Nearer, My God, to Thee

I had a request to share the story of the hymn Nearer, My God, to Thee. This hymn was inspired by Genesis 28:20-22.

20And Jacob vowed a vow, saying, If God will be with me, and will keep me in this way that I go, and will give me bread to eat, and raiment to put on,
21So that I come again to my father's house in peace; then shall the LORD be my God:
22And this stone, which I have set for a pillar, shall be God's house: and of all that thou shalt give me I will surely give the tenth unto thee. KJV

It was 1841 and a talented wordsmith was caring for her sister, Eliza, who was ailing from tuberculosis (oft referred to as consumption). Sarah Adams had dreams of being on the stage. She loved the theater and acting but being of frail health herself, she concentrated on her literary talents. She wrote many hymns and was reported to write them as if by compulsion. In 1841 after a visit from her pastor, Sarah penned Nearer, My God, to Thee. Rev. William Johnson Fox was frustrated because he had been unable to find an appropriate hymn for his sermon on Jacob at Bethel in Genesis 28:20-22. Sarah offered to write a hymn based on those verses. She spent a week visualizing Jacob sleeping with a stone for a pillow as he dreamt of a ladder to Heaven.

It is widely rumored that the musicians aboard the Titanic played this as the ill-fated liner sank in 1912. A Canadian survivor reports being comforted by its strains. Historians have been unable to confirm or deny the validity of this report.

Ms. Adams passed away in 1848 at the age of 43. She appears to have shown signs of the same consumption as her sister Eliza.

Here are the words she penned.

Nearer, my God, to thee, nearer to thee!
E'en though it be a cross that raiseth me,
still all my song shall 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 heaven;
all that thou sendest me, in mercy given;
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, upward I fly,
still all my song shall be,
nearer, my God, to thee;
nearer, my God, to thee, nearer to thee!