Except ye repent, ye shall all…perish.
Luke 13:3
Words: Mrs. T. M. Griffin, 1887. Published in The Gospel Awakening, edited by Francis A. Blackmer (Springfield, Massachusetts: F. A. Blackmer, 1888), number 8.
Music: Campinas William E. Penn, 1887 (🔊 pdf nwc).
If you know Griffin’s full name, or where to get a good photo of her (head & shoulders, at least 200×300 pixels),
Have you ever closed your heart
To the Savior’s tender claim?
Have you ever taken part
With the world against His name?
Refrain
Lo! He calls for your repentance;
Now, poor wand’rer, tempest tossed,
Hear the Master’s solemn message:
Come repent, or you are lost.
Have you heard how Jesus died
On the cross that you might live?
Have you scorned the crimson tide
Which eternal life can give?
Refrain
Why in blindness do you wait,
Wand’ring farther from the light,
Loving things which you should hate,
Sinking deeper into night?
Refrain
Soon the summer days will go,
And the harvest time be past,
Then will cease His pleading low,
And your doom be sealed at last.
Refrain
Oh, the tree that bears no fruit
Cannot always cum’bring grow,
For His blade will smite the root,
And its beauty be laid low.
Refrain