“I Want To Walk As A Child Of The Light”: A Journey of Discouragement and Comfort Within Christian Hymns

[This paper was written for the Hymns and Christian Tradition class at Capital University, where I am seeking a minor degree in religion.]

“I Want To Walk As A Child Of The Light”: A Journey of Discouragement and Comfort Within Christian Hymns

Many people over the years have used hymns to express pain or grief, as well as comfort that they have received from having faith in Jesus Christ.  This paper will focus on discouragement and comfort within Christian hymnology.  Several hymns will be analyzed by detailing how these hymns applied to the age they were written in, and how they can apply today.  Most of the hymns will be coming from the Evangelical Lutheran Worship hymnal, which is the official hymnal of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America.  Other hymns and songs will be cited accordingly.

In 1835, Charlotte Elliot was visiting with friends in West London.  Along with this group of friends, a minister named César Malan was in attendance.  Dr. Malan asked Elliot if she was a Christian.  Taking offense, Elliot told him that she would rather not talk about the subject.  Dr. Malan then stated that he hoped she would someday become a faithful worker in Christ.  Three weeks later, Elliot and Dr. Malan met once again.  Elliot mentioned that ever since their first encounter, she had been searching for a way to come to Christ.  Dr. Malan told her to “come to [Christ] just as you are.”  Shortly thereafter, Elliot wrote the text for the hymn, “Just As I Am, Without One Plea.”  Elliot had been experiencing some sort of anxiety because she didn’t know how to come to Christ.  This is reflected in the second verse, “Just as I am, though tossed about / with many a-conflict, many a-doubt, / fightings and fears within, without…”  (Evangelical Lutheran Worship 592).  After Jesus’ transfiguration, a man came to Jesus with a possessed son.  The man asked Jesus if he would heal the possessed son.  In the New International Version translation of Mark 9.24, Jesus responded with, “Everything is possible for him who believes.”  The man asked Jesus, “I do believe; help my unbelief.”  This is exactly what Elliot was asking Dr. Malan.  She wanted to believe in Christ.  Jesus said in Matthew 17.20, “Because you have so little faith, I tell you the truth, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there’ and it will move.  Nothing will be impossible for you.”  Elliot was able to come to Christ because she had the faith the size of a mustard seed.  She wanted to come to Jesus, and she was able to because of God’s generosity and kindness.

“Just As I Am Without One Plea,” has been such an inspiration to people, that many have imitated it.  According to John Julian, R.S. Cook wrote a hymn called, “Just As Thou Art, Without One Trace.”  Latin versions were also written, like, “Ut ego sum!  nec alia ratione utens,” and, “Tibi, quails sum, O Christe!”  This goes to show how much power a hymn that involves discouragement and comfort can have on someone.  In fact, Elliot’s own brother says, “In the course of a long ministry, I hope I have been permitted to see the fruits of my labours; but I feel far more has been done by a single hymn of my sister’s.” (Julian 609). 

William Cowper suffered from depression, most likely because the loss of several family members and friends within a short period of time, and the dread of appearing in public as a lawyer (Julian 265).  When Cowper was becoming more and more depressed, his friend, John Newton asked Cowper to help with his new hymn project called, Olney Hymns.  This was the same book that introduced the world to “Amazing Grace,” which was written by Newton ("William Cowper, Depressed Hymn Writer").  One night, Cowper had had enough with life, and decided to commit suicide.  He took a cab to the Thames River.   Because of fog, the driver got lost, and mysteriously ended up back at Cowper’s front doorstep.  Cowper went inside and wrote “God Moves In A Mysterious Way,” which details how God does things even when we are in our darkest times ("God Moves in a Mysterious Way”). 

