Nearer Thee

About this hymn

As printed As printed: hymn number «1231» (large, left), title «NEARER THEE.» centred (condensed capitals with larger initials); under it the epigraph in two lines, «"Draw nigh to God and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, / ye double-minded."—James 4 : 8. "Let us draw near with a true heart, in full assurance of faith."—Heb. 10 : 22» (no full stop after the last figures); «F. E. BELDEN.» at the left (words) and «FRANK M. DAVIS.» at the right (music), capitals and small capitals; no meter, no reference line and no running head (the page opens with the last system of 1230, «KEEP ME.—Concluded.»). The three stanzas are interlinear, three lines between the staves of systems 1–2, numbered «1.»–«3.» in system 1; each stanza is four verse lines, given here as the verse lines of the poem (the staff break falls after the second verse line of each stanza). «CHORUS.» is printed over the treble staff at the start of system 3; its words stand once, in one line under the soprano, with leader dots after each held «thee,» («Near-er thee, . . . near-er thee, . . .»; the dots are not words and are not repeated below), and a lower line with the echo «Near-er thee,» / «near-er thee,» sung by the alto, tenor and bass while the soprano holds «thee,». The chorus is given here once, after stanza 1, as printed; the echo is not repeated in its text. Syllable hyphens are joined («Near-er», «ev-er», «might-y», «de-liv-er», «e-vil», «as-sail», «ac-cept», «sal-va-tion», «per-fect», «dear-er», «mer-cies», «giv-er», «prom-ise», «pre-vail», «temp-ta-tion», «Clos-er», «keep-ing», «ev-er-more», «a-bide»); «constant,» (stanza 1) is printed whole under two notes. The print sets a thin space before «;» and «!» («Friend !», «assail ;», «be ;», «side ;», «we ;»); it is closed up here. «Thro'» with a straight apostrophe. Under the music: «Copyrighted 1881 by J. E. White.» (centred), the page number «449», and at the bottom left the printer's signature mark «29» (not part of the hymn). Spelling, punctuation and capitals are the print's («Oh, deliver», «O thou»).

Source

The Seventh-day Adventist Hymn and Tune Book (Battle Creek: Review & Herald, 1886/1888)

Where

Bible Songs — Miscellaneous · No. 1231 · printed page 449

Checked

score verified (fork reading; parent check pending) · 2026-10-06

Download

Words (Markdown)
Piano · singing edition, all 3 stanzas (M4A, 3.5 MB)
Piano · singing key, one stanza (M4A, 1.2 MB)
Piano · original key (as printed), all 3 stanzas (M4A, 3.5 MB)
Piano · original key (as printed), one stanza (M4A, 1.2 MB)
Organ · singing edition, all 3 stanzas (M4A, 3.5 MB)
Organ · singing key, one stanza (M4A, 1.2 MB)
Organ · original key (as printed), all 3 stanzas (M4A, 3.5 MB)
Organ · original key (as printed), one stanza (M4A, 1.2 MB)