Nearer, O God, to Thee

Top Media Text Author Text Info Notes Tune Timeline Arrangements Page Scans Instances

Nearer, O God, to Thee! Hear Thou our prayer

Author: William Walsham How
Published in 44 hymnals

Audio files: MIDI

Piano/Organ
	Footsteps of Jesus (Favorite Hymns and G…

Representative Text

1 Nearer, O God, to Thee,
Hear Thou our pray’r;
E’en tho’ a heavy cross,
Fainting we bear;
Still all our pray’r shall be,
Nearer to Thee,
Nearer, O God, to Thee;
Nearer to Thee.

2 If, where they led the Lord,
We, too, are borne;
Planting our steps in His;
Weary and worn;
There let us ever be;
Nearer to Thee;
Nearer, O God, to Thee;
Nearer to Thee.

3 And when Thou, Lord, once more,
Glorious shalt come;
Oh, for a dwelling place
In Thy bright home;
Thro’ all eternity!
Nearer to Thee;
Nearer, O God, to Thee;
Nearer to Thee.

Source: Gloria Deo: a Collection of Hymns and Tunes for Public Worship in all Departments of the Church #118

All representative texts • Compare texts ^ top

Author: William Walsham How

William W. How (b. Shrewsbury, Shropshire, England, 1823; d. Leenane, County Mayo, Ireland, 1897) studied at Wadham College, Oxford, and Durham University and was ordained in the Church of England in 1847. He served various congregations and became Suffragan Bishop in east London in 1879 and Bishop of Wakefield in 1888. Called both the "poor man's bishop" and "the children's bishop," How was known for his work among the destitute in the London slums and among the factory workers in west Yorkshire. He wrote a number of theological works about controversies surrounding the Oxford Movement and attempted to reconcile biblical creation with the theory of evolution. He was joint editor of Psalms and Hymns (1854) and Church Hymns (1871). While rec… Go to person page >

^ top

Text Information

Text Information

First Line:	Nearer, O God, to Thee! Hear Thou our prayer
Title:	Nearer, O God, to Thee
Author:	William Walsham How
Language:	English
Copyright:	Public Domain

^ top

Nearer, my God, to Thee, Hear Thou my prayer. Bishop W. W. How. [Nearness to God desired.] This was written for the 1861 edition of Morrell & How's Psalms & Hymns where it was given as No. 154, a somewhat slightly different version of the same having appeared in Kennedy (1863) a short time before, as:—

"Nearer to Thee, my God,
Still would I rise."

The 1864 text has been repeated in several collections in Great Britain and America. In the Society for Promoting Christian KnowledgeChurch Hymns, 1871, it begins:—

"Nearer, O God, to Thee! Hear Thou my prayer,"

and is accompanied in the folio edition, 1881, with the note:—

"A paraphrase of Mrs. Adams's hymn, expressing more definitely Christian faith, and better adapted for congregational worship."

Although in somewhat extensive use, it is the least musical of Bishop How's hymns.

--John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology (1907)

Notes

"Nearer to Thee, my God,
Still would I rise."

The 1864 text has been repeated in several collections in Great Britain and America. In the Society for Promoting Christian KnowledgeChurch Hymns, 1871, it begins:—