1.
Come, ye sinners, poor and wretched,
Weak and wounded, sick and sore;
Jesus ready stands to save you,
Full of pity, love, and power:
He is able,
He is willing: doubt no more.

2.
Ho! ye thirsty, come and welcome;
God's free bounty glorify;
True belief and true repentance,
Every grace that brings us nigh,
Without money,
Come to Jesus Christ and buy.

3.
Let not conscience make you linger,
Nor of fitness fondly dream;
All the fitness he requireth
Is to feel your need of him:
This he gives you;
'Tis the Spirit's rising beam.

4.
Come, ye weary heavy laden,
Lost and ruined by the fall;
If you tarry till you're better,
You will never come at all;
Not the righteous,
Sinners Jesus came to call.

5.
View him prostrate in the garden,
On the ground your Savior lies;
On the bloody tree behold him!
Hear him cry before he dies,
"It is finished!"
Sinners, will not this suffice?

6.
Lo! the incarnate God ascending,
Pleads the merit of his blood;
Venture on him, venture wholly,
Let no other trust intrude:
None but Jesus
Can do helpless sinners good.

7.
Saints and angels, joined in concert,
Sing the praises of the Lamb;
While the blissful seats of heaven
Sweetly echo with his name.
Hallelujah!
Sinners here may sing the same.

The Southern Harmony

Scripture References:
st. 1 = Matt. 9:13
st. 3 = Matt. 11:28
st. 4 = Luke 15:11-32

In this invitation hymn, "poor and needy" sinners are welcomed to "arise and go to Jesus." The final stanza alludes to Christ's parable of the prodigal son who returns to his loving father's arms.

The hymn has autobiographical overtones. Raised in a Christian home, Joseph Hart (b. London, England, 1712; d. London, 1768) left the faith and for a time lived a life he described as "carnal and spiritual wickedness, irreligious and profane." He was converted in 1757 at a Moravian chapel in London. From 1759 until his death he served as pastor of the independent chapel on Jewin Street, London, where he preached staunchly Calvinistic sermons to large crowds. Hart's approximately two hundred hymns were published as Hymns composed on Various Subjects (1759, with supplements, 1762, 1765); for a time his hymns were as popular as those of Isaac Watts (PHH 155).

Originally in seven, six-line stanzas, this hymn from his 1759 collection was entitled "Come, and Welcome, to Jesus Christ," beginning with the words, "Come, ye sinners, poor and wretched." Stanzas 1-3 are made up of various lines from the original stanzas 1, 3, and 4. The fourth stanza is taken from the refrain of an anonymous ballad about the prodigal son that appeared in several nineteenth-century American songbooks. Beginning with the words, "Far, far away from my loving Father," the ballad had as its refrain, "I will arise and go to Jesus." Philip P. Bliss (PHH 482) added that refrain line to Hart's text and set the entire text to the tune ARISE in his Gospel Songs (1874).

Liturgical Use:
As an invitation hymn in evangelistic services, possibly with altar calls or with the Lord's Supper; useful in the service of confession/forgiveness.

--Psalter Hymnal Handbook