Hymns I’m Angry I didn’t Learn As a Child (9)

I discovered this little gem reading Keller’s The Prodigal God.  I especially love the last stanza of this hymn, let me know what you think.

We Were Sinners Once as You Are By John Newton

Shall men pretend to pleasure

          Who never knew the Lord?

Can all the worldling’s treasure

          True peace of mind afford?

They shall obtain this jewel

          In what their hearts desire,

When they by adding fuel

          Can quench the flame of fire.

 

Till you can bid the ocean,

          When furious tempests roar,

Forget its wonted motion,

          And rage, and swell, no more:

In vain your expectation

          To find content in sin;

Or freedom from vexation,

          While passions reign within.

 

Come, turn your thoughts to Jesus,

          If you would good possess;

‘Tis he alone that frees us

          From guilt, and from distress:

While he, by faith, is present,

          The sinner’s troubles cease;

His ways are truly pleasant,

          And all his paths are peace.

 

Our time in sin we wasted,

          And fed upon the wind;

Until his love we tasted,

          No comfort could we find:

But now we stand to witness

          His pow’r and grace to you;

May you perceive its fitness,

          And call upon him too!

 

Our pleasure and our duty,

          Though opposite before;

Since we have seen his beauty,

          Are joined to part no more:

It is our highest pleasure,

          No less than duty’s call;

To love him beyond measure,         

 And serve him with our all.