Take Time to Be Holy Meaning, History, and Theology
"Take time to be holy"
- Written
- 1882
- Category
- Hymn
- Tune
- Standard Tune
- Status
- Published
- Rights
- Public domain
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Story
“Take Time to Be Holy” is William Dunn Longstaff's devotional hymn, generally dated around 1882 and later paired with George C. Stebbins's tune HOLINESS. It calls Christians to pursue holiness through prayer, Scripture, Christ-centered transformation, fellowship, and service.
Overview
“Take Time to Be Holy” is a devotional hymn about sanctification as a life deliberately oriented toward God. Its central insight is that holiness is not cultivated by hurry, religious busyness, or private resolve alone. The hymn places prayer, Scripture, attention to Christ, fellowship with other believers, care for the weak, trust, and obedience within one integrated pattern of Christian formation.
The word “time” is therefore more than a scheduling instruction. Longstaff portrays Christlikeness as something formed through sustained communion with God and practiced in relationships. Private devotion and outward service belong together: attention to God is expected to reshape conduct toward other people.
Pastorally, the hymn is useful for teaching prayer, spiritual disciplines, sanctification, retreat, discipleship, and preparation for Christian service. It also offers a needed caution for busy religious communities: activity done for God cannot replace communion with God, while genuine communion should produce love, steadiness, and service rather than withdrawal from others.
Historical Background
The history of “Take Time to Be Holy” is more complicated than the familiar one-paragraph hymn story suggests. William Dunn Longstaff was a prosperous Sunderland businessman and shipowner who had left his earlier Church of England setting to support Arthur Augustus Rees and the independent Bethesda Free Chapel, where Longstaff served as treasurer. He also moved in the evangelical circles surrounding William Booth, Dwight L. Moody, and Ira D. Sankey. The text is generally dated around 1882, during a period when British evangelicalism was giving sustained attention to holiness, consecration, and the “deeper life.”
Accounts of the hymn's immediate inspiration disagree. Ira D. Sankey, who knew Longstaff personally, wrote in his 1906 memoir that Longstaff composed the hymn after hearing a sermon at New Brighton on the biblical call to holiness. A later hymnological tradition, associated with Robert Guy McCutchan, connects the decisive phrase with Griffith John, the Welsh missionary to China, and with a Keswick meeting in the early 1880s. That later account says the text appeared in a collection called “Hymns of Consecration.” Because Sankey's near-contemporary testimony and the later Keswick account do not match in location and detail, the sermon story should be presented as a documented tradition with unresolved particulars rather than harmonized into a single certain scene.
Longstaff eventually showed the text to Sankey, and George C. Stebbins received it for musical setting. Here too, later accounts contain a chronological problem. Some retellings say Stebbins set the words during an India campaign and that the completed hymn was published in 1888. Stebbins's documented journey to India with George F. Pentecost, however, began in autumn 1890, and Hymnary dates the tune HOLINESS to 1890. Sankey's own 1906 account states that the complete hymn was first published in “Gospel Hymns and Sacred Songs and Solos” in 1891. On present evidence, the most cautious reconstruction is that Longstaff's text circulated from the early 1880s, while Stebbins supplied the familiar tune around 1890 and the complete text-and-tune form was in print by 1891.
The tune was created specifically for Longstaff's text rather than borrowed from an unrelated song. Stebbins was then a veteran of the Moody-Sankey evangelistic network, with years of experience leading mass singing and editing gospel hymn collections. HOLINESS uses a gentler musical language than many revival songs, which suits a text concerned with sustained devotion rather than an evangelistic appeal. Modern hymnals usually classify the meter as 6.5.6.5.D, though some count each pair of short lines together and print 11.11.11.11.
The hymn's theological setting also deserves precision. Its association with holiness and Keswick spirituality is real, but the text itself does not present a technical doctrine of instantaneous entire sanctification. Instead it describes holiness as continuing communion with Christ expressed through prayer, Scripture, discipline, love, service, trust, and Spirit-led transformation. That practical emphasis has allowed the hymn to travel well beyond the movements in which it first circulated.
Hymnary now indexes the text in more than three hundred fifty hymnals, with translations and adaptations in several languages. It appears in Methodist, Baptist, Adventist, African Methodist Episcopal, Salvation Army, Reformed, evangelical, and other Protestant collections. The original Longstaff text and Stebbins tune are public domain, while later translations, harmonizations, and arrangements may carry separate rights.
