. When the Tem­pest Ga­thers o’er Us
  369. When Through Earth­ly Seas of Sor­row
  370. When We Lay Our Bur­dens Down
  371. Where Hast Thou Gleaned To­day for Je­sus?
  372. White Pag­es Be­fore Us
  373. Who Is Daunt­less, Who Is Dar­ing?
  374. Who Is on the Lord’s Side?
  375. Who Will Be Like Mo­ses?
  376. Who Will Be the Next to Come to Je­sus?
  377. Who Will Speak a Word for Je­sus?
  378. Wholly Thine
  379. Why Should We Ev­er Be Gloo­my and Sad?
  380. Wide Is the Gate and Broad the Way
  381. With, a Song, the An­gel Voic­es
  382. Wonder of the Count­less Spheres
  383. Word and Will of God Im­mor­tal
  384. Words of Cheer from the Bat­tle of Life
  385. Work for the School
  386. World’s Glo­ri­ous Har­vest Is Fast Draw­ing On, The
  387. Would You Fear to Have Your Win­dows Open?
  388. Would You Know Why I Am Sing­ing?
  389. Ye La­den, Sad and Wea­ry

Music

  1. Belden
  2. Coronado
  3. Verdi