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Happy the birth where grace presides

Book 3, Hymn 60 · John Newton · Public-domain words

The words

  1. Stanza 1. Happy the birth where grace presidesTo form the future life!In wisdom’s paths the soul she guides,Remote from noise and strife.

  2. Stanza 2. Since I have known the Savior’s nameAnd what for me he bore;No more I toil for empty fame,I thirst for gold no more.

  3. Stanza 3. Placed by his hand in this retreat,I make his love my theme;And see that all the world calls great,Is but a waking dream.

  4. Stanza 4. Since be has ranked my worthless nameAmongst his favored few;Let the mad world who scoff at themRevile and hate me too.

  5. Stanza 5. O thou whose voice the dead can raise,And soften hearts of stone,And teach the dumb to sing thy praise,This work is all thine own!

  6. Stanza 6. Thy wond’ring saints rejoice to seeA wretch, like me, restoredAnd point, and say, “How changed is he,Who once defied the LORD!”

  7. Stanza 7. Grace bid me live, and taught my tongueTo aim at notes divine;And grace accepts my feeble song,The glory, LORD, be thine!

Olney Hymns (1779), Book 3, Hymn 60. John Newton. Public domain. CCEL transcription with modernized spelling. www.praylock.com/olney-hymns/3-60

About these words

John Newton lived from 1725 to 1807. These historical words are public domain.

This hymn belongs to the complete three-book collection first published in 1779.

The CCEL transcription modernizes spelling and some punctuation. Read this hymn at the source. Checked 23 October 2026.

No sheet music or recordings are included. This web collection is separate from the PrayLock iPhone app.

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