The following is excerpted from Transforming Congregational Singing for the 21st Century, www.wayofllife.org -

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John Wilbur Chapman (1859-1918) was a Presbyterian pastor, evangelist, and hymn writer. 

He grew up in a Christian home, but his mother died when he was 13. At age 17, Chapman made a public confession of faith in Christ at a Methodist afternoon Sunday School, but he continued to struggle with doubts about his salvation until he attended a D.L Moody crusade in Chicago three years later. Moody himself helped him to find assurance through Christ’s promise in John 5:24, “Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life.”

After graduating from Lane Seminary in 1882 and marrying Irene Steddon, Chapman pastored Dutch Reformed churches in New York. In April 1886, their first child, Bertha Irene, was born, but the mother died a month later. This left the 27-year-old evangelist confused and discouraged and in a crisis of faith. At the Northfield conference in Chicago that summer, he heard F.B. Meyer speak on surrender, saying,“If you are not willing to give up everything for Christ, are you willing to be made willing?” Chapman said, “That remark changed my whole ministry; it seemed like a new star in the sky of my life” (Ed Reese, The Life and Ministry of John Wilber Chapman). 

Two years later, Chapman married Agnes Strain, and they had four children. Their firstborn, Robert, died in infancy. 

From 1890 to 1892, Chapman pastored Bethany Presbyterian Church in Philadelphia. One of the members was John Wanamaker, a department store magnate who was one of America’s wealthiest men. Hundreds were converted and brought into the church through Chapman’s ministry, and the source of the spiritual power was prayer. When he first arrived, a group began meeting on Sunday Morning to pray for the new pastor, and this prayer meeting eventually grew to 1,000. 

In 1892, Chapman entered full-time evangelism.. In 1893, he joined Moody’s massive evangelistic outreach to the Chicago World’s Fair. After that, Chapman had evangelistic revivals in several cities in the Northeast. 

Chapman served as vice-president of Moody Bible Institute. 

In 1903, Chapman published Present Day Evangelism (260 pages, New York: Baker and Taylor Co.). The book shows that Chapman’s ministry had real biblical substance. He was after something solid and lasting. The book emphasizes the following: the necessity of intercessory prayer, the necessity of every believer being an evangelist, the necessity of following up on seekers and trying to make them active church members, the necessity of parents reaching their own children for Christ, the necessity of holy living, and the necessity of the right kind of pastors. 

Chapman warned that worldliness in the churches would corrupt the character of any new converts. He said, “[T]he new members will always strike the level of the older members of the Church. If the Church is worldly they will become worldly, if it is given to questionable amusements they will follow in the same path, but if it is spiritual they will just as truly become spiritual.” 

The book ends with the following poem, which captures the spirit of evangelistic/missionary zeal that percolated throughout the revivalism era. 

I dare not idle stand,

   While upon every hand

The whitening fields proclaim the harvest near;

   A gleaner I would be,

Gathering, dear Lord, for thee,

   Lest I with empty hand at last appear.

I dare not idle stand,

   While on the shifting sand,

The ocean casts bright treasures at my feet;

   Beneath some shell’s rough side

The tinted pearl may hide,

   And I with precious gift my Lord may meet.

I dare not idle stand,

   While over all the land

Poor, wandering souls need humble help like mine;

   Brighter than brightest gem

In monarch’s diadem,

   Each soul a star in Jesus’ crown may shine.

I dare not idle stand,

   But at my Lord’s command,

Labor for him throughout my life’s short day;

   Evening will come at last,

Day’s labor all be passed,

   And rest eternal my brief toil repay.

Beginning in 1909, Chapman conducted international evangelistic campaigns with song leader Charles Alexander in America, Canada, England, Ireland, Australia, Asia, New Zealand, and elsewhere. Not a lazy man, Chapman often preached three to five sermons a day. Alexander had been dismissed by R.A. Torrey in 1908 because of “his penchant for publicity and money-making” (McLoughlin, Modern Revivalism, p. 377).

Chapman was heavily involved in summer Bible conferences, including Winona Lake in Indiana, which he helped found in 1896. He also helped found Bible conferences at Montreat, North Carolina, and at Stony Brook on Long Island.

Chapman wrote many hymns, the most popular being “Jesus! What a Friend for Sinners” (“Our Great Saviour”) and “One Day When Heaven Was Filled with His Praises.” 

“The Judgment Day Is Coming on,” 1911

J. Wilbur Chapman

1 The judgment day is coming on,

God’s Word declares it true;

Upon the great white throne will be

The One oft spurned by you.

Refrain:

Judgment! all your sins confronting,

Judgment! with no help or guide.

Judgment! all your record facing;

Judgment! with no place to hide.

2 The broken laws, the sins forgot,

Will meet you on that day,

And from the record written there

You cannot turn away. [Refrain]

3 God’s mercy will be ended then,

The day of grace be done;

The time you might have chosen life

Will be forever gone. [Refrain]

4 But, hark! the door stands open wide,

God’s Spirit still is nigh;

In gentle tones the Savior pleads,

Oh, turn! why will ye die? [Refrain]

Music Score

https://hymnary.org/hymn/LS1916/page/137