1.
Precious Bible, what a treasure,
Does the word of God afford!
All I want for life or pleasure,
Food or medicine, shield or sword.
Let the world account me poor,
Having this, I want no more.
2.
Food to which the world's a stranger,
Here my hungry soul enjoys;
Of excess there is no danger,
Though it fills, it never cloys.
On a dying Christ I feed,
He is meat and drink indeed.
Source: The Southern Harmony, and Musical Companion (New ed. thoroughly rev. and much enl.) #311
First Line: | Precious Bible, what a treasure |
Title: | The Word of God |
Author: | John Newton |
Meter: | 8.7.8.7.4.7 |
Language: | English |
Copyright: | Public Domain |
Precious Bible! what a treasure. J. Newton. [Holy Scriptures.] Published in his Twenty Six Letters, &c. By Omicron, 1774, in 6 stanzas of 6 lines, and headed, “The Word of God more precious than Gold." It was repeated in R. Conyers's Collection, 1774, No. 276, and again in the Olney Hymns, 1779, Book ii., No. 63. It is found in a few modern hymnbooks.
--John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology (1907)