Confession and Prayer

O may the power which melts the rock

Author: John Newton
Published in 21 hymnals

Representative Text

1 Oh may the power which melts the rock
Be felt by all assembled here!
Or else our service will but mock
The God whom we profess to fear!

2 Lord, while thy judgments shake the land,
The people's eyes are fixed on thee!
We own thy just uplifted hand,
Which thousands cannon, will not see.

3 How long hast thou bestowed thy care
On this indulged ungrateful spot;
While other nations, far and near,
Have envied and admired our lot.

4 Here peace and liberty have dwelt,
The glorious gospel brightly shone;
And oft our enemies have felt,
That God has made our cause his own.

5 But ah! both heaven and earth have heard
Our vile requital of his love!
We, whom like children he has reared,
Rebels against his goodness prove.

6 His grace despised, his power defied,
And legions of the blackest crimes;
Profaneness, riot, lust and pride,
Are signs that mark the present times.

7 The Lord displeased has raised his rod,
Ah, where are now the faithful few
Who tremble for the ark of God,
And know what Israel ought to do.

8 Lord hear thy people every where,
Who meet to mourn, confess and pray;
The nations and thy churches spare,
And let thy wrath be turned away.

Hymns and Spiritual Songs for the use of Christians, 1803

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: O may the power which melts the rock
Title: Confession and Prayer
Author: John Newton
Language: English
Copyright: Public Domain

Notes

O may the power which melts the rock. J. Newton. [National Fast.] This is one of his Fast-day hymns published in the Olney Hymns, 1779, Book ii., No. 65, in 8 stanzas of 4 lines and headed, "Confession and Prayer, Dec. 13, 1776." In Cotterill's Selection, 1810, it was given in 6 stanzas and in this form it has come down to modern hymn books.

--John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology (1907)

Timeline

Instances

Instances (1 - 21 of 21)
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A Collection of Hymns and Prayers, for Public and Private Worship #442

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A Collection of original and select hymns and spiritual songs #CXIII

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A Selection of Hymns and Spiritual Songs #H.CCCCI

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A Selection of Hymns and Spiritual Songs #H.CCCCI

Hymns and Spiritual Songs for the use of Christians. 9th ed. #d134

Hymns and Spiritual Songs for the Use of Christians #d106

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Hymns and Spiritual Songs for the use of Christians #71

Hymns and Spiritual Songs for the Use of Christians. 8th ed. #d130

Hymns, Psalms, and Spiritual Songs, including Some Never Before in Print #d240

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Hymns, Selected and Original, for Public and Private Worship #692

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Hymns, Selected and Original #692

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Hymns #692

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Hymns #692

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Hymns #692

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Hymns #692

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The Christian Hymn Book #1256

The Halifax Selection of Hymns #d303

The Primitive Hymns #d436

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