Come, My Way, My Truth, My Life

Hymn lyrics and .mp3 Download

Listen to:
  Come, My Way, My Truth, My Life (.midi)
  Come, My Way, My Truth, My Life (.mp3)
  Come, My Way, My Truth, My Life Bells Version (.mp3)

---

1. Come, my Way, my Truth, my Life: such a way as gives us breath, such a truth as ends all strife, such a life as killeth death.

2. Come, my Light, my Feast, my Strength: such a light as shows a feast, such a feast as mends in length, such a strength as makes his guest.

3. Come, my Joy, my Love, my Heart: such a joy as none can move, such a love as none can part, such a heart as joys in love.

Words by: George Herbert
Music by: Ralph Vaughan Williams;
adapt. by E. Harold Geer

---

✨ The Story Behind "Come, My Way, My Truth, My Life"

By George Herbert (1593–1633)

🌿 A Poet-Priest at the Edge of Eternity

George Herbert wrote this hymn as part of his collection The Temple, published shortly after his death in 1633. Herbert had left behind a promising political career to become a humble country pastor in the tiny village of Bemerton, England. His final years were marked by illness, simplicity, and a deepening intimacy with God.

Herbert’s poems from this period are not grand public declarations, they're private prayers, shaped by a man who had stripped away ambition and was learning to rest in Christ alone.

"Come, My Way, My Truth, My Life" appears in the section of The Temple called "The Call." It’s exactly that: a soul calling out to Christ, and Christ calling back.

🎶 How It Became a Hymn

Herbert’s poem remained purely literary for centuries. It wasn’t sung as a hymn until the 20th century, when composer Ralph Vaughan Williams set it to the tune THE CALL in his Five Mystical Songs (1911).

Vaughan Williams' setting is gentle, contemplative, and beautifully matched to Herbert's simplicity. It’s the version most hymnals use today.

---