Robert Lowry was born on March 12 in 1826. His parents were Presbyterians, but after Robert was born again and began studying the Word of God, he determined that immersion was the Biblical mode to follow, so he was baptized by George Ide, pastor the First Baptist Church of Philadelphia, on this day (April 12) 1843.
Pastor Ide was a trustee of the newly formed college at Lewisburg, now known as Bucknell University. He encouraged young Robert to attend, and in 1848 Robert Lowry graduated as Valedictorian. In addition to his other studies, Robert was an exceptional musician, and the college choir sang one of his hymns during the school’s first commencement exercises.
Following graduation, Brother Lowry was ordained and called to pastor the First Baptist Church of West Chester, Pennsylvania. The church flourished to such a degree that a new building had to be built to hold the crowds. Brother Lowry then moved to the Bloomingdale Baptist Church of New York, and again the congregation had to build. In 1861 Pastor Lowry accepted a call to the Hanson Place Baptist Church in Brooklyn, where he served the Lord during the war.
One summer while in Brooklyn a severe epidemic took the lives of hundreds of people. It was during that siege, and with an effort to comfort his congregation, that Pastor Lowry wrote his most famous hymn, “Shall we Gather at the River?” “Yes, we’ll gather at the river, the beautiful, beautiful river. We’ll gather with the saints at the river that flows by the throne of God.”
Despite being a diligent pastor, evangelist, educator and preacher, tenaciously teaching Baptist doctrine, Robert Lowry loved writing poetry and music. We still sing several of his hymns – “We’re Marching to Zion,” “Christ Arose,” What Can Wash Away My Sin?” and “All the Way My Saviour Leads Me.”
Robert Lowry was baptized on this day in 1843.