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Anna Bartlett Warner and her sister Susan were the unmarried daughters of a prominent New York lawyer who lost his fortune during the 1837 depression. After Mr. Warner moved the family to an old house across the Hudson River from West Point, the sisters opened their home to the cadets and held Sunday school classes. Anna loved writing hymns and she wrote a fresh one each month for her students.

Eager to supplement the family income, the sisters turned to writing novels and children's books. Among the 18 books that they wrote together was Say and Seal, the book in which "Jesus Loves Me," written by Anna, first appeared in 1859. In the story, one of the characters comforted a dying child by singing "Jesus Loves Me." In that context, there is another stanza not commonly found in hymnals:

Jesus loves me! Loves me still
Tho' I'm very weak and ill
That I might from sin be free
Bled and died upon the tree.

Later Anna (whose writings are sometimes listed under her pseudonym, Amy Lothrop) published "Jesus Loves Me" as a hymn in her first hymnbook, Original Hymns. In 1862, William B. Bradbury stumbled across the song's words and wrote his own tune, the one we sing today. He also added his own chorus: "Yes, Jesus loves me, Yes, Jesus loves me … " Within months, this song raced across North America, and eventually all the continents of the world.

In 1971 the song was further revised when Anglican priest David R. McGuire rewrote stanzas 2 and 3 to reflect the story in Matt. 19:13-14, where Jesus gathers the children around him:

Jesus loves me! This I know
As He loved so long ago
Taking children on His knee
Saying, Let them come to Me.

After over a century of evolution, "Jesus Loves Me" became the number one spiritual song in the world. It has been translated into more languages than any other song. Missionaries favor its simple and easy–to–remember chorus as a means of explaining the gospel in a clear, simple way.

Remarkably, a poem from an obscure novel is now one of the best–known hymns in the world.

Copyright © 2004 by the author or Christianity Today International/Today's Christian magazine.
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