The key thought of these words is: “They overcame him by the blood of the Lamb” (Rev.12:11). Both words and music of this spirited gospel song were written while Jones was attending a camp meeting at Mountain Lake Park, Maryland. H. L. Gilmour (see SDAH 368) liked it well enough to purchase the song and included it in Songs of Praise and Victory, 1899, which he compiled with William J. Kirkpatrick (see Biographies).

Lewis Edgar Jones was born February 8, 1865, at Yates City, Illinois. He went to school with Billy Sunday, the famous evangelist at Moody Bible Institute, Chicago. After graduation, Jones spent most of his life working for the YMCA, serving in Davenport, Iowa; Fort Worth, Texas; and Santa Barbara, California. He died at the latter place on September 1, 1936, 11 years after his retirement. Writing both words and music of songs and hymns was ongoing hobby with Jones; many of his works were published under the pseudonyms Lewis Edgar, Edgar Lewis, and Mary Slater.

This song is typical of thousands written around the turn of the century. They have utterly simple harmonic patterns, melodies that use the notes of the primary chords, and spritely rhythm.

In the book Charles M. Alexander, A Romance of Song and Soul Winning, by Helen C. Alexander and J. Kennedy Maclean, this story is told: In 1909, evangelist J. Wilbur Chapman, with singing evangelist Charles Alexander, was holding meetings in the Great Exhibition Hall, Melbourne, Australia. On “Alexander Night,” the three-hour festival of song under the great singing evangelist’s magic direction, there were some 10,000 people in the audience and 1,200 in the choir. Reporter W. A. Somerset Shum wrote vivid, sparkling descriptions of what happened for the paper The Southern Cross. His report included the following: “The eyes of the conductor are now upon a lady in a wheelchair in front. ‘And what hymn would you like?’ he asked sympathetically. She chooses ‘Power in the blood.’ ‘We used to make this old building ring with that seven years ago. Sing the chorus, choir: “There is power, power, wonder-working power.” ‘The word ‘power’ vibrates and echoes. ‘Do you want another verse?’ and the invalid smiles back her wish. The verse is sung. ‘You’ve got them to sing better than I did.’ How many hours will be cheered for her in the long days by the memory of this night!”

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