Lyrics: Joseph Hart, 1759.
Music: RESTORATION arranged by William Walker, 1835, from The Southern Harmony and Musical Companion.
Also BEACH SPRING arranged by Benjamin Franklin White, 1844 from The Sacred Harp.
These two were competing hymnals, both using “shape notes“. (Here’s a shape note rendition of this hymn.) Benjamin F. White was William Walker’s brother-in-law. Unfortunately, although the two men worked together at first in collecting and composing hymn tunes, they refused to share credit for the collections they produced. So they were estranged for the rest of their lives.
Or you could go back to Indelible Grace for this tune by Darwin Jordan or this one by Matthew S. Smith. Brown Bear Daughter, who has a predilection for minor key tunes, insists on retaining the traditional Southern Harmony RESTORATION tune, and I’ll admit that I’m with her.
Theme: Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light. Matthew 11:28-30.
Weak and wounded, sick and sore;
Jesus ready stands to save you,
Full of pity, love and pow’r.
Refrain:
I will arise and go to Jesus,
He will embrace me in His arms;
In the arms of my dear Savior,
Oh, there are ten thousand charms.
Come, ye thirsty, come, and welcome,
God’s free bounty glorify;
True belief and true repentance,
Every grace that brings you nigh.
Come, ye weary, heavy-laden,
Lost and ruined by the fall;
If you tarry till you’re better,
You will never come at all.
View Him prostrate in the garden;
On the ground your Maker lies;
On the bloody tree behold Him;
Sinner, will this not suffice?
Lo! th’ incarnate God ascended,
Pleads the merit of His blood:
Venture on Him, venture wholly,
Let no other trust intrude.
Let not conscience make you linger,
Not of fitness fondly dream;
All the fitness He requireth
Is to feel your need of Him.
“The verses of the hymn were composed much earlier (1759) by English pastor Joseph Hart. Two years before he wrote this hymn, Hart was converted to Christianity following a Moravian service he attended on Pentecost Sunday. Despite his rearing in a Christian home, Hart entered a stage of rebellion in his early twenties characterized by a lifestyle of carnality and a philosophy of anti-Christian sentiments. He was known as an enemy of the cross, and went to great lengths to discredit Christianity and its followers. Hart published a pamphlet entitled, “The Unreasonableness of Religion†as a response to one of John Wesley’s sermons, earning him a reputation not unlike that of Saul. Hart fell into a depression in the 1850s(sic1750s). It was during this time that he developed a Spiritual conviction that eventually led him to the Moravian meeting in 1857(sic1757) and his eventual conversion. Filled with the Holy Spirit and anxious to share his experience, Hart took to writing poetry, from which the text of our hymn was derived.”
Here’s yet another tune by CCM artist Todd Agnew:
Sources:
Rebecca Writes: Sunday’s Hymn.
Baker Church Media: Come Ye Sinners.
1750s
😉
yr detail mntr
Leland aka Haruo