The Ninety and Nine - and the One

Matthew 18:11-13 For the Son of man is come to save that which was lost. How think ye? if a man have an hundred sheep, and one of them be gone astray, doth he not leave the ninety and nine, and goeth into the mountains, and seeketh that which is gone astray? And if so be that he find it, verily I say unto you, he rejoiceth more of that sheep, than of the ninety and nine which went not astray. (See also Luke 15:3-7.)

A song connected to these texts uses the hymn below, by Elizabeth C. Clephane.The title and tune name most commonly used is The Ninety and Nine, but sometimes it is titled by the first line, There Were Ninety and Nine.

1. There were ninety and nine that safely lay
In the shelter of the fold,
But one was out on the hills away,
Far off from the gates of gold–
Away on the mountains wild and bare,
Away from the tender Shepherd’s care
.
2. “Lord, Thou hast here Thy ninety and nine;
Are they not enough for Thee?”
But the Shepherd made answer: “This of mine
Has wandered away from me;
And although the road be rough and steep,
I go to the desert to find my sheep.”

3. But none of the ransomed ever knew
How deep were the waters crossed;
Nor how dark was the night the Lord passed thro’
Ere He found His sheep that was lost.
Out in the desert He heard its cry–
So sick and helpless and ready to die.

4. “Lord, whence are those blood-drops all the way
That mark out the mountain’s track?”
“They were shed for one who had gone astray
Ere the Shepherd could bring him back.”
“Lord, whence are Thy hands so rent and torn?”
“They are pierced tonight by many a thorn.”

5. And all through the mountains, thunder-riven,
And up from the rocky steep,
There arose a glad cry to the gate of heaven,
“Rejoice! I have found my sheep!”
And the angels echoed around the throne,
“Rejoice, for the Lord brings back His own!”

In singing, the last line is repeated, so that it is sung twice for emphasis.

This song was not part of my repertoire growing up. Old Prospect called me as pastor in 1983. They had a book that includes this song. A family member who lived away but often visited the church loved this song, and often sung it. So I became familiar with it in that manner. All these years later, this man lives nearby. He leads the song for us sometimes when our regular song leaders are not present.

According to John Julian, the author of the hymn is Elizabeth Cecilia Clephane. She was a daughter of Andrew Clephane, Sheriff of Fife, and Anna Marie Douglas. Elizabeth was born at Edinburgh, June 18, 1830, and died in her 39th year, at Bridgend House, near Melrose, Feb. 19, 1869. She was a member of the Church of Scotland, and was buried at the Saint Cuthbert’s Churchyard in Edinburgh, Scotland. Julian says almost all of her hymns appeared in the periodical Family Treasury. Nine of them were published over a two year period, under the general title Breathings on the Border. Of these, the hymn below and “Beneath the cross of Jesus” are the best known. William Arnot of Edinburgh, editor of the Family Treasury, wrote this concerning her hymns when first publishing some of them—

“These lines express the experiences, the hopes, and the longings of a young Christian lately released. Written on the very edge of this life, with the better land fully, in the view of faith, they seem to us footsteps printed on the sands of Time, where these sands touch the ocean of Eternity. These footprints of one whom the Good Shepherd led through the wilderness into rest, may, with God’s blessing, contribute to comfort and direct succeeding pilgrims.”

Some sources say the hymn was written in 1868, but other sources give as early as 1851. It was published posthumously in the Family Treasury around 1873 or 1874. The meter of the hymn is irregular, and (so far as I know) only sung with the tune written for it by Ira D. Sankey.

Ira David Sankey was a colleague of Dwight L. Moody, serving as a song leader and soloist in Moody’s revival campaigns. He was also a songwriter and music publisher. Sankey was born in Pennsylvania in 1840, the son of David Sankey and Mary Leeper. He served in the Union Army during the War Between the United and Confederate States. Sankey married Frances Victoria Edwards in 1863, and they had several children. Ira Sankey first discovered the poetry “The Ninety and Nine” in a London religious newspaper, and clipped it for his musical scrapbook. He first sang the song after a sermon by Moody on “The Good Shepherd” (A Full History of the Wonderful Career of Moody and Sankey in Great Britain and America, pp. 256-257). Ira D. Sankey died in New York on August 13, 1908. After funeral services, his body was laid to await the resurrection in Green-Wood Cemetery of Brooklyn, New York.