Readings · Hymns
Amazing Grace
John Newton · 24 lines
Amazing grace! (how sweet the sound)
That sav’d a wretch like me!
I once was lost, but now am found,
Was blind, but now I see.
’Twas grace that taught my heart to fear,
And grace my fears reliev’d;
How precious did that grace appear,
The hour I first believ’d!
Thro’ many dangers, toils and snares,
I have already come;
’Tis grace has brought me safe thus far,
And grace will lead me home.
The Lord has promis’d good to me,
His word my hope secures;
He will my shield and portion be,
As long as life endures.
Yes, when this flesh and heart shall fail,
And mortal life shall cease;
I shall possess, within the vail,
A life of joy and peace.
The earth shall soon dissolve like snow,
The sun forbear to shine;
But God, who call’d me here below,
Will be for ever mine.
About this reading
John Newton wrote these words for Olney Hymns, the collection he made with the poet William Cowper and published in 1779, while he was the curate of Olney in Buckinghamshire. He printed them under the title "Faith's review and expectation," over a reference to 1 Chronicles 17. Newton had spent his early life at sea, and commanded a slave ship before his ordination.
The six verses of Newton's first printing. The verse beginning "When we've been there ten thousand years" is not his; another hand wrote it, and it was joined to this hymn in 1910.
- First published
- 1779
- Text from
- Olney Hymns, in Three Books (London, 1779)
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