1851–1921

Introduction

portrait
portrait

Born: De­cem­ber 13, 1851, Un­ion­town, Ohio.

Died: June 10, 1921, Wes­ley Hos­pi­tal, Chi­ca­go, Il­li­nois. He was on an ev­an­gel­ism tour with Gyp­sy Smith at the time of his death.

Buried: Oak Woods Ce­me­te­ry, Chi­ca­go, Il­li­nois.

portrait
illustration

Biography

Edwin was the son of Jo­shua J. Ex­cell, a Ger­man Re­formed Church pas­tor, and Emi­ly O. Hess, and hus­band of Eli­za Jane Bell (mar­ried 1871).

He start­ed his work­ing life as a brick­lay­er and plas­ter­er. His love of mu­sic called, though, and he went to Chi­ca­go, Il­li­nois, to stu­dy un­der George Root.

Excell lat­er found­ed sing­ing schools at va­ri­ous lo­ca­tions in Am­eri­ca, and ex­pand­ed in­to the re­li­gious field, work­ing with ev­an­gel­ist Sam Jones for two dec­ades.

Excell worked at a mu­sic pub­lish­ing house in Chi­ca­go, and wrote ov­er 2,000 Gos­pel songs.

Works

Sources

Lyrics

  1. By Faith the Lamb of God I See
  2. Come to the Sav­ior
  3. Give Me Wel­come
  4. Grace, Enough for Me
  5. Hear the Sav­ior Sweet­ly Saying
  6. Hear You Not the Voice of Je­sus?
  7. Hiding
  8. His Love Is All I Need
  9. I Am Hap­py in Him
  10. I Need Thee, Gra­cious One
  11. I Was Out on the Ocean Sail­ing
  12. In Look­ing Through My Tears One Day
  13. In Vain I’ve Tried a Thou­sand Ways
  14. Jesus In­vit­ed Me to Come un­to Him
  15. Jesus Is a Friend of Mine
  16. Jesus Is Wait­ing to Save
  17. Keep Me at the Foot of the Cross
  18. Knocking, Knock­ing with Pierced Hands
  19. Little Bit of Love, A
  20. Love of Je­sus, Who Can Tell, The
  21. I’ve Washed My Robes
  22. My Soul Is So Happy in Je­sus
  23. O Make Me Pure
  24. Praise His Ho­ly Name
  25. Praise Ye the Fa­ther
  26. See Je­ho­vah’s Ban­ner Furled
  27. Since I Have Been Re­deemed
  28. To Thee, Our Own, Our Native Land
  29. We Shall Stand Be­fore the King
  30. We’re Go­ing Home, We’ll Soon Be There
  31. What Will You Do?
  32. Will You Be Washed in the Blood?
  33. Will You Meet Me?

Music

  1. Book Di­vine
  2. Borno
  3. California
  4. Count Your Bless­ings
  5. Escondido
  6. Everybody May Know
  7. Freehold
  8. Gifts of God, The
  9. God’s Ho­ly Book
  10. Golden Shore, The
  11. Good Old-Fa­shioned Way, The
  12. Heaven’s Har­bor
  13. His Glo­ry Fills My Soul
  14. His Love Can Nev­er Fail
  15. Hope Set Be­fore You, The
  16. I Come to Thee
  17. I Do, Don’t You?
  18. I Saw One Hang­ing on a Tree
  19. I Will Fol­low Thee
  20. Iconium
  21. I’ll Be a Sun­beam
  22. In the Sha­dow of His Wings
  23. Jesus Bids Us Shine
  24. Let Him In
  25. Never Lose Sight of Je­sus
  26. Offering, The
  27. Omsk
  28. Sarasota
  29. Saratoga
  30. Scatter Sun­shine
  31. Sleep, My Lit­tle One, Sleep
  32. Someone Who Knows
  33. Spend One Hour with Je­sus
  34. That Old, Old Sto­ry Is True
  35. That Sweet Sto­ry
  36. ’Tis for You and Me
  37. Tyumen
  38. Volgograd
  39. What Would Je­sus Do?
  40. Why I Love Je­sus
  41. Will Your Heart Ring True?
  42. Your Best Friend Is Al­ways Near