Scripture Verse

It is good for me to draw near to God. Psalm 73:28

Introduction

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Charles Wesley (1707–1788)

Words: Charles Wes­ley, Hymns and Sac­red Po­ems, Vol­ume 1, 1749.

Music: Aus­tria (Beet­ho­ven) Lud­wig van Beet­ho­ven (🔊 pdf nwc).

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Ludwig van Beethoven (1770–1827)

[This hymn] was writ­ten by Mr. Charles Wes­ley af­ter preach­ing to the New­cas­tle col­liers,… Un­der the date of Sun­day, Nov. 30, he us­es in his jour­nal the phras­e­ol­o­gy up­on which the hymn is found­ed. On that day he preached in one of the streets of New­cas­tle to list­en­ing crowds, who for­got the sharp­ness of the frost while en­gaged in the wor­ship of God, and in hear­ing the word of life and mer­cy.

Jackson, p. 191

Lyrics

Ye neigh­bors, and friends of Je­sus, draw near:
His love con­des­cends by ti­tles so dear
To call and in­vite you His tri­umph to prove,
And free­ly de­light you in Je­sus’ love.

The shep­herd who died His sheep to re­deem,
On ev­ery side are ga­thered to Him
The weary and bur­dened, the re­pro­bate race;
And wait to be par­doned through Je­sus’ grace.

The blind are re­stored through Je­sus’ name,
They see their dear Lord, and fol­low the Lamb;
The halt they are walk­ing, and run­ning their race;
The dumb they are talk­ing of Je­sus’ grace.

The deaf hear His voice and comfort­ing Word,
It bids them re­joice in Je­sus their Lord,
Thy sins are for­giv­en, ac­cept­ed thou art;
They list­en, and Hea­ven springs up in their heart.

The le­pers from all their spots are made clean,
The dead by His call are raised from their sin;
In Je­sus’ com­pas­sion the sick find a cure,
And Gos­pel sal­va­tion is preached to the poor.

To us and to them is pub­lished the Word:
Then let us pro­claim our life giv­ing Lord,
Who now is re­viv­ing His work in our days,
And migh­ti­ly striv­ing to save us by grace.

O Je­sus! ride on till all are sub­dued,
Thy mer­cy make known, and sprinkle Thy blood;
Display Thy sal­va­tion, and teach the new song
To ev­ery na­tion, and peo­ple, and ton­gue.