Oh, sing to the Lord a new song!
Sing to the Lord, all the earth.
Sing to the Lord, bless His name;
Proclaim the good news of His salvation from day to day. Psalms 96:1-2, NKJV
Did you ever wonder what inspired all the old hymns? There's one I've known since I don't remember when--probably before I asked Jesus into my life. I remember singing it to my two sons when they were just born--probably not to my daughter, since that was pre-Jesus for me.
Jesus loves me, this I know, for the Bible tells me so.
We sang this song in church this morning. I wondered if I could find out who the songwriter was and why the song was written, and I found the answers on the sharefaith.com website. It seems the song was written by Anna Bartlett Warner at the request of her sister, Susan Bogert Warner.
The two sisters were authors during the nineteenth century, writing Christian children's books, novels, and songs--sometimes together. (They wrote under the pen names of Amy Lothrop and Elizabeth Wetherall, respectively.)
As Susan wrote the novel Say and Seal, one of her characters was supposed to sing a song to a dying child, and she asked Anna to write one. She did.
After the book was published, William Batchelder Bradbury read it and was so inspired by the words to the song therein that he wrote the music for this, probably the most memorable and possibly most popular children's hymn in the book.
If you'd like to listen to the song, click HERE. And, if you'd like to read the book, it's available on AMAZON.
Lord, Thanks for the reminder that we can come to You at any age and know You love us. Amen.
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