Nearer, my God, to Thee

Nearer, my God, to Thee.

NEARER, my God, to Thee,
Nearer to Thee!
E'en though it be a cross
That raiseth me;
Still all my song shall be,
Nearer, my God, to Thee,
Nearer to Thee!

2 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!

3 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!

4 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!

5 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!

An English lady, Mrs. Sarah Flower Adams, wrote this hymn for a hymnal published by her pastor in 1841. She was a good woman, who wore out her own life in ministering to an afflicted sister. She was an Unitarian, which explains why the hymn does not appeal to Christ, whom we love to think of as the Way to God. To understand the 2d, 3d, and 4th verses, it is necessary to know the story of Jacob's dream as told in Genesis xxviii. [NOTES.—Verse '.line 3. A cross. The cross is a symbol of suffering. And sometimes God uses suffering to draw us nearer to Him by making us feel more humble and dependent upon Him. Verse 1, line 5. Shall. Mrs. Adams wrote here " would."]