This hymn poem, written by Phoebe Palmer (1807-1874), relates the cleansing of sin by Jesus’ blood to the act of being baptized by water and the beginning of a new life in Christ. She bases the words of the refrain on 1 john 1:7: “The blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin.”

     Mrs. Phoebe Palmer, of Boston, Massachusetts, and later of New York, was a Methodist who was converted to the Millerite doctrine of the Second Advent by Charles Fitch prior to 1844. The latter was particularly afraid that he would lose the friendship of Mrs. Palmer and her evangelist husband, Dr. Walter C. Palmer, because of the unpopular doctrine he was preaching. Mrs. Palmer survived the disappointment of 1844 and later wrote SDAH 598, “Watch, Ye Saints.”

The tune, sometimes called CLEANSING WAVE, was composed by her daughter and namesake, Phoebe Palmer, who was born March 9, 1839, in New York City and showed great musical talent at an early age. At 16 she married Joseph F. Knapp, a Christian businessman who later founded the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company of New York. They became active members of the John Street Methodist Church, where she was a singer and organist. Mrs. Knapp collaborated in song writing with Fanny Crosby, who was also a member there. Knapp died in 1891, leaving his wife an annual income of $50,000, a good portion of which she gave to charitable causes. In her beautiful apartment in New York’s Hotel Savoy, she had installed the largest pipe organ to be in a private home up to that time. Her son, Joseph, turn out to be a famous as the head of Crowell-Collier Publishing Company. She composed more than 500 gospel songs, including the favorite solo “Open the Gates of the Temple,” the words of which were written by her good friend, Fanny Crosby. Together they also wrote SDAH 462. “Blessed Assurance.” Phoebe Palmer-Knapp died at Poland Springs, Maine, on July 10, 1908.