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On Saturday evening, May 29, 1819, a pastor, Dean Shirley, had finished his sermon for the following day on global evangelism, but lacked a good ending. He mentioned the problem to his son-in-law, Reginald Heber, who immediately set to work and very quickly produced the poem. The poem was brought out and read to the family, but Heber was not satisfied with the verses and so retired again and soon returned with the final triumphant last verse.
Reginald Heber wrote this hymn in 1819 for a missionary service, when a suitable hymn could not be found. It was written within a few moments after some quite meditation, and this hymn has stood as the finest of missionary hymns ever since that day.
The hymn tune, “Missionary Hymn,” was specifically written for the poem in 1824, and like Heber, Lowell Mason composed the tune very quickly and easily.
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Sources
Paul Eckert, Steve Green's MIDI Hymnal: A Complete Toolkit for Personal Devotions and Corporate Worship., Electronic ed. (Bellingham, WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc., 1998). Words to “From Greenland’s Icy Mountains.”
Robert J. Morgan, Nelson's Annual Preacher's Sourcebook: 2002 Edition, electronic ed. (Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 2001), p. 150.
K.W. Osbeck, 101 Hymn Stories (Grand Rapids, Mich.: Kregel Publications, 1982), p. 79.
