Friday, February 24, 2012

John Newton...

Slave trader, clergyman, songwriter, author of "Amazing Grace" and the piece below that is often misquoted 
and assigned to "anonymous" or to another author. We should each review it from time to time to check what we feel is the status of our soul. Can we heartily agree with what he says?

I am not what I ought to be — 
ah, how imperfect and deficient! 

I am not what I wish to be — 
I abhor what is evil, and I would cleave to what is good! 

I am not what I hope to be — 
soon, soon shall I put off mortality, and with mortality all sin and imperfection. 

Yet, though I am not what I ought to be, nor what I wish to be, nor what I hope to be,
 I can truly say, I am not what I once was; 
a slave to sin and Satan; 

and I can heartily join with the apostle, and acknowledge, 
"By the grace of God I am what I am."

No comments: