A white minister who was to become president of a great African-American University picked up a dictionary in his study at the First Congregational Church, Washington, D.C. He thumbed through the pages until he found what he wanted–and then made some notes on a pad at his side: “Farewell-fare thee well. Wherever you go, whatever you do, however circumstances affect you, may you fare well.” Another volume furnished an interpretation of the slang expression “So Long” and hinted that it was possibly and English corruption of the Islamic greeting, “Salaam Alaikum” which means “Peace be with you.” Noting that the French farewell, “Adieu” and “Au Revoir,” means “Till we meet again,” he then looked up the word “Goodbye.” He jotted down these notes: “Goodbye-God be with you. Can God go with everyone? Suppose they don’t want Him to go with them? Is this not a parting word for Christians only?”
With that, he looked up the various “Farewells” in the New Testament and found these references: Acts 15:29, “Fare ye well;” Acts 23:30, “Farewell.” From the original Greek, he discovered that these words have a wide variety of meaning, including “God make you strong; be strong; be well; be firm; enjoy good health; rejoice; be joyful and be full of joy.”
Since his Sunday evening congregations were growing, the resourceful pastor, Rev. Jeremiah Eames Rankin (1828-1904), featured evangelistic singing. He had already edited a book of gospel songs two years earlier, “Gospel Temperance Hymnal” having been published in 1878. Even before that, some of his original hymns had been included in “Songs of the New Life,” published in 1869.
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