However, if we want to delve deep into mind of the real William Cowper, we must look at another hymn of his.  “My Soul Is Sad and Much Dismayed” is a hymn written by Cowper in 1779 and published in Newton’s Olney Hymns.  Although this hymn is not in Evangelical Lutheran Worship, this hymn expresses great pain and emotion.  “My soul is sad and much dismayed / See, Lord, what legion of my foes, / With fierce Apollyon [devil] at their head / my heavenly pilgrimage oppose,” (“My Soul Is Sad And Much Dismayed”).  Going back to “God Moves In a Mysterious Way,” we may see that Cowper is telling the singer that God will use the singer to fight the devil: “Ye fearful saints, fresh courage take
/ The clouds ye so much dread
/ Are big with mercy and shall break
/ In blessings on your head.”  This brings comfort because God will be there through the storm, “ God moves in a mysterious way /
His wonders to perform /
He plants His footsteps in the sea
/ And rides upon the storm,” (Lutheran Book of Worship 483.)

As an example, my very own depression is very fitting for this topic.  I was baptized in the Lutheran church when I was still a baby, although I didn’t start attending church until I was about five years old.  My father tells me that I was the one who wanted to go to church with him, although I don’t recall this.  As far as I’m concerned, I’ve been going to church all my life now, even when I have doubted and went just because I had nothing better to do on Sunday morning.  I had serious doubts of faith back in high school.  I was spiraling into a deep, dark depression.  My former pastor was ousted from the church because of his     .  My own father’s health was quickly declining.  Abuse and bullying at school was having a detrimental affect on my mental health.  On September 17, 2008, I had had enough with life.  I swallowed a handful of ibuprofen pills in an attempt to end my life.  I was so lonely, and didn’t have any friends in the world to turn to.  I needed a friend to be there for me in my darkest hour.

Joseph Scriven was in the United States in 1855, while his mother was still in Ireland.  Scriven wrote “What A Friend We Have In Jesus” ten years after the start of the Irish potato famine of 1845 ("Irish Potato Famine: The Blight Begins”).  Although I won’t speculate, one can only imagine how much Scriven’s mother was starving at that time.  The second verse can be seen as comforting to Scriven’s mother, who might have been suffering because of the famine.  “Have we trails and temptations? / Is there trouble everywhere...Can we find a friend so faithful / who will all our sorrows share?”  Scriven then tells his mother, “Jesus knows our every weakness- / take it to the Lord in prayer.”  (Evangelical Lutheran Worship 742).  This verse is also comforting to the world today as modern day threats like threats of nuclear war by North Korea, homelessness, hate crimes, and starvation are running rampant. 

Of course, there never was a time in history that didn’t have any problems.  There never was a Mayberry, North Carolina, back in the “good-old-days.”  In fact, the first line of “O God, Our Help In Ages Past” deals with the past and future.  It goes, “O God, our help in ages past, / our hope for years to come.”  God has always been there, and he always will be there.  He was there when Jesus died.  He was there the Black Plague ruled the earth.  He was there when the Civil War broke out in America, when the Soviet Union pointed nuclear missiles at the United States, and when jumbo jet airplanes flew into buildings.  He’ll be there whenever there is conflict and trouble in this world.  He is, “Our shelter from the stormy blast, / and our eternal home.”  This hymn, a paraphrase of Psalm 90, speaks to us today, even though Isaac Watts wrote it in 1714 (“O God, Our Help in Ages Past”).  The last verse printed in Evangelical Lutheran Worship states, “…still be our guard while troubles last / and our eternal home.”  How do we know God will be there until the end?  We can look at Revelation 1:8.  God said, “I am the Alpha and the Omega…who is, and who was, and who is to come…”

These issues mentioned above are very frightening to many people, (including myself), and bring great anxiety and stress.  The first verse of “Healer Of Our Every Ill,” goes like this: “You who know our fears and sadness / grace us with your peace and gladness / spirit of all comfort, fill our hearts.”  (Evangelical Lutheran Worship 612).  Written as a prayer to God, this is probably the newest of the hymns listed in this paper.  Marty Haugen copyrighted this hymn in 1987, right at the tail end of the Cold War.  Mr. Haugen must have had both negative and positive emotions tugging at him when he wrote this hymn, as it changes between “sad sounding” during the verses and “happy sounding” during the chorus. 

