On Jordan's Stormy Banks

Words by the Rev. Samuel Stennett Music by T. C. O'Kane

“On Jordan's stormy banks I stand,
And cast a wishful eye.”

While visiting the Holy Land I sang this hymn on the banks of the Jordan, opposite Mount Horeb, where God showed Moses the promised land of Canaan. As the banks of the Jordan are riot stormy, the word” rugged” has by many been substituted for”stormy” in the first line.

Of the many hymns written by Dr. Stennett, this is one of the most famous. The author was born at Exeter, England. His father was the pastor of the Baptist Church, in Little Wild Street, London. With this church young Sennett united. He became his father's assistant, and later his successor, continuing in that pastorate until his death, in 1795, at the age of sixty-eight. He was noted as the friend of King George III. The hymn was first published in Rippon's ”Selections,” in 1787.