This hymn, which is also known as How Marvelous or My Savior’s Love, was written by Charles Gabriel.
Charles Hutchinson Gabriel was born in 1856 Iowa. From a young age he showed a talent and love for music. In 1912 he moved to Chicago to work for Homer Rodeheaver’s publishing company.
Gabriel married Fannie Woodhouse, but later the marriage ended in divorce. Together the couple had one child. Later, he married Amelia Moore and they had a child.
He edited gospel song books and contributed numerous hymns to various publications. He is credited with writing between 7,000-8,000 hymns and songs in his life. Many approached him to write the melody for their words. Some of his hymns include His Eye is on the Sparrow, O That Will Be Glory, Send the Light, Will the Circle be Unbroken, The Old Rugged Cross, Crown Him with Many Crowns, and Away in a Manger.
The inspiration for I Stand Amazed in the Presence is not known, but Gabriel wrote both the words and melody for the song. However, reading the lyrics, one can imagine how the passion of Christ found in the gospels vividly revealed itself to Gabriel as he penned the lyrics of the hymn.
The hymn first appeared in the 1905 E.O. Excell’s collection, Praises. Rev. Carlton R. Young, editor of The United Methodist Hymnal, notes: “This song of gratitude and praise for the atoning death of Jesus is a personal and Adventist interpretation of Luke’s account of Jesus’ sweating blood in the Garden of Gethsemane, a portion of the passion narrative not included in the other Gospels.”
Gabriel died on September 14, 1932 in Hollywood, California.
The song has been contemporized for modern audiences by Christian performer, Chris Tomlin. His version is known as “I Stand Amazed”
Watts was born in Southampton, England in 1674 and was brought up in the home of a committed religious Nonconformist; his father, also Isaac Watts, had been incarcerated twice for his views. Watts had a classical education at King Edward VI School, learning Latin, Greek, and Hebrew.Watts displayed a propensity for rhyme from an early age. He was once asked why he had his eyes open during prayers, to which he responded:A little mouse for want of stairs-ran up a rope to say its prayers.He received corporal punishment for this, to which he cried:O father, father, pity take And I will no more verses make.[1][2]Watts could not attend Oxford or Cambridge because he was a nonconformist and these universities were restricted to Anglicans—as were government positions at the time. He went to the Dissenting Academy at Stoke Newington in 1690. Much of the remainder of his life centred on that village, which is now part of Inner London.Following his education, Watts was called as pastor of a large independent chapel in London, Mark Lane Congregational Chapel, where he helped train preachers, despite his poor health. He held religious opinions that were more nondenominational or ecumenical than was common for a nonconformist Congregationalist.
He had a greater interest in promoting education and scholarship than preaching for any particular sect. Watts took work as a private tutor and lived with the Nonconformist Hartopp family at Fleetwood House on Church Street in Stoke Newington. Through them, he became acquainted with their immediate neighbours Sir Thomas Abney and Lady Mary. He eventually lived for a total of 36 years in the Abney household, most of the time at Abney House, their second residence. (Lady Mary had inherited the manor of Stoke Newington in 1701 from her late brother Thomas Gunston.)On the death of Sir Thomas Abney in 1722, his widow Lady Mary and her unmarried daughter Elizabeth moved all her household to Abney House from Hertfordshire, and she invited Watts to continue with them. He particularly enjoyed the grounds at Abney Park, which Lady Mary planted with two elm walks leading down to an island heronry in the Hackney Brook, and he often sought inspiration there for the many books and hymns that he wrote.Watts lived at Abney Hall in Stoke Newington until his death in 1748; he was buried in Bunhill Fields. He left an extensive legacy of hymns, treatises, educational works, and essays. His work was influential amongst Nonconformist independents and religious revivalists of the 18th century, such as Philip Doddridge, who dedicated his best-known work to Watts.
Christian Devotions, Health and General issues of the day 