Quiet, Lord, my froward heart

Representative Text

1 Quiet, Lord, my froward heart;
Make me teachable and mild,
Upright, simple, free from art;
Make me as a weaned child,
From distrust and envy free,
Pleased with all that pleases Thee.

2 What Thou shalt to-day provide
Let me as a child receive;
What to-morrow may betide
Calmly to Thy wisdom leave:
'Tis enough that Thou wilt care;
Why should I the burden bear?

3 As a little child relies
On a care beyond his own,
Knows he's neither strong nor wise,
Fears to stir a step alone,--
Let me thus with Thee abide,
As my Father, Guard, and Guide.

4 Thus preserved from Satan's wiles,
Safe from dangers, free from fears,
May I live upon Thy smiles
Till the promised hour appears,
When the sons of God shall prove
All their Father's boundless love.

Amen.

Source: The Hymnal: published by the Authority of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A. #712

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 >

Notes

Quiet, Lord, my froward heart. J. Newton. [Resignation.] Appeared in the Olney Hymns, 1779, Book iii., No. 65, in 4 stanzas of 6 lines, and headed "The Child." It has passed into a large number of hymnbooks. In some it begins "Jesus, make my froward heart," but this form of the text is not popular.

--John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology (1907)

Tune

REPOSE (Kücken)


GUIDE (Wells)

Converted to Christianity as a youth at a mission in Buffalo, New York, Marcus Morris Wells (b. Cooperstown, NY, 1815; d. Hartwick, NY, 1895) spent most of his life near Hartwick as a farmer and maker of farm implements. He is remembered in hymnody for writing both the text and tune of "Holy Spirit,…

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The Cyber Hymnal #5721
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Instances

Instances (1 - 4 of 4)

Spurgeon's Own Hymn Book #131

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The Cyber Hymnal #5721

Christian Science Hymnal #563

Christian Science Hymnal #564

Include 243 pre-1979 instances
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