Scripture Verse

Introduction

Origin of the Hymn

It was in 1876 that I wrote ‘Beu­lah Land.’ I could write on­ly two vers­es and the cho­rus, when I was over­come and fell on my face. That was one Sun­day. On the fol­low­ing Sun­day I wrote the third and fourth vers­es, and again I was so in­flu­enced by emo­tion that I could only pray and weep.

The first time it was sung was at the reg­u­lar Mon­day morn­ing meet­ing of Me­tho­dists in Phi­la­del­phia. Bi­shop Mc­Cabe sang it to the as­sem­bled min­is­ters. Since then it is known wher­ev­er re­li­gious peo­ple con­gre­gate. I have ne­ver received a cent for my songs. Per­haps that is why they have had such a wide po­pu­lar­i­ty. I could not do work for the Mas­ter and re­ceive pay for it.

Edgar Stites

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The sec­re­tary of the Young Men’s Chris­tian As­so­ci­a­tion at Ply­mouth, Eng­land, wrote me a beau­ti­ful sto­ry of a young lady, who sang [this song] on her dy­ing bed as she passed in­to the land that is fair­er than day.

I sang this fav­o­rite song ov­er the dead bo­dy of my friend, Mr. Swe­ney, at the church of which he was a lead­ing member, in West Ches­ter, Penn­syl­van­ia, on the day of his bu­ri­al.

Sankey, pp. 121–22