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May this be a much favored hour

Author: John Newton
Published in 2 hymnals

Representative Text

1 May this be a much-favoured hour
To souls in Satan’s bondage led!
Lord, clothe thy word with sovereign power
To break the rocks, and raise the dead.

2 To mourners speak a cheering word;
On seeking souls vouchsafe to shine;
Let poor backsliders be restored,
And all thy saints in praises join.

Source: A Selection of Hymns for Public Worship. In four parts (10th ed.) (Gadsby's Hymns) #451

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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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