Scripture Verse

Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might. Deuteronomy 6:5

Introduction

Introduction

portrait
William Cowper (1731–1800)

Words: Mad­ame Guy­on (1648–1717). Trans­lat­ed from French to Eng­lish by Wil­liam Cow­per in his post­hu­mous Po­ems of Mad­ame de la Mothe Gui­on, Trans­lat­ed from the French (Lon­don: Ham­il­ton, Ad­ams: 1837), page 89.

Music: Nad­der­wa­ter Wal­ter B. Gil­bert, in the Hym­nal and Can­ti­cles of the Pro­test­ant Epis­co­pal Church with Mu­sic, ed­it­ed by Wal­ter Gil­bert & Al­fred. B. Goodr­ich (New York: E. P. Dut­ton, 1883), num­ber 457 (🔊 pdf nwc).

Alternate Tunes:

portrait
Walter B. Gilbert (1829–1910)

Lyrics

I love my God, but with no love of mine,
For I have none to give;
I love Thee, Lord, but all the love is Thine,
For by Thy life I live.
I am as no­thing, and re­joice to be
Emptied, and lost, and swal­lowed up in Thee.

Thou, Lord, alone, art all Thy child­ren need,
And there is none be­side:
From Thee the streams of bless­ed­ness pro­ceed;
In Thee the bless­ed abide.
Fountain of life, and all abound­ing grace,
Our source, our cen­ter, and our dwell­ing place.