Ephesians 1:3
Words by Johnson Oatman, Jr., 1856-1922
Music by Edwin O. Excell, 1851-1921
This hymn certainly ranks as one of the most familiar numbers in
our hymnals. It is one of the songs that many of us first sang
with gusto during our early Sunday School days, yet one that we
still enjoy singing in our gospel type of services.
Rev. Johnson Oatman, Jr., was one of the important and prolific
gospel song writers of the late nineteenth and early twentieth
centuries. He was born near Medford, New Jersey, on April 21,
1856. As a child he became acquainted with the hymns of the
church through the singing talents of his father.
At the age of nineteen Oatman joined the Methodist Church and
several years later was granted a license to preach in local
Methodist congregations. Though he wrote over 5,000 hymn texts,
Oatman was busily engaged throughout his life in a mercantile
business and later as an administrator for a large insurance
company in New Jersey. Other gospel favorites by Johnson Oatman
include "Higher Ground", and
"No, Not One!"
"Count Your Blessings" is generally considered to be Oatman's
finest hymn. It first appeared in Songs for Young People,
compiled and published by Edwin O. Excell in 1897. It has been
sung all over the world. One writer has stated, "Like a beam of
sunlight it has brightened up the dark places of the earth."
Perhaps no American was ever received with such enthusiasm in
Great Britian as this hymn. The London Daily, in giving an
account of a meeting presided over by Gypsy Smith, reported,
"Mr. Smith announced the hymn 'Count Your Blessings.' Said he,
'In South London the men sing it, the boys whistle it, and the
women rock their babies to sleep on this hymn.'" During the
great revival in Wales it was one of the hymns sung at every
service along with such Welsh favorites as "Guide Me, O Thou
Great Jehovah" and "O That Will be Glory".
The composer of the music, E. O. Excell, is a well-known name in
early gospel hymnody. He was born in Stark County, Ohio, on
December 13, 1851. At the age of twenty he became a singing
teacher, traveling around the country establishing singing
schools. For twenty years he was associated with Sam Jones, a
well-known Southern revivalist. Excell was recognized as one of
the finest song leaders of his day. In addition to writing and
composing more than 2,000 gospel songs as well as publishing
about fifty songbooks, he administered a successful music
publishing business in Chicago. While assisting Gypsy Smith in
an evangelistic campaign in Louisville, Kentucky, in 1921, he
was suddenly stricken at the age of seventy and taken home to
join the immortal heavenly chorus.
The Remorse of Nine Ungrateful Lepers
Luke 17:11-19
Selected
"A thankful heart is not only the greatest virtue, but the
parent of all the other virtue."
Cicero
Quoted from "101 Hymn Stories" by Kenneth Osbeck. Kregel Publishers, P.O. Box 2607, Grand Rapids, MI 49501, 1982.
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