Bible Songs — Invitation

Not far from the Kingdom

Not far, not far from the kingdom,

No. 1285
Tune NOT FAR FROM THE KINGDOM.
Words English.
Music Warren W. Bentley.
Key G major
Singing key F major
Time 6/8
4 stanzas

Words

Not far, not far from the kingdom,Yet in the shadow of sin;How many are coming and going,How few are entering in!

Chorus.

Not far, not far from the kingdom,Yet lingering still at the gateway;O wait not to get nearer,But enter while you may.

Not far, not far from the gatewayWhere voices whisper and wait;But fearing to enter in boldly,They linger still at the gate.

They catch the strains of the musicThat floats so sweetly along;Tho' knowing the song they are singing,Yet joining not in the song.

They're in the dark and the danger,They're in the night and the cold,Tho' Jesus is longing to lead themSo kindly into his fold.

About this hymn

As printed As printed: hymn number «1285» (large, left), title «NOT FAR FROM THE KINGDOM.» centred (condensed capitals and small capitals, «Not far from the Kingdom.»); under it, centred, the epigraph «"Now is the accepted time, now is the day of salvation."—2 Cor. 6 : 2.» (old-style figures); on the next line «ENGLISH.» at the left (capital and small capitals, in the place of the author of the words: an attribution of origin, not a person's name) and «WARREN W. BENTLEY.» at the right (the music, capitals and small capitals). No meter, no tune name other than the title, no reference line. The page opens with the last system of hymn 1284 («THE WATERS ARE TROUBLED.—Concluded.»), which is not part of this hymn. All four stanzas are interlinear, numbered «1.»–«4.», between the staves of systems 1–2; each printed line of words carries two verse lines, given here one verse line per line. «CHORUS.» (bold capitals) stands over system 3; the chorus words are printed once, under systems 3–4. No stanza is printed as text under the music. In stanza 4 the print sets «They'rein» closed up, twice («They're» stands under one note and «in» under the next): given here as the two words «They're in»; in stanza 3 «Tho'knowing» is likewise set without a space. The chorus divides «ling-er-ing», stanza 2 «lin-ger». Stanza 4, second verse line, ends with a comma («cold,»). Under the music, centred: «By permission.». The print sets a thin space before «;» and «!» («sin ;», «in !», «6 : 2»); it is closed up here; curly quotes and apostrophes are written straight. Spelling and punctuation are the print's.