He was an orphaned at age four. After getting bounced from relative to relative for years, he was eventually apprenticed to a shoemaker.

The shoemaker was a God-fearing man, but this young apprentice he would have none of it.

And eventually this young man lost his way.

As in the decade of the 1740s was coming to a close,

he heard the great evangelist George Whitfield preachaches sermon on Zecoriah 3.2.

Is not this a brand plucked from a fire?

And having heard that sermon, Thomas Oliver's became a new creation.

This orphan was now a child of God.

In a few years, Thomas Oliver's teamed up with the brothers Wesley, and he had quite a ministry of his own.

And while not nearly to the extent of John and Charles Wesley, Thomas Oliver's also wrote hymns.

While in London in 1770, Thomas Oliver's want to hear a

renowned Jewish cantor by the name of Meyer Lion at the great synagogue in London.

This is a building that would later be destroyed by the Blitz in World War II.

Myer Lion also doubled as an opera singer under the name Max Lioni.

Oliver's had likely heard Lioni sing opera at the Covent Garden Theater, and now he wanted to hear him

sing sacred music in the synagogue.

That night, Lyon sang the Yigdahl, a song dating back to the 1400s.

It prayerfully speaks of the majesty of God.

So moved by the song, Oliver's waited after the service to meet with Lion.

In the ensuing days, Oliver said about transforming this Jewish prayer in Hebrew

into a Christian hymn in English. He worked with Lion on the

tune. The collaboration resulted in a 12 stands a hymn we know as the God of

...