Scripture Verse

God demonstrates His love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Romans 5:8

Introduction

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Sylvanus D. Phelps (1816–1895)

Words: Syl­van­us D. Phelps, 1862. First ap­peared in the Watch­man and Re­flec­tor, Vol­ume 45, No. 11 (Bos­ton, Mas­sa­chu­setts: 1864). The orig­in­al first line was Some­thing, my God, for Thee. Phelps evi­dent­ly re­wrote the words lat­er to go with Low­ry’s tune.

Music: Some­thing for Je­sus Ro­bert Low­ry, in Pure Gold (New York: Big­low & Main, 1871) (🔊 pdf nwc).

Alternate Tune:

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Robert Lowry (1826–1899)

On Phelps’ 70th birth­day, Low­ry wrote him:

It is worth liv­ing 70 years ev­en if no­thing comes of it but one such hymn as

Savior! Thy dying love
Thou gavest me;
Nor should I aught withhold,
Dear Lord, from Thee.

Happy is the man who can pro­duce one song which the world will keep on sing­ing af­ter the au­thor shall have passed away. May the tune­ful harp pre­serve its strings for ma­ny a long year yet, and the last note reach us on­ly when it is time for the sing­er to take his place in the hea­ven­ly choir.

Lyrics

Savior, Thy dy­ing love
Thou gav­est me.
Nor should I aught with­hold,
Dear Lord, from Thee.
In love my soul would bow,
My heart ful­fill its vow,
Some of­fer­ing bring Thee now,
Something for Thee.

O’er the blest mer­cy seat,
Pleading for me,
My fee­ble faith looks up,
Jesus, to Thee.
Help me the cross to bear,
Thy won­drous love de­clare,
Some song to raise, or pray­er,
Something for Thee.

Give me a faith­ful heart,
Likeness to Thee.
That each de­part­ing day
Henceforth may see
Some work of love be­gun,
Some deed of kind­ness done,
Some wan­der­er sought and won,
Something for Thee.

All that I am and have,
Thy gifts so free,
In joy, in grief, through life,
O Lord, for Thee!
And when Thy face I see,
My ran­somed soul shall be
Through all eter­ni­ty,
Something for Thee.