In 1862 George Matheson had a great deal going for him. He had been a successful student in classics, logic, and philosophy from the University of Glasgow, and at the age of 20 he was engaged to marry a young woman he loved. However, that year, he became ill and tragically lost his sight. Rather than be comforted by his betrothed, the story goes that his fiance said that she couldn’t marry a blind man and left him.
Matheson went on to work as an assistant in the Church of Scotland (Presbyterian), before getting ordained as a pastor and rising to great heights. Queen Victoria upon hearing him preach, published his sermon on Job, a book, the blind-struck Rev. Matheson no doubt understood well. But life was far from easy for George, and until he was 40 his sister had to look after and take care of him. When his sister was finally engaged, Matheson contemplated his future without this caregiver, remembered his own failed engagement, and rather than turn to bitterness, he penned this now-famous hymn:
:O Love That Will Not Let Me Go” by Rev. George Matheson (1842-1906)
1. O Love that will not let me go,
I rest my weary soul in thee;
I give thee back the life I owe,
That in thine ocean depths its flow
May richer, fuller be.
2. O light that followest all my way,
I yield my flickering torch to thee;
My heart restores its borrowed ray,
That in thy sunshines blaze its day
May brighter, fairer be.
3. O Joy that seekest me through pain,
I cannot close my heart to thee;
I trace the rainbow through the rain,
And feel the promise is not vain,
That morn shall tearless be.
4. O Cross that liftest up my head,
I dare not ask to fly from thee;
I lay in dust lifes glory dead,
And from the ground there blossoms red
Life that shall endless be.