Scripture Verse

Let us draw near to God with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith. Hebrews 10:21–22

Introduction

portrait
Phoebe P. Knapp
1839–1908

Words: Fan­ny Cros­by, 1873. My friend, Mrs. Jo­seph F. Knapp, com­posed a me­lo­dy and played it ov­er to me two or three times on the pi­ano. She then asked what it said. I re­plied, Bless­ed as­sur­ance, Je­sus is mine!

This hymn was sung in the Aca­de­my Award win­ning mo­vies Plac­es in the Heart (1984) & Trip to Boun­ti­ful (1985). Based on the num­ber of hym­nals in which it ap­pears (ov­er 850), this song is one of Fan­ny’s most po­pu­lar works.

Music: As­sur­ance Pho­ebe P. Knapp (🔊 pdf nwc).

portrait
Fanny Crosby
1820–1915

Background

During the re­cent war in the Trans­vaal [South Af­ri­ca], said a gen­tle­man at my meet­ing in Exe­ter Hall, Lon­don, in 1900, when the sol­diers go­ing to the front were pass­ing an­oth­er bo­dy of sol­diers whom they rec­og­nized, their greet­ings used to be, Four-nine-four, boys; four-nine-four; and the sa­lute would in­va­ri­ably be an­swered with Six fur­ther on, boys; six fur­ther on.

“The sig­ni­fi­cance of this was that, in ‘Sac­red Songs and So­los,’ a num­ber of co­pies of the small edi­tion of which had been sent to the front, num­ber 494 was, ‘God be with you till we meet again;’ and six fur­ther on than 494, or num­ber 500, was ‘Bless­ed As­sur­ance, Je­sus is mine.’

One of the most po­pu­lar and use­ful of the ‘Gos­pel Hymns,’ this was sung by a large de­le­ga­tion of Chris­tian En­dea­vor­ers on the train to Min­ne­apo­lis [Minnesota], some years ago. And it was oft­en sung at night as the street-cars were crowded with pas­seng­ers on their way to the Con­ven­tion Hall, great­ly to the de­light of the peo­ple of that ci­ty.

Sankey, p. 136–39

Lyrics

Blessèd as­sur­ance, Je­sus is mine!
O what a fore­taste of glo­ry di­vine!
Heir of sal­va­tion, pur­chase of God,
Born of His Spi­rit, washed in His blood.

Refrain

This is my sto­ry, this is my song,
Praising my Sav­ior, all the day long;
This is my sto­ry, this is my song,
Praising my Sav­ior, all the day long.

Perfect sub­mis­sion, per­fect de­light,
Visions of ra­pture now burst on my sight;
Angels des­cend­ing bring from above
Echoes of mer­cy, whis­pers of love.

Refrain

Perfect sub­mission, all is at rest
I in my Sav­ior am hap­py and blest,
Watching and wait­ing, look­ing above,
Filled with His good­ness, lost in His love.

Refrain