taper glows" and the sweet choral
that voices Beddome's hymn.

"MY JESUS, I LOVE THEE."

The real originator of the _Coronation Hymnal_, a book into whose making
went five years of prayer, was Dr. A.J. Gordon, late Pastor of the
Clarendon St. Baptist church, Boston. While the volume was slowly taking
form and plan he was wont to hum to himself, or cause to be played by
one of his family, snatches and suggestions of new airs that came to him
in connection with his own hymns, and others which seemed to have no
suitable music. The anonymous hymn, "My Jesus, I Love Thee," he found in
a London hymn-book, and though the tune to which it had been sung in
England was sent to him some time later, it did not sound sympathetic.
Dissatisfied, and with the ideal in his mind of what the feeling should
be in the melody to such a hymn, he meditated and prayed over the words
till in a moment of inspiration the beautiful air sang itself to him[15]
which with its simple concords has carried the hymn into the chapels of
every denomination.

[Footnote 15: The fact that this sweet melody recalls to some a similar
tune sung sixty years ago reminds us again of the story of the tune
"America." It is not impossible that an unconscious _memory_ helped to
shape the air that came to Dr. Gordon's mind; though unborrowed
similarities have been inevitable in the whole history of music.]

My Jesus, I love Thee, I know Thou art mine,
For Thee all the pleasures of sin I resign;
My gracious Redeemer, my Saviour art Thou,
If ever I loved Thee, my Jesus, 'tis now.

* * * * *

I will 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, unveiled to my sight,
And sing, with the glittering crown on my brow,
If ever I loved Thee, my Jesus, 'tis now.

The memory of the writer returns to a day in a railway-car en route to
the great Columbian Fair in Chicago when the tired passengers were
suddenly surprised and charmed by the music of this melody. A young
Christian man and woman, husband and wife, had begun to sing "My Jesus,
I love Thee." Their voices (a tenor and soprano) were clear and sweet,
and every one of the company sat up to listen with a look of mingled
admiration and