There is a name I love to hear –
I love to sing its worth;
It sounds like music in my ear,
The sweetest name on earth.
O how I love the Saviour’s name!
O how I love the Saviour’s name!
O how I love the Saviour’s name –
The sweetest name on earth!
It tells me of a Saviour’s love,
Who gave His life for me,
That I, and all who come to Him,
From sin may be set free.
Jesus, the name I love so well,
The name I love to hear;
No saint on earth its worth can tell,
No heart conceive how dear.
In Heaven with all the blood-bought throng,
From sin and sorrow free,
I’ll sing the new eternal song
Of Jesus’ love to me.
Frederick Whitfield wrote the verses of this old hymn, but the author of the simple chorus is unknown. Some hymnbooks show a different chorus: “Oh, how I love Jesus, because He first loved me.” In the Salvation Army, we often sing that chorus independent of any verses.
Whitfield was born in 1829 in Threapwood, England – a village of about 250 people at that time. He was educated in Dublin, Ireland, and became a Church of England pastor. The hymn above was written while he was still a student. There are four additional verses on record, each telling something about what the name of Jesus can mean in a person’s life.
what the name of Jesus can mean in a person’s life. Share on XA Canadian woman, Jane Clarke, wrote a new, more modern-sounding tune for the song some years ago, and Major Len Ballantine (R.) arranged it as a Songster selection, with a cornet or flugel horn obligato to complement the piano accompaniment. You may enjoy listening to this tune played by British Bandsman Gaz Rose in the link provided here.
