Scripture Verse

What wilt Thou have me to do? Acts 9:6

Introduction

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John Newton (1725–1807)

Words: John New­ton, Ol­ney Hymns (Lon­don: W. Ol­iv­er, 1779), Book 1, num­ber 121. The re­bel’s sur­ren­der to grace. Lord, what wilt Thou have me to do?

Music: Me­ri­bah Lo­well Ma­son, 1839 (🔊 pdf nwc).

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Lowell Mason (1792–1872)

Lyrics

Lord, Thou hast won, at length I yield,
My heart, by migh­ty grace com­pelled,
Surrenders all to Thee;
Against Thy ter­rors long I strove,
But who can stand against Thy love?
Love con­quers even me.

All that a wretch could do, I tried,
Thy pa­tience scorned, Thy pow­er de­fied,
And tram­pled on Thy laws;
Scarcely Thy mar­tyrs at the stake,
Could stand more stead­fast for Thy sake,
Than I in Sa­tan’s cause.

But since Thou hast Thy love re­vealed,
And shown my soul a par­don sealed,
I can re­sist no more:
Couldst Thou for such a sin­ner bleed?
Canst Thou for such a re­bel plead?
I won­der and adore!

If Thou hadst bid Thy thun­ders roll,
And lightn­ings flash to blast my soul,
I still had stub­born been:
But mer­cy has my heart sub­dued,
A bleed­ing Sav­ior I have viewed,
And now, I hate my sin.

Now, Lord, I would be Thine alone,
Come take pos­sess­ion of Thine own,
For Thou hast set me free;
Released from Sa­tan’s hard com­mand,
See all my pow­ers wait­ing stand,
To be em­ployed by Thee.

My will con­formed to Thine would move,
On Thee my hope, de­sire, and love,
In fixed at­ten­tion join;
My hands, my eyes, my ears, my tongue,
Have Sa­tan’s ser­vants been too long,
But now they shall be Thine.

And can I be the ve­ry same,
Who late­ly durst blas­pheme Thy name,
And on Thy Gos­pel tread?
Surely each one, who hears my case,
Will praise Thee, and con­fess Thy grace
Invincible in­deed!