Father, Forgive, the Savior Said

Father, forgive, the Savior said

Author: John Newton (1779)
Tune: ABIDING GRACE
Published in 1 hymnal

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Representative Text

1. Father, forgive, the Savior said
They know not what they do;
His heart was moved when thus He prayed
For me, my friends, and you.

2. He saw, that as the Jews abused
And crucified His flesh,
So He, by us, would be refused,
And crucified afresh.

3. Through love of sin, we long were prone
To act as Satan bid;
But now, with grief and shame we own,
We knew not what we did.

4. We knew not the desert of sin,
Nor whom we thus defied;
Nor where our guilty souls had been,
If Jesus had not died.

5. We knew not what a law we broke,
How holy, just and pure!
Nor what a God we durst provoke,
But thought ourselves secure.

6. But Jesus all our guilt foresaw,
And shed His precious blood
To satisfy the holy law,
And make our peace with God.

7. My sin, dear Savior, made Thee bleed,
Yet didst Thou pray for me!
I knew not what I did, indeed,
When ignorant of Thee.

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 >

Text Information

First Line: Father, forgive, the Savior said
Title: Father, Forgive, the Savior Said
Author: John Newton (1779)
Meter: 8.6.8.6
Source: Olney Hymns (London: W. Oliver, 1779), number 109
Language: English
Copyright: Public Domain

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The Cyber Hymnal #1465
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The Cyber Hymnal #1465

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