Come, sinners, to the gospel feast
Hymns
contents
Charles
Wesley
(1708 - 1788)
L.M.
1
Come, sinners, to the gospel-feast,
Let every soul be Jesu’s
guest,
You need not one be left behind,
For God hath bidden all
mankind.
2
Sent by my Lord, on you I call,
The invitation is to
all.
Come all the world: come, sinner, thou,
All things in Christ
are ready now.
3
Jesus to you His fulness brings,
A feast of
marrow, and fat things:
All, all in Christ is freely given,
Pardon, and holiness, and heaven.
4
Do not begin to make
excuse,
Ah! Do not you his grace refuse;
Your worldly cares and
pleasures leave,
And take what Jesus hath to give.
5
Your grounds
forsake, your oxen quit,
Your every earthly thought forget,
Seek
not the comforts of this life,
Nor sell your Saviour for a wife.
6
“Have me excus’d” why will ye say?
Why will ye for damnation pray?
Have you excus’d—from joy and peace!
Have you excus’d—from happiness!
7
Excus’d from coming to a feast!
Excus’d from being Jesu’s guest!
From knowing now your sins forgiven,
From tasting here the joys of
heaven!
8
Excus’d, alas! Why should ye be
From health, and life,
and liberty,
From en'tring into glorious rest,
From leaning on your
Saviour’s breast.
9
Yet must I, Lord, to Thee complain,
The world
hath made thy offers vain,
Too busy, or too happy they,
They will
not, Lord, thy call obey.
10
Go then, my angry Master said,
Since
these on all my mercies tread,
Invite the rich and great no more,
But preach my gospel to the poor.
11
Confer not thou with flesh and
blood,
Go quickly forth, invite the
crowd,
Search every lane, and
every street,
And bring in all the souls you meet.
12
Come then ye souls, by sin opprest,
Ye restless wanderers
after rest,
Ye poor, and maim’d, and halt, and blind,
In Christ an hearty welcome find.
13
Sinners my gracious Lord receives,
Harlots, and publicans, and thieves,
Drunkards, and all the
hellish crew,
I have a message now to you.
14
Come, and partake
the gospel-feast,
Be sav’d from sin, in Jesus rest:
O taste the
goodness of our God,
And eat
His flesh, and drink His blood.
15
’Tis done; my all-redeeming Lord,
I have gone forth, and preach’d Thy word,
The sinners to Thy feast are come,
And yet, O
Saviour, there is room.
16
Go then, my Lord, again injoin’d,
And
other wand’ring sinners find,
Go to the hedges, and highways,
And offer all my pard’ning grace.
17
The worst unto
My supper
press,
Monsters of daring wickedness,
Tell them, My grace for
all is free,
They cannot be too bad for
Me.
18
Tell them, their
sins are all forgiven,
Tell every creature under heaven,
I died
to save them from all sin,
And force the vagrants to come in.
19
Ye vagrant souls, on you I call,
(O that my voice could reach you
all)
Ye all are freely justified,
Ye all may live, for God hath died
20
My message as from God receive
Ye all may come to Christ, and
live:
O let His love your hearts constrain,
Nor suffer Him to
die in vain.
21
His love is mighty to compel,
His conqu’ring
love consent to feel,
Yield to
His love’s resistless power,
And
fight against your God no more.
22
See him set forth before your
eyes,
Behold the bleeding sacrifice!
His offer’d love make haste
t’ embrace,
And freely now be sav’d by grace.
23
Ye who believe
his record true,
Shall sup with
Him, and He with you:
Come to
the feast; be sav’d from sin,
For Jesus waits to take you in.
24
This is the time, no more delay,
This is the acceptable day,
Come in, this moment, at His call,
And live for Him who died for
all.