Bible Songs — Invitation

Calling

Softly and tenderly Jesus is calling,

No. 1282
Tune CALLING.
Words W. L. T.
Music Will L. Thompson
Key A-flat major
Singing key A♭ major
Time 6/8
4 stanzas

Words

Softly and tenderly Jesus is calling,Calling for you and for me;At the heart's portal he's waiting and watching,Watching for you and for me.

Chorus.

Come home, come home,Come home, come home,Ye who are weary, come home;Earnestly, tenderly, Jesus is calling,Calling, O sinner, come home!

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?

Time is now fleeting, the moments are passing,Passing from you and from me;Shadows are gath'ring and death's night is coming,Coming for you and for me.

Think of the wonderful love he has promised,Promised for you and for me;Tho' we have sinned, he has mercy and pardon,Pardon for you and for me.

About this hymn

As printed As printed: hymn number «1282» (large, left), title «CALLING.» centred (condensed capitals with larger initials, «Calling.»); under it, centred, the epigraph «"Incline your ear,and come unto me ; hear, and your souls shall live."—Isa. 55 : 3.» (old-style figures; the missing word space after «ear,» and the thin spaces before «;» and around the colon are normalised here); on the next line «W. L. T.» at the left (words) and, one line lower, «Slow and tenderly.» (italic) at the left and «WILL L. THOMPSON, by per.» at the right (music; capitals and small capitals). No meter and no reference line. The four stanzas are interlinear, four rows between the staves of systems 1–2, numbered «1.»–«4.» in system 1; each stanza is four verse lines (two per system), given here as the verse lines of the poem. «CHORUS.» is printed over the treble staff at the start of system 3; in its first two bars a second line of words in a smaller condensed type, «Come home,» … «come home,», stands under the main line — the echo sung by alto, tenor and bass while the melody holds; the chorus is given here once, after stanza 1, with the echo as its second line. The print's very tight setting drops some syllable hyphens and word spaces («pleading», «moments», «promised», «watching», «Shadows», «gath'ring», «Whyshouldwetar-ry», «theheart's», «wehavesinned»); the words are given whole here. Spelling and punctuation are the print's («gath'ring», «Tho'», «death's», «heart's»; «me?» at the end of both halves of stanza 2). The comma after the second «tenderly» of the chorus is very faintly inked (see uncertainties.md). Under the music: «Copyrighted 1880 by Will L. Thompson & Co.» (the year badly inked) and the page number «497»; the «32» at the bottom left is the printer's signature mark.