’Tis so sweet to trust in Jesus

’Tis so sweet to trust in Jesus. Louisa M.R. Stead* (1846–1917).  Though the circumstances cannot be verified, a general consensus is that this hymn was composed in response to the drowning of the author’s first husband in 1876, off the coast of Long Island, New York, when he attempted to rescue a floundering boy. The hymn appeared in four stanzas in Songs of Triumph (Philadelphia, 1882), No. 46, compiled by Rev. John S. Inskip (1816–1884), where it was paired with a tune by William J. Kirkpatrick*. A refrain was added to the four stanzas. Kenneth W. Osbeck* suggests (p. 287) that the hymn is based on Ephesians 1:12–13: ‘That we should be to the praise of his glory, who first trusted in...