1 Poor sinners! little do they think
With whom they have to do!
But stand securely on the brink
Of everlasting woe.
2 Chaldea's king profanely bold,
The Lord of Hosts defied.
But vengeance soon his boasts controlled,
And humbled all his pride.
3 He saw a hand upon the wall,
(And trembled on his throne)
Which wrote his sudden dreadful fall
In characters unknown.
4 See him o'erwhelm'd with deep distress!
His eyes with anguish roll;
His looks and loosened joints express
The terrors of his soul.
5 His pomp, and music, guests and wine,
No more delight afford.
O sinners, e'er this ease be thine,
Begin to seek the Lord.
6 The law like this hand writing stands,
And speaks the wrath of God;
But Jesus answers its demands,
And cancels it with blood.
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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