Charles Luther – birth, May 17, 1847

“Must I go, and empty handed,”
Thus my dear Redeemer meet?
Not one day of service give Him,
Lay no trophy at His feet?

Refrain

“Must I go, and empty handed?”
Must I meet my Savior so?
Not one soul with which to greet Him,
Must I empty handed go?

2.

Not at death I shrink or falter,
For my Savior saves me now;
But to meet Him empty handed,
Thought of that now clouds my brow.

3.

O the years in sinning wasted,
Could I but recall them now,
I would give them to my Savior,
To His will I’d gladly bow.

4.

O ye saints, arouse, be earnest,
Up and work while yet ’tis day;
Ere the night of death o’ertake thee,
Strive for souls while still you may.

 

Charles Carroll Luther was born this date (5/17/1847) Wor­ces­ter, MA.  Luther at­tend­ed Brown Un­i­ver­si­ty, and was a jour­nal­ist and lay evan­gel­ist be­fore be­ing or­dained as a Bap­tist min­is­ter in 1886. He died 11/4/1924 at Farm­ing­dale, Long Is­land, NY.

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Will Thompson – birth, Nov. 7, 1847

“Softly and Tenderly Jesus Is Calling”

(1st & last stanzas)

Softly and tenderly Jesus is calling,
Calling for you and for me;
See, on the portals He’s waiting and watching,
Watching for you and for me.

O for the wonderful love He has promised,
Promised for you and for me!
Though we have sinned, He has mercy and pardon,
Pardon for you and for me.

Written (along with several other songs) by Will Lamartine Thompson born 11/7/1847, in East Liverpool, Ohio.  Will (whose dad served in the Ohio legislature) studied at Mount Union College (Ohio) and at Boston Conservatory of Music, as well as in Germany.

It is reported that when Will visited D L Moody (as Moody was dying) that Moody said, “Will, I would rather have written ‘Softly and Tenderly’ than anything I have been able to do in my whole life.”

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