My Jesus, I Love Thee
One of the 94 hymns we sing together at Cornerstone Reformed Baptist Church on the Gold Coast. Browse the full hymnbook.
Lyrics
Verse 1
My Jesus, I love Thee, I know Thou art mine;
For Thee all the follies of sin I resign.
My gracious Redeemer, my Saviour art Thou;
If ever I loved Thee, my Jesus, ’tis now.
Verse 2
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.
Verse 3
I’ll love Thee in life, I will love Thee in death;
And praise Thee as long as Thou lendest me
breath;
And say, when the deathdew lies cold on my brow:
If ever I loved Thee, my Jesus, ’tis now.
Verse 4
In mansions of glory and endless delight,
I’ll ever adore Thee in Heaven so bright;
I’ll sing with the glittering crown on my brow:
If ever I loved Thee, my Jesus, ’tis now.
Behind the Hymn
"My Jesus, I Love Thee" was written by William Ralph Featherstone in 1864, reportedly when he was only sixteen years old. Very little is known about Featherstone's life — he was born in Montreal, Canada, and the hymn is believed to have been written shortly after his conversion to Christianity. The poem was originally published in a British hymnal before being noticed by Adoniram Judson Gordon, a prominent Baptist pastor in Boston, who composed a new tune for it in 1876 that is now inseparably linked with the text. What makes the hymn remarkable is its mature theological depth despite the author's youth — the declaration "I love Thee because Thou hast first loved me" echoes 1 John 4:19 with a simplicity that belies its profundity. The third verse, which imagines loving Christ even "in death's cold, still, dark night" with "death's cold sweat on my brow," is startlingly bold for a teenager. Featherstone died young, at just 28 years old, in 1873 — barely a decade after writing the hymn that would far outlive him. Charles Spurgeon included it in his own hymnal, calling it one of the finest expressions of love for Christ in the English language.