Scripture Verse

Come to Me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Matthew 11:28

Introduction

portrait
John P. Hullah (1812–1884)

Words: Will­iam C. Dix, in The Peo­ple’s Hym­nal, 1867.

Music: Bent­ley John P. Hul­lah, 1867 (🔊 pdf nwc).

Alternate Tunes:

If you know where to get a bet­ter pho­to of Dix,

portrait
William C. Dix
(1837–1898)

Origin of the Hymn

I was ill and de­pressed at the time, and it was al­most to idle away the hours that I wrote the hymn. I had been ill for ma­ny weeks and felt wea­ry and faint, and the hymn real­ly ex­press­es the lan­guid­ness of bo­dy from which I was suf­fer­ing at the time. Soon af­ter its com­po­si­tion I re­cov­ered, and I al­ways look back to that hymn as the turn­ing point in my ill­ness.

Nutter, p. 159

Lyrics

Come un­to Me, ye wea­ry,
And I will give you rest.
O bless­èd voice of Je­sus,
Which comes to hearts op­pressed!
It tells of be­ne­dic­tion,
Of par­don, grace and peace,
Of joy that hath no end­ing,
Of love which can­not cease.

Come un­to Me, dear child­ren,
And I will give you light.
O lov­ing voice of Je­sus,
Which comes to cheer the night!
Our hearts are filled with sad­ness,
And we had lost our way;
But He hath brought us glad­ness
And songs at break of day.

Come unto Me, ye faint­ing,
And I will give you life.
O cheer­ing voice of Je­sus,
Which comes to aid our strife!
The foe is stern and ea­ger,
The fight is fierce and long;
But Thou hast made us migh­ty
And strong­er than the strong.

And who­so­ev­er com­eth
I will not cast him out.
O wel­come voice of Je­sus,
Which drives away our doubt,
Which calls us, ve­ry sin­ners,
Unworthy though we be
Of love so free and bound­less,
To come, dear Lord, to Thee.