Pleading His Gracious Name

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Approach, my soul, the mercy seat

Author: John Newton (1779)
Published in 612 hymnals

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Piano/Organ
	Tell the Story (Ten Gospel Hymn Arrangem…

Choral
	To You My Eyes Are Turned

Handbells
	Lenten Reflections

Representative Text

1. Approach, my soul, the mercy seat
Where Jesus answers pray'r;
There humbly fall before his feet,
For none can perish there.

2. My only plea, your promise true;
With this I venture nigh;
You beckon burdened souls to you,
And such, O Lord, am I.

3. Bowed down beneath a load of sin,
By Satan sorely pressed;
By war without and fears within,
I come to you for rest.

4. Thus be my shield and hiding place!
That sheltered near your side,
I may my fierce accuser face,
And say the Lamb has died.

5. Oh, wondrous love! To bleed and die,
To bear the cross and shame,
That guilty sinners, such as I,
Might plead your gracious name.

6. “Poor tempest-ravaged soul, be still,
My promised grace receive,”
’Tis Jesus speaks—I must, I will,
I can, I do believe.

Source: Hymns and Devotions for Daily Worship #350

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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 >

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Related Texts

First Line:	Approach, my soul, the mercy seat
Title:	Pleading His Gracious Name
Author:	John Newton (1779)
Meter:	8.6.8.6
Language:	English
Notes:	Spanish translation: See "Al trono de la gracia, ven" by Sharon Vater
Copyright:	Public Domain

English

10 shown out of 345

Latin

Hymnal: according to the use of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America : Revised edition (1874) #399

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Notes

Approach, my soul, the mercy seat. J. Newton. [Lent.] First published in the Olney Hymns, 1779, Bk. iii., No. 12, in 6 stanzas of 4 lines, and again in all later editions of the same work. It came into early use in the hymnals and has attained to a foremost position as one of the most popular of Newton's productions. In the Olney Hymns it is the second of two hymns headed, "The Effort." The first hymn by Newton on this same subject begins:— "Cheer up, my soul, there is a mercy seat." No. 11, in 6 stanzas of 4 lines as above. Its similarity to "Approach, my soul," has led some to suppose it to have been re-written by an unknown compiler. In the American College Hymnal, N. Y. 1876, stanzas ii., iii. and iv. are given as No. 280, "Lord, I am come, Thy promise is my plea." The use of this hymn in any form is very limited.

-- John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology (1907)

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Tune

SPOHR (Spohr 53351)

DALEHURST

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Timeline

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Arrangements

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Piano/Organ Tell the Story (Ten Gospel Hymn Arrangements for Piano) WONDROUS CROSS, THE The Fruit of the Spirit More Piano/Organ...
Choral To You My Eyes Are Turned More Choral...
Handbells Six or More for Lent and Easter Lenten Reflections Lenten Reflections More Handbells...
PowerPoint HOW SWEET THE NAME OF JESUS SOUND (Blue Psalter 384) More PowerPoint...