Inspiration for a Hymn - 1869
Pastor and hymnwriter Samuel Wolcott.
Introduction
On February 7, 1869 the YMCA held an evangelistic service in one of Cleveland’s Congregational churches. Clergyman Samuel Wolcott was struck by the motto they displayed in evergreen letters over the pulpit: “Christ for the World, and the World for Christ.” This suggested his hymn “Christ for the world we sing.”
“It was on my way home from this service in 1869, walking alone through the streets, that I put together the four stanzas of the hymn,” he wrote later. We reproduce the hymn below.
Quote
“Christ for the world we sing,
the world to Christ we bring,
with loving zeal;
the poor, and them that mourn,
the faint and overborne,
sin-sick and sorrow-worn,
whom Christ doth heal.
“Christ for the world we sing,
the world to Christ we bring,
with fervent prayer;
the wayward and the lost,
by restless passions tossed,
redeemed at countless cost,
from dark despair.
“Christ for the world we sing,
the world to Christ we bring,
with one accord;
with us the work to share,
with us reproach to dare,
with us the cross to bear,
for Christ our Lord.
“Christ for the world we sing,
the world to Christ we bring,
with joyful song;
the newborn souls, whose days,
reclaimed from error’s ways,
inspired with hope and praise,
to Christ belong.”
Price, Carl Fowler. One Hundred and One Hymn Stories. Abingdon, 1923.