Let Me Love Thee

Heather Allington

Heather writes for Sunday Song Book on behalf of the The Salvation Army Oshawa. As a lifelong member of the Army, she has loved these familiar - and some less familiar - songs for many years, and enjoys researching and writing about their origins. She is a wife, mother, grandmother and retired elementary school teacher who likes trying her hand at watercolour painting and poetry writing.

Let me love Thee, Thou art claiming
Every feeling of my soul;
Let that love, in power prevailing,
Render Thee my life, my all,
For life’s burdens they are easy,
And life’s sorrows lose their sting,
If they’re carried, Lord, to please Thee,
If their pain Thy smile should win.

Let me love Thee, Saviour,
Take my heart forever;
Nothing but Thy favour
My soul can satisfy.

Let me love Thee, come revealing
All Thy love has done for me.
Help my heart, so unbelieving,
By the sight of Calvary.
Let me see Thy love, despising
All the shame my sin has brought,
By Thy torments realising
What a price my pardon bought.

Let me love Thee, I am gladdest
When I’m loving Thee the best;
For in sunshine or in sadness
I can find in Thee my rest.
Love will soften every sorrow,
Love will lighten every care,
Love unquestioning will follow,
Love will triumph, love will dare.

Herbert Booth was born in 1862, the fifth child of William and Catherine Booth, the Salvation Army’s founders. He became well-educated, attending Allesley Park College and the Congregational Institute in Nottingham, England. While pioneering the Army’s work in France, from 1880 to 1882, he began writing songs in French. In 1883, he supervised the setting up of the Army’s music department in Clapton, England. Then Herbert began forming groups of singers who were cadets at the S.A.’s Training College for Officers. He married Cornelie Schoch in 1890, and that is when the above song was introduced to the public. A collection of the couple’s songs was later published: Songs of Peace and War.

A capable young man, Herbert Booth was given charge of the Army’s work in Britain, then in Canada and finally in Australia. Click To Tweet

A capable young man, Herbert Booth was given charge of the Army’s work in Britain, then in Canada and finally in Australia. In Australia in 1897, he compiled The Salvation Soldiers’ Song Book . He also was involved in theatre and filmmaking for the Army there. However, in 1901, dissatisfied with some aspects of the Army’s administration, Herbert and Cornelie resigned from their positions as officers. They then travelled on lecture tours in North America, South Africa, Australia and New Zealand, promoting a film, Soldiers of the Cross, as well as the concept of a non-denominational “Christian Confederacy”. Herbert Booth was Promoted to Glory in 1926.