1. My Jesus, I love Thee, I know Thou art mine; For Thee, all the follies of sin I resign; My gracious Redeemer, My Savior art Thou; If ever I loved Thee, my Jesus 'tis now. 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. 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 death-dew lies cold on my brow; If ever I loved Thee, my Jesus 'tis now. 4. In mansions of glory and endless delight, I'll ever adore Thee in heaven so bright; And singing Thy praises, before Thee I'll bow; If ever I loved Thee, my Jesus 'tis now.
Lyrics: William Ralph Featherston
Music: Adoniram Judson Gordon
Tune: GORDON
Meter: 11.11.11.11.
William R. Featherston, 1846–1873
The spiritual depth of “My Jesus, I Love Thee” is made all the more remarkable by the knowledge that it was written by a teenager. William Ralph Featherston of Montreal, Canada, is thought to have written these lines of heartfelt gratitude to Christ at the time of his conversion experience when only 16. It is believed he then sent a copy of his poem to an aunt in Los Angeles, and somehow the text appeared anonymously in print in an English hymnal, The London Book, in 1864.
Several years later, a well-known American Baptist pastor, Dr. A. J. Gordon, discovered the anonymous hymn in the English hymnbook and decided to compose a better melody for it.