Old Melodies

'Mid scenes of confusion and creature complaints

No. 1177
Metre 11s.
Tune HOME, SWEET HOME.
Words David Denham.
Music John Howard Payne.
Key E-flat major
Singing key E♭ major
Time 4/4
5 stanzas

Words

'Mid scenes of confusion and creature complaints,How sweet to my soul is communion with saints!To find at the banquet of mercy there's room,And feel in the presence of Jesus at home.Home, home, sweet, sweet home;Prepare me, dear Saviour, for heaven, my home.

Sweet bonds that unite all the children of peace!And thrice precious Jesus whose love cannot cease;Though oft from thy presence in sadness I roam,I long to behold thee in glory, at home.

I sigh from this body of sin to be free,Which hinders my joy and communion with thee;Though now my temptations like billows may foam,All, all, will be peace, when I 'm with thee at home.

While here in this valley of conflict I stay,O give me submission and strength as my day!In all my afflictions to thee would I come,Rejoicing in hope of my glorious home.

The days of my exile are passing away;The time is approaching when Jesus will say,"Well done, faithful servant, sit down on my throne,And dwell in my presence, forever at home."

About this hymn

As printed As printed: running head «MISCELLANEOUS—OLD MELODIES.»; hymn number «1177» (large), tune name «HOME, SWEET HOME. 11s.» centred over the music (condensed capitals and small capitals), «JOHN HOWARD PAYNE.» at the right (capitals and small capitals; Payne wrote the words of the song «Home! Sweet Home!», the melody being Henry R. Bishop's — kept as printed). No reference line. Stanza 1 is interlinear: in system 1, «1.» before two lines enclosed in braces, «'Mid scenes of con - fu - sion and creature complaints,» (sung the first time, first ending «1st.») and «How sweet to my soul is com-(omit.) . .» (sung on the repeat; «(omit.)» in italics = skip the first ending), with «mun - ion with saints! To find at the banquet of» right of the closing brace (second ending «2d.» and after); system 2 carries «mer - cy there's room, And feel in the pres-ence of Je - sus at home. Home, home, sweet, sweet home;» and, under the bars after the segno, the italic line «D. S.—Prepare me, dear Saviour, for heaven, my home.» (sung after «D. S.», back to the segno, ending at «Fine.»). Stanza 1 below is written in the order sung (the refrain and the D. S. line as its lines 5–6); «con - fu - sion», «com- / -munion», «mer - cy», «pres-ence», «Je - sus» are written as whole words. Stanzas 2–5 follow as four-line text in two columns (stanza 2 and the first three lines of stanza 3 in the left column; the last line of stanza 3 and stanzas 4–5 in the right column), numbered «2»–«5» without a full stop (numbered «2.»–«5.» here like stanza 1); they are presumably sung to the same form with the refrain and the D. S. line after each, which the print does not write out. Long lines are turned over with an indent («peace !», «not cease;», «thee ;», «foam,», «home.», «throne,»; «roam,» set right of the next line with a bracket «[roam,»); each verse is one line here, «can- / not» joined as «cannot». «David Denham.» in italics at the right after stanza 5. The print sets a thin space before «!», «;» and «?» («peace !», «thee ;», «day !», «away ;»); it is closed up here. «I 'm» (stanza 3) is set with a space before the apostrophe and is kept so (as in HT_0026, HT_0077, HT_0171). Quotation marks and apostrophes straight. Spelling, punctuation and capitals are the print's.