Scripture Verse

Let us draw near to God with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water. Hebrews 10:22

Introduction

portrait
Fanny Crosby (1820–1915)

Words: Fan­ny Cros­by, in Bright­est and Best, ed­it­ed by Ro­bert Low­ry & How­ard Doane (New York: Big­low & Main, 1875), num­ber 22.

Music: W. How­ard Doane (🔊 pdf nwc).

portrait
W. Howard Doane (1832–1915)

Origin of the Hymn

Fanny Cros­by was vis­it­ing Mr. W. H. Doane, in his home in Cin­cin­na­ti, Ohio. They were talk­ing to­ge­ther about the near­ness of God, as the sun was set­ting and ev­en­ing sha­dows were ga­ther­ing around them.

The sub­ject so im­pressed the well-known hymn-writ­er, that be­fore re­tir­ing she had writ­ten the words to this hymn, which has be­come one of the most use­ful she has ev­er writ­ten. The mu­sic by Mr. Doane so well fit­ted the words that the hymn has be­come a spe­cial fa­vo­rite wher­ev­er the Gos­pel Hymns are known.

Sankey, p. 325

Lyrics

I am Thine, O Lord, I have heard Thy voice,
And it told Thy love to me;
But I long to rise in the arms of faith
And be clos­er drawn to Thee.

Refrain

Draw me near­er, near­er bless­èd Lord,
To the cross where Thou hast died.
Draw me near­er, near­er, near­er bless­èd Lord,
To Thy pre­cious, bleed­ing side.

Consecrate me now to Thy ser­vice, Lord,
By the pow­er of grace di­vine;
Let my soul look up with a stead­fast hope,
And my will be lost in Thine.

Refrain

O the pure de­light of a sin­gle hour
That be­fore Thy throne I spend,
When I kneel in pray­er, and with Thee, my God
I com­mune as friend with friend!

Refrain

There are depths of love that I can­not know
Till I cross the nar­row sea;
There are heights of joy that I may not reach
Till I rest in peace with Thee.

Refrain