The words of this song of testimony were written by Frederick Whitfield when he was studying theology at Trinity College in Dublin, Ireland. He became a prominent British minister and published more than thirty volumes of prose and poetry during his lifetime. This text first appeared in 1855 as nine stanzas printed in leaflets and was titled “The Name of Jesus.” Whitfield later published it in his Sacred Songs and Prose (1861).
The idea for this song came from an interesting experience that Frederick had one morning when he was late for breakfast. One of his sisters greeted him with, “O Fred, there is a name I love to hear.” His quick response was, “I love to sing its worth.” Another sister added, “that sounds like music in my ear,” and Frederick replied, “It is the sweetest name on earth.” This became the first stanza of “O, How I Love Jesus,” a much-loved gospel song that has blessed congregations for over 150 years and has been translated into several languages.
Several tunes have been used for this song, but the most common one is an anonymous American tune from the 19th-century camp-meeting movement. Whitfield probably never heard the refrain, which wasn’t part of the original poem but was also from the camp-meeting era. This refrain was usually paired with such hymns as “Amazing Grace” and “Alas! And Did My Saviour Bleed,” which was a common practice in camp meetings and revivals of that day. It’s not certain when these American tunes were associated with Whitfield’s poem. The song was a favorite in D. L. Moody’s evangelistic meetings, but song leader Ira Sankey used a different tune that was published in the 1896 edition of Gospel Hymns.
Of the nine original stanzas Whitfield wrote, only four are in most hymnals today. The entire hymn is centered around the name of Jesus. That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father (Philippians 2:10-11). The refrain is a reminder that believers should love Jesus because of His love and all the great things He has done. We love him, because he first loved us (1 John 4:19).
I love to speak its worth;
It sounds like musick in mine ear,
The sweetest name on earth.
O, how I love Jesus;
O, how I love Jesus,
Because he first loved me.
Who died to set me free;
It tells me of his precious blood,
The sinner’s perfect plea.
Beaming upon his child;
It cheers me through this “little while,”
Through desert, waste, and wild.
In store for ev’ry day;
And though I tread a darksome path,
Yields sunshine all the way.
Can feel my deepest woe;
Who in my sorrow bears a part
That none can bear below.
It dries each rising tear;
It tells me in a “still small voice,”-
To trust and never fear.
The name I love to hear!
No saint on earth its worth can tell,
No heart conceive how dear.
Along this thorny road;
Shall sweetly smooth the rugged hill
That leads me up to God.
From sin and sorrow free,
I’ll sing the new eternal song
Of Jesus’ love for me.
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