Bowling Green Covenant Church

I am an apologist for hymns that teach sound theology and stout doctrine. As far as I am concerned you can keep most, if not all the sentimental, romantic hymns of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. I do not care to go to the garden alone. And my ego does not need further inflating by singing hymns in which Jesus is said to walk with me and talk with me and tell me I am His own. I should rather think the opposite concern is the more important one. That Jesus is confessed by me as Savior and worshiped by me as Lord would seem more appropriate if not more theologically accurate as well as redemptively needful.

No, give me the hymns of Watts and Wesley, Cowper and Toplady, and just about any hymn written by John Newton. Their hymns were the lyrical equivalent of how I once heard Germans describe their beer— as liquid bread. Stout stuff those old hymns. Lyrical bread that feeds the soul, encourages the heart and inspires the imagination to ponder the glories of our great God and King.

It is not that I am an anti-sentimentalist, but hymns in which Jesus is depicted as a sandal-shod, robe-wearing, soft-treading Savior who knocks gently on the door of my heart, calling me softly and tenderly as He waits helplessly for me to answer is not the kind of Savior who inspires faith, hope and love. Is that the kind of Savior portrayed in the Scripture? Thank God, the answer is no. And our hymns should reflect that.

One such hymn is “Let Us Love and Sing and Wonder,” written in 1774 by John Newton. Newton was born in London, England on July 24, 1725. He died in London on December 21, 1807. As far as the dash in between his birth and his death, Newton, who also penned the hymn “Amazing Grace,” was a sailor, a slave-trader, and a preacher. It is a checkered resume to be sure, but it is one salted with the amazing grace of God. Whereas “Amazing Grace” is an autobiography of salvation by grace, “Let Us Love and Sing and Wonder” expresses how we should then live as those whose lives have been transformed by grace. Since any exposition will not suffice I will simply let Newton’s words speak for themselves.

Let us love and sing and wonder,
Let us praise the Savior’s Name!
He has hushed the law’s loud thunder,
He has quenched Mount Sinai’s flame.
He has washed us with His blood,
He has brought us nigh to God.

Let us love the Lord Who bought us,
Pitied us when enemies,
Called us by His grace, and taught us,
Gave us ears and gave us eyes:
He has washed us with His blood,
He presents our souls to God.

Let us sing, though fierce temptation
Threaten hard to bear us down!
For the Lord, our strong Salvation,
Holds in view the conqueror’s crown:
He Who washed us with His blood
Soon will bring us home to God.

Let us wonder; grace and justice
Join and point to mercy’s store;
When through grace in Christ our trust is,
Justice smiles and asks no more:
He Who washed us with His blood
Has secured our way to God.

Let us praise, and join the chorus
Of the saints enthroned on high;
Here they trusted Him before us,
Now their praises fill the sky:
“Thou hast washed us with Your blood;
Thou art worthy, Lamb of God!”

Hark! the Name of Jesus, sounded
Loud, from golden harps above!
Lord, we blush, and are confounded,
Faint our praises, cold our love!
Wash our souls and songs with blood,
For by Thee we come to God.

Now that is a hymn.

You think about that.