Ira Sankey

Their evangelistic revivals were well-known in nineteenth century America. One Chicago flyer said it well, “Come hear Dwight L. Moody preach the gospel and Ira D. Sankey sing the gospel.” On paper, they seemed an odd match. Dwight Moody was brash and outspoken; Ira Sankey (1840-1908) was reserved and accommodating. How did they maintain a close working relationship for thirty years? In Ira’s words, “they settled their differences in prayer.”
Dwight and Ira went on a ministry tour of England, Ireland, and Scotland in the mid-1870s. As they boarded a train in Scotland, Ira purchased a local paper (for a penny!), hoping to read news from home. He came across a poem that piqued his interest, “The Lost Sheep,” the author identified only as “Bessie.” The poem was based on Jesus’ parable about a shepherd who left his flock of ninety-nine sheep in search of a single lost sheep. He read the poem to Dwight who was absorbed in reading a letter from home and ignored him. Ira thought the poem would make a great evangelistic hymn if only he had a tune to go with it and filed it in his musical scrapbook. The following evening, Dwight preached on Jesus as the Good Shepherd. Upon finishing, he turned to Ira and said, “Have you a solo appropriate for the subject with which to close the service?” Ira had nothing suitable in mind. As he recalled years later, “I seemed to hear a voice saying, ‘Sing the hymn you found on the train.’ But I thought it was impossible since no music had ever been written for the hymn.” When the idea wouldn’t leave him, he retrieved the newspaper clipping, placed it on the organ, committed it in prayer, and started playing as the tune came to him. After he finished, Dwight exclaimed, “Sankey, where did you get that hymn? I never heard the likes of it in my life.” Present in the congregation that evening was the sister of the woman who had originally composed the poem. She identified her late sister “Bessie” to Ira by her full name, Elizabeth Clephane. Although the song, “The Ninety and Nine” is no longer commonly sung, it was a crowd favorite in those days. When Ira rehearsed the song with a choir preparing to lead worship in Boston a few years later, he accompanied it with a prayer for those who have lost their way: