Yield Not to Temptation

"Yield Not to Temptation" is a hymn I remember singing as a child in rural Oklahoma. It was written in 1868 by noted music scholar, Dr. Horatio Palmer. Palmer at­tend­ed the Rush­ford Aca­de­my in New York, then taught there (1855-65), eventually be­com­ing the Aca­de­my’s mu­sic di­rect­or. He later moved to Chi­ca­go, Il­li­nois, where he served the Se­cond Bap­tist Church as choir di­rect­or. In 1873 Palmer moved back to New York where, in 1881, he organized the Church Chor­al Un­ion which event­u­al­ly boasted 20,000 sing­ers. When the CCU per­formed in Ma­di­son Square Gar­den in New York Ci­ty, Palmer had to limit the choir size to 4,000 voices! Dr. Palmer wrote the lyrics to over 30 hymns, and the music to over a dozen more, most notably, "Master, The Tempest is Raging," On the composition of "Yield Not to Temptation" he says: