1870–1957

Introduction

portrait

Born: Jan­ua­ry 21, 1870, Ma­ri­on, New York.

Died: Ju­ly 29, 1957, Pitts­burg, Kan­sas.

Buried: Oak­wood Ce­me­te­ry, Bald­win Ci­ty, Kan­sas.

portrait
portrait

Biography

William was the son of Me­tho­dist min­is­ter Will­iam White Run­yan and Han­nah O. Run­yan, and hus­band of Le­na Knapp.

He showed an in­ter­est in mu­sic when ve­ry young, and by age 12 oft­en served as church or­gan­ist.

He became a Me­tho­dist min­is­ter at 21, and held va­ri­ous pas­tor­ates in Kan­sas, 1891–1903. He was ap­point­ed evan­gel­ist for the Cen­tral Kan­sas Me­tho­dist Con­fer­ence, and served for two de­cades.

Runyan wrote his first Go­spel song in 1915, and was great­ly en­cour­aged by Da­ni­el Tow­ner of the Moo­dy Bi­ble In­sti­tute.

In 1924, Run­yan went to John Brown Uni­ver­si­ty, Si­lo­am Springs, Ar­kan­sas.

He served as pas­tor of the Fed­er­at­ed Church, and ed­it­or of the Chris­tian Work­ers Ma­ga­zine.

Moving to Chi­ca­go, Il­li­nois, he was as­so­ci­ated with the Moo­dy Bi­ble Ins­ti­tute, and was an ed­it­or for Hope Pub­lish­ing Com­pa­ny un­til re­tir­ing in 1948.

He re­ceived an hon­or­ary Doc­tor of Let­ters from Whea­ton Col­lege, Il­li­nois, in 1948.

Works

Sources

Lyrics

  1. After the Toil and the Bur­den
  2. Again He’ll Come
  3. All Will Be Ov­er, Ev­ery Grief and Sor­row
  4. Angels Sang at the Sav­ior’s Birth, The
  5. As a Shep­herd Good and True
  6. As Night That Flees from the Morn­ing Sun
  7. Before the March of Christ the Migh­ty
  8. Called by the Grace That Thy Love
  9. Christ Is from the Grave As­cend­ed
  10. Come, Bless­ed Lord!
  11. Dearer to Me Ev­ery Day
  12. Far from the Fold of God
  13. For the Mer­cy Je­sus Will Be­stow
  14. Forgiven Great­ly, Lord, Am I
  15. Forward Still, with Face Full For­ward
  16. From the Hills of Far Ju­dea
  17. From the Sins That Scar
  18. Gates Will Op­en Wide, the
  19. God Will Not For­get Me
  20. Hail, Blest Re­deem­er
  21. Hail, King of Glo­ry
  22. Have You Heard of That Won­der­ful Sto­ry?
  23. He Can­not Re­ject Me
  24. He Has It All, the Strug­gle Past
  25. He Loves, He Saves, He Keeps
  26. How Still Are the Wa­ters
  27. I Am on the Hea­ven­ly High­way
  28. I Am Sure of a Home in Hea­ven
  29. I Am Yield­ing All to Thee
  30. I Can See in Vi­sions Fair
  31. I Can­not Un­der­stand How God Could Love Me
  32. I Have Je­sus in My Heart
  33. I Mar­vel, O, I Mar­vel So
  34. I Ne’er Have Known So True a Friend as Je­sus
  35. I Sing of a Sav­ior
  36. I Will Do What I Can for My Sav­ior To­day
  37. If We Bright­ly Shine
  38. In Child­hood’s Morn of Grim­ming Glee
  39. In the Hol­low of His Hand
  40. In the Midst of the Hea­ven­ly Home Land
  41. In the Way Our Fa­thers Trod
  42. Into the Gar­den Where Sha­dows Were Creep­ing
  43. It Was Night With­in My Soul When Je­sus
  44. Jesus
  45. Jesus, Name I Love
  46. Jesus Will Keep Me by Pow­er Di­vine
  47. Just a Lit­tle While ere the Last Long Mile
  48. Just as You Are There’s a Wel­come for You
  49. King’s Trea­sures, The
  50. Like a Life Line Flung Over the Rag­ing Sea
  51. Like a Strain of Sweet­est Mu­sic
  52. Like as a Mo­ther Com­fort­eth
  53. Live for Oth­ers While on Earth You Live
  54. Long Time I Wan­dered
  55. Lord, I Have Shut the Door
  56. Loud from the Mount­ain­top
  57. Love Not the World, O Chris­tian
  58. Many Are Wait­ing in Dark­ness and Sin
  59. Memory Lin­gers in My Heart, The
  60. Memory Whis­pers to Me Now
  61. More Pre­cious to Me
  62. Near, Near to Thee, Help Us to Live
  63. O Tell Me More of Je­sus’ Love
  64. O the Joy That Here We May Walk with Je­sus
  65. Old-Time Bless­ings
  66. On the Home­ward Way
  67. Only a Lit­tle While
  68. Our God Hath Giv­en Pro­mise
  69. Our Light Has Grown Dim
  70. Our Lives Are Read by Those Who Look
  71. Peace That Like a Ri­ver Flows, The
  72. Praise His Ho­ly Name!
  73. Prayer Is the Breath of the Soul’s Deep Life
  74. Proclaim the Glad Tid­ings
  75. Revive Thy Work, O Lord
  76. Sang the An­gels Long Ago
  77. Savior for Me, The
  78. Since Je­sus Bore My Weight of Sor­row
  79. Since Je­sus Came, My Night Is Turned to Day
  80. Soldiers of Je­sus, Clad in God’s Bright Ar­mor
  81. Some Say It Is a Fa­ble
  82. Songs of the World May Be Ma­ny, The
  83. Souls Are All About Us, Know­ing Not the Lord
  84. Sweet Morn­ing Comes with Light and Dew
  85. Tell It All to Je­sus When the Day Goes Wrong
  86. There Is a Fold Where All Se­cure
  87. They Tell Me There Is One Who Knows My Need
  88. They Were in the Place of Wait­ing
  89. Though Foes As­sail Us on the Field
  90. Though in Life’s Stress Thy Heart Awea­ry Be
  91. Though My Way Be Swept with Storm
  92. Through Ag­es Long Swept by the Tem­pests of Doubt
  93. Thy King­dom Come, Is the Pray­er We Are Taught
  94. To Thy Tem­ple Ho­ly
  95. Too Long in the Dark­ness
  96. ’Twas God’s Own Son Who Came to Earth
  97. Up from the Mis­ty Vales They Go
  98. Upon the Sea Where Our Good Ship Sails
  99. Voice of God Is Call­ing Me, The
  100. Walking with My Bless­ed Sav­ior Here Be­low
  101. We Are Trea­sures of Christ
  102. We Jour­ney, It May Be, Through Tem­pest and Rain
  103. We Sing About Hea­ven
  104. We Thank Thee for the Brawny Arm
  105. What a Glo­ri­ous Day for Me
  106. When Je­sus First Came to My Heart to Abide
  107. When, O When Art Thou Com­ing?
  108. When the Calls of Du­ty Are Urg­ing On
  109. When the Clouds Ov­er Hang­ing Have Dark­ened the Day
  110. Word of God
  111. Wounded for Our Trans­gres­sions

Music

  1. Faithfulness
  2. Gates Will Op­en Wide, the
  3. O Spir­it, Come
  4. Processional
  5. Runyan
  6. Sanctuary
  7. What God Hath Pro­mised