The Story of My Favorite Hymn
HOW GREAT THOU ART
In response to requests from many lands for an authoritative account of how this hymn came to be written, the following has been compiled by the writer, Stuart K. Hine, and by the publisher, Manna Music, Inc.
In 1885, a Swedish preacher, by the name of Carl Boberg, at age 26, wrote the words only of a poem entitled, “O Store Gud” translated into English is “O Great God”. A fairly literal translation from Swedish into English, of the first verse and refrain of “O Store Gud”, is as follows:
O, GREAT GOD!
When I the world consider
Which Thou has made by Thine almighty Word
And how the webb of life Thy wisdom guideth
And all creation feedeth at Thy board.
Refrain:
Then doth my soul burst forth in song of praise
Oh, great God
Oh, great God.
The translation from Swedish to English is obviously different from the words we are familiar with today, as found in Stuart K. Hine’s words of HOW GREAT THOU ART. After publication, the poem was apparently forgotten, but several years later, Boberg attended a meeting and was surprised to hear his poem being sung to the tune of an old Swedish melody.
In the early 1920’s, English missionaries, Mr. Stuart K. Hine and his wife, ministered in Poland. It was there they learned the Russian version of Boberg’s poem, “O Store Gud”, coupled with the original Swedish melody. Later, under inspiration, Stuart K. Hine wrote original English words, and made his own arrangement of the Swedish melody, which became popular and is now known as the hymn, HOW GREAT THOU ART.
The first three verses were inspired, line upon line, amidst unforgettable experiences in the Carpathian Mountains. In a village to which he had climbed, Mr. Hine stood in the street singing a Gospel hymn and reading aloud “John, Chapter Three”. Among the sympathetic listeners was a local village schoolmaster. A storm was gathering, and when it was evident that no further travel could be made that night, the friendly schoolmaster offered his hospitality. Awe-inspiring was the mighty thunder echoing through the mountains, and it was this impression that was to bring about the birth of the first verse.
Pushing on, Mr. Hine crossed the mountain frontier into Romania and into Bukovina. Together with some young people, through the woods and forest glades he wandered, and heard the birds sing sweetly in the trees. Thus, the second verse came into being. Verse three was inspired through the conversion of many of the Carpathian mountain-dwellers. The fourth Verse did not come about until Mr. Hine’s return to Britain.
-Excerpts from http://www.mannamusicinc.com/hgta.htm
Psalm 8:3-4, 9 When I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars, which thou hast ordained; What is man, that thou art mindful of him? and the son of man, that thou visitest him?... O LORD our Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the earth!