Hymn Story, on BLESSED ASSURANCE, by William Petersen

Fanny Crosby wrote more than eight thousand hymns and used more than two hundred pen names. Under contract to a music publisher, she wrote three new hymns each week during much of her adult life. The fact that she was blind didn’t diminish her productivity. She would formulate an entire song in her mind and then dictate it to a friend or a secretary.  

One of her good friends was Phoebe Palmer Knapp, wife of the founder of Metropolitan Life Insurance Company. One time when Knapp came to Brooklyn to see Crosby, she brought a tune with her that she had composed. “Play it for me on the organ,” Crosby requested. Knapp did and then asked, “What does this tune say?” She turned to see Crosby kneeling in prayer. Knapp played it a second time and then a third. Finally, the blind woman responded, “That says, ‘Blessed assurance, Jesus is mine! O what a foretaste of glory divine!’”

Scriptures: Romans 8:1,16-17; 2 Timothy 1:12; Hebrews 10:18-20; 1 John 5:13

Themes: Assurance, Submission, Praise, Salvation 

Lyrics of the Hymn:

Blessed 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.

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. 

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. 

By FANNY JANE CROSBY (1820–1915)

Reference for the Hymn:

Petersen, William. The Complete Book of Hymns (p. 94). Tyndale House Publishers. Kindle Edition.