Hymns carry faith in a form people can remember and sing. Knowing why a hymn was written, and what its writer was living through, changes how you sing it. Suddenly the words aren't just familiar. They are someone's testimony.
The hymns in this guide
| Hymn | Writer | Written | Read more |
|---|---|---|---|
| O Happy Day | Philip Doddridge | 18th century | The Great Transaction Done |
| Jesus Paid It All | Elvina Hall | 1865 | All to Him I Owe |
| Rock of Ages | Augustus Toplady | 1770s | Let Me Hide Myself in Thee |
| Come, Thou Fount | Robert Robinson | 1758 | Here I Raise My Ebenezer |
| Loved with Everlasting Love | George Wade Robinson | 19th century | I Am His, and He Is Mine |
| What a Friend We Have in Jesus | Joseph Scriven | About 1855 | What a Friend We Have in Jesus |
| Leaning on the Everlasting Arms | Anthony Showalter and Elisha Hoffman | 1887 | Safe and Secure from All Alarms |
| Blessed Assurance | Fanny Crosby | 1873 | This Is My Story, This Is My Song |
| There Is a Fountain Filled with Blood | William Cowper | 18th century | Redeeming Love Has Been My Theme |
| Alas! and Did My Savior Bleed | Isaac Watts | 1707 | Amazing Pity! Grace Unknown! |
| The Lily of the Valley | Charles Fry | 1881 | The Fairest of Ten Thousand to My Soul |
| Jesus Loves Me | Anna Bartlett Warner | 1860 | The Bible Tells Me So |
| Abide with Me | Henry Francis Lyte | 1847 | O Thou Who Changest Not |
| God Moves in a Mysterious Way | William Cowper | 1773 | Behind a Frowning Providence |
| My Jesus, I Love Thee | William Featherston | 19th century | If Ever I Loved Thee |
| How Deep the Father's Love for Us | Stuart Townend | 1995 | To Make a Wretch His Treasure |
O Happy Day: a vow that cannot be undone
Philip Doddridge, an English Nonconformist minister of the early eighteenth century, wrote many hymns to follow his sermons, so that his congregation could sing back what they had heard. "O happy day, that fixed my choice" is a meditation on the moment a soul turns decisively to God.
Its refrain, "O happy day, when Jesus washed my sins away", has travelled far beyond its origins, including a famous gospel arrangement in the twentieth century.
The Great Transaction Done, volume I of Songs of the Redeemed, is an exposition of the hymn.
Jesus Paid It All: words in a hymnal's margin
In 1865, Elvina Hall was sitting in the choir loft of her church in Baltimore during a long prayer. Her mind turned to Christ's sacrifice, and she wrote the words that came to her in the margins of her hymnal. Her pastor passed them to the church organist, John Grape, who had written a tune that fitted them.
The refrain "Jesus paid it all, all to Him I owe" became one of the most sung statements of grace in American churches.
Read All to Him I Owe, volume III, for meditations on Christ's finished work.
Rock of Ages: shelter in a storm
Augustus Toplady, an eighteenth-century Anglican clergyman, published "Rock of Ages, cleft for me" in the 1770s. A popular story says he wrote it after sheltering from a sudden storm in a cleft of rock in the Somerset countryside. The story is disputed, but irresistible, and the rock is still pointed out to visitors.
Whatever its origin, the hymn's plea to be hidden in Christ became one of the most loved in the English language.
Let Me Hide Myself in Thee, volume IV, offers meditations on the hymn.
Come, Thou Fount: "here I raise my Ebenezer"
Robert Robinson wrote "Come, Thou Fount of Every Blessing" in 1758, at about twenty-two, not long after his conversion. The puzzling line "here I raise my Ebenezer" refers to 1 Samuel 7, where Samuel sets up a stone and names it Ebenezer, "stone of help", saying "Hitherto hath the Lord helped us."
The hymn's honesty, "prone to wander, Lord, I feel it", has made it a companion to believers who know their own restlessness.
Read Here I Raise My Ebenezer, volume VI, for reflections on God's faithful leading.
Loved with Everlasting Love
George Wade Robinson wrote "Loved with everlasting love" in the nineteenth century, and its refrain, "I am His, and He is mine", captures the security of belonging to Christ. It draws on Jeremiah 31:3, "I have loved thee with an everlasting love."
I Am His, and He Is Mine, volume VII, reflects on God's everlasting love through the hymn.
What a Friend We Have in Jesus: a son's poem
Joseph Scriven emigrated from Ireland to Canada as a young man, after personal tragedy. Around 1855 he wrote a poem to comfort his mother, who was ill back in Ireland. He never intended it to be published.
It found its way into print, was set to music, and became one of the best-known hymns in the world, sung and translated across continents. Its invitation is simple: take everything to God in prayer.
Read What a Friend We Have in Jesus, volume VIII, for reflections on prayer, friendship and the burden-bearer.
Leaning on the Everlasting Arms: a letter of comfort
In 1887, Anthony Showalter, a music teacher, received letters from two former students telling him that each had lost his wife. Writing back, he reached for Deuteronomy 33:27, "The eternal God is thy refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms", and felt a refrain forming. He asked his friend Elisha Hoffman to write the verses.
A letter of consolation became a hymn that has comforted millions in grief.
Safe and Secure from All Alarms, volume IX, reflects on the hymn.
