Videos & Stories Behind Hymns

In The Sweet By and By Hymn Story
In the Sweet By and By or The Sweet By and By is a collaboration between two friends Sanford Fillmore Bennett (1836-1898) and Joseph P Webster. Stanford Fillmore Bennett provided the words while his friend Joseph P Webster provided the music.

This song was the result of an incident in their lives as friends. The account is described in Sanford Fillmore Bennett’s autobiography.

Bennett says that his friend Joseph P Webster was a sensitive soul like most very talented musicians, unfortunately.

He suffered from bouts of depression now and then. This caused him to focus on the darker side of life and was, therefore, a troubled soul during those bouts of depression.

Bennett said he had studied these peculiarities in his friend's life and was quick to notice his mood changes. And as good friends should and do he offered a helping hand.

In his case, Bennett found that giving Webster a song to work on lifted his spirits.

In one such instance, Webster cam…

Origin of Wayfaring Stranger
This song has been around for over 200 hundred years blessing millions of Americans in both the secular and the religious world.
It is difficult if not impossible to pinpoint the exact origin of this North American folk song.
We have some historians saying that they can trace this song to the 1780s while others trace to the early 1800s.
Who Wrote Wayfaring Stranger
The jury is still out when it comes to the composer of the Wayfaring Stranger. Some people think that it is a reworked Negro spiritual.
Some think that it could have come the Portuguese colonialists.
Others think that it could be a reworked native song.
The fact is this song has now become one of the most loved gospel folk songs in America.
Many Versions of Wayfaring Stranger and Use by Secular Musicians
As with many folk songs, there are so many versions of this hymn floating around in America.
It has been adopted by musicians of all sorts of backgrounds to present their message to the world.
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The author of this sweet hymn, The Old Account Was Settled Long Ago is Frank M Graham. 
He hailed from Birmingham, Illinois and was born on March 1, 1859, and died on August 25, 1931, in Greensboro, Georgia.
He was a minister in the Methodist Church.
His many achievements included being one of the founders of the  Southern Wesleyan University in South Carolina
This hymn has an important message for all Christians. It presents to us what happens when a sinner accepts Christ as his personal savior.
All our sins are transferred to the account of Jesus when we repent and accept Christ as our personal account. He paid the debt on the cross and all we need to do is accept this offer of a pardon.
“He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him” (II Cor. 5:21).
Below are the lyrics of The Old Account Was Settled Long Ago.
1. There was a time on earth, when in the book of Heav’n An old account was standing for sins yet unforgiv’n; My name was a…