Christ For the World We Sing Lyrics
Samuel Wolcott
1 Christ for the world we sing;
the world to Christ we bring
with loving zeal:
the poor and them that mourn,
the faint and overborne,
sin-sick and sorrow worn,
whom Christ doth heal.
2 Christ for the world we sing;
the world to Christ we bring
with fervent pray’r:
the wayward and the lost,
by restless passions tossed,
redeemed at countless cost
from dark despair.
3 Christ for the world we sing;
the world to Christ we bring
with one accord:
with us the work to share,
with us reproach to dare,
with us the cross to bear,
for Christ our Lord.
4 Christ for the world we sing;
the world to Christ we bring
with joyful song:
the newborn souls whose days,
reclaimed from error’s ways,
inspired with hope and praise,
to Christ belong.
For more stories and lyrics visit popular and old hymns history and lyrics.
Hallelujah We Shall Rise Hymn Lyrics and Story
God Leads Us Along Hymn History and Lyrics
In The Garden / I Come to the Garden Alone Hymn
Christ For the World We Sing Story
THE influence of a motto or slogan when used as a rallying cry in a campaign can scarcely be measured.
Many a political election has been determined by the popularity of some striking phrase.
In many a war an army has been inspired by a battle cry, such as, “On to Richmond!” We all know the inspiration of the “Look up! Lift up!” motto in Epworth League work, and of “The Evangelization of the World in this Generation” in missionary work.
This hymn was suggested and partly inspired by just such a motto, which had been adopted by the Young Men’s Christian Association of Ohio.
And at their meeting on February 7, 1869, this motto was woven into a legend of evergreen letters over the pulpit of the church where they met: “CHRIST FOR THE WORLD AND THE WORLD FOR CHRIST.”
There was a clergyman in attendance upon that meeting, a native of South Windsor, Connecticut, by the name of Dr. Samuel Wolcott.
He had been a missionary to Syria and pastor of several Congregational churches in New England and elsewhere.
He was nearly fifty-six years old, and though he had not done much hymn-writing up to that time, before he died seventeen years later, he had written over two hundred hymns.
So impressed was he on this occasion by the motto, and by all that was said and done during the meeting to reenforce it, that on his way home from the service, walking through the streets, he composed the hymn, “Christ for the world we sing.”