To God be the Glory

The creator of ChristianMedia.ca gives glory to God for this web project. Connections have been made, encouragement received, prayer support provided and new friends have been made through this project. So we say "To God be the Glory".

To God be the Glory:The Hymn

Words: Fanny Crosby Music: William H. Doane, pub.1875 (Chicago, Illinois: Biglow & Main, 1875)

Scripture: Galatians 1:4-5

To God be the glory, great things He has done,
So loved He the world that He gave us His Son,
Who yielded His life an atonement for sin,
And opened the life gate that all may go in.

Refrain

Praise the Lord, praise the Lord,
Let the earth hear His voice!
Praise the Lord, praise the Lord,
Let the people rejoice!
O come to the Father, through Jesus the Son,
And give Him the glory, great things He has done.

O perfect redemption, the purchase of blood,
To every believer the promise of God;
The vilest offender who truly believes,
That moment from Jesus a pardon receives.

Refrain

Great things He has taught us, great things He has done,
And great our rejoicing through Jesus the Son;
But purer, and higher, and greater will be
Our wonder, our transport, when Jesus we see.

Refrain

sheet music (PDF)

Fanny Crosby wrote the lyrics To God be the Glory

Frances Jane Crosby (March 24 1820 – February 12 1915) usually known as Fanny Crosby, was an American lyricist best known for her Protestant Christian hymns. A lifelong Methodist, she was one of the most prolific hymnists in history, writing over 8,000 despite being blind from shortly after birth. Since some publishers were hesitant to have so many hymns by one person in their hymnals, Crosby used nearly 100 different pseudonyms during her career.

Fanny Crosby was born in Southeast, Putnam County, New York to poor parents, John and Mercy Crosby. At six weeks old, she caught cold and developed inflammation of the eyes. The family physician was not available, and the man who came in his place recommended hot poultices as treatment. The botched procedure blinded her.

She composed her poems and hymns entirely in her mind and then dictated them to someone else. She was said to work mentally on as many as twelve hymns at once before dictating them all out.

Crosby is buried in Mountain Grove Cemetery, Bridgeport, Connecticut. She was inducted into the Gospel Music Hall of Fame in 1975.

Sources

Rediscovering To God be the Glory in 1954

"We introduced the hymn "To God be the Glory" in 1954 during the early days of our Billy Graham Crusade meetings in Harringay Area, England. As a result, Billy Graham asked that we repeat it often because he was impressed with the enthusiastic participation of the audience. In the closing weeks of the crusade it became our theme hymn, repeated almost every night.
The words well expressed our praise to God, who was doing wondrous things in Britain. Of all the songs that have been popularized through crusade activity, we are most happy about this one." — Cliff Barrows, Music Director for the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association

Soli Deo Gloria

Johannes Sebastian Bach's greatest motivation in composing his music was his deep awe and love for God.

Bach, according to his biographers, was a profoundly religious man. Bitter, a nineteenth century biographer, wrote that Bach was a, "Sincere Christian" and that, "His deep religious feeling is shown throughout his life"(Leaver, 1985, 13). It is also a well established fact that Bach was a zealous Lutheran who made evangelical Christianity a central part of his life. Because of his zeal for Christianity he has been referred to as "The fifth evangelist"

Being an Orthodox Lutheran, Bach had a profound love for the Bible. By the extensive notes that he wrote beside many scriptural passages in his Bible, we can deduce that he was a serious and reflective student of the Scriptures.

Unknown to most is Bach’s view of music. His belief was that music was to be composed to give glory to God, as well as for pleasant recreation. In fact, it was his custom to write, "Soli Deo Gloria,"(Only to God be the glory), at the end of many of his works.

He completed over 1000 pieces, and was the all time church cantata champion, churning out on for every Sunday and feast day in the calendar.

Bach inspired Beethoven and Schumann. Stravinsky apparently began his every composing day by playing something out of the Well Tempered Claviere, just to get his ideas going. Twentieth Century jazz musicians use blue notes, rumba rhythms, and the tension and release of counterpoint. These are all techniques that give us a flashback to the work of Bach.

Bach was without doubt one of the greatest composers of all time. Yet, in spite of his greatness, he humbled his great genius before the Creator to whom he dedicated most of his masterpieces. As a result, for the past three centuries. much glory has gone to that great God, through the delight and inspiration that millions have experienced in listening to his music.

Sources:

To God be the Glory

Contents