“God can take my hand when I am tired, weak, and worn.”  This sentiment is stated in the hymn, “Precious Lord, Take My Hand,” which goes, “Precious Lord, take my hand / lead me on, let me stand. / I am tired, I am weak, I am worn. / Through the storm, through the night, lead me on to the light…” (Evangelical Lutheran Worship 773).  Many hymns of discouragement and comfort mention darkness and light, and the relationship between the two.  The theme for this year’s Capital University Christmas Festival was Shine!  Many of the songs that were sung involved light in some fashion.  Many of the songs that the Chordsmen, the all-male ensemble, did are being carried over into the spring concert season.  Songs like “Father of Light” and “Let There Be Light” are being sung again.  These songs are reminders that Christ is the light in the darkness, much like it is stated in Kathleen Thomerson’s 1970 hymn, “I Want To Walk As A Child Of The Light.”  This hymn, which can be sung as a children’s hymn, is very simple and easy to sing.  The text goes, “I want to walk as a child of the light / I want to follow Jesus. / God set the stars to give light to the world. / The star of my life is Jesus. / In him there is no darkness at all. / The night and the day are both alike. / The Lamb is the light of the city of God. / Shine in my heart, Lord Jesus.” (Evangelical Lutheran Worship 815).

One of the most popular children’s hymns has to be, “This Little Light of Mine,” which has been resurrected for the first time in a long time in Evangelical Lutheran Worship.  Many of Evangelical Lutheran Worship’s predecessors, Lutheran Book of Worship (1978), Service Book and Hymnal (1958), and American Lutheran Hymnal (1930), do not include this hymn.  Evangelical Lutheran Worship erroneously credits this song as being an African American spiritual, but both DailyKos member hairylarry states that Harry Dixon Loes wrote it in 1920.  Whoever wrote it; the hymn is still a great example of staying positive.  It’s saying, “I’m going to keep this little flame, (my faith), going no matter what.  It’s going to stay here, even when others try to hide it.”  The editors of Evangelical Lutheran Worship seem to try to make this song sound more like a hymn by removing some of the more popular verses, (“Hide it under a bushel. NO!...” “Don’t let Satan blow it out…”),  and add, “Ev’rywhere I go…” and, “Jesus gave it to me…”  (Evangelical Lutheran Worship 677).  On September 17, 2001, the late Odetta and the Boys Choir of Harlem sang “This Little Light Of Mine” on the Late Show with David Letterman.  This show was the first show broadcast after the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001.  This version is very uplifting, (which came after a teary Letterman described what he was thinking about the terrorist attacks by using an expletive word).  The fun that Odetta and the choir clearly had was such a pleasant surprise to a week full of grief.  In a video on YouTube, Odette is clearly seen dancing around, while the choir sways to the beat of the music.

In 2000, John Michael Montgomery released a song titled, “The Little Girl.”  Although the song is based on an urban legend (Mikkelson), the story is still heartbreaking and will bring tears to the eyes of the listener.  This girl mentioned in the song is the victim of a drug-addicted mother and alcoholic, abusive father.  One night, after witnessing the murder-suicide of her parents, the girl is found hiding behind her couch by the local townspeople.  She then goes to live with a foster family, or a “new mom and a new dad…” Her new foster family takes her to church.  During Sunday School, she looks up at a picture of a man on a cross and says, “I know that man up there on that cross /
I don't know His name
/ But I know He got off /
He was there in my old house / 
and held me close to His side /
As I hid there behind our couch
/ The night that my parents died,” ("John Michael Montgomery - The Little Girl”). 

