Bless, O Lord! the opening year

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Bless, O Lord! the opening year

Author: John Newton
Tune: SHERBORNE (Mendelssohn)
Published in 51 hymnals

Representative Text

Bless, O Lord, each opening year
To the souls assembling here:
Clothe Thy word with power divine,
Make us willing to be Thine.

Where Thou hast Thy work begun,
Give new strength the race to run;
Scatter darkness, doubts, and fears,
Wipe away the mourner’s tears.

Bless us all, both old and young;
Call forth praise from every tongue:
Let our whole assembly prove
All Thy power and all Thy love!

Source: A Book of Hymns for Public and Private Devotion (15th ed.) #566

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Author: John Newton

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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