Trust and Obey

I. Origins

The composer of the tune, Daniel B. Towner (1850–1919), provided the story behind this hymn for Ira Sankey’s book, My Life and the Story of the Gospel Hymns (1906):

Some years ago, Mr. Moody was conducting a series of meetings in Brockton, Massachusetts, and I had the pleasure of singing for him there. One night a young man rose in a testimony meeting and said, “I am not quite sure—but I am going to trust, and I am going to obey.” I just jotted that sentence down, and sent it with the little story to the Rev. J.H. Sammis, a Presbyterian minister. He wrote the hymn, and the tune was born. The chorus, “Trust and obey / For there’s no other way / To be happy in Jesus / But to trust and obey,” was written before the hymn was.[1]

The date of this evangelistic campaign is unknown, but it probably happened in the fall of 1886. Moody was a lifelong resident of Northfield, MA, so he could have made the journey whenever he was not traveling elsewhere, although Brockton is a 100-mile journey to the east, requiring a special trip. After joining Moody in 1885 as part of his traveling music team, Towner was also living in Northfield until he was made music superintendent at the Moody Bible Institute in 1893. Towner spent much of the spring of 1886 traveling with the evangelist Samuel M. Sayford (1846–1921), and in the summer he was responsible for assisting with the music at annual conferences in Northfield.[2] Moody and Towner are known to have held evangelistic meetings together in Massachusetts in late September of 1886 in Southbridge (62 miles from Brockton),[3] and at Harvard University (24 miles from Brockton) in mid-November of that same year.[4] The meeting at Brockton was likely part of that series of campaigns with Moody in Massachusetts. Through the first half of 1887, Towner was recruited to assist the evangelist L.W. Munhall (1843–1934) in campaigns through the eastern and midwestern U.S.[5]

In late February 1887, Towner was with Dr. Munhall for revival services at Clarendon Street Baptist Church in Boston. News reports of that event explained how Towner was often joined in his ministry by his wife, Mary E. (McGonigle) Towner:

Before and after the sermon, Mr. D.B. Towner and wife sang some duets in a very pleasing manner. Mr. Towner has been for some time assisting Mr. Moody in his services in various cities, and, having a full, rich baritone voice, his services in the musical line have been of great assistance. He intends to make the musical part of the meetings, which are to follow, fully as interesting as any part. Mr. Towner is accompanied by his wife on the organ, and also with her voice, which is a contralto of a pure and very musical quality. When singing together, their voices blend perfectly, thus making their duets very acceptable.[6]

Towner’s connection to lyricist John H. Sammis (1846–1919) is less clear. Sammis, a Presbyterian minister, was living in Glidden, Iowa, in 1880, and “Trust and Obey” appears to have been one of his first hymns. The hymn was first published in Hymns New and Old (NY: Fleming H. Revell, 1887 | Fig. 1), a collection Towner edited, containing five stanzas and a refrain. It was headed with Psalm 25:14, “The secret of the Lord is with them that fear Him.”

II. Analysis

The Bible contains many admonitions to believers to either trust or obey, including Proverbs 3:5–6 (“Trust in the Lord with all your heart . . .”) and 1 John 5:2 (“By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and obey his commandments,” ESV). Other references include Psalm 119:105 (“Your word is a lamp to my feet”), John 14:23 (“If anyone loves me, he will keep my word; and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our abode with him”), John 15:5 (“Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit”), Psalm 37:4 (“Delight yourself in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart”), The parable of the rich ruler (Luke 18:18–30), Revelation 21:3 (“He will dwell with them, and they will be his people”), and Isaiah 6:8 (““Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?” . . . “Here I am! Send me”).

Literary scholar Leland Ryken saw the hymn as following a common human quest:

The poem is constructed around a famous literary archetype that is implied but never explicitly stated. That archetype is the quest for a happy life. Augustine wrote movingly of the authentic happy life, noting that all people seek it but few find it. Charles Spurgeon preached a sermon titled “The Secret of a Happy Life,” again implying that it requires special information to find it. The refrain of “Trust and Obey” signals this truth when it identifies the only way to be happy. Everyone by nature pursues the quest for happiness and sanctification. “Trust and Obey” taps into this longing.

With this quest motif in our minds, we can see how each stanza contributes its part to the ever-expanding vision of a happy life. The poem is a catalog of blessings and rewards that come to those who trust and obey. With a little streamlining, we can see the following stanza-by-stanza list of rewards: (1) God’s glory and presence with us; (2) God’s banishing of the things that would otherwise destroy our happiness; (3) God’s repaying and blessing our toil and loss; (4) God’s granting of love, favor, and joy to those who trust and obey; and (5) fellowship with God and contentment in serving him.[7]

Musically, like many gospel hymns, the tonality and chord progressions are relatively simple, sticking mainly with I, IV, and V, plus one secondary dominant in the refrain. At the half cadence in the middle of the stanzas, some musicians will be inclined to continue the two-bar phrasing by adding in an extra measure on V. The choice here of two beats or two measures has to be led clearly by the musicians. Performances of the hymn often include a fermata in the refrain at “Jesus.”

by CHRIS FENNER
for Hymnology Archive
24 July 2020
rev. 25 Sept. 2023

Footnotes:

1. Ira Sankey, “Trust and Obey,” My Life and the Story of the Gospel Hymns (NY: Harper & Bros., 1906), p. 290: Archive.org

2. Edward Perry Carroll, Daniel Brink Towner (1979), pp. 73, 80.

3. “A Southbridge Revival,” The Boston Daily Globe (23 Sept. 1886), p. 4.

4. “Sowing and Reaping: Moody’s Talk to the Harvard Students,” The Boston Daily Globe (16 Nov. 1886), p. 6.

5. Edward Perry Carroll, Daniel Brink Towner (1979), p. 73.

6. “What Boston Needs,” The Boston Daily Globe (28 February 1887), p. 5.

7. Leland Ryken, “Trust and Obey,” 40 Favorite Hymns of the Christian Faith (Phillipsburg, NJ: P&R, 2022), pp. 53–54: Amazon

Additional Resources:

Emerson Mixed Quartet, “Trust and Obey,” Edison Blue Amberol 2420, cylinder audio (1914): UCAA

Bryan Jeffery Leach, “Trust and Obey,” The Worshiping Church: Worship Leaders’ Edition (Carol Stream, IL: Hope, 1990), no. 523.

Scotty Wayne Gray, “When we walk with the Lord,” Handbook to the Baptist Hymnal (Nashville: Convention Press, 1992), p. 275.

Bert Polman, “When we walk with the Lord,” Psalter Hymnal Handbook (Grand Rapids: CRC, 1998), pp. 722–723.

Robert Cottrill, “Trust and Obey,” Wordwise Hymns (30 May 2018):
https://wordwisehymns.com/2018/05/30/trust-and-obey-2/