Some hymns that deal with comfort offer support through the use of children.  “I Want To Walk As A Child Of The Light” is one of these hymns.  Jesus says in Mark 10.15, “…whoever does not receive the kingdom of God as a little child will by no means enter it.”  Adults today have to deal with the stresses of finances, bills, cooking food, and raising families.  Children don’t have to do that.  In fact, they do the opposite.  Their parents hopefully provide them with things they need.  With all these books, classes, blogs, and videos, it’s no wonder that only 43% of Americans attend church weekly or almost weekly (Newport).  I won’t speculate, but I do believe that some of the remaining 57% of those Americans who don’t regularly attend church don’t attend church because they feel they already know all the answers. The apostle Peter wrote in 1 Peter 5.6, “Humble yourselves, therefore, under God's mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time.”  Dan Edelen posted this on his blog on June 28, 2012, “One of the things that bothers me most about believers in today’s churches, especially Western churches, is our assumption of superiority…What is worse than a puffed-up Christian who thinks he knows everything—unless it is one who discounts the wisdom of those who went before him? And isn’t that what most blowhards do?”  We must be humble to Christ, because..

Children serve a special purpose for God’s work because Christ tells us to have a child-like faith.  Some of the best hymns are directed toward children.  The favorite, “Jesus Loves Me,” is probably the best answer to why Jesus loves us.  “The Bible tells me so.” (Evangelical Lutheran Worship 595).  Jesus had many encounters with children in the gospels.  He told his disciples to let the children come to him, and to have a child-like faith.  Jesus loved us enough to be hung on a cross for our sins.

 We should also love Jesus back, as he loved us.  “My Faith Looks Up To Thee” is a hymn written by Ray Palmer in 1830.   The third verse goes, “While life’s dark maze I tread / and griefs around me spread, / be thou my guide; / bid darkness turn to day, wipe sorrow’s tears away / nor let me ever stray from thee aside.”  (Evangelical Lutheran Worship 759).  Palmer wrote about his hymn, “I gave form to what I felt by writing, with little effort, the stanzas.  I recollect I wrote them with tender emotion and ended the last line with tears."  He kept his lyric in a notebook in his pocket for some time, before meeting Lowell Mason, who wrote the tune OLIVET to the text ("My Faith Looks up to Thee.” The Stories behind Famous Hymns.).  Dr. Palmer also told of a story involving his hymn during the Civil War.  Palmer describes that “six or eight Christian young men…met together in one of their tents for prayer…” decided that since they may not be living past the next battle, they were to write a testimony to future generations about what they were feeling at that moment, prior to being put “face-to-face with death.”  This group of young men decided to write out Palmer’s “My Faith Looks Up To Thee,” and sign all their names at the bottom.  Palmer says, “Of course, they did not all meet again,” (“My Faith Looks Up To Thee” Stories behind Famous Hymns).

Why is it necessary to look up to God and have faith in Jesus?  I believe the answer is found in the hymn, “This Is My Father’s World.”  This world doesn’t belong to man, although we have used and abused it to no end.  It belongs to God, the creator.  The last verse in Evangelical Lutheran Worship is, “This is my father’s world; / oh, let me not forget / that though the wrong seems oft so strong, God is the ruler yet…why should my heart be sad? / the Lord is king, let heaven ring / God reigns, let earth be glad!”  (Evangelical Lutheran Worship 824).  The author, Maltbie D. Babcock, wrote this poem after stating he was going to see his father’s world while hiking to the “escarpment,” an area near Lake Ontario (“This Is My Father’s World”).  God created all of this that we see around us everyday.  He created the trees, rocks, and rivers that we see as we drive around.  I find hiking to be a good way to help alleviate my anger and sadness.  I like hiking, climbing over downed trees, and avoiding puddles and streams.   Psalm 50.12 says, “For the world is mine, and all that is it.” 

