My Jesus, I Love Thee

This hymn of deep devotion, “My Jesus, I Love Thee,” was written by William Ralph Featherston at age sixteen. Sixteen! Featherston was born July 23, 1846, in Montreal. He died in the same city 26 years later. His family attended the Wesleyan Methodist Church, and it seems likely that William wrote this hymn as a poem celebrating his conversion to Christ. Reportedly, he sent it to an aunt living in California, and somehow it was published as an anonymous hymn in a British hymnal in 1864.

Little else is known about the origin of the hymn or its author, but that’s all right. It’s enough just to know that God can change the world through anyone - regardless of age - who will say, “My Jesus, I love Thee, I know Thou art mine. For Thee, all the follies of sin I resign.”