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Tuesday, January 27, 2009

Amazing love; amazing grace . . .

One of the all-time favourite hymns that is sung all around the world is John Newton's hymn Amazing Grace. The story behind the hymn is now legend, its connection to the slave trade and the realisation of that trade's offensiveness in God's eyes being well-known.

Sometimes it's good to read the words slowly through, out loud, experiencing the emotion that John Newton must have felt as he was inspired to write them down.

Amazing Grace

Amazing grace how sweet the sound
That saved a wretch like me.
I once was lost, but now I'm found;
Was blind, but now I see.

'Twas grace that taught my heart to fear
And grace my fear relieved.
How precious did that grace appear
The hour I first believed.

Through many dangers, toils and snares,
We have already come.
'Twas grace that brought us safe thus far,
And grace will lead us home.

The Lord has promised good to me,
His Word my hope secures.
He will my shield and portion be
As long as life endures.

And when this heart and flesh shall fail
And mortal life shall cease,
I shall possess within the veil
A life of health and peace.
When we've been there ten thousand years,
Bright shining as the sun.
We've no less days to sing God's praise
Than when we first begun.

Verses 4 & 5 are not generally sung any more, the popular version being verses 1 to 3 together with the last verse, shown here in italics, which was in fact not written by John Newton but, I believe, by Harriet Beecher Stowe in her novel Uncle Tom's Cabin.

However, whichever version you prefer, or even if you prefer to join the two together, it's a beautiful hymn that tells of the wonderful grace of God towards mankind; not only wonderful grace, but also overwhelming love towards His creation. So great is that love that He died in order that we might live. Spend an hour or so thinking about that!

How incredible God is the display of His love towards us.

1 comment:

Jim Avery said...

Colin, I'm sorry I should have thought to mention this to you earlier. English Heritage recently commissioned a detailed study of the underground workings and bunkers in Corsham. There's a wealth of history to read at http://corsham.thehumanjourney.net . If you have any stories from your time in Corsham, they might well be interested to hear from you.

Cheers,

Jim

www.corshamdiary.org.uk