1 My soul, this curious house of clay,
Thy present frail abode,
Must quickly fall to worms a prey,
And thou return to God.
2 Canst thou, by faith, survey with joy,
The change before it come,
And say, “Let Death this house destroy,
I have a heavenly home?
3 “The Saviour, whom I then shall see,
With new admiring eyes,
Already has prepared for me
A mansion in the skies.
4 “I feel this mud-walled cottage shake,
And long to see it fall;
That I my willing flight may take
To him who is my All.
5 “Burdened and groaning then no more,
My rescued soul shall sing,
As up the shining path I soar,
‘Death, thou hast lost thy sting.’”
6 Dear Saviour, help us now to seek,
And grant thy Spirit’s power;
That we may all this language speak,
Before the dying hour.
Source: A Selection of Hymns for Public Worship. In four parts (10th ed.) (Gadsby's Hymns) #469
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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