"Sweet Beulah Land" is a beautiful song with deep meaning for many. However, I found it very difficult to write about it since there are at least two different songs written in different eras by different men with the same titles. As I searched the internet, I found several sites which confused the two.
The older one was written in 1876 by Edgar P. Stites and the music was written by John R. Sweney. Stites claimed that at first he could only write two verses and the chorus. Then he was overcome and fell on his face. On the following Sunday he wrote the third and fourth verses and again was so influenced by emotion that he could only pray and weep. He claimed that he had never received a cent for his songs. He could "not do the work for the Master and receive pay for it."
After serving in the American civil war, Stites became a riverboat pilot on the Delaware River. He belonged to the first Methodist Church in Cape May, New Jersey, for 60 years.
The newer song was written in 1973 by Squire Parsons and was recorded by Squires in 1979. Parsons was born in Newton, West Virginia, in 1948. He surrendered his heart to Christ at age 9 and began his song writing ventures 11 years later. He studied music at a West Virginia college where he majored in voice and bassoon. While still a student, he was employed as a bass soloist for Christ United Methodist Church, in Charleston, West Virginia. He later said that it was a wonderful experience because he was exposed to the Christian classics, which influenced some of his later writing.
Looking back to Squire's preteen years, while a member of the small church in Newton, he remembers a particular song his dad led the congregation in singing, "Is Not This the Land of Beulah?". The whole congregation seemed swept up in the song. That picture remained in young Parson's mind.
Squire shared the following: "One morning, years later, as I was driving to my high school teaching job, my mind drifted back to a service in our little church. As I drove along, I was humming the old song about 'Beulah Land,' which I had learned from the hymnal years earlier. As I topped one of the beautiful West Virginia mountains, I faced a brilliant sun in all of its glory. My thoughts continued to be about the singing in our little Newton church, but this time it was a different song - one that I had never heard or sung before." It was the chorus to what has become the increasingly popular song, "Sweet Beulah Land."
Squire added, "I traveled on to the school. It was early, and the students had not yet arrived. I found some paper and wrote the words and music to the chorus I had been given. I then wrote a single verse to go with the chorus". The song was not recorded for another six years, until 1979. By this time, he had joined the Kingsmen Quartet. However, he re-discovered the song that had been tucked away while searching for songs for his first solo recording. In just a few moments, the words to the second verse flowed from his heart to his pen. After he finished writing the second verse, he titled the composition Sweet Beulah.
This song is interesting in that some phrases are used, which seem paradoxical in nature - such as being homesick for a country to which I have never been before. Faith is a key element in this highly descriptive song - faith that we hold as we look toward heaven, faith that will end in sight. The name "Beulah Land" is a term we have used for many years and one that evokes happiness and sweetness in our hearts.
Now I've chosen to feature the song written by Parsons since I assume it might be the one that most of my readers remember. I recall singing it often in Sunday evening services and in prayer meetings. Oh, how the saints used to sing this with hope and enthusiasm.
You can listen to it here. BEULAH
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