Scripture Verse

Who is he who will devote himself to be close to Me? Jeremiah 30:21

Introduction

portrait
Fanny Crosby (1820–1915)

Words: Fan­ny Cros­by, in Songs of Grace and Glo­ry, ed­ited by Will­iam F. Sher­win & Si­las Vail (New York: Hor­ace Wa­ters & Son, 1874), num­ber 17.

Music: Si­las J. Vail (🔊 pdf nwc).

If you know where to get a good pho­to of Vail (head & shoul­ders, at least 200×300 pix­els),

Origin of the Hymn

Toward the close of a day in the year 1874 I was sit­ting in my room think­ing of the near­ness of God through Christ as the con­stant com­pan­ion of my pil­grim jour­ney, when my heart burst out with the words.

Fanny Crosby

Lyrics

Thou my ev­er­last­ing por­tion,
More than friend or life to me,
All along my pil­grim jour­ney,
Savior, let me walk with Thee.
Close to Thee, close to Thee,
Close to Thee, close to Thee,
All along my pil­grim jour­ney,
Savior, let me walk with Thee.

Not for ease or world­ly plea­sure,
Nor for fame my pray­er shall be;
Gladly will I toil and suf­fer,
Only let me walk with Thee.
Close to Thee, close to Thee,
Close to Thee, close to Thee,
Gladly will I toil and suf­fer,
Only let me walk with Thee.

Lead me through the vale of sha­dows,
Bear me over life’s fit­ful sea;
Then the gate of life eter­nal
May I en­ter, Lord, with Thee.
Close to Thee, close to Thee,
Close to Thee, close to Thee,
Then the gate of life eter­nal
May I en­ter, Lord, with Thee.