1. O turn ye, O turn ye, for why will ye die,
When God, in great mercy, is coming so nigh?
Now Jesus invites you, the Spirit says, Come!
And angels are waiting to welcome you home.

2. How vain the delusion, that while you delay
Your hearts may grow better, your chains melt away!
Come guilty, come wretched, come just as you are;
All helpless and dying, to Jesus repair.

3. The contrite in heart He will freely receive,
O why will you not the glad message believe?
If sin be your burden, why will you not come?
’Tis you He makes welcome, He bids you come home.


Lyrics as they appear in Joshua Leavitt’s The Christian Lyre, 1831.

1. O turn ye, poor sinners, for why will ye die,
When God, in great mercy, is coming so nigh?
Now Jesus invites you, the Spirit says, Come!
And angels are waiting to welcome you home.

2. How vain the delusion, that while you delay
Your hearts may grow better by staying away;
Come wretched, come starving, come just as you be,
While streams of salvation are flowing so free.

3. And now Christ is ready your souls to receive,
O how can you question, if you will believe?
If sin is your burden, why will you not come?
’Tis you he bids welcome; he bids you come home.

4. In riches, in pleasures, what can you obtain,
To soothe your affliction, or banish your pain?
To bear up your spirit when summon’d to die,
Or waft you to mansions of glory on high?

5. Why will you be starving and feeding on air?
There’s mercy in Jesus, enough and to spare;
If still you are doubting, make trial and see,
And prove that his mercy is boundless and free.

6. Come, give us your hand, and the Savior your heart,
And trusting in Heaven, we never shall part;
O how can we leave you? why will you not come?
We’ll journey together, and soon be at home.