My Jesus, I Love Thee

William R. Featherston

Adoniram Judson Gordon

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.

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.

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."

In mansions of glory and endless delight,
I'll ever adore Thee in heaven so bright.
I'll sing with the glittering crown on my brow,
"If ever I loved Thee, my Jesus, 'tis now."

"Yes, Lord," he said, "you know that I love you."
John 21: 15 NIV

William R. Featherston, was born on July 23, 1846, in Montreal, Canada. Although information about Featherston is scarce, it is believed that he wrote this hymn at the time of his conversion at the age of sixteen. He sent the poem to his aunt who was living in California and she encouraged him to have it published. The hymn text first appeared anonymously in an English hymnal published in 1864.

The composer, Adoniram Judson Gordon was the pastor of the Clarendon Street Baptist Church in Boston, Massachusetts. He discovered the anonymous hymn in the English hymnal and was attracted to its text. One day he was meditating on the hymn and "In a moment of inspiration, a beautiful new air sang itself to me." The hymn with its present tune first appeared in The Service of Song for Baptist Churches which was published in 1876.