Scripture Verse

I will arise and go to my father, and will say unto him, Father, I have sinned against Heaven, and before thee. Luke 15:18

Introduction

portrait
Henry H. Hadley
1841–1903

Words: Hen­ry H. Had­ley, Res­cue Songs (New York: S. T. Gor­don & Son, 1890), num­ber 64.

Music: House Springs Will­iam J. Kirk­pat­rick, 1890 (🔊 pdf nwc).

portrait
William J. Kirkpatrick (1838–1921)

Lyrics

O’er squandered wealth and wasted years,
In sin and folly past,
A wretched, starving prodigal
Awoke to mourn at last.
He pressed his weary, throbbing brow,
And through his tears he said,
I spurned the home I might have shared
And now I starve for bread.

Refrain

I will arise and go at once,
My Fa­ther’s love implore,
Confess my wrong, His pardon seek,
And feed on husks no more.

Forsaken, friendless, clothed in rags,
And poor as poor can be,
To lowest menial service brought,
A tyrant’s slave was he;
He turned disgusted from the swine
That he so long had fed;
I can not from my Fa­ther stay,
With firm resolve he said.

Refrain

I thought the world was what I dreamed,
My heart obeyed its call;
But now I find its fleeting joys
Are wormwood after all.

Be warned, oh gay and thoughtless ones,
That to the whirlwind sow,
Let’s hasten back to Fa­ther now,
He’s coming; let us go.

Refrain