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my tongue, will no longer be able to move in their scrvice. But I trust, while my heart continues to beat, it will feel a warm desire for the prosperity of their souls; and while my hand can write, and my tongue speak, it will be the business and the pleasure of my life, to aim at promoting their growth and establishment in the grace of our God and Saviour. To this precious grace I commend them, and earnestly entreat them, and all who love his name, to strive mightily with their prayers to God for me, that I may be preserved faithful to the end, and enabled at last to finish my course with joy.

Olney, Bucks, February 15, 1779.

VOL. III.

X

JOHN NEWTON.

OLNEY HYMNS,

&c.

BOOK I.

ON SELECT PASSAGES OF SCRIPTURE.

GENESIS.

HYMN I. Adam. Chap. iii.

1 ON

N man, in his own image made, How much did God bestow! The whole creation homage paid,

And own'd him Lord below.

2 He dwelt in Eden's garden, stor'd With sweets for ev'ry sense;

And there, with his descending Lord, He walk'd in confidence.

3 But, oh! by sin how quickly chang'd! His honour forfeited,

His heart from God and truth estrang'd,
His conscience fill'd with dread!

4 Now from his Maker's voice he flees, Which was before his joy;

And thinks to hide, amidst the trees,
From an all-seeing eye.

5 Compell'd to answer to his name,
With stubbornness and pride,

He cast on God himself the blame;
Nor once for mercy cry'd.

6 But grace, unask'd, his heart subdu'd,
And all his guilt forgave;

By faith the promis'd Seed he view'd,
And felt his pow'r to save.

7 Thus we ourselves would justify,
Though we the law transgress;
Like him, unable to deny,
Unwilling to confess.

8 But when by faith the sinner sees
A pardon bought with blood,
Then he forsakes his foolish pleas,
And gladly turns to God,

II. Cain and Abel. Chap. iv. 3—8.

1 WHEN Adam fell, he quickly lost God's image which he once possess'd: See all our nature since could boast In Cain, his first-born son, express'd!

2 The Sacrifice the Lord ordain'd
In type of the Redeemer's blood,
Self-righteous reas'ning Cain disdain'd,
And thought his own first-fruits as good,
3 Yet rage and envy fill'd his mind,

When, with a sullen downcast look,
He saw his brother favour find,
Who God's appointed method took.

4 By Cain's own hand good Abel died,
Because the Lord approv'd his faith;
And, when his blood for vengeance cry'd,
He vainly thought to hide his death.
5 Such was the wicked murd'rer Cain,
And such by nature still are we,
Until by grace we're born again,
Malicious, blind, and proud as he.
6 Like him, the way of grace we slight,
And in our own devices trust;

Call evil good, and darkness light,
And hate and persecute the just.

7 The saints in ev'ry age and place
Have found his history fulfill'd;
The numbers all our thoughts surpass,
Of Abels, whom the Cains have kill'da!

1 Thus Jesus fell-but, oh! his blood
Far better things than Abel's cries,
Obtains his murd'rers peace with God,
And gains them mansions in the skies.

III. C. Walking with God. Chap. v. 24.

1 OH! for a closer walk with God,
A calm and heav'nly frame;
A light, to shine upon the road
That leads me to the Lamb!

2 Where is the blessedness I knew
When first I saw the Lord?

Where is the soul-refreshing view
Of Jesus, and his word?

a Rom. viii. 36.

b Heb. xii, 24.

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