Prof. Henry Eyster Jacobs of Philadelphia, in 1887, also wrote a version:
Nearer, my God, to Thee,
Nearer to Thee!
Through Word and Sacrament
Thou com’st to me.
Thy grace is ever near,
Thy Spirit ever here
Drawing to Thee.
The hymn was a favorite with William McKinley, the martyred president. When he was dying, his attending physician heard him murmur, “‘Nearer, my God, to Thee, E’en though it be a cross,’ has been my constant prayer.”