Biblical Foundations
First Peter 1:15–16 provides the hymn's clearest biblical heading: God's own holiness becomes the pattern for the conduct of those whom God calls. Holiness in this passage concerns the whole manner of life, which fits the hymn's movement from prayer and Scripture into relationships, choices, and service.
Matthew 6:6 supports the practice of deliberate, private prayer. Jesus' instruction to pray in secret does not reject corporate worship; it guards devotion from becoming performance. That emphasis helps interpret the hymn's call to give focused attention to God amid the demands of ordinary life.
Romans 12:1–2 presents sanctification as whole-life worship and transformation through the renewing of the mind. Holiness is therefore not merely withdrawal from wrongdoing but the offering of one's embodied life to God and the reshaping of judgment toward God's will.
Second Corinthians 3:18 gives a specifically Christ-centered account of transformation. As believers behold the Lord's glory, they are changed into the same image by the Spirit. This is especially important for understanding the hymn's emphasis on becoming like Christ: Christian formation is not self-manufactured moral improvement but transformation arising from communion with the Lord.
Hebrews 12:14 places sanctification within the active pursuit of peace and holiness. It keeps personal devotion connected with life among other people and supports the hymn's refusal to separate spiritual formation from fellowship and service.
Theological Reflection
The hymn's central doctrine is sanctification—the continuing formation of a Christian life in holiness. Longstaff does not describe holiness primarily as a status to display or an achievement produced by willpower. He places it within a pattern of communion with Christ, Scripture, prayer, obedience, and Spirit-led transformation.
This gives the hymn a strong theology of the means of grace. Prayer and attention to Scripture are not techniques by which believers earn holiness; they are practices through which Christians receive, remember, and respond to God's grace. The hymn's repeated call to make room for these practices challenges a spirituality that expects mature character without sustained formation.
Christlikeness is another central theme. Second Corinthians 3:18 helps clarify that resemblance to Christ arises from the work of the Spirit as believers attend to the Lord. Spiritual discipline therefore has a relational goal: not merely greater efficiency or serenity, but a life increasingly marked by the character of Jesus.
The hymn also refuses to separate personal holiness from love of neighbor. Fellowship, care for the weak, and readiness for service belong alongside private devotion. This is an important corrective to any interpretation of holiness that becomes self-absorbed. Christian formation should widen a believer's capacity for patient, faithful love.
Finally, the hymn's language about calmness should not be turned into a promise that disciplined Christians will never experience anxiety, grief, or emotional turmoil. Spiritual steadiness is better understood as growing submission to God and faithful direction within changing circumstances, not the absence of psychological struggle.
Church Impact
The hymn moved from nineteenth-century evangelical and holiness circles into a much wider Protestant repertory. Hymnary indexes Longstaff's text in more than three hundred fifty hymnals, and United Methodist hymnological commentary notes its presence in American Methodist hymnals from the early twentieth century onward. It is also represented in Baptist, Adventist, African Methodist Episcopal, Salvation Army, Reformed, evangelical, and other collections.
Its international transmission is visible in translations and adaptations in languages including Spanish, German, Portuguese, Swahili, Chinese, Malayalam, and Tagalog. The translation history reflects a message that travels readily across cultures: deliberate communion with God, transformation into Christlike character, and readiness for service.
The hymn has been used especially in contexts of consecration, prayer, discipleship, holiness, retreat, and spiritual formation. Unlike many revival-era songs, it does not depend on a refrain or a dramatic conversion appeal. Its durable function is formative: congregations sing an exhortation to themselves about the habits and relationships through which Christian maturity is nurtured.
Its continuing value is strongest when churches resist reducing it to nostalgia or a generic call to slow down. Historically and theologically, the hymn asks for a disciplined reordering of life around Christ—an inward attentiveness that should become visible in character, fellowship, and service.
Musical Notes
George C. Stebbins composed the tune HOLINESS specifically for Longstaff's text, most plausibly around 1890. Hymnary lists the tune in F major and gives the meter as 11.11.11.11, while many hymnals divide the same textual structure as 6.5.6.5.D. The tune is public domain and is strongly associated with this hymn, though some hymnals use the alternate tune name LONGSTAFF.