God created the entire me.  I can’t answer if he created my depression or not, but I can say it makes him sad when I suffer.  David Limbaugh, while writing a response to the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting of last December, wrote, “God [who] was willing to suffer and sacrifice for us shows that He is a God who loves us and can relate to us (and to whom we can relate) through His own sufferings.”  I have never experienced the type of suffering the parents of dead children have to suffer.  The thought of having a child die in a school shooting is such a horrific thought.  I’ve never experienced a family member, let alone a child, murdered.  I have been on a jury for a murder trial, and I’ve seen the heartbreak and sadness in the eyes of the family members who were directly affected.  I believe we can be comforted in knowing that Jesus died for our sins.  Dr. Matthias Loy, one of the three “…anchors holding fast the ship of Lutheran Confessionalism during the ferocious storms of the Modernist-Fundamentalist Controversy,” (Fry 322), composed a hymn titled, “The Gospel Shows the Father’s Grace.”  (“Matthias Loy: 1828-1915”).  The fifth verse brings some comfort to those who mourn.  “It bears to all the tidings glad
/ And bids their hearts no more be sad; /
The heavy laden souls it cheers /
And banishes their guilty fears.”  (Evangelical Lutheran Hymnal 183). 

Dr. Loy was president of Capital University and Evangelical Lutheran Theological Seminary, (now Trinity Seminary), between 1880 and 1902.  C. George Fry writes that during this time, Loy, along with colleagues Charles Porterfield Krauth and C.F.W. Walther, were constantly battling a changing culture within the three Lutheran churches, (Loy being an ordained minister in the Ohio Synod, Krauth in the General Council, and Walther in the Missouri Synod).  Darwinism had taking root in the American mainstream culture.  Loy was stuck in the middle, between the liberal churchgoers, (or modernists), and fundamentalist churchgoers.  He considered himself orthodox.  He believed in teaching the things that are not subject to time instead of teaching today’s headlines.  He states about liberalism,

“Liberalism is…the religion of doubt and despair… Thousands are thus led to reject the doctrine of the Trinity…Incarnation…Vicarious Atonement…Real presence in the Holy Supper…Baptism…Resurrection of the body…It is not that these doctrines are not found in the words of Holy Scripture that leads to their rejection, but that human reason rejects the doctrines…(Fry 325).

Of course, Loy wasn’t too fond of fundamentalism either.  To him, fundamentalists hypocritically “taught redemption through behavior” instead of “salvation by grace,” (Fry 327).  In “The Gospel Shows The Father’s Grace,” Loy writes in the fourth verse, “It is the power of God to save / From sin and Satan and the grave; / It works the faith which firmly clings / To all the treasures which it brings.” (Evangelical Lutheran Hymnal 183).  As a Lutheran, he doesn’t believe in being saved by good works; he believes in being saved by God grace alone.   Dr. Loy must have been under a lot of pressure from the Ohio synod, which he was president of between 1860-1878, and 1880-1894 (Fry 319). 

The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, or ELCA, has been facing similar problems.  In recent years, the ELCA started losing many members and congregations.   Many are confused with what exactly went on during the 2007 and 2009 churchwide assemblies involving the homosexuality in the church.  During the 2007 churchwide assembly, the original vote to allow non-celibate homosexual pastors failed, but a vote was approved that allowed the church to not discipline pastors who violate the celibacy policy ("Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, Don’t Punish”).  In short, the ELCA officially can’t ordain homosexual pastors, but they will respect each individual church’s wishes to recognize same-sex relationships. 

I can’t help but wonder what Dr. Loy might have thought about issues like this one.  This has been a dark time over the ELCA.  Websites like ExposingTheELCA.com and some of the more vile bloggers on SteadfastLutherans.org attempt to discredit the ELCA and encourage people to leave the church.  Jesus said in Matthew 19:14, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.”  Charlotte Elliot, in, “Just As I Am, Without One Plea,” states in the third verse, “Just as I am, thou wilt receive, / wilt welcome, pardon, cleanse, relieve; because thy promise I believe, / O Lamb of God, I come, I come.” (Evangelical Lutheran Worship 592).  Elliot is telling us that Jesus is welcoming to all who come to him in repentance of sins, and believe and trust in him. 

