I Surrender All: A Song History

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"I Surrender All" pairs words by Judson W. Van DeVenter with music by Winfield S. Weeden, and Hymnary.org dates the text to 1896, noting that words and music were first printed together that year in Gospel Songs of Grace and Glory.[1] The Hymnology Archive gives that book's publisher as Sebring Publishing of New York, and cites Van DeVenter's own account that the hymn was written in George Sebring's home while he was leading a meeting at East Palestine, Ohio.[2]

Painting of an old woman praying by candlelight with a rosary in her hands

Matthias Stom, Old Woman Praying, oil on canvas, late 1630s or early 1640s. Shown for its subject; it has no connection to the hymn.

Van DeVenter (1855–1939) grew up on a farm near Dundee, Michigan, graduated from Hillsdale College, and taught art in the public schools of Sharon, Pennsylvania.[3] According to the Discipleship Ministries history of the hymn, he was an active Methodist Episcopal layman who took part in his church's revivals; friends pressed him to give up the classroom for evangelism, a step he weighed for five years before taking it, and his later ministry reached various parts of the United States as well as England and Scotland.[3] Hymnary.org calls him "a painter turned evangelist" and notes that he wrote the hymn to mark the moment he dedicated his life to Christian service.[1] Weeden (1847–1908), born in Middleport, Ohio, taught singing schools and assisted Van DeVenter in his evangelistic work.[4]

The Hymnology Archive reports that Weeden made his own Edison cylinder recording of the song in 1897 and that it was taken into Pentecostal Hymns No. 2 in 1898.[2] The Discography of American Historical Recordings lists a 1906 Victor recording by bass William F. Hooley, though it marks the session date as unconfirmed.[5] Billy Graham later named Van DeVenter as an influence on his early preaching, and the hymn appears in The United Methodist Hymnal as No. 354.[3] Hymnary.org counts it in more than 400 hymnals.[1] Larry Conger includes it in Hymns Of Faith For Mountain Dulcimer, a mountain dulcimer collection ranging from famous hymns to less familiar ones, published by Fingers Of Steel.[6]

Our book that contains the song "I Surrender All"

Sources

  1. Hymnary.org: "All to Jesus I surrender".
  2. Hymnology Archive: "I Surrender All".
  3. Discipleship Ministries: "History of Hymns: 'I Surrender All'".
  4. Hymnary.org: "SURRENDER (Weeden)".
  5. Discography of American Historical Recordings: "Victor matrix B-3813. I surrender all / William F. Hooley".
  6. Fingers Of Steel: "Larry Conger, Hymns Of Faith Tab Book".
  7. Image: Matthias Stom, Old Woman Praying, oil on canvas, late 1630s or early 1640s. The Metropolitan Museum of Art.

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