Three Calls

Authors

Isaac Baker Woodbury

Document Type

Score

Publication Date

1858

Comments

The Three Calls

Or the Eleventh Hour.

Music composed by Isaac Baker Woodbury

Boston: O. Ditson & Co. (1858)

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Lyrics

[Third Hour]
O slumberer, rouse thee! despise not the truth
But give thy Creator the days of thy youth;
Why standest there idle! The day breaketh, see!
The Lord of the vineyard is waiting for thee.
“Holy Spirit, by thy power,
Grant me yet another hour;
Earthly pleasures I would prove,
Earthly joy, and earthly love;
Scarcely yet has dawned the day;
Holy Spirit, wait I pray!

Hark! Borne on the wind is the bell’s solemn toll;
‘Tis mournfully pealing the knell of a soul
The spirit’s sweet pleadings and strivings are o’er;
The Lord of the vineyard stands waiting not more.

[Sixth and Ninth Hours]
O loiterer, speed thee! the morn wear a pace;
Then squander no longer the moments of grace,
But haste while there’s time!
With thy Master agree;
The Lord of the vineyard stands waiting for thee.
Gentle Spirit, stay, oh stay,
Brightly beams the early day;
Let me linger in these bowers;
God shall have my noontide hours;
Chide me not, for my delay,
Gentle Spirit, wait, I pray!

Hark! Borne on the wind is the bell’s solemn toll;
‘Tis mournfully pealing the knell of a soul
The spirit’s sweet pleadings and strivings are o’er;
The Lord of the vineyard stands waiting not more.

[Eleventh Hour]
O sinner, arouse thee! thy morning is pass’d;
Already the shadows are lengthening fast;
Escape, for thy life!
From the dark mountains flee;
The Lord of the vineyard yet waiteth for thee.
Spirit, cease thy mournful lay,
Leave me to myself, I pray;
Earth hath flung her spell around me,
Pleasure’s silken chain hath bound me;
When the sun his path hath trod,
Spirit, then I’ll turn to God!”

Hark! Borne on the wind is the bell’s solemn toll;
‘Tis mournfully pealing the knell of a soul
The spirit’s sweet pleadings and strivings are o’er;
The Lord of the vineyard stands waiting not more.

Recommended Citation

Woodbury, Isaac Baker, "Three Calls" (1858). Historic Sheet Music Collection. 1103.
https://digitalcommons.conncoll.edu/sheetmusic/1103