Bleak Winter Is Subdued At Length

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Bleak winter is subdued at length

Author: John Newton
Tune: SPAZIER (Spazier)
Published in 7 hymnals

Printable scores: PDF, Noteworthy Composer
Audio files: MIDI

Representative Text

1 Bleak winter is subdu'd at length,
Compell'd to yield the day:
The sun returning in his strength
Drives all the storms away.

2 Behold the youthful spring is come,
How alter'd is the scene!
The trees and shrubs are dress'd in bloom,
The earth array'd in green.

3 Where'er we tread, beneath our feet
The flowers spontaneous spring;
And warbling birds, in concert sweet,
Invite our hearts to sing.

4 But, ah! in vain I strive to join,
Oppress'd with sin and doubt;
I feel 'tis winter still within,
Though all is spring without.

5 Oh! would my Saviour from on high
Break through these clouds and shine!
No creature then more blest than I,
No song more loud than mine.

6 Till then--no softy-warbling thrush,
Nor cowslips' sweet perfume,
Nor beauties of each painted bush,
Can dissipate my gloom.

Source: Hymns, Selected and Original: for public and private worship (1st ed.) #601

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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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Text Information

Text Information

First Line:	Bleak winter is subdued at length
Title:	Bleak Winter Is Subdued At Length
Author:	John Newton
Meter:	8.6.8.6
Language:	English
Copyright:	Public Domain

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Notes

Bleak winter is subdued at length. J. Newton. [Spring.] First published in the Olney Hymns, 1779, Book ii., No. 32, in 9 stanzas of 4 lines. In its full form it is not in common use, but an unaltered version of stanzas ii.—v. and ix. is given as: "Behold! long-wished for spring is come," in Rippon's Selection, 1787, and later editions.

-- John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology (1907)

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