Scripture Verse

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

Introduction

Words: Anne Steele, Po­ems on Sub­jects Chief­ly De­vo­tion­al 1760.

Music: St. John’s High­lands, ano­ny­mous (🔊 pdf nwc).

Lyrics

Come, wea­ry souls with sin dis­tressed,
The Sav­ior of­fers heav’n­ly rest;
The kind, the gra­cious call ob­ey,
And cast your gloomy fears away.

Oppressed with guilt, a pain­ful load,
O come, and spread your woes abroad;
Divine com­pass­ion, migh­ty love,
Will all the pain­ful load re­move.

Here mer­cy’s bound­less ocean flows
To cleanse your guilt and heal your woes;
Pardon, and life, and end­less peace—
How rich the gift! how free the grace!

Lord, we accept with thank­ful heart,
The hope Thy gra­cious words im­part;
We come with trem­bling, but re­joice,
And bless the kind in­vit­ing voice.

Dear Sav­ior, let Thy pow­er­ful love
Confirm our faith, our fears re­move,
And sweet­ly in­flu­ence ev­ery beast,
And guide us to eter­nal rest.