Lyrics
My stubborn will at last hath yielded,
I would be Thine, and Thine alone;
And this the prayer my lips are bringing,
Lord, let in me Thy will be done.
Sweet will of God, still fold me closer,
Till I am wholly lost in Thee.
I'm tired of sin, footsore and weary,
The darksome path hath dreary grown;
But now a light has ris'n to cheer me;
I find in Thee my Star, my Sun.
Thy precious will, O conqu'ring Savior,
Doth now embrace and compass me;
All discords hushed, my peace a river,
My soul, a prisoned bird set free.
Shut in with Thee, O Lord, forever,
My wayward feet no more to roam;
What pow'r from Thee my soul can sever?
The center of God's will my home.
Public domain hymn text (1900). Words and music by Lelia N. Morris.
The Story Behind the Hymn
Leila Naylor Morris was one of the most prolific gospel songwriters of her generation, credited with writing both words and music for over a thousand songs during her lifetime, despite having no formal training as a composer and, by her own account, being unable to read musical notation until relatively late in her career.
She wrote almost entirely at home in Malta, Ohio, working out her melodies by ear and dictating them to her family members, who helped transcribe the finished songs into standard notation for publication.
'Sweet Will of God,' published in 1900, belongs to a wave of gospel songs from this period centered on the theme of full surrender, a recurring emphasis in the Holiness movement hymnody Morris wrote within, which placed strong importance on a decisive, ongoing yielding of the believer's will to God's.
Its central line, describing a 'stubborn will at last' yielded, frames surrender honestly, as something that has been resisted rather than as an easy or automatic response, giving the hymn a note of hard-won relief rather than simple, untested devotion.
That honesty about inner resistance, admitting a will that had to be worn down rather than one that gave in easily, set songs like this apart from hymns that treated obedience as effortless, and likely helped the song resonate with congregations wrestling with their own reluctance.
Morris continued writing songs well into old age despite eventually losing her eyesight, dictating new lyrics and melodies from memory even after she could no longer see to write them down herself, a detail often noted in accounts of her later career.
'Sweet Will of God' remained a staple of Holiness and revival hymnals through the early twentieth century, valued for putting into plain, singable words a struggle common to many believers: not a lack of belief in God's goodness, but a very human reluctance to actually hand over control.
