1 "My barns are full, my stores increase,
And now for many years,
Soul, eat and drink, and take thine ease,
Secure from wants and fears."
2 Thus while a worldling boasted once,
As many now presume;
He heard the Lord himself pronounce,
His sudden, awful doom.
3 "This night, vain fool, thy soul must pass
Into a world unknown;
And who shall then the stores possess,
Which thou hast called thine own!"
4 Thus blinded mortals fondly scheme,
For happiness below;
'Till death destroys the pleasing dream,
And they awake to woe.
5 Ah! who can speak the vast dismay
That fills the sinner's mind,
When torn, by death's strong hand away,
He leaves his all behind.
6 Wordlings, who cleave to earthly things,
But are not rich to God;
Will feel that death is full of stings,
And hell their dark abode.
7 Dear Saviour make us timely wise,
Thy gospel to attend;
That we may live above the skies,
When this poor life shall end.
The Hartford Selection of Hymns from the most approved authors, 1799
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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