Jesus Thou art Coming

This is a statement of faith in Jesus, which was originally written for children, possibly as a First Communion hymn.

Information about the author is confusing. Hymn-books where it was published include:

The Westminster Hymnal, 1912, with the words source unknown and the tune attributed to W Pitts. The tune used here was PRINCETHORPE by William Pitts (1829-1903) - for which sheet music is available below. This appears to be the most-commonly used tune for the hymn in the UK.
The American Catholic Hymnal in 1913, set to an unnamed tune by Rev J Fitzpatrick with the words credited to SND, which usually means an unnamed Sister of Notre Dame de Namur.
The St. Gregory Hymnal and Catholic Choir Book (1920), set to yet another unnamed tune which is attributed to a Solvak hymn book, This appears to be the most-commonly used tune for the hymn in the US.
The Child's Book of Hymns, Sisters of Charity of the BVM, Dubuque Co, Iowa, USA presents it with music Sr Mary Editha Flannagan (1858–1939) and credits the words to Mother Loyola SND.
The Holy Ghost Hymnal, re-published in 1954 by the Holy Ghost Fathers of Blackrock College in Dublin, Ireland - it's likely the hymn was also in the original 1915? edition, attributes the words to SND, and sets them to a tune by Fr Myerscough SJ.

Some other books have attributed it to Sister Mary Xavier SND (1856-1917) or to Sybil F. Partridge - who may or may not have been the same person. However it's not clear whether this attribution is for the tune or the words.

This version in an archive of public-domain hymns attributes it to Sister Mary Xavier, and sets it to the tune INVITATION by Charles Gounod.

The meter of the text is 65.65 D.

The Westminster Hymnal described it as a hymn for children, to be used before Communion. The Slovak hymnal suggested it was a Communion hymn, and there are reports of it being used especially for First Communion celebrations in England and Ireland. There are also suggestions of it being an Advent hymn, although the full text is clearly more suitable for children's Communion.

Downloads

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Sheet music (full score)

PowerPoint slides

Downloadable SATB choir arrangement

Examples

Cathedral choir with organ (poor quality recording) - tune PRINCETHORPE

Solo singer with guitar backing (Solvak tune? contemporary arrangement)

Choir with keyboard, live in a church-service

Choir unaccompanied, live in a church service

Instrumental - organ

Instrumental - organ - tune PRINCETHORPE

Lyrics

Jesus, Thou art coming,
Holy as Thou art,
Thou, the God who made me,
To my sinful heart.
Jesus, I believe it
On Thy only word;
Kneeling, I adore Thee
As my King and Lord.

Who am I, my Jesus,
That Thou comet to me?
I have sinned against Thee,
Often, grievously;
I am very sorry
I have caused Thee pain;
I will never, never,
Wound Thy Heart again.

Put Thy kind arms round me,
Feeble as I am;
Thou art my Good Shepherd,
I, Thy little lamb;
Since Thou comest, Jesus,
Now to be my Guest,
I can trust Thee always,
Lord, for all the rest.

Dearest Lord, I love Thee,
With my whole, whole heart,
Not for what Thou givest,
But for what Thou art.
Come, oh, come, sweet Saviour!
Come to me, and stay,
For I want Thee, Jesus,
More than I can say.

Ah! what gift or present,
Jesus, can I bring?
I have nothing worthy
Of my God and King;
But Thou art my Shepherd,
I, Thy little lamb;
Take myself, dear Jesus,
All I have and am.

Take my body, Jesus,
Eyes, and ears, and tongue;
Never let them, Jesus,
Help to do Thee wrong.
Take my heart, and fill it
Full of love for Thee;
All I have I give Thee,
Give Thyself to me.