CHRISTIAN LIFE >> Watchfulness
SDAH 468
My Father is rich in houses and lands,
He holdeth the wealth of the world in His hands!
Of rubies and diamonds, of silver and gold,
His coffers are full, He has riches untold.
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For Worship Leaders
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Hymn Spotlight: A Child of the King
Hattie E. Buell wrote this hymn in 1876 after reflecting on the joy of belonging to the King of kings. Originally sent as a simple poem to the Northern Christian Advocate, it was soon set to music by John B. Sumner in 1878. Though Buell’s words first read “I’m the child of a King,” publishers adapted it to “a child of the King,” reminding us that we are part of a great family under one heavenly Father. With its cheerful melody and message of assurance, this hymn celebrates the dignity and hope every believer has as a child of God.
📖 Reference: Feel free to share but please cite hymnsforworship.org when reproducing.
Introductions for Sabbath School Song Service (based on specific lesson quarterlies):
Hattie Eugenia Peck Buell had attended the Methodist Episcopal Church at Thousand Island Park, New York, about 1876. While walking home, she was meditating on the joy of being a child of the King of kings. On reaching home, she sat down and wrote the words of this gospel song, not really intending them as a hymn. She sent the words as a poem to the Northern Christian Advocate in Syracuse, New York, and it was printed in the issue of February 1, 1877.
Hattie was born on November 2, 1834, at Cazenovia, New York. She lived in Manlius, New York, until 1898, and then moved to Washington, D.C., where she died on February 6, 1910.
The poem was seen in the magazine by John B. Sumner, and he composed the tune in the autumm of 1878 without Buell’s knowledge. A few months later she heard the song sung by a soloist in the Manluis Methodist Church! Buell’s original words were “I’m the child of a King,” but the first publishers took the liberty of interchanging the two words to make it read “I’m a child of the King.” Their basis for doing this was that the author was but one of a huge family whose head was a unique King!
The tune is sometimes called BINGHAMPTON after the town where the composer was then living. Sumner was born on March 25, 1838, at Lime Hill, Pennsylvania; he died at Binghampton, New York, on May 9, 1918. He trained for the ministry of the Methodist Episcopal Church and pastored churches in the Wyoming Conference. He conducted singing schools, wrote several hymn tunes, and was a tenor singer in the Wyoming Conference Trio, often singing at the Chautauqua meetings.
📖 Reference: Companion to the Seventh-day Adventist Hymnal by Wayne Hooper and Edward E. White. Review and Herald Publishing Association, 1988.
Text
1
My Father is rich in houses and lands,
He holdeth the wealth of the world in His hands!
Of rubies and diamonds, of silver and gold,
His coffers are full, He has riches untold.
Refrain
I’m a child of the King,
A child of the King:
With Jesus my Savior,
I’m a child of the King.
2
My Father’s own Son, the Savior of men,
Once wandered on earth as the poorest of them;
But now He is pleading our pardon on high,
That we may be His when He comes by and by.
3
I once was an outcast stranger on earth,
A sinner by choice, an alien by birth,
But I’ve been adopted, my name’s written down,
An heir to a mansion, a robe and a crown.
4
A tent or a cottage, why should I care?
They’re building a palace for me over there;
Though exiled from home, yet still may I sing:
All glory to God, I’m a child of the King.
Hymn Info
Biblical Reference
(a) Hag 2:8 (b) 2 Cor 8:9 (c) Eph 2:12; Rom 8:15 (r) Rom 8:17
Author
Hattie E. Buel (1834-1910)
Metrical Number
10.11.10.11.Ref.
Arranged
from a melody by John B. Sumner, 1878 (1838-1918)
Theme
JOY AND PEACE