Conflicts like these can have detrimental effects on someone’s health.  Verse three of hymn number 610 in Evangelical Lutheran Worship deals with the health.  In “O Christ, The Healer, We Have Come,” the writer, Frederick P. Green, writes, “In conflicts that destroy our health, / we diagnose the world's disease; / our common life declares our ills: / is there no cure, O Christ, for these?”  (Evangelical Lutheran Worship 610).  These conflicts within the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America have destroyed the health of the church.  Between 2008 and 2009, the church lost 90,850 members.  Between 2009 and 2010, the church lost 270,349 members (“ELCA Membership by Year”). 

As mentioned before, the recent threats by North Korea are pretty alarming.  Being in conflict with a nation that potentially has nuclear weapons can be detrimental.  The world’s nations were thrown into another great war in 1941.  The United States decided to use two nuclear devices on its enemy, the Japanese.  Nearly 140,000 people were killed instantly.  The devastation was so immense, the co-pilot of the Enola Gay, the bomber that delivered the bomb, even said, “My God.  What have we done?”  While Hiroshima is 1.12 million people strong today, the hibakusha, or the survivors of the bomb, are elderly and still scared of what might happen next.  They still tell their stories to younger generations in order to promote peace between nations (“Hiroshima and Nagasaki Remembered”).  It’s unfortunate that the only way to settle a dispute just might be war.  Martin Luther once wrote, “…when victory has been achieved, one should offer mercy and peace to those who surrender and humble themselves,” (Luther 124-125).  After the bombings, General MacArthur lead recovery and reform efforts within Japan (“Occupation and Reconstruction of Japan, 1945-52”).  If nations ever do get into conflict with each other, they need to promote peace and talk non-violently.  War should only be used as a last resort.   In Green’s hymn, the last verse reads, “Grant that we all, made one in faith, / in your community may find / the wholeness that, enriching us, / shall reach the whole of humankind.”  (Evangelical Lutheran Worship 610).  Green is writing a prayer to God to help bring peace to a turbulent and violent world, and bring unity to all.

After writing this essay, I believe “Just As I Am, Without One Plea,” may be the greatest hymn ever written.  It details the story and mind of a woman who, doubtful at first of Christ’s love, came to him just as she was.  Elliot states in the fourth verse, “Just as I am; thy love unknown / has broken ev’ry barrier down; / now to be thine, yea, thine alone…” (Evangelical Lutheran Worship 592).  No matter what conflict, doubts, depression, fighting, fears, or troubles there are in the world, the love of Jesus is still the strongest light in the world.  When Paul and Silas were imprisoned, as mentioned in Acts 16, a prison guard, who was about to commit suicide because several prisoners escaped under his watch, asked, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?”  They both replied with, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved.

Works Cited

Asiado, Tel. "This Is My Father's World." Suite101.com. N.p., 6 June 2008. Web. 29 Mar. 2013. <http://suite101.com/article/this-is-my-fathers-world-a56196>.

Bible Across America New International Version. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2009. Print.

"Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, Don’t Punish." GetReligion. Patheos, 14 Aug. 2007. Web. 03 Apr. 2013.

Edelens, Dan. "Humility in Light of the History of Christian Thought." Cerulean Sanctum. N.p., 28 June 2012. Web. 03 Apr. 2013.  

"ELCA Membership by Year - Evangelical Lutheran Church in America." ELCA Membership by Year - Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, n.d. Web. 07 Apr. 2013.

Evangelical Lutheran Hymnal. 3rd ed. Columbus: Lutheran Book Concern, 1908. Print.

Evangelical Lutheran Worship. Minneapolis, MN: Augsburg Fortress, 2006. Print.

Fry, C. George. "Matthais Loy: Theologian of American Lutheran Orthodoxy." The Springfielder 38.4 (1974): 320-33. Web. 3 Apr. 2013.

"God Moves in a Mysterious Way." God Moves in a Mysterious Way. N.p., n.d. Web. 29 Mar. 2013.

