I Heard the Voice of Jesus (AOV 1/54)

This is a song from the nineteenth century to the tune Kingsfold with words by Horatius Bonar.  I have a distorted memory that every second song in the old blue hymnal in the Presbyterian church I grew up in was by Horatius Bonar and this one one of the three tunes to which we sang everything.  That can’t be right of course, this is much too nice a tune for us to have sung. This site has a cd with 13 000 pages of Mr Bonar if you feel the need.

This is a version by an angelic young voice that will make you feel plain and old, but there you go. I’m not sure what’s going on with my version but you should be able to learn the tune from it, and that may have to do.

Verse 1

I heard the voice of Jesus say,
“Come unto me and rest;
lay down, thou weary one, lay down
thy head upon my breast.”
I came to Jesus as I was,
so weary, worn, and sad;
I found in him a resting place,
and he has made me glad.

Verse 2

I heard the voice of Jesus say,
“Behold, I freely give
the living water; thirsty one,
stoop down and drink, and live.”
I came to Jesus, and I drank
of that life-giving stream;
my thirst was quenched, my soul revived,
and now I live in him.

Verse 3

I heard the voice of Jesus say,
“I am this dark world’s light;
look unto me, thy morn shall rise,
and all thy day be bright.”
I looked to Jesus, and I found
in him my Star, my Sun;
and in that light of life I’ll walk
till traveling days are done.

© Oxford University Press

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