Oct
24
While we in the means are found
Filed Under Christmas, Music, Poetry, Prayer, The Church, Worship
I judge a hymnal on “The Newton Scale.” When I look at an unfamiliar hymnal, the first thing I do is thumb my way to the index to see how many (and which) hymns by John Newton are contained therein. It’s a pretty good indicator of the kind of piety the editors want to encourage. Newton’s hymns are, well, let me borrow the words of Kenny Bania, “That’s gold, Jerry! Gold!” Among Newton’s best are:
- Amazing Grace
- Let Us Love and Sing and Wonder
- Day of Judgment! Day of Wonders!
- How Sweet the Name of Jesus Sounds
- Glorious Things of Thee Are Spoken
- Approach My Soul, the Mercy Seat
- Safely Through Another Week
The old Gadsby Hymnal has many Newton compositions. Certainly, some of these are not of the same calibre as the aforementioned classics (Does anyone remember Harlem Shuffle by the Rolling Stones, for example?). But below is a mighty good one from Newton. It is a prayer for the Spirit’s power to be unleashed in the ordinary means of grace, with 1 Corinthians 12:6-11 and 1:5 as a heading:
1 O thou, at whose almighty word
The glorious light from darkness sprung,
Thy quickening influence afford,
And clothe with power the preacher’s tongue.
2 ‘Tis thine to teach him how to speak;
‘Tis thine to give the hearing ear;
‘Tis thine the stubborn heart to break
And make the careless sinner fear.
3 ‘Tis also thine, Almighty Lord,
To cheer the poor, desponding heart;
To speak the soul-reviving word
And bid the mourner’s fears depart.
4 Thus, while we in the means are found,
We still on thee alone depend
To make the gospel’s joyful sound
Effectual to the promised end.
Thank you, John Newton.
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