When Peter boasted, soon he fell

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When Peter boasted, soon he fell

Author: John Newton
Tune: ABIDING GRACE
Published in 6 hymnals

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Audio files: MIDI

Representative Text

1 When Peter boasted, soon he fell,
Yet was by grace restored;
His case should be regarded well
By all who fear the Lord.

2 A voice it has, and helping hand,
Backsliders to recall;
And cautions those who think they stand,
Lest suddenly they fall.

3 He said whatever others do,
With Jesus I'll abide;
Yet soon amidst a murderous crew
His suffering Lord denied.

4 He who had been so bold before,
Now trembled like a leaf;
Not only lied but cursed and swore,
To gain the more belief.

5 While he blasphemed he heard the cock,
And Jesus looked in love;
At once, as if by lightning struck,
His tongue forbore to move,

6 Delivered thus from Satan's snare,
He starts, as from a sleep;
His Savior's look he could not bear,
But hasted forth to weep.

7 But sure the frightful cock had crowed
An hundred times in vain,
Had not the Lord that look bestowed,
The meaning to explain.

8 As I like Peter vows had made,
Yet acted Peter's part;
So conscience, like the cock upbraids
My base ungrateful heart.

9 Lord Jesus, hear a sinner's cry,
My broken peace renew;
And grant one pitying look, that I
May weep with Peter too.

Hymns and Spiritual Songs for the use of Christians, 1803

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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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