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Hymn History: Come, Thou Fount of Every Blessing Author: Robert Robinson “For disentangling a subject from confusion, for the power of development, for genuine simplification, for invention — what writer ever surpassed Robinson of Cambridge?” (Edwin Hatfield) The Origin of the Hymn “Come, Thou Fount of Every Blessing” Among the hymns that have stood the test of centuries, Read more...
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Hymn History: Beneath the Cross of Jesus & Author: Elizabeth Cecilia Clephane “She was one of those cheerful people who brighten every corner… Her friends called her ‘Sunbeam’.” (Diana Leagh Matthews) The Origin of the Hymn “Beneath the Cross of Jesus” Among the tender and reflective hymns of the Christian faith, few express such heartfelt devotion and gratitude for Read more...
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Hymn History: Come, Christians, Join to Sing & Author: Christian Henry Bateman “Children become adults, but all adults are still children… Perhaps Bateman wanted to tap into that well of joy that kids so easily gravitate toward, reminding us what joy we adults have…” (David Cain) The Origin of the Hymn “Come, Christians, Join to Sing” Among the most Read more...
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Hymn History: Revive Us Again & Author: William Paton Mackay “A Scottish physician turned Presbyterian minister, his journey from skepticism to faith captures the power of divine intervention and the timeless call for spiritual renewal.” (HymnCharts) The Origin of the Hymn “Revive Us Again” There are hymns that call forth the heart’s deepest longings for renewal, and among them, Read more...
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Governor Alexander Randall was afraid Abraham Lincoln might lose the 1860 presidential election. In that case, Wisconsin would secede from the Union to protest the pro-slavery administration. The Irish Union Guard opposed secession, and as a result the governor confiscated their weapons. To raise money for new weapons, they chartered the PS Lady Elgin on September 6, 1860, for a Read more...
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John Wilbur Chapman 1859 – 1918 Presbyterian evangelist, J. Wilbur Chapman was born in Indiana and educated at Oberlin College and Lane Seminary. He received the LL.D. degree from Heidelberg University. He held pastorates in Ohio, Indiana, New York, and Pennsylvania. He conducted evangelistic campaigns in Canada, Hawaii, the Fiji Islands, Australia, New Zealand, England, Scotland, Japan, Tasmania, and the Read more...
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Wikipedia: George Bennard was a native of Youngstown, Ohio, but was reared in Iowa. After his conversion in a Salvation Army meeting, he and his wife became brigade leaders before leaving the organization for the Methodist Church.[1] As a Methodist evangelist, Bennard wrote the first verse of “The Old Rugged Cross” in Albion, Michigan, in the fall of 1912[a] as Read more...
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Born November 27, 1862, Bloomfield, Iowa (birth name: Sarah Addison Pollard). Author of over 100 hymns and Gospel songs, Pollard was educated in Denmark, Iowa, Valparaiso, Indiana, at the Boston School of Oratory, and the Moody Bible Institute in Chicago, Illinois. She taught in Chicago, and at the Christian and Missionary Alliance Training School in New York. She worked for Read more...
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Thomas Obadiah Chisholm was born in a log house in Lake Spring (marked by the present Lake Spring Road) near Franklin, Kentucky, in 1866 – just after the Civil War. His boyhood was spent on a farm – and then at 16 he started teaching in the country schoolhouse he had attended. and in teaching district schools until he Read more...
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Watch our interview at the Ira Sankey Collection at the Lawrence County Historical Society on OCH Born in Edinburg, PA, to a Methodist family, Ira Sankey (1840-1908) loved music from an early age. At 16 he was saved at the King’s Chapel revival meetings. At 21 he volunteered for the Union in the Civil War. At 23, he married Fanny Read more...
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George Duffield Jr., came from a family of preachers. Jr. is a bit of a misnomer – he was the fifth such George Duffield. The first Duffield was a native of Belfast, the second was chaplain to the Continental Congress. The fourth was a Presbyterian minister, as was our subject, Duffield the Fifth. Interestingly he did not pass on his Read more...
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Ida Lilliard Reed (November 30, 1865 – July 8, 1951) was an American religious writer and music composer from West Virginia. Composer and author Ida L. Reed was born on a hilltop farm near Philippi on November 30, 1865. In the face of illnesses, family deaths, and constant poverty, she was a devout Methodist all her life. She wrote some Read more...
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Philip Bliss (1838-1876) is reported to be the second most famous hymnwriter in American history after Fanny Crosby, and if he would have lived as long as her, he may be even more famous. In Chautauqua, New York, he and his wife visited the Palestine Park. In 1863-64 he built his home in Rome, Pennsylvania. In 1965, it became the Read more...
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Her funeral was held at her church, now Golden Hill Methodist, close to downtown Bridgeport. She is buried in Mountain Grove Cemetery, built by her friend P.T. Barnum. Just down from Fanny’s grave you’ll see the statue of General Tom Thumb, and Barnum’s own grave. Fanny requested a simple grave, but forty years after her death, the townsfolk built a Read more...
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From Wholesome Words: Her funeral filled the church with friends. The choir sang her favorite song …”Faith of Our Fathers”…then, her own…”Safe in the Arms of Jesus”…and, “Saved By Grace.” Her minister, George M. Brown, of the Methodist church said it well: There must have been a royal welcome when this queen of sacred song burst the bonds of death Read more...
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This hymn is a uniquely Wisconsin hymn. The words were written by a pastor buried in Wisconsin, and set to music by a pastor born in Wisconsin. Rev. Warren D. Cornell was born in Michigan but left at 19 to teach and preach in Texas. At 23 he came to Wisconsin, where he’d spend the next 40 years of his Read more...
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Home of the composer Joseph Philbrick Webster, who wrote the music for the song “In the Sweet By and By” There’s a land that is fairer than day, And by faith we can see it afar; For the Father waits over the way To prepare us a dwelling place there. Refrain: In the sweet by and by, We shall Read more...
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Section 20, Lot 120 Author of Wonderful Grace of Jesus: 1. Wonderful grace of Jesus, Greater than all my sin; How shall my tongue describe it, Where shall its praise begin? Taking away my burden, Setting my spirit free; For the wonderful grace of Jesus reaches me. Refrain: Wonderful the matchless grace of Jesus, Deeper than the Read more...
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Hymn History: He Lives & Author: Alfred Henry Ackley “He once said, ‘The thought of His ever-living presence brought the music promptly and easily.’” (Bruce Creswell) The Origin of the Hymn “He Lives” (I Serve a Risen Savior) Few gospel hymns capture the joy and assurance of the resurrection as powerfully as “He Lives”, also known by its opening Read more...
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From Wikipedia: Upon receiving his degree in theology in 1882, Babcock became pastor of a church at Lockport, New York. He was described as having “an unusually brilliant intellect and stirring oratorical powers that commanded admiration, [that] won for him a foremost place among the favorites of his denomination”.[5] From 1887 to 1900, Babcock was senior minister of the prestigious Brown Read more...