Scripture Verse

Introduction

Origin of the Hymn

[This hymn] was wri­tten at the ear­nest so­li­ci­ta­tion of a con­fer­ence group which met at Em­por­ia Col­lege, Kan­sas, in the sum­mer of 1918. That year the morn­ing pray­ers were con­duct­ed in the din­ing room and they were un­us­ual­ly im­pres­sive. How­ev­er, the young peo­ple felt that they would like to have a pray­er hymn that they could call pe­cul­iar­ly their own, and re­quested the pres­ent au­thor [Lau­fer] to pro­duce such a hymn.

He suc­ceeded in com­pos­ing the tune, but got no fur­ther. He was quite sure that he knew what mes­sage the hymn should con­vey, but could not pro­duce it.

A few weeks lat­er he div­ulged his di­lem­ma to Will­iam Hi­ram Foulkes, D.D., on a train bound for Sto­ny Brook, Long Is­land. Both men were on their way to a con­fer­ence si­mi­lar to that held at Em­po­ria Col­lege. When the si­tu­ation had been ex­plained to Dr. Foulkes, he evinced great in­ter­est, and re­quest­ed to see the tune. He showed great en­thu­si­asm for the score and beg­ged to have it for a day or two. Per­haps, said he, the pro­per hymn may come to me, if not to you.

The next day he car­ried the ma­nu­script in his pock­et to New York Ci­ty. The hymn came to him en route. On his re­turn that af­ter­noon to Sto­ny Brook, where he had charge of ves­pers, he pr­oduced three stan­zas of the four which con­sti­tute the hymn. To­ge­ther he and the com­pos­er of the tune went ov­er the new pro­duct­ion, and were so well pleased with the re­sult that dup­li­cates were made and the hymn was sung for the first time the next day at morn­ing pray­ers.

Laufer, p. 100