Words: , 1877.

Music: , 1877.

The lyr­ics first ap­peared in The North­ern Christ­ian Ad­vo­cate, Feb­ru­ary 1, 1877, as a po­em ti­tled “The Child of a King.” John Sum­ner had been pray­ing for a Gos­pel song to re­place the one that would have been writ­ten by his friend and teach­er , who had re­cent­ly suffered an un­time­ly death. When Sum­ner saw these words, he knew his prayer had been an­swered.

Mr. re­lates the fol­low­ing in­ci­dent in con­nect­ion with this hymn, which hap­pened when he was en­gaged in evan­gel­is­tic work among the cow­boys in the West, in 1883. “We had start­ed up the Mis­sou­ri Riv­er for Bis­marck, and on Sun­day we stopped at a new town, named Blunt, to un­load some freight. A crowd of men and boys came down to the wharf. I took my lit­tle or­gan, went on the wharf-boat, and sang a few songs—among others the glor­i­ous hymn, ‘I’m a child of of a King.’ I thought no­thing more of the oc­ca­sion un­til long af­ter­ward, when I sang the same song in Mr. Moo­dy’s church in Chi­ca­go [Il­li­nois]. Then a man in the back part of the house arose, and said in a trem­bling voice: ’Two years ago I heard that song at Blunt, Da­ko­ta; I was then an un­saved man, but that song set me to think­ing, and I de­cid­ed to ac­cept Christ, and I am now stu­dy­ing for the min­is­try.’”

My Father is rich in houses and lands,
He holdeth the wealth of the world in His hands!
Of rubies and diamonds, of silver and gold,
His coffers are full, He has riches untold.

Refrain

I’m a child of the King,
A child of the King:
With Jesus my Savior,
I’m a child of the King.

My Father’s own Son, the Savior of men,
Once wandered on earth as the poorest of them;
But now He is pleading our pardon on high,
That we may be His when He comes by and by.

Refrain

I once was an outcast stranger on earth,
A sinner by choice, an alien by birth,
But I’ve been adopted, my name’s written down,
An heir to a mansion, a robe and a crown.

Refrain

A tent or a cottage, why should I care?
They’re building a palace for me over there;
Though exiled from home, yet still may I sing:
All glory to God, I’m a child of the King.

Refrain