Come Ye Sinners

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Come ye sinners, poor and wretched, 

Week and wounded, sick and sore;

Jesus ready stands to save you, 

Full of pity, love and power.

I will arise and go to Jesus, 

He will embrace me in his arms; 

In the arms of my dear Savior,

O there are ten thousand charms!

Joseph Hart, 1759

THE HYMN AND ITS WRITER

At first glance this hymn might seem a bit strange. Who are we singing to? Are we worshipping the Lord? Are we inviting sinners to come to Jesus? What are we even doing when we sing this hymn?! The good news is that this hymn was not written by a self exalting righteous person who is looking down on wretched sinners. Quite the opposite! Here is the story of the author…

Joseph Hart was born in London in 1712 to parents who followed Christ and gave their son a solid education. Hart excelled in languages, especially French, Latin, Greek, and Hebrew, and he was often found bent over Greek and Roman classics for hours on end. After leaving school, Hart taught classic literature. He complained about the lack of progress in his students’ education, which he attributed to the complacency of their teachers. He said, “Because the teachers themselves study their subjects only perfunctorily; consequently, instead of carrying their pupils, as they should, into the very presence of an ancient author, they leave them to stagger about as best they can under a load of indigestible rules.” (Wright)

Initially Hart pursued godly living with great fervor. He fasted, prayed and read Scripture in both the modern and original languages. However, it seems that Hart was set upon achieving his own righteousness, and did not yet have an understanding of the Gospel and that Jesus’ righteousness alone is enough to make us right with God. Hart’s unfulfilled strivings and feelings of dissatisfaction drove him to walk away from the faith that his parents instilled in him. With his heart in full rebellion, Hart turned to the pleasures of the world in an effort to find satisfaction. He lived as a libertine and antinomian—one who may believe in God, but lives in complete hedonism, ignoring the law of God. Even during the time of the Great Awakening, which was a time of enormous growth and God’s work of grace in the church, his soul was not phased and he was bent on living in wickedness and foolishness. In his own words, “For having, as I imagined, obtained by Christ a liberty of sinning, I was resolved to make use of it; and thought the more I could sin without remorse, the greater hero I was in faith. . . . In this abominable state, I continued, a loose backslider, an audacious apostate, a bold-faced rebel, for nine or ten years; not only committing acts of lewdness myself, but infecting others with the poison of my delusions.” (Hart) Hart even wrote a pamphlet entitled, “The Unreasonableness of Religion,” in which he tried to persuade John Wesley of libertine philosophy and the worthless pursuit of godly living when all one needs is simple belief in God. 

But in his grace and mercy, God did not abandon Joseph Hart. When he was 40 years old, God began a very long process of turning his heart to Himself. Over the span of several years, Hart struggled with the Scriptures and especially with the necessity of Christ’s atoning death. He sought the Lord, often alone and in tears and great despondency. His great sorrow was often intertwined with brief glimpses of God’s character, truth and hope. Finally, on Whit-Sunday (Pentecost, 50 days after Easter Sunday), 1757, God took hold of Hart’s heart completely. In his spiritual autobiography he wrote,

“I happened to go in the afternoon to the Moravian Chapel in Fetter Lane, where I had been several times before. The minister preached on these words, “Because thou hast kept the words of my patience, I also will keep thee from the hour of temptation, which shall come upon all the world, to try them that dwell upon the earth” (Rev. iii. 10). Though the text, and most of what was said on it, seemed to make greatly against me, yet I listened with much attention, and felt myself deeply impressed by it. When it was over, I…returned to my own house.

I was hardly got home when I felt myself melting away into a strange softness of affection, which made me fling myself on my knees before God. My horrors were immediately dispelled, and such light and comfort flowed into my heart as no words can paint. The Lord by His Spirit of love came, not in a visionary manner into my brain, but with such divine power and energy into my soul, that I was lost in blissful amazement. I cried out, “What me, Lord?” His Spirit answered in me, “Yes, thee.” I objected, “But I have been so unspeakably vile and wicked.” The answer was, “I pardon thee fully and freely. Thy own goodness cannot save thee, nor shall thy wickedness damn thee. I undertake to work all thy words in thee and for thee; and to bring thee safe through all.” The alteration I then felt in my soul was as sudden and palpable as that which is experienced by a person staggering, and almost sinking, under a burden, when it is immediately taken from his shoulders. Tears ran in streams from my eyes for a considerable while; and I was so swallowed up in joy and thankfulness, that I hardly knew where I was. I threw my soul willingly into my Saviour’s hands; lay weeping at His feet, wholly resigned to His will, and only begging that I might, if He was graciously pleased to permit it, be of some service to His Church and people.”

