Wednesday, March 29, 2006

Good Ol' Newton

From Olney Hymns, #37

Begone unbelief, My Savior is near,
And for my relief Will surely appear:
By prayer let me wrestle, And he wilt perform,
With CHRIST in the vessel, I smile at the storm.

Though dark be my way, Since he is my guide,
’Tis mine to obey, ’Tis his to provide;
Though cisterns be broken, And creatures all fail,
The word he has spoken Shall surely prevail.

His love in time past Forbids me to think
He’ll leave me at last In trouble to sink;
Each sweet Ebenezer I have in review,
Confirms his good pleasure To help me quite through.

Determined to save, He watched o’er my path,
When Satan’s blind slave, I sported with death;
And can he have taught me To trust in his name,
And thus far have brought me, To put me to shame?

Why should I complain Of want or distress,
Temptation or pain? He told me no less:
The heirs of salvation, I know from his word,
Through much tribulation Must follow their LORD.

How bitter that cup, No heart can conceive,
Which he drank quite up, That sinners might live!
His way was much rougher, And darker than mine;
Did Jesus thus suffer, And shall I repine?

Since all that I meet Shall work for my good,
The bitter is sweet, The med’cine is food;
Though painful at present, Wilt cease before long,
And then, O! how pleasant, The conqueror’s song!


2 comments:

Mark D. Smith said...

Hey Julian,

Good Ol' Newton is good stuff dude.

How's it going? I found your blog the other day after Haniel told me that you love Piper (or more accurately, his theology and passion) as much as I do - which is saying a lot cause Haniel knows how much of a fan I am since he hears me talk about him every day! lol I've been going into withdrawl ever since he left for his sabbatical and there isn't new sermons to listen to...but good thing there is such a plethora of old great sermons on there.

I started a blog not long ago, feel free to check it out - there isn't much there yet but I will probably post fairly regularly in the future. Can I add your blog to my Links section?

Peace. Mark.

Julian Freeman said...

Mark:

Thanks for saying hi! I think of you often when we're down in the St Kitts region and pass by Calvary.

I do love Piper... I think the greatest thing about Piper is that he understands the best compliment a theologian could evere receive is: "You've never said anything original."

Piper is faithful to pass on the gospel once for all delivered to the saints, as it has been received.

I'd be happy to check out your blog. I'll add a link to it from my blogroll as well.

JLF