Francis Harold Rowley wrote “I will sing the wondrous story.” He was born Jul 25, 1854 in Hilton, New York, the son of Dr. John Rowley and Mary Jane Smith. Rowley attended the University of Rochester and Rochester Theological Seminary. In 1878 he married Ida A. Babcock (1856–1940). He began his first pastorate in Titusville, Pennsylvania in that same year. Leaving Titusville, he went to North Adams, Massachusetts, where he served 1884-1892. It was here that he wrote this hymn (which appears to be the only hymn written by him). Rowley also pastored in Oak Park, Illinois, as well as Fall River and Boston in Massachusetts. He served as president of the Massachusetts Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals from 1910 to 1945. The Rowley School of Humanities (perhaps no longer extant or so named) at Oglethorpe University in Atlanta, Georgia, was named after him.[i] Francis Rowley died February 14, 1952 at the age of 97. He and his wife Ida are buried at the Mount Auburn Cemetery at Cambridge, Middlesex County, Massachusetts.
In September of 1947, preacher and hymnologist Armin Haeussler visited Francis Rowley in Boston. Rowley related to him this story of the origin of his hymn and its companion tune.
“We were having a revival at the First Baptist Church at North Adams, Mass., in 1886, the third year of my pastorate there, which was one of the richest and most blessed experiences of my entire ministry. I was assisted by a young Swiss musician named Peter Bilhorn who suggested that I write a hymn for which he would compose the music. The following night the hymn cam to me without any particular effort on my part. The tune by Bilhorn was long popular, but Hyfrydol has also found favor. Perhaps you know that your Hymnal is not the first one to use that Welsh tune. [Our Hymnal Committee had found the Hyfrydol setting in The Church Hymnary, 1927, No. 683.] This newer setting is entirely acceptable to me, but I do not like some of the text revisions made by some editors.”[ii]
The original hymn, in 8s.7s. meter, is as follows.
Of the Christ who died for me,
How he left his home in glory,
For the cross on Calvary.
Chorus:
Yes, I’ll sing the wondrous story
Of the Christ who died for me,
Sing it with the saints in glory,
Gathered by the crystal sea.
2. I was lost, but Jesus found me,
Found the sheep that went astray,
Raised me up and gently led me,
Back into the narrow way.
3. Faint was I, and fears possessed me,
Bruised was I from many a fall;
Hope was gone, and shame distressed me:
But his love has pardoned all.
4. Days of darkness still may meet me,
Sorrow’s path I oft may tread;
But his presence still is with me,
By his guiding hand I’m led.
5. He will keep me till the river
Rolls its waters at my feet;
Then he’ll bear me safely over,
Where the loved ones I shall meet.
This hymn was published in 1887 in both Sacred Song and Solos and Gospel Hymns No. 5, by Ira D. Sankey. The title was I will Sing the Wondrous Story, with Psalm 89:1 included underneath the title. “I will sing of the mercies of the Lord forever.”
Changes of which the author did not approve were made to the words. In our church tradition, and in most hymnals that I have used, the words are the altered words of Sankey – and the tune, often called Wondrous Story, is that written by Peter Philip Bilhorn.[iii] The first and last stanzas are the same as the original. The revised 2nd through 4th stanzas are as given below. (I am uncertain whether the chorus was written by Rowley, or added by Bilhorn; I have not read anyone comment on it.)
Found the sheep that went astray,
Threw his loving arms around me,
Drew me back into his way.
3. I was bruised, but Jesus healed me,
Faint was I, from many a fall,
Sight was gone, and fears possessed me,
But he freed me from them all.
4. Days of darkness still come o’er me,
Sorrow’s path I often tread,
But the Saviour still is with me,
By his hand I’m safely led.
Peter Philip Bilhorn was born in Mendota, LaSalle County, Illinois, on July 22, 1859, to Johann Georg F. Püllhorn (Billhorn) and Katherena Niehardt. His father died in 1862 during the War Between the States, when Peter was about 3 years old.[iv] Bilhorn was converted at a revival in 1883. Already a singer, he decided to leave the carriage works trade with his brother and pursue musical education, studying under George C. Stebbins and Frederick W. Root. As a singing evangelist, Bilhorn traveled with George F. Pentecost, D. L. Moody, J. Wilbur Chapman, and later Billy Sunday. He married Nellie May McCaughna in 1894. Bilhorn invented the telescope organ (a small lightweight organ that could be easily moved) and formed the Bilhorn Bros. Organ Company.
Peter Philip Bilhorn died December 13, 1936. He and his wife are buried at the Inglewood Park Cemetery in Inglewood, Los Angeles County, California.
[ii] Armin Haeussler. The Story of Our Hymns: The Handbook to the Hymnal of the Evangelical and Reformed Church, St. Louis, MO: Eden Publishing House, 1952, p. 470.
[iii] Hyfrydol by Rowland Hugh Prichard is a popular alternative tune for “I will sing the wondrous story.”
[iv] The 1860 census give his parents place of birth as Saxe-Meiningen. Some sources suggest that Bilhorn was not born until in 1865 after his father died, but this is incorrect. He appears in the 1860 LaSalle County census.
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