1 Fervent persevering prayers
Are faith's assured resource;
Brazen gates and iron bars,
In vain withstand their force;
Peter when if prison cast,
Though by soldier's kept with care;
Though the doors were bolted fast,
Was soon released by prayer.
2 While he slept, an angel came
And spread a light around;
Touched and called him by his name,
And raised him from the ground;
All his chains and fetters burst,
Every door wide open flew;
Peter thought he dreamed, at first,
But found the vision true.
3 Thus the Lord can make a way
To bring his saints relief;
'Tis their part to wait and pray,
In spite of unbelief;
He can break through walls of stone,
Sink the mountain to a plain;
They to whom his name is known,
Can never pray in vain.
4 Thus in chains of guilt and sin,
Poor sinners sleeping lie;
No alarm is felt within,
Although condemned to die;
'Till descending from above
[Mercy smiling in his eyes]
Jesus, with a voice of love
Awakes and bids them rise.
5 Glad the summons they obey,
And liberty desire;
Straight their fetters melt away
Like wax before the fire;
By the word of him who died
Guilty prisoners to release;
Every door flies open wide,
And they depart in peace.
Hymns and Spiritual Songs for the use of Christians, 1803
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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