Come, Sinner, Come

Words by the Rev. W. K. Witter Music by H. R. Palmer

"While Jesus whispers to you,
Come, sinner, come.”

Mr. Witter has said regarding this hymn: ”I may say that the origin of ' While Jesus whispers to you ' is forever linked with some of the most sacred experiences of my life. I see the old farmhouse in New York State, overlooking the beautiful Wyoming Valley, and those Western hills, which to my childhood eyes were the rim of the world. It was in the summer of 1877 and I was home from college to nurse my sainted mother through her last illness, and at the same time I was teaching a term in school. The biography of P. P. Bliss was in our home, and his sweet songs were running through my mind from morn till evening. I prayed that even I might be inspired to write such hymns as would touch hard hearts and lead them to Christ. One Saturday afternoon, while bunching the hay which had been mown along the roadside, the words of this little hymn seemed to sing themselves into my soul, and with music almost identical with that to which they were later set by the sweet singer, Palmer. I hastened to the house and, running upstairs, knelt beside the bed of a brother, for whose salvation my mother was in constant prayer. There, upon my knees, I transcribed the words to paper, with a strange consciousness that they were God-given and that God would use them.” And God has used them, for this hymn has been found very helpful as an invitation at revival meetings.