In this newness of life, Hart began writing hymns nonstop, including “Come Ye Sinners,” which has continued to be a favorite in modern times. We can see from Hart’s story that the hymn is not written from a place of condescension to the poor, the wretched, the needy, and the weary. He is speaking from his own conversion experience in which he had previously both delighted in sin and was nearly crushed under the weight of it. 

Joseph Hart died on May 24th, 1768 and was buried in Bunhill Fields in the city of London where John Owen, John Bunyan, Isaac Watts, Daniel Defoe, William Blake and Susannah Wesley, among many other men and women of the faith were laid to rest. The inscription on his monument reads, “Joseph Hart was by the free and sovereign grace and Spirit of God raised up from the depths of sin, and delivered from the bonds of mere profession and self-righteousness, and led to rest entirely for salvation in the finished atonement and perfect obedience of Christ.”

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IDEAS FOR DOING HYMN OF THE MONTH

We are so glad you are here, friend. If you are new to this community, welcome! It is a great time to join in and make family worship a priority if you haven’t already. You may or may not be familiar with this hymn. Either way, we invite you to spend this month meditating on its truths. You may find yourself too busy during this season to get to all of the verses, and that’s okay! Here are a few ideas for implementing the hymn of the month together:

1. Print out your FREE printables for this hymn. Take a moment just to read through the verses together, as you would a poem. You can also use the copywork printables for your children to practice writing the words. 
2. Let your crew ask questions about vocabulary and the meaning behind the author’s poetry, and ask if there are any words or phrases that stick out to anyone. 
3. Read about the author together (above). There is such beauty in understanding the life and thoughts of the hymn writer! When my family sings hymns together, we often reflect on the author and his or her sufferings or blessings. For every hymn, it’s like we make a new friend.
4. Listen to the hymn. Play it when you are driving together, or at home while washing dishes. Try out lots of different versions from our playlist below. Let your children hear YOU singing it. There is such wonderful comfort that comes from your children hearing you sing. Even if you feel like you haven’t a musical bone in your body, it doesn’t matter… Sing! 
5. Most importantly, spend time reading Scripture, praying and singing along with your children. It may feel awkward at first but go ahead and give it a try. Your kiddos may not join you in singing right away, and that’s ok. It may take a few days or even a few weeks, but at some point, you are most likely going to hear your children humming the tune or singing the lyrics while playing or while you lead them. Don’t forget to connect with your children by looking at them in the eyes while you sing. And in your heart, look to the Lord in worship, submission, joy and reverence. 
6. Review! There are many fantastic ways to review hymns, but our favorite is using a hymn jar. After the month is over, we write the hymn title on a popsicle stick and put it in our hymn jar. We’ll often pick 3 or 4 songs from our jar during our morning routine so that we won’t forget the beautiful songs we’ve learned. It’s amazing to me how well the lyrics often stick in our hearts and minds!

LISTEN IN

You can find fresh versions of the hymn on our YouTube channel that you and your family can sing along with. There are loads of fresh versions of our favorite hymns on our hymn of the month playlist. 

KEEP IT SIMPLE

When we began singing hymns with our littles about 13 years ago, we kept it simple… We prayed and sang one hymn together every night at bedtime for a whole month. Everyone’s family rhythm is different, so we welcome you to gather up your families, for just a few minutes each day, to sing, discuss and memorize this hymn (following your daily time in the Scriptures and in prayer) whether it is first thing in the morning, or around the dinner table or before bedtime – whatever works best for your family. You can let us know how it’s going by posting either a video or a photo on Instagram. Just tag it with #happyhymnody! As always, if you have any questions or if you’d like to share your heart with us, please don’t hesitate to reach out! God bless you all this month as you worship and follow Jesus together as a family!

GOING DEEPER INTO HYMN STUDY

If you want more resources at your finger tips for hymn study, please check out the Happy Hymnody hymn guide for the 2023-2024 school year. Not only does it get all the hymns for the year ahead of schedule, but you get MORE background to the hymn story, the inside scoop to the original text and compositions, discussion questions, coloring pages for every month, more copywork sheets, and so much more. Read all about it and get yourself a downloadable copy on Etsy. This is also an opportunity for you to financially partner with us in the ministry of Happy Hymnody. Each hymn guide purchase helps us to be able to continue with research and with providing free printables on our site! So, thank you!

With so much warmth and love,

April

Thank you to the Blake family for leading this month’s hymn!