A song of comfort and joy useful for the quiet hour. The presence of Jesus brings to the trusting soul a blessed quietness as it did to the disciples on the stormy lake when He awoke and spoke the word of peace (Mark 4:37-41).
No information has been traced concerning the author of the words, M. P. Ferguson, or the composer, W. S. Marshall, from whose work the tune is an arrangement.
480. Blessed assurance, Jesus is mine
Fanny J. Crosby, 1820-1915
Another of Fanny Crosby’s fine lyrics, sung the world over, in which is revealed the secret of the author’s own serene trust and cheerful faith. In her Memories of Eighty Years, Miss Crosby makes the following reference to this hymn:
Often I take in my mind some tune already well known as a model or, perhaps, more accurately speaking, as a guide, and work to it. This, however, does not imply that the tune will ultimately be chosen as the companion of the words; for it has probably already its own true and lawful mate, with which it is to be happy and useful. Sometimes a tune is furnished me for which to write the words. The hymn titled “Blessed Assurance” was made in this manner. My dear friend, Mrs. Joseph F. Knapp, so well-known as a writer and singer of most excellent music and as an aid and inspiration to all who knew her, had composed the tune; and it seemed to me one of the sweetest I had heard for a long time. She asked me to write a hymn for it, and I felt while bringing the words and tones together that the air and the hymn were intended for each other. In the many hundred times that I have heard it sung, this opinion has been more and more confirmed.
For comments on Fanny Crosby, see [Hymn 313].
MUSIC. ASSURANCE was written by Mrs. Joseph Fairchild Knapp, 1839-1908, the daughter of Dr. Walter and Mrs. Phoebe Palmer. Her husband was the founder of the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company in New York City. Both Mr. and Mrs. Knapp were members of the Methodist Episcopal church and gave much of their wealth to charitable and religious work. Mrs. Knapp, a close friend of Fanny Crosby, was an excellent singer, an accomplished organist, and an earnest Christian worker.
481. Sweet are the promises
Wm. A. Ogden, 1841-97