Born August 26, 1890, of Swedish Christian parents in Lowell, Massachusetts, Samuel Martin Miller was given to the Lord before his birth. One of nine children, he learned early to work at odd to help the family. Felling a call to the ministry, he entered Upsala College at Kenilworth, New Jersey, and graduated in 1910. Graduate study was at the Augustana Lutheran Rock Island Seminary minister in 1913, and he earned a D.D. at Upsala in 1926. Ordained a Lutheran minister in 1913, he served pastorates in Moline, Illinois; Minneapolis and St. Paul, Minnesota; Jamestown, New York; and Pierson, Florida. Much of his ministry was institutional; he spent 22 years at the Lutheran Bible Institute, Omaha. Retiring in 1955, he spent 5 years working for the Department of Evangelism, Augustana Lutheran Church. He died at Orange City, Minnesota, February 26,1973.

The author of a number of inspirational books, Miller also wrote articles and editorials for the Bible Banner, organ of the Lutheran Bible Institute. In 1936, while at the Bible Institute, he published a collection of songs entitled Jesus Only and other salvation, which contained “When Jesus Comes in Glory.” In the forward he said: “I am neither a poet nor a musician. The only excuse for publishing this little book of songs is that so many friends have asked for them. Then, too, I pray that they may truly be a testimony for the Lord Jesus Christ. I rejoice in the experience of the grace of God which had convicted me of sin, caused me to confess, opened my eyes to see that Christ has died for me, and helped me in faith to turn myself over to my Savior. These personal experience have caused little songs to sing in my heart, and I have at times been enabled to bring them out in the form here present.”

NORWICK was submitted for consideration by the music committee of Methodist Hymn Book, 1933, for the text “O Jesus I Have Promised,” and was accepted and printed with those words. The composer named it for the helmet where he lived at the time, in the Shetland Islands.                   

 Bertram Ernest Woods (1900-1982) was born in England, and began composing anthems, songs, and piano pieces at age 17. After training for the Methodist ministry, he was ordained in 1924 at Didsbury College. He served in the following circuits: Scarborough, North Isles, Swindon, Sunderland, at Glasgow Central Mission, and London Mission at Wandswoth Road. Other pastorates were at Brixton Hill and Redhill Circuit at Horley. Retiring in 1968, he lived at Penzance, Cornwall, England, until his death in 1982.

📖 Reference: Companion to the Seventh-day Adventist Hymnal by Wayne Hooper and Edward E. White. Review and Herald Publishing Association, 1988.