1 Destruction's dangerous road
What multitudes pursue!
While that which leads the soul to God,
Is know or sought by few.
2 Believes find the way
Thro' Christ the living gate;
But those who hate this holy way
Complain it is too strait.
3 If self must be deny'd,
And sin no more caress'd,
They rather choose the way that's wide,
And strive to think it best.
4 Encompass'd by a throng,
On numbers they depend;
They say so many can't be wrong,
And miss a happy end.
5 But hear the Saviour's word,
"Strive for the heavn'ly gate,
many will call upon the Lord,
And find their crys too late."
6 Obey the gospel call
And enter while you may;
The flock of Christ is always small,
And none are safe but they.
7 Lord, open sinners' eyes,
Their awful state to see;
And make them, ere the storm arise,
To thee for safety flee.
Source: The Hartford Selection of Hymns: from the most approved authors: to which are added a number never before published (2nd ed.) #CCXXXIX
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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