• The Song

We Will Understand It Better By And By

We are often tossed and driven
on the restless sea of time;
Somber skies and howling tempests
oft succeed a bright sunshine;
In that land of perfect day,
when the mists have rolled away,
We will understand it better by and by.

By and by, when the morning comes,
When the saints of God are gathered home,
We’ll tell the story how we’ve overcome,
For we’ll understand it better by and by.

We are often destitute of the things that life demands,
Want of food and want of shelter,
thirsty hills and barren lands;
We are trusting in the Lord, and according to God’s Word,
We will understand it better by and by.

Trials dark on every hand, and we cannot understand
All the ways that God could lead us
to that blessed promised land;
But He guides us with His eye, and we’ll follow till we die,
For we’ll understand it better by and by.

Temptations, hidden snares often take us unawares,
And our hearts are made to bleed
for a thoughtless word or deed;
And we wonder why the test when we try to do our best,
But we’ll understand it better by and by

• The Author

Charles Albert Tindley
Rev. Dr. Charles Albert Tindley (July 7, 1851, Berlin, Maryland,  – July 26, 1933) was an American Methodist minister and gospel music composer.  Often referred to as “The Prince of Preachers”, he educated himself, became a minister and founded one of the largest Methodist congregations serving the African-American community on the East Coast of the United States. The Tindley Temple United Methodist Church in Philadelphia was named for him.

Tindley’s father was a slave, but his mother was free. Tindley himself was thus considered to be free, but even so he grew up among slaves. After the Civil War, he moved to Philadelphia.  God had placed within Tindley a desire to excel, and by age seventeen he had taught himself to read and write. At this young age he married Daisy Henry, who bore him eight children, several of whom would later show some musical ability. The young Tindley family moved to Philadelphia where Charles obtained a job as a hod carrier, conveying mortar and other supplies to bricklayers. He later became a custodian of the John Wesley Methodist Episcopal Church, a church that was to play a major role in his life.

He attended night school for a time, and because he felt called of God to preach, he enrolled in a correspondence course from Boston School of Theology. Along with his other courses, he studied New Testament Greek. He also found a Jewish rabbi in Philadelphia who would tutor him in the study of Hebrew. In 1902, he became pastor of the church where he had served as janitor 25 years earlier.  The church experienced rapid growth and by 1906 had a congregation of five thousand members. Tindley’s sermons reflected his study and attention to a quality ministry. He was an eloquent speaker who was heard enthusiastically by people of all races.  In the early 1920s, the church built a new sanctuary and the congregation named the new church the Tindley Temple United Methodist Church. Tindley also became a leader within the denomination. His wife, Daisy, passed away in 1924, the very day the congregation entered the new sanctuary for the first time. Three years later, Tindley remarried.

Tindley was a noted songwriter and composer of gospel hymns and is recognized as one of the founding fathers of American gospel music. Five of his hymns appear in the revised Methodist hymnal, which is used worldwide.  His composition “I’ll Overcome Someday” is credited by some observers to be the basis for the U.S. Civil Rights anthem “We Shall Overcome,”.  Tindley was the first hymn writer to have a hymn copyrighted.  He never intended for his songs to be sung in formal worship services, but rather on informal occasions.  He published a hymn collection in 1916, titled New Songs Of Paradise.