1 Oh may the power which melts the rock
Be felt by all assembled here!
Or else our service will but mock
The God whom we profess to fear!
2 Lord, while thy judgments shake the land,
The people's eyes are fixed on thee!
We own thy just uplifted hand,
Which thousands cannon, will not see.
3 How long hast thou bestowed thy care
On this indulged ungrateful spot;
While other nations, far and near,
Have envied and admired our lot.
4 Here peace and liberty have dwelt,
The glorious gospel brightly shone;
And oft our enemies have felt,
That God has made our cause his own.
5 But ah! both heaven and earth have heard
Our vile requital of his love!
We, whom like children he has reared,
Rebels against his goodness prove.
6 His grace despised, his power defied,
And legions of the blackest crimes;
Profaneness, riot, lust and pride,
Are signs that mark the present times.
7 The Lord displeased has raised his rod,
Ah, where are now the faithful few
Who tremble for the ark of God,
And know what Israel ought to do.
8 Lord hear thy people every where,
Who meet to mourn, confess and pray;
The nations and thy churches spare,
And let thy wrath be turned away.
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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