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“To God Be The Glory” with violin, orchestra, choir and Greg Howlett on concert piano.

With full respect to Fanny Crosby who wrote this beautiful hymn.

Fanny wrote “To God Be the  Glory” about 1872, and included it in a collection of hymns entitled Brightest and Best.  However, while many of the hymns in that  collection became quite famous, this one didn’t catch on –– at least, not in  America.

But Evangelist Ira Sankey  published the song in his Sacred Songs  and Solos, and took it with him to England.   It caught on well enough there to be included in several hymnals.

Then in 1954, Billy Graham went to  England for his London Crusade.  Someone  (almost certainly English) gave a copy of the song to Cliff Barrows, Graham’s  song leader, and suggested including it in the songbook that they were  compiling for the crusade.  Barrows had  heard the song on an earlier visit to England, and was impressed with its  strong note of praise –– so he included it in the songbook and used it in the  crusade.  The crowd responded so enthusiastically  that he sang it nearly every night.

Upon returning to the United  States, Graham and Barrows introduced the song to an American audience for the  first time at their Nashville Crusade.   Once again, the crowd responded enthusiastically, so Graham and Barrows  adopted the song as one of their standards.   Because of their influence, the compilers of hymnals began including it  in new hymnals.  It has become  sufficiently popular that I was surprised to learn that it had languished in  disuse for such a long time.

  • To God be the glory, great things He hath done, So loved He the world that He gave us His Son, Who yielded His life an atonement for sin, And opened the life gate that all may go in.Oh, perfect redemption, the purchase of blood, To every believer the promise of God; The vilest offender who truly believes, That moment from Jesus a pardon receives.
    • Refrain: Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, let the earth hear His voice! Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, let the people rejoice! Oh, come to the Father, through Jesus the Son, And give Him the glory, great things He hath done.
  • Great things He hath taught us, great things He hath done, And great our rejoicing through Jesus the Son; But purer, and higher, and greater will be Our wonder, our transport, when Jesus we see.

 

 

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