The Story Behind…
Blessed Assurance
Blessed assurance, Jesus is mine!
O what a foretaste of glory divine!
Heir of salvation, purchase of God,
Born of His Spirit, washed in His blood.
Perfect submission, perfect delight!
Visions of rapture now burst on my sight;
Angels descending bring from above
Echoes of mercy, whispers of Love.
Perfect submission, all is at rest,
I in my Saviour am happy and blest;
Watching and waiting, looking above,
Filled with His goodness, lost in His love.
Chorus
This is my story, this is my song,
Praising my Saviour all the day long;
This is my story, this is my song,
Praising my Saviour all the day long.
“My friend, Mrs. Knapp, composed a melody, and played it over to me two or three times on the piano,” wrote Fanny Crosby. “She then asked me what it said, and I immediately replied ‘Blessed Assurance.’” Within a few minutes Fanny Crosby had written the complete poem, just as it stands today, and the song was first published in 1873.
Mrs. Knapp’s maiden name was Phoebe Palmer. She was born in New York City on March 8, 1839. Her father was the noted Methodist evangelist, Dr. Walter C. Palmer. She attained a widespread reputation as a writer of music and verse, specializing in writing for children. At the age of sixteen she married Joseph Fairchild Knapp, a prominent Sunday School worker. A successful businessman, he became quite wealthy and organized the famous Metropolitan Life Insurance Company.
When Mr. Knapp died, he left his wife an income of fifty thousand dollars a year, the most of which she spent for religious and charitable activities. In her New York City home she had a beautiful pipe organ which at that time was the largest such instrument ever to be installed in a private home. She published more than five hundred of her own gospel song compositions, but “Blessed Assurance” is the only one which has survived. She died in Maine on July 10, 1908.