In the Sweet By and By

The story of this hymn

Sanford Fillmore Bennett kept a drugstore in Elkhorn, Wisconsin. One day in 1868 his friend Joseph Webster, a musician given to dark moods, walked in looking low, and shrugged off Bennett's concern with 'It will be all right by and by.' Bennett wrote the three verses at his desk within the half-hour; Webster set them to music on the spot, and the two men sang it that same afternoon. It has carried mourners toward 'that beautiful shore' ever since.

Where it sits in the service

A gentle graveside favourite — its promise of meeting 'on that beautiful shore' says what mourners most want said at the moment of parting — though it also sits well after the tributes. Congregations repeat the chorus after every verse without being told; print the refrain once, marked 'Refrain', beneath the first verse.

In the programme, list it in the order of service as “Hymn — In the Sweet By and By” with the leader or choir named beside it.

How it is actually sung

Old-fashioned in the best sense, and a staple at homegoing services where the register is hope rather than mourning. Four verses with a refrain the congregation joins readily even on first hearing. It moves at a comfortable walking pace and suits a service with a choir to carry the verses. Placed late in the order it lifts a room; placed at a graveside burial it can feel premature.

Printing the words

Public domain. Print the refrain with each verse rather than once at the top — congregations lose their place otherwise.

This is practical guidance rather than legal advice. Reproduction rights vary by territory, by hymnal edition and by the licence your church holds — the church office is the right place to ask, and they answer this question often.