1. My soul once had its plenteous years,
And throve, with peace and comfort filled,
Like the fat kine and ripened ears,
Which Pharaoh in his dream beheld.
2. With pleasing frames and grace received,
With means and ordinances fed;
How happy for a while I lived,
And little feared the want of bread.
3. But famine came and left no sign
Of all the plenty I had seen;
Like the dry ears and half-starved kine,
I then looked withered, faint and lean.
4. To Joseph the Egyptians went,
To Jesus I made known my case;
He, when my little stock was spent,
Opened His magazine of grace.
5. For He the time of dearth foresaw,
And made provision long before;
That famished souls, like me, might draw
Supplies from His unbounded store.
6. Now on His bounty I depend,
And live from fear of dearth secure,
Maintained by such a mighty Friend,
I cannot want till He is poor.
7. O sinners, hear His gracious call!
His mercy’s door stands open wide,
He has enough to feed you all,
And none who come shall be denied.
Source: The Cyber Hymnal #4368
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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