Bible Songs — Invitation

What Can I Do for Thee?

I hear thy voice, O Lord

No. 1293
Tune WHAT CAN I DO FOR THEE?
Words F. A. B.
Music F. A. Blackmer, by per.
Key B-flat major
Singing key B♭ major
Time 6/8
4 stanzas

Words

I hear thy voice, O Lord,It tells me of thy love!How thou, to save lost man,Didst leave thy home above;Thy glory thou didst leave for me;What shall I leave for thee?

And thou didst suffer much,And shed thy precious bloodTo save me from my sins,Thou blessed Lamb of God!Yes, thou didst give thy life for me;What can I do for thee?

'T was all that I might haveSalvation, full and free:Rich are the gifts indeed,That thou hast brought to me,Yes, thou hast brought rich gifts to me;What shall I bring to thee?

I'll bring my heart, dear Lord;'T is all that I can do;Though vile, I pray that thouWilt cleanse it through and through:Yes, I'll forsake my sins for thee—My Saviour, help thou me.

About this hymn

As printed As printed: hymn number «1293» (large, left), title «What Can I Do for Thee?» centred (condensed bold capitals and small capitals; question mark); under it, in two lines, the epigraph «"For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments : and his commandments are not» / «grievous."—1 John 5 : 3.» (roman, old-style figures), the second line centred between «F. A. B.» at the left (words) and «F. A. BLACKMER, by per.» at the right (music; the name in capitals and small capitals, «by per.» in roman lower case). No meter, no tempo word, no reference line and no footer are printed. The hymn begins at the foot of p. 504 (two systems) and ends with ONE system at the top of p. 505 under the running title «WHAT CAN I DO FOR THEE?—Concluded.»; that system opens and closes with repeat signs, so its words (verse lines 5–6 of each stanza) are sung twice. The four stanzas are interlinear, numbered «1.»–«4.» before the first syllable of system 1 (no numbers on p. 505), four lines of words between the staves of each system; there is no chorus. Each printed line of words carries two verse lines; the stanzas are given here in their six verse lines. Stanza 3 opens «'T wasall» with no space between «was» and «all» — two words, given as «'T was all» (see uncertainties.md). The words divided under the notes are joined here («suf - fer», «prec - ious», «Sal - va - tion», «a - bove», «bless - ed», «in - deed», «glo - ry», «for - sake», «Sav - iour» → «suffer», «precious», «Salvation», «above», «blessed», «indeed», «glory», «forsake», «Saviour»); the divisions are in `lyrics_syllables.txt`. The print sets a thin space before «;», «:», «!» and «?» («Lord ;», «do ;», «free :», «through :», «love !», «God !», «thee ?», «5 : 3»); it is closed up here. Apostrophes and quotation marks are written straight («'T was», «'T is», «I'll»). Spelling («Saviour»), capitals and punctuation are the print's, including the dash of «for thee—My Saviour» and «blood» without a stop at the end of its verse line.