3-1 Hymn - "Satisfied"

All my life I had a longing
For a drink from some clear spring,
That I hoped would quench the burning
Of the thirst I felt within.


Hallelujah! I have found Him
Whom my soul so long has craved!
Jesus satisfies my longings,
Through His blood I now am saved.


Feeding on the husks around me,
Till my strength was almost gone,
Longed my soul for something better,
Only still to hunger on.


Hallelujah! I have found Him
Whom my soul so long has craved!
Jesus satisfies my longings,
Through His blood I now am saved.


Poor I was, and sought for riches,
Something that would satisfy,
But the dust I gathered round me
Only mocked my soul’s sad cry.


Hallelujah! I have found Him
Whom my soul so long has craved!
Jesus satisfies my longings,
Through His blood I now am saved.


Well of water, ever springing,
Bread of life so rich and free,
Untold wealth that never faileth,
My Redeemer is to me.


Hallelujah! I have found Him
Whom my soul so long has craved!
Jesus satisfies my longings,
Through His blood I now am saved.

BIBLE REFERENCE:

For he satisfieth the longing soul, and filleth the hungry soul with goodness. Psalms 107:9

Bless the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits: Who forgiveth all thine iniquities; who healeth all thy diseases; Who redeemeth thy life from destruction; who crowneth thee with lovingkindness and tender mercies; Who satisfieth thy mouth with good things; so that thy youth is renewed like the eagle's. Psalms 103:2-5

And the LORD shall guide thee continually, and satisfy thy soul in drought, and make fat thy bones: and thou shalt be like a watered garden, and like a spring of water, whose waters fail not. Isaiah 58:11

Delight thyself also in the LORD; and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart. Psalms 37:4

Clara Tear Williams - Lyrics 1858-1937
Born: September 22, 1858, near Painesville Lake, Ohio.
Died: July 1, 1937, Houghton, New York.

Ralph Erskine Hudson - Composer 1843-1901
Born: September 22, 1858, near Painesville Lake, Ohio.
Died: July 1, 1937, Houghton, New York.

HYMN HISTORY:

The author, Clara Tear Williams, has given the following description of the writing of this inspirational testimony hymn:


About 1875, I was helping in meetings in Troy, Ohio, where Professor R. E. Hudson conducted the singing, when, just before retiring one night, he asked me to write a song for a book he was preparing to publish. Before sleeping, I wrote “Satisfied.” In the morning, he composed the music.

In his book, Songs That Lift the Heart, George Beverly Shea gives the following account regarding the author of this hymn:

My father, the Reverend A. J. Shea, and I were on an afternoon shopping trip for Mother, as I recall. When we came out of a store in Houghton, New York, where we had recently moved from Winchester, Ontario, we met a tall, elderly woman making her way slowly up the street. She was walking in that slow, mincing step older people sometimes do, cautious not to lose balance.

Dad tipped his hat and said good-day to her as we passed. She stopped and looked up to see who was speaking. Smiling sweetly, she returned his greeting.

“Do you know who that was, son?” he asked me on up the way. I turned and watched as she continued her careful progress. Though a distinguished woman (whom I would now describe as looking a lot like Whistler’s Mother)–I had no idea who she was.

“That,” said Dad, “was Mrs. Clara Tear Williams. She writes hymns.” There was a near reverence in his voice, and though I was only eight years old, I was duly impressed. Already, I was fascinated by music and anyone who was involved in it...

When Dad and I got home that afternoon, I told Mother about the meeting Mrs. Williams, the hymnwriter. She smiled knowingly and nodded he head. Then she went to the piano bench and found a hymnal that contained one of Clara Tear Williams’ compositions.

She explained that Mrs. Williams–a Wesleyan Methodist like us–had written the words, but that the music had been written by Ralph E. Hudson, an Ohio publisher who also was an evangelistic singer.

A few years later, when I was in my teens and began to sing solos, I memorized the hymn that Mother played that day and sang it. It was called “Satisfied.” The composer of this hymn was Mr. Ralph E. Hudson, who was born on July 12, 1843, in Napoleon, Ohio. Ralph moved to Pennsylvania with his parents Henry and Sarah Hudson when was a boy. Soon after the out­break of the American civil war, Ralph enlisted in the Army with 10th Pennsylvania Volunteers. He served his country for three years.

After discharge from the army, he became a successful music teacher. From 1872-1874, he was a Professor of Vocal Music at Mount Union College, and for the next twenty five years lived in Mt. Union-Alliance, Ohio. Ralph formed a real estate partnership with Rev. D. D. Waugh for a few years. After trying that for a while he started to write and publish hymns , he was also a lay preacher and a member of the Mt. Union Methodist Episcopal Church, and was a supporter of the Salvation Army when it struggled to gain a foot­hold in Alliance in the mid-1880’s.

Hudson moved to Cleveland, Ohio in 1897 where he continued to publish music and to travel as an evangelist. In late May 1901 he left Cleveland for an extensive trip to promote his latest song­book. He stopped in Upland, Indiana, to attend commencement exercises at Taylor University, where he was a trustee. He stayed there several days and delivered a lecture. Shortly after, he fell gravely ill and died.

Ralph Hudson wrote and published other popular hymns that include: “Blessed Be the Name,” “At the Cross,” “A Glorious Church,” and “‘I’ll Live for Him”