Scripture Verse

He’s calling you. Mark 10:49

Introduction

Words & Mu­sic: Phi­lip P. Bliss, Sun­shine for Sun­day Schools (Cin­cin­na­ti, Ohio & Chi­ca­go, Il­li­nois: John Church & George F. Root and Sons, 1873) (🔊 pdf nwc).

portrait
Philip P. Bliss (1838–1876)

Anecdote

A song some­what si­mi­lar to this I rem­emb­er sing­ing as a so­lo in Mr. Moo­dy’s Ta­ber­na­cle in Chi­ca­go at the close of an ev­an­gel­is­tic meet­ing in 1872.

Mr. Bliss came in late and stood just in­side the door, list­en­ing. At the close of the meet­ing he came up to the plat­form and spoke en­thu­si­as­tic­al­ly about the piece, and re­marked that he al­so would try to write a hymn on The Pro­di­gal.

Not long af­ter­ward I heard him sing this beau­ti­ful hymn, which he him­self en­ti­tled Call­ing Now. It has been es­pe­ci­al­ly use­ful in in­qui­ry meet­ings and at the close of ev­an­gel­is­tic ad­dress­es.

I have oft­en heard it sung with great ef­fect—very soft­ly by a choir, while the work­ers were speak­ing to the an­xious ones—and its soft, sweet, plead­ing tones were al­ways blessed to the hear­ers.

Sankey, p. 140

Lyrics

This lov­ing Sav­ior
Stands pa­tient­ly;
Tho’ oft re­ject­ed,
Calls again for thee.

Refrain

Calling now for thee, pro­di­gal,
Calling now for thee;
Thou hast wan­dered far away,
But He’s call­ing now for thee.

Oh, bound­less mer­cy,
Free, free to all!
Say, child of er­ror,
Heed the ten­der call.

Refrain

Tho’ all un­wor­thy,
Come, now, come home—
Say, while He’s wait­ing,
Jesus, dear, I come.

Refrain