Scripture Verse

He that cometh to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him. Hebrews 11:6

Introduction

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Daniel Whittle (1840–1901)

Words: Da­ni­el W. Whit­tle, in Gos­pel Hymns No. 4, by James Mc­Gra­na­han et al. (New York: Big­low & Main, 1881), num­ber 67.

Music: James Mc­Gra­na­han (🔊 pdf nwc).

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James McGranahan
(1840–1907)
Wikipedia

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Anecdote

A law­yer from the West sank so low as to be­come a tramp on the streets of New York. He was fif­ty-four years old and a home­less, pen­ni­less wretch.

As he stum­bled by the Flor­ence Mis­sion one night the win­dows were open and he stopped a mo­ment to list­en to the sing­ing…It came like the voice of God to him. His ear­ly train­ing had been Chris­tian, and he thought he would go in. He did so, and as he took his seat, they were sing­ing the se­cond verse…He real­ized that this was a truth­ful pic­ture of his own life, and list­ened to the third verse…

Deeply con­vict­ed, he jumped to his feet and said, I will yield, I will seek the Sav­ior’s side. He was con­vert­ed, and at­tend­ed the meet­ings re­gu­lar­ly. He se­cured good em­ploy­ment, wrote to his fa­mi­ly, and be­com­ing re­con­ciled to his wife and child­ren, he re­turned West to the old home, where he lived as an ear­nest Chris­tian.

Sankey, pp. 141–42

Lyrics

Once again the Gos­pel mes­sage
From the Sav­ior you have heard;
Will you heed the in­vi­ta­tion?
Will you turn and seek the Lord?

Refrain

Come be­liev­ing! come be­liev­ing!
Come to Je­sus! look and live!
Come be­liev­ing! come be­liev­ing!
Come to Je­sus! look and live!

Many sum­mers you have wast­ed,
Ripened har­vests you have seen;
Winter snows by spring have melt­ed,
Yet you lin­ger in your sin.

Refrain

Jesus for your choice is wait­ing;
Tarry not: at once de­cide!
While the Spir­it now is striv­ing,
Yield, and seek the Sav­ior’s side.

Refrain

Cease of fit­ness to be think­ing;
Do not long­er try to feel;
It is trust­ing, and not feel­ing,
That will give the Spir­it’s seal.

Refrain

Let your will to God be giv­en,
Trust in Christ’s aton­ing blood;
Look to Je­sus now in Hea­ven,
Rest on His un­chang­ing Word.

Refrain