Readings · Hymns
Nearer, My God, to Thee
Sarah Flower Adams · 35 lines
Nearer, my God, to thee,
Nearer to thee!
E’en though it be a cross
That raiseth me:
Still all my song would be,
Nearer, my God, to thee—
Nearer to thee!
Though like the wanderer,
The sun gone down,
Darkness be over me,
My rest a stone;
Yet in my dreams I’d be,
Nearer, my God, to thee—
Nearer to thee!
There let the way appear,
Steps unto heaven;
All that thou send’st to me,
In mercy given:
Angels to beckon me
Nearer, my God, to thee—
Nearer to thee!
Then with my waking thoughts,
Bright with thy praise,
Out of my stony griefs,
Bethel I’ll raise:
So by my woes to be
Nearer, my God, to thee—
Nearer to thee!
Or if on joyful wing
Cleaving the sky,
Sun, moon, and stars forgot,
Upwards I fly:
Still all my song shall be,
Nearer, my God, to thee—
Nearer to thee!
About this reading
Sarah Flower Adams wrote these words for Hymns and Anthems, a collection published in London in 1841 for the chapel where she worshipped and edited by its minister, William Johnson Fox. She gave thirteen hymns to that book. She died seven years later, in 1848.
The five verses as first printed in 1841. Later hymn books often leave out the last verse, and some change words or add verses by other writers.
- First published
- 1841
- Text from
- Hymns and Anthems (London, 1841)
When you are ready to make the program
Answer one question at a time and add photographs. The program lays itself out, and you see all of it before paying anything.