Evening star., 1901-09-27
NEARER, MY GOD, TO THEE"
The Words of the Song on the Dying
Presidents Lips.


The Words of the Song on the Dying
Presidents Lips.
srom the Boston Journal.
Nearer. my God, to Thee,
Nearer to Thee.
Een though 1t be cross
That Faiseth me,
Stin all my song shall be.
Nearer. my God. to Thee,
Nearer TO Thee.
The whole world knows that President
McKinley's lips framed these words as
he lay dying in the upper room of John
G. Milburn's house in Buffalo. But in the
world how many know aught of the author
of those words of solace? Perhaps no
hymn since the publication of Perronet's
''An Hail the Power of Jesus Name" in
1TS5. has received so wide a popularity as
that whose first verse heads this story. 1t
finds a place in all collections of hymns
In the English tongue and Is favorite
alike in Trinitarian and Unitarian churches
1t has been translated into many languages
and has followed the triumph of the Cos
pei in heather lands.
1t is said to be the best metrical express
sion of the desire for a more intimate
spiritual acquaintance with God and the
riches Of His grace in modern psalmody.
1t is a fresh and touching expression Of
the same yearning aspiration toward God
that is shown in COwper's "Oh. for a
Closer Walk With God" which it sue
CGGueu III popular TaNOT. My lIOQ,
to Thee" expresses a willingness to know
God through the discipline of affiiction; to
descend into the valleys in the ascent of
that spiritual mountain whose summit Is
everlasting light.
Its imagery embraces the associations Of
one Of the most sublime and interesting
religious experiences recorded in the early
Hebrew Scriptures-Jacob's vision at Luz.
And he lighted upon certain place"
says the Scripture of Jacobs wanderings
and tarried there all night because the
sun was set: and he took of the stones of
that place and put them for his pillows
and lay down in that place to sleep. And
he dreamed. and. behold. there was a lad
der set up on the earth, and the top of 1t
reached heaven: and behold the angels of
God ascending and descending on it," The
hymn almost literally reproduces the pas
sage.
The scripturai account of the wanderings
of Jacob on the morning after the vision is
vividly brought forth In the figures used
In the fourth stanza of the hymn:
Then with my waking thoughts.
Bright with Thy praise,
Bethel I'll raise;
80 By my woes TO be
Nearer. my God. to Thee.
Nearer to Thee.
Mrs. Sarah Flower Adams. who wrote the
hymn. was the younger of two daughters
of Benjamin Flower an English editor and
writer. She was born in 1905 Her mother
a lady of much refinement and culture, deli
cate in feelings and sentiment died in early
life. Her elder sisters name was Eliza
The strongest attachment existed between
the two sisters; both possessed the fine
feelings of their mother. and were very
fond of books. music, poetry and art
Their aesthetic tastes revealed themselves
in childhood, and girlhood to them was a
glowing season of aspiration and expect
ancy. Eliza turned her attention to music
and religious poetry. They were Unita-
rian In their church relations but their
piety was gauged by devotional feeling and
high religious attainments rather than de-
ncminatiOnal requirements or any sectarian
views.
The hymn Nearer, My God. to Thee"
was a record of Sarah's own religious
experiences and was written a memo
rial OF answered prayer. probably without
any expectation that 1t would be of public