Come Unto Me, and Rest

Words by D. W. Whittle (“El. Nathan”) Music by James McGranahan

"Brother, art thou worn and weary,
Tempted, tried, and sore oppress'd?”

"On a cold night in the fall of 1885, a scantily clad man wandered into Bleecker Street,” writes a New York evangelist, under whose personal observation the incident came.” He was foot-sore and weary with much wandering, worn out for want of sleep, and faint from lack of food. The long, cold night was before him, and he knew he must walk the street till morning. He stepped into a doorway for a little rest. As he sat there he fell to pondering. He was solitary and sad-hearted. Drink had wrought fearful havoc with him, and had left him a homeless, friendless man. Home and loved ones, friends, money and position had all been sacrificed to this appetite. He felt that he was lost, and that no effort could save him. As he thus mused his reverie was broken by the sound of song. Surprised, he looked up in the direction from which the sound came, and saw across the way an illuminated sign on which were the words,' Florence Mission.' Glad to get away from the chill and gloom of the street, he went into the mission. As he entered a lady was singing:

"If there was one thing on earth that the man needed it was rest. Rest for the tired, famished body; rest for the tortured heart. 'These things are not for me,' he thought; ' I am too far gone.' He wandered the cold streets till morning, but never once did the words of this hymn leave him. The refrain constantly rang in his ears,' Come unto me and rest.' He visited the mission many nights, and finally gave his heart to God."

The evangelist adds that this man has been his assistant for many years, and has won hundreds to Christ. 'Brother, art thou worn and weary,
Tempted, tried, and sore oppress'd?

Listen to the word of Jesus,
Come unto me, and rest!'