"I was blind but now I see!" John 9:25
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Words: John Newton, Olney Hymns (London: W. Oliver, 1779). Exception: the last stanza is by an unknown author; it appeared as early as 1829 in Baptist Songster, by R. Winchell (Wethersfield, Connecticut), as the last stanza of the song "Jerusalem My Happy Home."
Music: "New Britain," in Virginia Harmony, by James P. Carrell and David S. Clayton (Winchester, Virginia: 1831)
This is probably the most popular hymn in the English language-a television documentary was even made about it. Perhaps it is because its words so well describe the author: John Newton was a slave trader before coming to Christ. |