O Love That Wilt Not Let Me Go

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O Love that wilt not let me go

Author: George Matheson (1882)
Tune: ST. MARGARET (Peace)
Published in 683 hymnals

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	O Love That Will Not Let Me Go

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	O Love That Will Not Let Me Go

Choral
	O Love That Wilt Not Let Me Go

Representative Text

1. O love that will 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.

2. O Light that follows all my way,
I yield my flick'ring torch to thee;
My heart restores its borrowed ray,
That in thy sunshine's blaze its day
May brighter, fairer be.

3. O Joy that seekest me thru' pain,
I cannot close my heart to thee;
I trace the rainbow thru' the rain
And feel the promise is not vain
That morn shall tearless be.

4. 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.

Source: Hymns and Devotions for Daily Worship #240

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Author: George Matheson

Matheson, George, D.D., was born at Glasgow, March 27, 1842, and although deprived of his eyesight in youth he passed a brilliant course at the University of Edinburgh, where he graduated M.A. in 1862. In 1868 he became the parish minister at Innellan; and subsequently of St. Bernard's, Edinburgh. He was the Baird Lecturer in 1881, and St. Giles Lecturer in 1882. He has published several important prose works. His poetical pieces were collected and published in 1890 as Sacred Songs, Edinburgh: W. Blackwood. In addition to his hymn "O Love that wilt not let me go" (q. v.), four others from his Sacred Songs are in Dr. A. C. Murphey's Book of Common Song, Belfast, 1890. --John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology, Appendix, Part II (1907)… Go to person page >

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Related Texts

First Line:	O Love that wilt not let me go
Title:	O Love That Wilt Not Let Me Go
Author:	George Matheson (1882)
Meter:	8.8.8.8.6
Language:	English
Notes:	Spanish translation: See "Oh amor que no me dejarás" by Vicente Mendoza
Copyright:	Public Domain

Year A, Lent, First Sunday
This is recommended for Year A, Lent, First Sunday by 2 hymnal lectionary indexes including Glory to God: the Presbyterian Hymnal #833 and Lift Up Your Hearts: psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs #457.
Year A, Lent, Third Sunday
This is recommended for Year A, Lent, Third Sunday by 2 hymnal lectionary indexes including Glory to God: the Presbyterian Hymnal #833.
Year A, Easter season, Easter Day
This is recommended for Year A, Easter season, Easter Day by 2 hymnal lectionary indexes including Glory to God: the Presbyterian Hymnal #833 and Lift Up Your Hearts: psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs #457.
Year A, Ordinary Time, Proper 6 (11)
This is recommended for Year A, Ordinary Time, Proper 6 (11) by 2 hymnal lectionary indexes including Glory to God: the Presbyterian Hymnal #833.
Year A, Ordinary Time, Proper 12 (17)
This is recommended for Year A, Ordinary Time, Proper 12 (17) by 4 hymnal lectionary indexes including Glory to God: the Presbyterian Hymnal #833 and Lift Up Your Hearts: psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs #457.
Year A, Ordinary Time, Proper 13 (18)
This is recommended for Year A, Ordinary Time, Proper 13 (18) by 2 hymnal lectionary indexes including Glory to God: the Presbyterian Hymnal #833.
Year A, Ordinary Time, Proper 13 (18)
Year A, Ordinary Time, Proper 17 (22)
This is recommended for Year A, Ordinary Time, Proper 17 (22) by 2 hymnal lectionary indexes including Glory to God: the Presbyterian Hymnal #833 and Lift Up Your Hearts: psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs #457.
Year B, Lent, First Sunday
This is recommended for Year B, Lent, First Sunday by 2 hymnal lectionary indexes including Glory to God: the Presbyterian Hymnal #833 and Lift Up Your Hearts: psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs #457.
Year B, Lent, First Sunday
Year B, Ordinary Time, Proper 9 (14)
This is recommended for Year B, Ordinary Time, Proper 9 (14) by 2 hymnal lectionary indexes including Glory to God: the Presbyterian Hymnal #833 and Lift Up Your Hearts: psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs #457.
Year C, Epiphany season, Fourth Sunday
This is recommended for Year C, Epiphany season, Fourth Sunday by 2 hymnal lectionary indexes including Glory to God: the Presbyterian Hymnal #833.
Year C, Easter season, Fifth Sunday
This is recommended for Year C, Easter season, Fifth Sunday by 2 hymnal lectionary indexes including Glory to God: the Presbyterian Hymnal #833.
Year C, Ordinary Time, Proper 20 (25)
This is recommended for Year C, Ordinary Time, Proper 20 (25) by 2 hymnal lectionary indexes.

Chinese

生命聖詩 - Hymns of Life, 1986 #329

English

10 shown out of 548

Welsh

Yiddish

Hymns of Faith, with Music #d58

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Notes

O Love that wilt not let me go. G. Matheson. [Jesus All and in All.] Dr. Matheson says this hymn was "written in the Manse of my former parish (Innellan, Argyleshire) one summer evening in 1882. It was composed with extreme rapidity; it seemed to me that its construction occupied only a few minutes, and I felt myself rather in the position of one who was being dictated to than of an original artist I was suffering from extreme mental distress, and the hymn was the fruit of pain." [L. MSS.] This hymn first appeared in the Church of Scotland magazine, Life and Work, in 1883 [sic 1882]. From thence it passed into the Scottish Hymnal 1884; and there set to special music by Dr. A. L. Peace. It is a beautiful and tender hymn and worthy of extensive use.

--John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology, Appendix, Part II (1907)

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Tune

ST. MARGARET (Peace)

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Baptist Hymnal 1991 #292

Bulletin Score (melody only) (PDF)
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The Cyber Hymnal #5160

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The United Methodist Hymnal #480

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Worship and Rejoice #446

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Page Scans

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Voices Together (2020), p.635

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Instances

Instances (1 - 68 of 68)

Piano/Organ O Love That Will Not Let Me Go The Art of Hymn Playing Volume II - Introductions, Preludes, Free Accompaniments, and Alternate Harmonizations COLLECTED WORKS OF DON HUSTAD More Piano/Organ...
Choral O Love That Wilt Not Let Me Go SHADOW OF THE CROSS, THE: A Contemporary Tenebrae Service More Choral...
Instrumental O Love That Wilt Not Let Me Go: Two Hymns for Oboe or C Instrument and Piano O Love That Wilt Not Let Me Go More Instrumental...
PowerPoint O LOVE THAT WILL NOT LET ME GO (Celebration Hymnal 606) O LOVE THAT WILT NOT LET ME GO (United Methodist Hymnal 480) O LOVE THAT WILT NOT LET ME GO (Trinity Hymnal 708) More PowerPoint...

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