O
Love that wilt not let me go
The
LORD hath appeared of old unto me, saying, Yea, I have loved
thee with an everlasting love: therefore with lovingkindness
have I drawn thee. Again I will build thee, and thou shalt be
built, O virgin of Israel: Jeremiah 31:3,4
nearly home to Ballycastle
O
Love that wilt not let me go,
I rest my weary soul in thee;
I give thee back the life I owe,
That in thine ocean depths its flow
May richer, fuller be.
O
light that followest all my way,
I yield my flickering torch to thee;
My heart restores its borrowed ray,
That in thy sunshine’s blaze its day
May brighter, fairer be.
O
Joy that seekest me through pain,
I cannot close my heart to thee;
I trace the rainbow through the rain,
And feel the promise is not vain,
That morn shall tearless be.
O
Cross that liftest up my head,
I dare not ask to fly from thee;
I lay in dust life’s glory dead,
And from the ground there blossoms red
Life that shall endless be.
Text:
George Matheson, 1842-1906
Music: Albert L. Peace, 1844-1912
Tune: ST. MARGARET, Meter: 88.886
Matheson
said about this hymn:
"My
hymn was composed in the manse of Innelan [Argyleshire,
Scotland] on the evening of the 6th of June, 1882, when I was
40 years of age. I was alone in the manse at that time. It was
the night of my sister’s marriage, and the rest of the
family were staying overnight in Glasgow. Something happened
to me, which was known only to myself, and which caused me the
most severe mental suffering. The hymn was the fruit of that
suffering. It was the quickest bit of work I ever did in my
life. I had the impression of having it dictated to me by some
inward voice rather than of working it out myself. I am quite
sure that the whole work was completed in five minutes, and
equally sure that it never received at my hands any retouching
or correction. I have no natural gift of rhythm. All the other
verses I have ever written are manufactured articles; this came
like a dayspring from on high.
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