Lord, Thou hast made Thyself to me

1
Lord, Thou hast made Thyself to me
A living, bright reality,
More present to faith's vision keen
Than any earthly object seen;
More dear, more intimately nigh
Than e'en the closest earthly tie.
2
And Thou, blest vision of my soul,
Hast made my broken nature whole;
Hast purified my base desires,
And kindled passion's holiest fires;
My nature Thou hast lifted up,
And filled me with a glorious hope.
3
Nearer and dearer still to me,
Thou living, loving Savior be;
Brighter the vision of Thy face,
More charming still Thy words of grace;
So, life shall be transformed to love,
Thy grace and mercy more to prove.
5
Christopher Burk

Seattle, Washington, United States

Amen! The Lord has made my broken nature whole! My nature He has lifted up and filled me with a glorious hope.

Praising the Lord at the Hsiung’s!


Steve Miller

Detroit, Michigan, United States

This hymn has been wrongly attributed to J. B. French, Arthur W. French, & Francis Havergal. The actual author is Charlotte Elliott, who also wrote, 'Just As I Am'.

'Under the date of Jan. 26th. 1872, the Rev. J. Babbington, brother-in-law to Miss Elliott, wrote to the late D. Sedgwick concerning Miss Elliott's hymn "O Jesus, make Thyself to me", "the lines you refer to (O Jesus make Thyself to me) are Miss Charlotte Elliott's. They were for many years the private expression of her own daily prayers, and were so much a part of her own hidden life with her Saviour that they were rarely communicated by her to any one, and only to her most intimate friends. One of those had them printed on a card by Taylor (Edinburgh 1860) and at first she was rather disconcerted, till she was led to feel that this was her loved Saviour's way of leading others to the participation in her own sacred inner life. ' - John Julian's 'Dictionary of Hymnology'

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The first line of the 1st stanza originally says:

O Jesus make Thyself to me

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The last 3 lines of the last stanza originally say:

More glorious still Thy words of grace;

Till life shall be transformed to love,

A heaven below, a heaven above.


Frank Alcamo

Oceanside, NY, United States

What a beautiful prayer. What a beautiful hymn.


Steve Miller

Detroit, MI, United States

Wow. Thanks for sharing, brother Roman.


Roman

St. Petersburg, Russia

Brother Hudson Taylor once told a devastating news about his coworkers. So on learning the news he started singing this hymn. When asked by a brother who was with him at the moment why he wouldn't mourn or do something of this kind about the situation, he replied: Would that help them right now? His point was that we need to get strengthened in our inner man in whatever situation the Lord has arrange and help others to touch them. We need to make our soul happy on our God... I may not be correct in presenting all the details. Sorry about that. The general story I heard from the brothers.