Analysis of Humbled And Silenced By Mercy

John Newton 1725 (Wapping, London) – 1807 (London)



Once perishing in blood I lay,
Creatures no help could give,
But Jesus passed me in the way,
He saw, and bid me live.

Though Satan still his rule maintained,
And all his arts employed;
That mighty Word his rage restrained,
I could not be destroyed.

At length the time of love arrived
When I my Lord should know,
Then Satan, of his pow'r deprived,
Was forced to let me go.

O can I e'er that day forget
When Jesus kindly spoke!
Poor soul, my blood has paid thy debt,
And now I break thy yoke.

Henceforth I take thee for my own,
And give myself to thee;
Forsake the idols thou hast known,
And yield thyself to me.

Ah, worthless heart! it promised fair,
And said it would be thine;
I little thought it e'er would dare
Again with idols join.

Lord, dost thou such backslidings heal,
And pardon all that's past?
Sure, if I am not made of steel,
Thou hast prevailed at last.

My tongue, which rashly spoke before,
This mercy will restrain;
Surely I now shall boast no more,
Nor censure, nor complain.


Scheme AXAX BCBC DEDE FGFG HIHI JXJX KLKL MNMN
Poetic Form Quatrain  (75%)
Metre 11000111 101111 11011001 110111 11011101 011101 11011101 111101 11011101 111111 110111101 111111 111101101 110101 11111111 011111 11111111 01111 01010111 01111 11011101 011111 110111011 011101 111111 010111 11111111 110111 1111101 110101 10111111 110101
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 975
Words 189
Sentences 12
Stanzas 8
Stanza Lengths 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4
Lines Amount 32
Letters per line (avg) 24
Words per line (avg) 6
Letters per stanza (avg) 95
Words per stanza (avg) 23
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

57 sec read
106

John Newton

Rev Dr John A Newton CBE is a prominent Methodist minister, author, historian and former President of the Methodist Conference. more…

All John Newton poems | John Newton Books

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