NEARER MY GOD TO THEE

Then he dreamed, and behold, a ladder was set up on the earth, and its top reached to heaven.

Genesis 28:12

SARAH FLOWER ADAMS

It was reported that the band aboard the Titanic gallantly played “Nearer, My

God, to Thee” as the great liner sank to its watery grave on April 14, 1912.

A Canadian survivor told of being comforted by its strains.

It’s a great hymn, written by Sarah Flower Adams, an Englishwoman.

Sarah grew up enjoying the spotlight with great interest in stage dreaming of

being an actress. In 1837, she played “Lady MacBeth” in the Richmond

Theatre in London to rave reviews.

Her frail health, however, hampered her career, and she found herself focusing more

on her literary gifts.

Among her compositions were hymns of praise to the Lord. Sarah’s sister, Eliza, a

gifted musician, often wrote the music for her hymns. The two were very close.

One day in 1841, their pastor, Rev. William Johnson Fox of London’s South Place

Unitarian Church, paid her visit.

At that time, he mentioned that he was frustrated at his inability to find a hymn to

go along with the upcoming Sunday’s message, which was from the story of Jacob

at Bethel in Genesis 28:20-22.

Sarah offered to write a hymn based on those verses. For the rest of the week she

poured over the passage, visualizing Jacob’s sleeping with a stone as his pillow

as he dreamed of a ladder reaching to heaven.

The following Sunday, South Place Unitarian Church sang Sarah’s “Nearer, My

God, to Thee.”

Nearer, my God, to Thee, nearer to Thee!E'en though it be a cross that raiseth me;Still all my song would be

nearer, my God, to Thee,Nearer, my God, to Thee, nearer to Thee!

Though like the wanderer, the sun gone down,

Darkness be over me, my rest a stone;Yet in my dreams I'd be

nearer, my God, to Thee,Nearer, my God, to Thee, nearer to Thee!

There let the way appear steps unto heav'n;

All that Thou sendest me in mercy giv'n;Angels to beckon me

nearer, my God, to Thee,Nearer, my God, to Thee, nearer to Thee!

Then with my waking thoughts bright with Thy praise,

Out of my stony griefs Bethel I'll raise;So by my woes to be

nearer, my God, to Thee,Nearer, my God, to Thee, nearer to Thee!

Or if on joyful wing, cleaving the sky,Sun, moon, and stars forgot, upwards I fly,Still all my song shall be,

nearer, my God, to Thee,Nearer, my God, to Thee, nearer to Thee!