Let Us Sing, for We Have Reason

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Let us sing, for we have reason

Author: John Newton
Tune: DAY (Menthal)
Published in 5 hymnals

Audio files: MIDI

Representative Text

1 Let us sing, for we have reason;
Let us join with those above;
Praise is never out of season;
Let us praise the God of love;
We have cause, indeed, to sing,
Jesus is our glorious King.

2 When we reach the full enjoyment
Of the state where sorrows end;
Praise will be our sweet employment,
We shall praise the sinner’s friend;
Him who washed us with His blood,
Saved, and brought us nigh to God.

3 But how diff’rent then our praises
From the thanks we render now!
Well our coldness may amaze us,
When we think how much we owe;
But no coldness will remain
When that glorious state we gain.

4 Yet our Lord accepts our praises,
Offered while we sojourn here;
He on whom th’archangel gazes
With delight and holy fear,
Hears His people when they sing,
And accepts the praise they bring.

Source: Gloria Deo: a Collection of Hymns and Tunes for Public Worship in all Departments of the Church #98

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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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