Scripture Verse

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

Introduction

portrait
Nathaniel Norton (1839–1925)

Words: Na­than­iel Nor­ton, in Gos­pel Hymns No. 5, ed­it­ed by Ira D. San­key, James Mc­Gra­na­han & George Steb­bins (New York; Cin­cin­na­ti, Ohio & Chi­ca­go, Il­li­nois: John Church and Big­low & Main, 1887), num­ber 88.

Music: George C. Steb­bins (🔊 pdf nwc).

portrait
George Stebbins
(1846–1945)

Origin of the Hymn

A man of cul­ture and of ex­ten­sive read­ing had giv­en a good deal of thought to the sub­ject of Chris­ti­ani­ty, but had ne­ver ac­know­ledged him­self a Chris­tian un­til one ev­en­ing at the close of an af­ter-meet­ing in ser­vic­es con­duct­ed by Dr. George F. Pen­te­cost in his own church in Brook­lyn. Then he arose and made a pub­lic con­fess­ion of Christ as His Sav­iour.

That night, on re­turn home, he sat down and wrote the words of this hymn. The next day they were hand­ed to Mr. Steb­bins, who was then as­sist­ing Dr. Pen­te­cost. Ve­ry soon af­ter­ward the hymn was sung in the meet­ings that were still in pro­gress. It was at once met with ge­ne­ral fa­vor, and for ma­ny years it was used as a spe­cial song of in­vi­ta­tion in our meet­ings, as well as by oth­er ev­an­gel­ists in theirs.

Sankey, pp. 146–47

Lyrics

Come un­to Me, it is the Sav­ior’s voice,
The Lord of life, who bids thy heart re­joice;
O wea­ry heart, with hea­vy cares op­pressed,
Come un­to Me, and I will give you rest.

Refrain

Come un­to Me, come un­to Me,
Come un­to Me, and I will give you rest,
I will give you rest, I will give you rest.

Weary with life’s long strug­gle full of pain,
O doubt­ing soul, thy Sav­ior calls again;
Thy doubts shall van­ish and thy sor­rows cease,
Come un­to Me, and I will give you peace.

Refrain

Oh, dy­ing man, with guilt and sin dis­mayed,
With con­science wa­kened, of thy God afraid;
Twixt hopes and fears—oh end the anx­ious strife,
Come un­to Me, and I will give you life.

Refrain

Rest, peace and life, the flow­ers of death­less bloom,
The Sav­ior gives us, not be­yond the tomb—
But here, and now, on earth, some glimpse is giv’n
Of joys which wait us thro’ the gates of Heav’n.

Refrain

illustration
Christus Consolator
Carl H. Bloch, 1884
Wikimedia Commons