HOLINESS is commonly printed in 6/8 and has a flowing, lyrical character rather than the emphatic march rhythm found in many nineteenth-century gospel songs. Its balanced phrases support reflective congregational singing and give the text room to unfold without sounding static. The melody's accessibility helps explain why the pairing has remained stable across many denominational hymnals.
The text has also been paired with alternate tunes. “The Hymnal for Worship and Celebration,” for example, provides an altered form of SLANE as an alternative, and some later collections use ST. DENIO or other settings. These alternatives show that Longstaff's text can function independently of Stebbins's melody, but HOLINESS remains the historically characteristic pairing. A moderate, unhurried tempo with clear phrasing generally serves the hymn better than either excessive slowness or sentimental rubato.
Application
- Protect regular time for prayer and Scripture, not as a way to earn God's favor but as a deliberate practice of receiving and responding to grace.
- Examine whether religious busyness is crowding out actual communion with Christ; service for God should grow from relationship with God rather than replace it.
- Connect private devotion with concrete love by identifying a person who needs encouragement, practical help, patience, or companionship.
- Use Romans 12:1–2 to ask how habits, media, schedules, and ambitions are shaping the mind and whether they support or resist Christlike formation.
- Measure spiritual growth not only by devotional consistency but also by increasing love, humility, obedience, and readiness to serve others.
Discussion Questions
- What is the difference between taking time for holiness and trying to earn holiness through religious effort?
- How do prayer and Scripture function as means of grace in Christian spiritual formation?
- Why does the hymn connect private devotion with friendship, care for the weak, and service?
- How does 2 Corinthians 3:18 change the way we think about becoming like Christ?
- What forms of busyness most often crowd out attentive communion with God in contemporary life?
- How should Christians understand spiritual calm without implying that faithful people never experience anxiety, grief, or emotional struggle?
Teaching Tips
- Present the hymn's date as approximately 1882 rather than claiming an exactly documented composition day or year.
- Explain the conflicting origin traditions: Sankey's 1906 memoir places the inspiring sermon at New Brighton, while later hymnological accounts connect it with missionary Griffith John and Keswick; do not merge the two into an undocumented single story.
- Distinguish text and tune chronology. Longstaff's words circulated earlier, while Hymnary dates Stebbins's HOLINESS to 1890 and Sankey stated that the complete hymn was published in 1891.
- Use 1 Peter 1:15–16, Romans 12:1–2, and 2 Corinthians 3:18 to teach holiness as whole-life, Spirit-enabled transformation rather than mere religious busyness.
- Point out that the hymn joins private devotion to fellowship and care for others, preventing spiritual disciplines from becoming self-centered.
- If teaching the music, compare HOLINESS with an alternate setting such as SLANE to show how tune choice changes the emotional character of the same devotional text.
Sources
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Ira D. Sankey, “My Life and the Story of the Gospel Hymns and of Sacred Songs and Solos,” Philadelphia: Sunday School Times Company, 1906, account of “Take Time to Be Holy,” the New Brighton sermon tradition, 1891 publication claim, and Longstaff's role at Bethesda Chapel.
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Canterbury Dictionary of Hymnology, entry for William Dunn Longstaff, documenting his Sunderland background, shipowning family, relationship with Arthur Augustus Rees, and evangelical activity.
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C. Michael Hawn, Discipleship Ministries, “History of Hymns: Take Time to Be Holy,” 2014, summarizing Robert Guy McCutchan's Keswick and Griffith John tradition, the hymn's holiness context, and later Methodist reception.
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Hymnary.org, text authority page for “Take Time to Be Holy,” documenting William D. Longstaff, approximate 1882 date, meter, translations, hymnal circulation, and public-domain status.
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Hymnary.org, tune authority page for HOLINESS (Stebbins), documenting George C. Stebbins, 1890 tune date, F-major setting, meter, alternate tune names, and public-domain status.
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Hymnary.org, person authority pages for William D. Longstaff and George C. Stebbins, documenting biographical and ministry details.
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George C. Stebbins, “Reminiscences and Gospel Hymn Stories,” New York: George H. Doran Company, 1924, autobiographical source for his church-music and evangelistic career.
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“The United Methodist Hymnal,” 1989, no. 395, documenting HOLINESS, 6.5.6.5.D meter, 1 Peter 1:16, and themes of prayer, discipleship, and personal holiness.
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World English Bible, public-domain Scripture text as presented by Bible Gateway.
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