Many of us grew up in an era when it was common to include an invitation hymn at the conclusion of the service. This was especially true at revival services and camp meetings. Those in the congregation were then invited to either make a profession of faith or a recommitment of one's life.
This week's hymn choice is a classic invitation hymn that was very common in services during that era. Now some of you may disagree with the doctrine behind such hymns but I will let that choice up to you. I have decided to include it in my blog because, right or wrong, it was a major part of Christian music for centuries. Over the years many Christians were influenced by the Holy Spirit through this hymn.
Will Lamartine Thompson (1847-1909) was born in Pennsylvania and died in New York City. He attended Mount Union College in Alliance, Ohio, and the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston, before continuing his musical studies in Leipzig, Germany. In addition to being a composer of secular, patriotic and gospel songs, Thompson was a music publisher. When his songs were rejected by publishers of his day, he formed his own enterprise, Will L. Thompson & Company, with offices in Chicago and East Liverpool, Ohio. By the 1880s the company expanded beyond publishing music and sold pianos, organs and other instruments and supplies.
The words and music for "Softly and Tenderly Jesus Is Calling" first appeared in Sparkling Gems, Nos. 1 and 2, a collection compiled for Thompson's company in 1880 by singing-school teacher J. Calvin Bushey. Perhaps Revelation 3:20 captures the spirit of the hymn: "Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me." (KJV) This patient Jesus stands "on the portals . . . waiting and watching . . . for you and for me."
The second stanza takes a different approach: How can we reject the "pleading" one who offers "pardon"? The third stanza increases in urgency: "Time is now fleeting, the moments are passing . . . shadows are gathering, deathbeds are coming . . . ." The refrain extends the invitation to "come home" four times in the melody.
Hymnologist Ernest Emurian told a story associated with this hymn: "When the world-renowned lay preacher, Dwight Lyman Moody, lay on his deathbed in his Northfield, Massachusetts, home, Will Thompson made a special visit to inquire as to his condition. The attending physician refused to admit him to the sickroom. But, Moody heard them talking just outside the bedroom door. Recognizing Thompson's voice, he called for him to come to his bedside. Taking the Ohio poet-composer by the hand, the dying evangelist said, "Will, I would rather have written "Softly and Tenderly Jesus Is Calling" than anything I have been able to do in my whole life."
Have you heard the call of the Savior? Have you responded to it? If not, don't delay any longer. Accept His free gift of salvation today.
This week's hymn choice is a classic invitation hymn that was very common in services during that era. Now some of you may disagree with the doctrine behind such hymns but I will let that choice up to you. I have decided to include it in my blog because, right or wrong, it was a major part of Christian music for centuries. Over the years many Christians were influenced by the Holy Spirit through this hymn.
Will Lamartine Thompson (1847-1909) was born in Pennsylvania and died in New York City. He attended Mount Union College in Alliance, Ohio, and the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston, before continuing his musical studies in Leipzig, Germany. In addition to being a composer of secular, patriotic and gospel songs, Thompson was a music publisher. When his songs were rejected by publishers of his day, he formed his own enterprise, Will L. Thompson & Company, with offices in Chicago and East Liverpool, Ohio. By the 1880s the company expanded beyond publishing music and sold pianos, organs and other instruments and supplies.
The words and music for "Softly and Tenderly Jesus Is Calling" first appeared in Sparkling Gems, Nos. 1 and 2, a collection compiled for Thompson's company in 1880 by singing-school teacher J. Calvin Bushey. Perhaps Revelation 3:20 captures the spirit of the hymn: "Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me." (KJV) This patient Jesus stands "on the portals . . . waiting and watching . . . for you and for me."
The second stanza takes a different approach: How can we reject the "pleading" one who offers "pardon"? The third stanza increases in urgency: "Time is now fleeting, the moments are passing . . . shadows are gathering, deathbeds are coming . . . ." The refrain extends the invitation to "come home" four times in the melody.
Hymnologist Ernest Emurian told a story associated with this hymn: "When the world-renowned lay preacher, Dwight Lyman Moody, lay on his deathbed in his Northfield, Massachusetts, home, Will Thompson made a special visit to inquire as to his condition. The attending physician refused to admit him to the sickroom. But, Moody heard them talking just outside the bedroom door. Recognizing Thompson's voice, he called for him to come to his bedside. Taking the Ohio poet-composer by the hand, the dying evangelist said, "Will, I would rather have written "Softly and Tenderly Jesus Is Calling" than anything I have been able to do in my whole life."
Have you heard the call of the Savior? Have you responded to it? If not, don't delay any longer. Accept His free gift of salvation today.
1. Softly and tenderly Jesus is calling,
Calling for you and for me;
See, on the portals He's waiting and watching,
Watching for you and for me.
Refrain:
Come home, come home,
You who are weary, come home;
Earnestly, tenderly, Jesus is calling,
Calling, O sinner, come home!
2. Why should we tarry when Jesus is pleading,
Pleading for you and for me?
Why should we linger and heed not His mercies,
Mercies for you and for me?
3. Time is now fleeting, the moments are passing,
Passing from you and from me;
Shadows are gathering, deathbeds are coming,
Coming for you and for me.
4. Oh, for the wonderful love He has promised,
Promised for you and for me!
Though we have sinned, He has mercy and pardon,
Pardon for you and for me.
Listen to it here. SOFTLY
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