"'Tis So Sweet to Trust in Jesus" is a Christianhymn with music by William J. Kirkpatrick and lyrics by Louisa M. R. Stead.[1] The lyrics were written in 1882. They appeared in Stead's Songs of Triumph.
The song is included in many hymnals and has been recorded by many artists.
History
The lyrics to "'Tis So Sweet to Trust in Jesus" were written by Louisa M. R. Stead. Stead was born in Dover, England in 1850 and she converted to Christianity at the age of nine.[2] In 1871, at the age of 21, she immigrated to the United States, residing in Cincinnati, Ohio. That year, she attended a camp meeting in Urbana, Ohio where she felt the call of God to be a missionary to China, a call she had previously felt in her teenage years.[3] However, due to her health, she was unable to travel.[4] In 1875, four years later, she married and moved to New York City, where she had her daughter, Lily.[5]
When her daughter Lily was four years old, Stead and her family were visiting the Long Island Sound when they heard the frantic sounds of a drowning boy. Stead's husband jumped into the sound as an attempt save the child but, tragically, both died in the incident before both Stead and her daughter's eyes.[6] It is believed that this disaster provided the inspiration for the lyrics of the song.[7]
The hymn first appeared in Songs of Triumph, published in 1882 by the National Publishing Association for the Promotion of Holiness.[8] It was put to music by William J. Kirkpatrick, a Methodist gospel hymn writer who published over sixty hymnals.[9]
