Child of the King- Buell & Sumner 1877

Child of the King

Har­ri­et E. Bu­ell & John B. Sumner, 1877

Child of the King

Public Domain Old-Time, Bluegrass Gospel by I. D. Ogdon (words) and John B. Sumner (music) 1877;

NOTE: This is not the popular southern gospel song "Child of the King" by Cindy Walker which is copyrighted. There are other songs with this title.      

ARTIST: Mississippi Children's Choir

CATEGORY: Traditional and Public Domain Gospel;

DATE: 1877; First recording Arthur McKee 1928 (unissued)
Frank Welling and John McGhee 1932

RECORDING INFO: Child of the King      

Hightower Brothers   Child of the King       Peacock   1963 
Mississippi Children's Choir
Frank Welling and John McGhee 1932
Norfleet Brothers   Child of the King       Jericho Road   c.1956  

OTHER NAMES: "A Child of the King" "Child of a King (Meade)" "My Father Is Rich In Houses And Land"

SOURCES: Sankey; Meade

NOTES: "Child of the King" is a hymn written by Har­ri­et E. Bu­ell (words) and
John B. Sumner (music) in 1877. It has been adapted by African-American gospel groups including Hightower Brothers in 1963 and the more recent adaptation by Mississippi Children's Choir. Meade lists the first recording as "My Father Is Rich In Houses And Land" by Frank Welling and John McGhee in 1932.

Ira Sankey, pp. 258-9: The lyr­ics first ap­peared in The North­ern Christ­ian Ad­vo­cate, Feb­ru­ary 1, 1877, as a po­em ti­tled “The Child of a King.” John Sum­ner had been pray­ing for a Gos­pel song to re­place the one that would have been writ­ten by his friend and teach­er Phil­ip Bliss, who had re­cent­ly suffered an un­time­ly death. When Sum­ner saw these words, he knew his prayer had been an­swered.

Mr. Pe­ter P. Bil­horn re­lates the fol­low­ing in­ci­dent in con­nect­ion with this hymn, which hap­pened when he was en­gaged in evan­gel­is­tic work among the cow­boys in the West, in 1883. “We had start­ed up the Mis­sou­ri Riv­er for Bis­marck, and on Sun­day we stopped at a new town, named Blunt, to un­load some freight. A crowd of men and boys came down to the wharf. I took my lit­tle or­gan, went on the wharf-boat, and sang a few songs—among others the glor­i­ous hymn, ‘I’m a child of of a King.’ I thought no­thing more of the oc­ca­sion un­til long af­ter­ward, when I sang the same song in Mr. Moo­dy’s church in Chi­ca­go [Il­li­nois]. Then a man in the back part of the house arose, and said in a trem­bling voice: ’Two years ago I heard that song at Blunt, Da­ko­ta; I was then an un­saved man, but that song set me to think­ing, and I de­cid­ed to ac­cept Christ, and I am now stu­dy­ing for the min­is­try.’”

Additional notes Child of the King: The words for “Child Of The King” were written by Harriett Buell (1834-1910); the musical score was written earlier.  One Sunday morning, Harriet was walking home from church services at her Methodist church.  The words for “Child Of The King”came to her that afternoon.  She wrote them down and later sent her text to the Northern Christian Advocate.   “Child Of The King”was printed in the February 1, 1877 issue of that publication as a poem.  The musical score was added as the result of an answered prayer.

     John Summer had been praying for lyrics to a religious song for an unfinished musical score written by his dear friend, Philip Bliss.  Mr. Bliss had suddenly died and Summer thought his work should be published.  When Summer read the words to “Child Of The King,” he instantly knew that the two works should be joined together.

Child of the King- Mississippi Children's Choir

BRIDGE: Everywhere I go, I want the world to know ...

VERSE: My father is rich in houses and lands
He hold's the wealth of the world in His hands
Rubies and diamonds, Silver and Gold
His coffers are full, He has riches untold

CHORUS: I'm a child, child of the king
I'm a child, child of the king
With Jesus as my Savior
I'm a child of the King

BRIDGE: Everywhere I go, I want the world to know
That Jesus leads me, He leads me

Everywhere I go, I want the world to know
That Jesus leads me, He leads me

VAMP 1
I'm a child, child of the King

VAMP 2
I'm a child

A CHILD OF THE KING-  Sumner & Bu­ell, 1877

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.

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.

Refrain

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.

Refrain

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.

Refrain