Scripture Verse

Come unto Me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Matthew 11:28

Introduction

Words: Mary A. John­son, in Gos­pel Hymns No. 3, ed­it­ed by Ira D. San­key, James Mc­Gra­na­han & George C. Steb­bins (New York; Cin­cin­na­ti, Ohio; & Chi­ca­go, Il­li­nois: Big­low & Main and John Church, 1878), num­ber 88.

Music: James Mc­Gra­na­han (🔊 pdf nwc).

If you know where to get a good pho­to of John­son (head & shoul­ders, at least 200×300 pix­els),

portrait
James McGranahan (1840–1907)
Wikipedia

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Anecdote

As these words were sung at one our meet­ings in Bal­ti­more, a man arose and left the build­ing, de­clar­ing that he had ne­ver heard such twad­dle in all his life. When he reached home he tore the hymn out of his hymn-book and threw it in­to the fire; but he said af­ter­ward that the words still rang in his heart and that he could not get rid of them.

At last he came to Mr. Moody and said: I am a vile sin­ner, and I want you to tell me how I can come to Je­sus and be saved. Moody was en­abled to lead him in­to the light, and the man af­ter­ward de­clared that this was the sweet­est hymn in all the book.

Sankey, p. 141

Lyrics

O word of words the sweet­est,
Oh words, in which there lie
All pro­mise, all ful­fill­ment,
And end of mys­te­ry;
Lamenting or re­joic­ing,
With doubt or ter­ror nigh,
I hear the Come! of Je­sus,
And to His cross I fly.

Refrain

Come, oh come to Me,
Come, oh come to Me,
Weary, hea­vy la­den,
Come, oh come to Me,
Come, oh come to Me,
Come, oh come to Me,
Weary, heavy la­den,
Come, oh come to Me.

O soul! why shouldst thou wan­der
From such a lov­ing friend?
Cling clos­er, clos­er to Him,
Stay with Him to the end.
Alas! I am so help­less,
So ve­ry full of sin,
For I am ev­er wan­d’ring,
And com­ing back again.

Refrain

O, each time draw me near­er,
That soon the Come may be
Naught but a gen­tle whis­per,
To one close, close to Thee;
Then, ov­er sea and moun­tain,
Far from or near my home,
I’ll take Thy hand and fol­low,
At that sweet whis­per Come!

Refrain