Horatius Bonar (1808-1889; see SDAH 79) is considered the greatest of the Scottish hymn writers. No other has approached him in number and popularity of hymns.  He was the great lover of children, and wrote these words (thought to be his first or second hymn) in order to provide something they could easily sing and understand in the divine worship service. It was written about 1834 in four-line stanzas; it was revised and published in 1843 in Bonar’s Songs for the Wilderness, in four 8-line stanzas that he titled “The Fullness of Jesus.” It was first sung by Bonar’s Sunday school class at South Leith, where he was assistant minister. The hymn text is based on John 1:29: “Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.” Bonar said the hymn was good gospel but not good poetry, and he was surprised that it became so popular. 

      The fourth stanza in SDAH should read “I long to be like Jesus,” not “with Jesus.” (This error occurred in the first printings of SDAH.) Bonar also wrote SDAH 79, “O Love of God, How Strong and True”; SDAH 217, “The Church Has Waited Long”; and SDAH 465, “I Heard the Voice of Jesus.”     

      The composer, Allen W. Foster (1940- ;see SDAH 151) writes: “This hymn tune, BRADLEY, was composed in May 1964 on a Sabbath morning just prior to leaving home for church services. It is name for the street in Camden, New Jersey, where my wife, Gwendolyn, and I resided. We had been married about 11 months at that time. First performed by her during a Philadelphia evangelistic campaign with Charles D. Brooks in 1964, it has become one of his favorite songs. Recording of this hymn have been made on the Chapel label by Charles L. Brooks as a solo, and in a choral arrangement by the Ebenezer Seventh-day Adventist Church choir, where I was organist.” The melody gives a pleasant surprise in the middle of the third score. One would expect it to conclude on the high notes, but another musical phrase follows, repeating the first four notes of the preceding phrase (with different harmony) and then completing the cadence.

      Foster was a member of SDAH Committee. He arrange SDAH 151, “Jesus Walked This Lonesome Valley,” and composed the tunes at SDAH 203, CHALLENGE, and SDAH 417, FINALLY.