SHORT HYMNS: BEFORE SERMON
Hymn 91
Thy promise, Lord, and thy command
Have brought us here today;
And now, we humbly waiting stand
To hear what thou wilt say. (a)
Meet us, we pray, with words of peace,
And fill our hearts with love;
That from our follies we may cease,
And henceforth faithful prove.
(a) Psalm 85:8 Let destruction come upon him at unawares; and let his net that he hath hid catch himself: into that very destruction let him fall.
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Short Hymns
Thursday 28 January 1779: ‘I finished transcribing the Hymns, only that I have a few short ones to make, suited to the introduction and conclusion of divine worship.’
The last hymn dated in Newton’s diary, No. 334, was written for 1 January 1779, which may also have been the date for No. 335. But judging from their sequence in his ms notebook, some may have been written prior to that, possibly from around November 1778.
With no certainty of dates, some perhaps pertinent quotes:
Saturday 23 January 1779
Prepare me by thine own teaching and influence, for the service of tomorrow, and give me an heart to pray for thy people and interest at large, for the aggregate of thy mystical body, as I would for myself. May thy presence be felt, and thy glory seen amongst us here, for the comfort of thine own people, and the conviction of those who have not yet known thee; and may we say from experience, that it is good for our souls, to draw nigh the Lord. |
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