Bible Songs — Invitation

Shall I Let Him In?

Christ is knocking at my sad heart;

No. 1294
Tune SHALL I LET HIM IN?
Words H. R. P.
Music H. R. Palmer, by per.
Key F major
Singing key E♭ major
Time 6/8
3 stanzas

Words

Christ is knocking at my sad heart;Shall I let him in?Patiently pleading with my sad heart;O shall I let him in?Cold and proud is my heart with sin,Dark and cheerless is all within;Christ is bidding me turn unto him;O shall I let him in?

Shall I send him the loving word?Shall I let him in?Meekly accepting my gracious Lord,O shall I let him in?He can infinite love impart,He can pardon this rebel heart;Shall I bid him forever depart,Or shall I let him in?

Yes, I'll open this proud heart's door,Yes, I'll let him in.Gladly I'll welcome him evermore;O, yes, I'll let him in.Blessed Saviour, abide with me,Cares and trials will lighter be;I am safe if I'm only with thee,O, blessed Lord, come in!

About this hymn

As printed As printed: the page opens with the last system of hymn 1293 («WHAT CAN I DO FOR THEE?—Concluded.»); under it, hymn number «1294» (large, left), title «Shall I Let Him In?» centred (condensed bold capitals and small capitals: «S», «I», «L», «H», «I» full capitals; question mark); under it, centred on two lines, the epigraph «"Behold, I stand at the door, and knock : if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, / and will sup with him, and he with me."—Rev. 3 : 20.» (roman, old-style figures); on the next line «H. R. P.» at the left (words, initials only) and «H. R. PALMER, by per.» at the right (music: the name in capitals and small capitals, «by per.» in roman). No meter, no tune name other than the title, no tempo word, no reference line and no line under the music (only the folio «505»). The three stanzas are interlinear, numbered «1.» «2.» «3.» before the first syllable of system 1 (the «3.» prints like «8.»), three lines of words between the staves of all four systems; there is no chorus. Each printed line of words carries two verse lines; they are given here one verse line per line (eight per stanza). The words divided under the notes are joined here («knock - ing», «lov - ing», «o - pen», «Pa - tient - ly», «plead - ing», «Meek - ly», «ac - cept - ing», «gra-cious», «Glad - ly», «wel - come», «ev - er - more», «in - fi - nite», «im - part», «Bless - ed», «Sav - iour», «a - bide», «cheer - less», «with - in», «par - don», «reb-el», «tri - als», «light - er», «bid - ding», «un - to», «for - ev - er», «de - part», «on - ly», «bless - ed» → «knocking», «loving», «open», «Patiently», «pleading», «Meekly», «accepting», «gracious», «Gladly», «welcome», «evermore», «infinite», «impart», «Blessed», «Saviour», «abide», «cheerless», «within», «pardon», «rebel», «trials», «lighter», «bidding», «unto», «forever», «depart», «only», «blessed»); the divisions are in `lyrics_syllables.txt`. The print sets a thin space before «;», «?», «!» and «:» («heart ;», «word ?», «in !», «knock :», «3 : 20»); it is closed up here; the curly quotation marks and apostrophes are written straight («I'll», «heart's», «I'm»). Spelling («Saviour»), capitals (the pronouns «him», «he», «thee» in lower case; «Lord» with a capital) and punctuation are the print's: «Shall I let him in?» in stanzas 1–2 but «Yes, I'll let him in.» in stanza 3, «O shall» without a comma in stanzas 1–2 but «O, yes,» and «O, blessed» with one in stanza 3, and the final «come in!».