New Year's Day

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 >

Now gracious Lord, Thine arm reveal. J. Newton. [The New Year.] The first of thirteen hymns to be sung "Before Annual Sermons to Young People, on New Years' Evenings," first published in the Olney Hymns, 1779, Bk. ii., No. 7., in 5 stanzas of 4 lines, and headed "Prayer for a Blessing." (Original text, Hymnal Companion, No. 90.) Its use is very extensive in all English-speaking countries; it has also been translated into several languages.

--John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology (1907)