Why Do You Wait?

Why do you wait, dear brother

Author: George F. Root
Tune: [Why do you wait, dear brother] (Root)
Published in 407 hymnals

Printable scores: PDF, MusicXML
Audio files: MIDI, Recording

Representative Text

1 Why do you wait, dear brother,
O why do you tarry so long?
Your Savior is waiting to give you
A place in His sanctified throng.

Refrain
Why not, why not,
Why not come to Him now?
Why not, why not,
Why not come to Him now?

2 What do you hope, dear brother,
To gain by a further delay?
There’s no one to save you but Jesus,
There’s no other way but His way. [Refrain]

3 Do you not feel, dear brother,
His Spirit now striving within?
O why not accept His salvation
And throw off your burden of sin? [Refrain]

4 Why do your wait, dear brother?
The harvest is passing away;
Your Savior is longing to bless you,
There's danger and death in delay. [Refrain]


Source: The New National Baptist Hymnal (21st Century Edition) #194

Author: George F. Root

Root, George F., MUS. DOC, born in Sheffield, Berkshire County, Mass., Aug. 30, 1820. He is much more widely known as a composer of popular music than as a hymn writer. Four of his hymns are in I. D. Sankey's Sacred Songs & Solos, 1878. Nos. 16, 100, 293, and 297. A sympathetic biographical sketch, with portrait, is in The Tonic Sol-Fa Reporter, Sep. 1886. He died Aug. 6, 1895. --John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology, Appendix, Part II (1907)… Go to person page >

Text Information

First Line: Why do you wait, dear brother
Title: Why Do You Wait?
Author: George F. Root
Language: English
Refrain First Line: Why not? why not?
Publication Date: 1878
Notes: Swahili translation: See "Kwa nini wataka kungoja"
Copyright: Public Domain

Timeline

Media

The Cyber Hymnal #7455
  • Adobe Acrobat image (PDF)
  • Noteworthy Composer score (NWC)
  • XML score (XML)

Instances

Instances (1 - 13 of 13)

Church Gospel Songs and Hymns #270

Gospel Songs of Praise #15

TextPage Scan

Hymns of Faith #331

New Songs of Inspiration (vol. one) #150

Praise for the Lord (Expanded Edition) #772

Page Scan

Sacred Selections for the Church #623

Audio

Small Church Music #2522

Page Scan

Soul-stirring Songs and Hymns (Rev. ed.) #269

TextScoreAudio

The Cyber Hymnal #7455

TextPage Scan

The New National Baptist Hymnal (21st Century Edition) #194

Tuneful Tidings #76

TextPage Scan

Yes, Lord! #295

Church Hymnal, Mennonite #557

Include 394 pre-1979 instances
Suggestions or corrections? Contact us