I will turn their mourning into gladness; I will give them comfort and joy instead of sorrow.
Jeremiah 31:13
Words: Thomas Moore, Sacred Songs 1816.
Music: Consolator Samuel Webbe, Sr., Collection of Motetts or Antiphons (London: 1792) (🔊 pdf nwc).
Alternate Tunes:
This version of the lyrics, found in modern hymnals, incorporates changes by Thomas Hastings in his Spiritual Songs for Social Worship, 1831.
Come, ye disconsolate, where’er ye languish,
Come to the mercy seat, fervently kneel.
Here bring your wounded hearts, here tell your anguish;
Earth has no sorrow that Heav’n cannot heal.
Joy of the desolate, light of the straying,
Hope of the penitent, fadeless and pure!
Here speaks the Comforter, tenderly saying,
Earth has no sorrow that Heav’n cannot cure.
Here see the Bread of Life, see waters flowing
Forth from the throne of God, pure from above.
Come to the feast of love; come, ever knowing
Earth has no sorrow but Heav’n can remove.
Moore’s original version:
Come, ye disconsolate, where’er ye languish,
Come, at the shrine of God fervently kneel;
Here bring your wounded hearts; here tell your anguish;
Earth has no sorrow that Heaven cannot heal.
Joy of the desolate, light of the straying,
Hope when all others die, fadeless and pure;
Here speaks the Comforter, in God’s name saying,
Earth has no sorrow that Heaven cannot cure.
Come, ask the infidel what boon he brings us,
What charm for aching hearts he can reveal,
Sweet is that heavenly promise Hope sings us—
Earth has no sorrow that God cannot heal.