Saturday, May 3, 2008

Then Sings My Soul Saturday

I love this beautiful hym of love and adoration to God. It is especially worshipful when we sing this at church in a slow meditative manner. It was written by a 16-year old boy shortly after his conversion. He sent the poem to his aunt, who encouraged him to have it published. No other hymns are credited to him, and he died shortly before his 27th birthday. The poem was set to music 12 years after he wrote it.

Here's Avalon's beautiful version:

My Jesus I love Thee



My Jesus, I love Thee, I know Thou art mine;
For Thee all the follies of sin I resign.
My gracious Redeemer, my Savior art Thou;
If ever I loved Thee, my Jesus, ’tis now.

I love Thee because Thou hast first loved me,
And purchased my pardon on Calvary’s tree.
I love Thee for wearing the thorns on Thy brow;
If ever I loved Thee, my Jesus ’tis now.

I’ll love Thee in life, and I’ll love Thee in death,
I’ll praise Thee as long as Thou lendest me breath;
And say when the death dew lies cold on my brow,
If ever I loved Thee, my Jesus ’tis now.

In mansions of glory and endless delight,
I’ll ever adore Thee in Heaven so bright;
And sing with the glittering crown on my brow;
If ever I loved Thee, my Jesus ’tis now.

Words: William R. Featherstone, 1864
Music: Adoniram J. Gordon, 1876



You'll find more Then Sings My Soul Saturday songs here!

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12 comments:

Anonymous said...

Lovely song and story behind the song! Avalon is one of my favorites too :-)

Have a blessed weekend!

Melanie said...

This is such a beautiful hymn. So glad you shared it with us this week!

Shari said...

Very interesting history you included with this hymn. Just amazing that it was written by a 16 year old.

A Stone Gatherer said...

What an awesome story! Isn't God amazing! That song is wonderful! I remember singing it in church, and now that I know that someone my son's age wrote it I believe again God so uses the youth of this world! Thanks for sharing!

Anonymous said...

I love the last verse! Such a great image of worship!

Kelley said...

GREAT song choice! I miss hearing the old hymns...and Avalon is soooo good! And what an awesome story behind the song! This has been a blessing today, thank you!

Anonymous said...

Linda...How I love that you give us a bit of a background on a song that we should know and sing frequently. Hymns and all their powerful verses we rarely pay attention to until we pause to really lookt the words and how deep and meaningful. And who can sing it better than Avalon...not I, but I gladly sing along and thank you Linda for helping me SING! Blessings, Peggy

Xandra@Heart-of-Service said...

Thanks for sharing the story...I love to play this one on the piano. Just reading the lyrics gave me chills.

Xandra

Andrea @ Mommy Snacks.net said...

Linda - this is beautiful! I've never heard their version before. Thanks for sharing!

Anonymous said...

Love Avalon. Love this song. I have two books (of course I do) on the origin of hymns and I've read some of them, but not this one. Thanks!

Natalie said...

I'll praise Thee as long as Thou lendest me breath...what a prayer!

Melissa Lea said...

What a great song! Sorry it took me so long to get to yours! Hope you have a great week!