1 I know the Lord is nigh,
And would but cannot pray,
For Satan meets me when I try,
And frights my soul away.
2 I would, but can’t repent,
Though I endeavour oft;
This stony heart can ne’er relent
Till Jesus makes it soft.
3 I would, but cannot love,
Though wooed by love divine;
No arguments have power to move
A soul so base as mine.
4 I would, but cannot rest
In God’s most holy will;
I know what he appoints is best,
Yet murmur at it still.
5 O could I but believe,
Then all would easy be;
I would, but cannot; Lord, relieve;
My help must come from thee.
6 [By nature prone to ill,
Till thy appointed hour,
I was as destitute of will
As now I am of power.]
7 [Wilt thou not crown at length
The work thou hast begun?
And with the will afford me strength
In all thy ways to run?]
Source: A Selection of Hymns for Public Worship. In four parts (10th ed.) (Gadsby's Hymns) #278
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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