This is a still older version. Found at Florida State University’s Digital Library. This time I have boldfaced the differences between this and the version from Joy Bells of Canaan above. Please note that, although the editor of Joy Bells of Canaan cites this as a source, it is considerably different, and a different person is credited as writer.

From the hymnbook Tears and Triumphs: No. 2 by L. L. Pickett and M. W. Knapp (Louisville, Ky.: The Pickett Publishing Co., 1897), hymn no. 135.


DIAMONDS IN THE ROUGH
©1893 by Charlie D. Tillman.

1. There are complaining people who say we are too bold.
Alas, there still are others who say we’re after gold,
But thy are all mistaken; we want not sordid stuff,
But souls of poor lost sinners, those diamonds in the rough.

CHORUS: The day will soon be over in which to work and win.
Many a gem lies hidden beneath the dross of sin.
Oh, let us dig and find them; God’s power is enough
To polish into beauty those diamonds in the rough.

2. Ah, many hearts are aching; we find them ev’rywhere,
Whose cups are filled with sorrow, whose homes are filled with care.
When misfortune overtakes them, the world gives them a cuff,
Or sends them to perdition, those diamonds in the rough.

3. One day, my precious comrade, you, too, were lost in sin,
But others sought your rescue, and Jesus took you in;
So when you’re tried and tempted by scoffers’ keen rebuff,
Don’t turn away in anger this diamond in the rough.

4. So let us keep it burning, the lamp of holy love.
To ev’ry persecutor point out the way above.
The precious blood of Jesus was shed, and that’s enough.
Oh, let us tell him of it, that diamond in the rough.