Hairylarry. "Daily Kos." : The New Sounds for Christ in Zimbabwe. Kos Media, LLC, 26 Oct. 2008. Web. 02 Apr. 2013. <http://www.dailykos.com/story/2008/10/26/642563/-The-New-Sounds-for-Christ-in-Zimbabwe-This-Little-Light-Of-Mine>.

"Hiroshima & Nagasaki Remembered." Hiroshima and Nagasaki Remembered: The Story of Hiroshima. AJ SOFTWARE & MULTIMEDIA, n.d. Web. 07 Apr. 2013.

"Irish Potato Famine: The Blight Begins." The History Place - Irish Potato Famine: The Blight Begins. The History Place, 2000. Web. 29 Mar. 2013.

"John Michael Montgomery - The Little Girl." YouTube. YouTube, LLC., n.d. Web. 29 Mar. 2013.

Julian, John. Dictionary of Hymnology: Origin and History of Christian Hymns and Hymnwriters of All Ages and Nations. Grand Rapids, MI: Kregel Publications, 1985. Print.

Julian, John. A Dictionary of Hymnology, Setting Forth the Origin and History of Christian Hymns of All Ages and Nations. New York: Dover Publications, 1957. Print.

"Just as I Am, Without One Plea." Just as I Am, Without One Plea. N.p., n.d. Web. 29 Mar. 2013.

Limbaugh, David. "God Suffers With Us." God Suffers With Us. The Free Republic, 18 Dec. 2012. Web. 29 Mar. 2013. <http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2969833/posts>.

Luther, Martin, Helmut T. Lehmann, and Walther Immanuel Brandt. Luther's Works. Philadelphia: Muhlenberg, 1962. Print.

Lutheran Book of Worship. Minneapolis: Augsburg Pub. House, 1978. Print.

"Matthias Loy 1828-1915." BLB Hymns. N.p., n.d. Web. 03 Apr. 2013.

Mikkelson, Barbara, and David P. Mikkelson. "Snopes.com: The Little Girl." Snopes.com: The Little Girl. N.p., 21 Feb. 2007. Web. 29 Mar. 2013.

"My Faith Looks Up to Thee." My Faith Looks Up to Thee. N.p., n.d. Web. 29 Mar. 2013.

"My Faith Looks up to Thee." The Stories behind Famous Hymns. N.p., n.d. Web. 02 Apr. 2013. <http://breadsite.org/hymnstories/myfaithlooksuptothee.htm>.

"My Soul Is Sad and Much Dismayed." My Soul Is Sad and Much Dismayed. N.p., n.d. Web. 29 Mar. 2013.

Newport, Frank. "Americans' Church Attendance Inches Up in 2010." Americans' Church Attendance Inches Up in 2010. Gallop, Inc., 25 June 2010. Web. 02 Apr. 2013.

"O God, Our Help in Ages Past." Hymnary.org. Hymn Society of the United States and Canada, n.d. Web. 29 Mar. 2013.

"Occupation and Reconstruction of Japan, 1945-52." U.S. Department Of State: Office Of The Historian. Office of the Historian, Bureau of Public Affairs, United States Department of State, n.d. Web. 7 Apr. 2013.

"Odetta and Boys Choir of Harlem on First Letterman Show after 9/11 "This Little Light of Mine"" YouTube. YouTube, 09 Sept. 2011. Web. 02 Apr. 2013.

"This Is My Father’s World." This Is My Father’s World. N.p., n.d. Web. 29 Mar. 2013.

"What a Friend We Have in Jesus." What a Friend We Have in Jesus. N.p., n.d. Web. 29 Mar. 2013.

"William Cowper, Depressed Hymn Writer." Christianity.com. Salem Web Network,    July 2007. Web. 29 Mar. 2013.             <http://www.christianity.com/church/church-   history/timeline/1701-       1800/william-cowper-depressed-hymn-writer-            11630214.html>.