Encouragement to Pray

Representative Text

1 Come, my soul, thy suit prepare,
Jesus loves to answer prayer.
He Himself has bid thee pray,
rise and ask without delay.

2 Thou art coming to a King,
large petitions with thee bring,
for his grace and pow'r are such,
none can ever ask too much.

3 With my burden I begin,
Lord, remove this load of sin!
Let Thy blood, for sinners spilt,
set my conscience free from guilt.

4 Lord! I come to Thee for rest,
take possession of my breast;
there Thy blood-bought right maintain,
and without a rival reign.

5 While I am a pilgrim here,
let Thy love my spirit cheer;
as my Guide, my Guard, my Friend,
lead me to my journey’s end.

6 Show me what I have to do;
every hour my strength renew;
let me live a life of faith;
let me die Thy people's death.

Source: Psalms and Hymns to the Living God #376

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Author: John Newton

John Newton (b. London, England, 1725; d. London, 1807) was born into a Christian home, but his godly mother died when he was seven, and he joined his father at sea when he was eleven. His licentious and tumultuous sailing life included a flogging for attempted desertion from the Royal Navy and captivity by a slave trader in West Africa. After his escape he himself became the captain of a slave ship. Several factors contributed to Newton's conversion: a near-drowning in 1748, the piety of his friend Mary Catlett, (whom he married in 1750), and his reading of Thomas à Kempis' Imitation of Christ. In 1754 he gave up the slave trade and, in association with William Wilberforce, eventually became an ardent abolitionist. After becoming a tide… Go to person page >

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Related Texts

What a Friend We Have in Jesus

First Line:	Come, my soul, thy suit prepare
Title:	Encouragement to Pray
Author:	John Newton (1779)
Meter:	7.7.7.7
Language:	English
Notes:	Spanish translation: See "Alma Mía, pide a Dios" by J. Pablo Simón
Copyright:	Public Domain

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Notes

Come, my soul, thy suit prepare. J. Newton. [Prayer.] Appeared in the Olney Hymns, 1779, Book i., No. 31, in 7 stanzas of 4 lines, and in later editions of the same. It was included in some of the older collections, and is still in extensive use in Great Britain and America, sometimes in full, and again in an abbreviated form. Original text as above, aud in Lyra Britannica, 1867.

--John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology (1907)

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Tune

HENDON (Malan)

HENDON was composed by Henri A. Cesar Malan (b. Geneva, Switzerland, 1787; d. Vandoeuvres, Switzerland, 1864) and included in a series of his own hymn texts and tunes that he began to publish in France in 1823, and which ultimately became his great hymnal Chants de Sion (1841). HENDON is thought to…

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HORTON (Schnyder von Wartensee)

SEYMOUR (Weber)

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Timeline

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Arrangements

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