Blessed Assurance: a blind poet's answer
In 1873, Phoebe Knapp played a new melody for her friend Fanny Crosby and asked what it said to her. Crosby, blind since infancy and one of the most prolific hymn writers who ever lived, answered at once: "Blessed assurance, Jesus is mine!" The words followed quickly.
"This is my story, this is my song" has been a testimony for generations of believers since.
Read This Is My Story, This Is My Song, volume X. For Fanny Crosby's life, see Songs in the Dark.
There Is a Fountain: written through darkness
William Cowper, one of the finest English poets of his age, suffered severe depression throughout his life. With his friend John Newton, author of "Amazing Grace", he produced the Olney Hymns. "There is a fountain filled with blood" is among the most powerful hymns on the atonement.
That a man who often despaired of his own salvation wrote "redeeming love has been my theme, and shall be till I die" gives the hymn extraordinary weight.
Redeeming Love Has Been My Theme, volume XI, reflects on the hymn.
Alas! and Did My Savior Bleed
Isaac Watts, often called the father of English hymnody, published this hymn in 1707. He gave it the title "Godly Sorrow Arising from the Sufferings of Christ." Its lines "Amazing pity! grace unknown! and love beyond degree!" still stop singers in their tracks.
Read Amazing Pity! Grace Unknown! And Love Beyond Degree!, volume XII.
The Lily of the Valley
Charles Fry was a bricklayer and musician in England. With his sons he formed a brass band that played for Salvation Army meetings, helping begin the Army's famous band tradition. In 1881 he wrote "I have found a friend in Jesus", with its image of Christ as "the lily of the valley" and "the fairest of ten thousand".
The Fairest of Ten Thousand to My Soul, volume XIII, reflects on it.
Jesus Loves Me: a hymn from a novel
Anna Bartlett Warner wrote "Jesus loves me, this I know" in 1860 as a poem inside a novel she wrote with her sister. The composer William Bradbury gave it a tune soon after, and it became perhaps the best-known children's hymn in the world.
Its simplicity is its depth. A well-known story tells of the theologian Karl Barth summarizing the heart of his vast work in its opening words.
Read The Bible Tells Me So, volume XIV.
Abide with Me: a pastor's farewell
Henry Francis Lyte was vicar of Brixham, a fishing town in Devon, for many years. In 1847, seriously ill with tuberculosis, he preached his last sermon there and wrote "Abide with me; fast falls the eventide." He died weeks later on his way to warmer climates.
The hymn has been sung at countless funerals, and at national occasions, ever since.
O Thou Who Changest Not, volume XV, reflects on it.
God Moves in a Mysterious Way
William Cowper wrote this hymn in 1773, as another period of darkness closed in on him. It gave the English language one of its most familiar phrases, and the line "behind a frowning providence He hides a smiling face".
Read Behind a Frowning Providence, He Hides a Smiling Face, volume XVI.
My Jesus, I Love Thee: a teenager's confession
William Featherston is said to have written "My Jesus, I love thee, I know thou art mine" as a teenager in Montreal, around the time of his conversion. The tune now usually sung was composed by the American pastor A. J. Gordon. Few hymns are so simple and so personal.
If Ever I Loved Thee, My Jesus, 'Tis Now, volume XVII, reflects on it.
How Deep the Father's Love for Us: a modern hymn
In 1995, Stuart Townend, a worship leader in Brighton, set out to write a hymn with the theological depth of the great tradition. "How deep the Father's love for us" became one of the most widely sung modern hymns, proof that the story of hymn-writing is still being written.
Read To Make a Wretch His Treasure, volume XVIII.
Songs of the Redeemed: one hymn, one book
Every hymn above is the subject of a volume in Songs of the Redeemed by Elias Hartwell: eighteen devotional books that explore each hymn's history, the Scripture beneath it, and what it means for faith today.
Reading Songs of the Redeemed
- Buy single volumes, the first three, or the whole series from the series page.
- Read ebooks instantly in Oasis Reader, and highlight the lines that speak to you.
- Every volume is also available in paperback and hardcover.
In short
Great hymns rarely came from nowhere. They came from grief, illness, conversion, friendship and long nights of doubt, and they still speak because their writers were honest about all of it. Learn a hymn's story, and you will never sing it quite the same way again. For using hymns in daily devotions, read hymn devotionals: the stories behind great hymns.
Questions
Who wrote the most famous hymns?
Many of the best-loved hymns in English come from a handful of writers: Isaac Watts, Charles Wesley, William Cowper, John Newton and, in the nineteenth century, Fanny Crosby, who wrote thousands of hymn texts.
Is the Rock of Ages story true?
The story that Augustus Toplady wrote the hymn while sheltering from a storm in a cleft of rock in Somerset is popular but disputed. What is certain is that the hymn was published in the 1770s and became one of the most loved in English.
Why was What a Friend We Have in Jesus written?
Joseph Scriven wrote it as a poem for his mother, who was ill in Ireland while he lived in Canada, around 1855. It was published later, and became one of the world's best-known hymns.
Where can I read more about each hymn?
The Songs of the Redeemed series gives each hymn its own volume, with its history, the Scripture behind it and reflections for devotional reading.
Are these hymns still sung today?
Yes. All of the hymns in this guide are still widely sung in churches around the world, and several have modern arrangements.
Read the full story of each hymn
Songs of the Redeemed: 18 volumes, one hymn in each.