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Glorious things of thee are spoken,
Zion, city of our God!
He, whose word cannot be broken,
Formed thee for His own abode:
On the Rock of ages founded,
What can shake thy sure repose?
With salvation’s walls surrounded,
Thou mayest smile at all thy foes.
See! the streams of living waters,
Springing from eternal love,
Well supply thy sons and daughters,
And all fear of want remove.
Who can faint when such a river
Ever flows their thirst to assuage?
Grace, which, like the Lord, the Giver,
Never fails from age to age.
Round each habitation hovering,
See the cloud and fire appear!
For a glory and a covering,
Showing that the Lord is near;
Thus deriving, from their banner,
Light by night, and shade by day:
Safe they feed upon the manna
Which He gives them when they pray.
Blessed inhabitants of Zion,
Washed in the Redeemer’s blood!
Jesus, whom their souls rely on,
Makes them kings and priests to God.
’Tis His love His people raises
Over self to reign as kings,
And as priests, His solemn praises
Each for a thank-offering brings.
Saviour, if of Zion’s city
I through grace a member am,
Let the world deride or pity,
I will glory in Thy name:
Fading is the worldling’s pleasure,
All his boasted pomp and show:
Solid joys and lasting treasure,
None but Zion’s children know.
John Newton 1725-1807
“Glorious things are spoken of thee, O city of God.” Psalm 87:2, 3. KJV
John Newton boldly uses one of the New Testament interpretations of the name Zion as referring to the spiritual people of God. And what a beautiful word picture he paints of those living stones of God’s dwelling-place. He incorporates a magnificent range of truth in these five verses, which has thrilled and uplifted thousands of saints through more than 200 years.
It is another of those old hymns which, if you read slowly and meditate on the words, can be a lovely means of God speaking to your soul.
“Coming to Him as to a living stone, rejected indeed by men, but chosen by God and precious, you also, as living stones, are being built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.
Therefore it is also contained in the Scripture, ‘Behold, I lay in Zion a chief cornerstone, elect, precious, and he who believes on Him will by no means be put to shame.‘ “ 1 Peter 2:4-6 NKJV
John Newton was a Church of England minister. His mother died when he was 7 and aged 11 he went to sea with his father. Life at sea encouraged him in more and more godlessness. He was once flogged as a navy deserter and for 15 months lived, half starved and ill treated, as a slave in Africa.
Gaining freedom, he became the captain of slave-trading ships, but at 23 years old he was wonderfully converted. He was eventually ordained, and became curate of Olney, Buckinghamshire, England, in 1764.
He wrote many hymns, and the best known are Amazing Grace, How Sweet the Name of Jesus Sounds, and Glorious Things of Thee Are Spoken. 
Sixteen-year-old William Featherston of Montreal, Canada wrote this simple but profound hymn in 1862, not long after he was converted to Christ.
He wrote no other hymns as far as is known, and his brief life ended just before his twenty-seventh birthday.
My Jesus, I love Thee, I know Thou art mine;
For Thee all the pleasures of sin I resign.
My gracious Redeemer, my Saviour art Thou;
If ever I loved Thee, my Jesus, ’tis now.
I love Thee because Thou hast first loved me,
And purchased my pardon on Calvary’s tree.
I love Thee for wearing the thorns on Thy brow;
If ever I loved Thee, my Jesus, ’tis now.
I’ll love Thee in life, I will love Thee in death,
And praise Thee as long as Thou lendest me breath;
And say should the death dew lie cold on my brow,
If ever I loved Thee, my Jesus, ’tis now.
In mansions of glory and endless delight,
I’ll ever adore Thee in heaven so bright;
I’ll sing with the glittering crown on my brow;
If ever I loved Thee, my Jesus, ’tis now.
William R. Featherston, 1846–1873
Who can sing these incomparable words without being moved in longings for a greater love for Jesus in response to his love for us?
‘We love Him because He first loved us.” 1 John 4:19 NKJV
A debtor to mercy alone;
Of covenant mercy I sing;
Nor fear, with thy righteousness on,
My person and off’ring to bring.
The terrors of law and of God
With me can have nothing to do;
My Saviour’s obedience and blood
Hide all my transgressions from view.
The work which his goodness began,
The arm of his strength will complete;
His promise is Yea and Amen,
And never was forfeited yet.
Things future, nor things that are now,
Nor all things below or above,
Can make him his purpose forego,
Or sever my soul from His love.
My name from the palms of his hands
Eternity will not erase;
Impressed on his heart it remains,
In marks of indelible grace.
Yes, I to the end shall endure,
As sure as the earnest is giv’n;
More happy, but not more secure,
The glorified sprits in heav’n.
Augustus Montague Toplady 1740-1778
Augustus Toplady was born in Farnham, Surrey, England, in November 1740, and when he was 15, his parents moved to Ireland.
In August of that year 1755, Toplady heard James Morris preach in a barn in Codymain, Wexford, Ireland. The sermon deeply affected him and led to his immediate conversion.
Converted under that Wesleyan Methodist sermon, he later read some theological books of the 17th century, and consequently embraced the Calvinistic view of Scripture.
Returning to England, several prominent Calvinist ministers, including George Whitefield, John Gill, and William Romaine, greatly influenced him.
He later became a minister of the Church of England, and preached and wrote with amazing zeal. In 1762 he was ordained as the curate of Blagdon, in the Mendip Hills of Somerset.
After a brief curacy elsewhere in Somerset, he became vicar of Broadhembury in the Blackdown Hills in Devon, where he died of tuberculosis while only 37. During his last three years, Toplady frequently ministered in London.
He beautifully incorporated his doctrinal understanding in this hymn, ‘A Debtor to Mercy Alone’. There are five major Gospel truths in its first verse alone!
His more widely known composition, ‘Rock of Ages, cleft for me,’ is just as powerful.
The Biblical truths in these two hymns have ministered to countless thousands for 250 years – that is sufficient vindication of their accuracy.
Now I have found the ground wherein
Sure my soul’s anchor may remain,
The wounds of Jesus, for my sin
Before the world’s foundation slain;
Whose mercy shall unshaken stay,
When Heaven and earth are fled away.
Father, Thine everlasting grace
Our scanty thought surpasses far;
Thy heart still melts with tenderness,
Thy arms of love still open are,
Returning sinners to receive,
That mercy they may taste and live.
O Love, Thou bottomless abyss,
My sins are swallowed up in Thee!
Covered is my unrighteousness,
Nor spot of guilt remains on me,
While Jesus’ blood, through earth and skies,
Mercy, free, boundless mercy, cries.
By faith I plunge me in this sea,
Here is my hope, my joy, my rest;
Hither, when hell assails, I flee,
I look into my Saviour’s breast;
Away, sad doubt, and anxious fear!
Mercy is all that’s written there.
Though waves and storms go o’er my head,
Though strength, and health, and friends be gone,
Though joys be withered all and dead,
Though every comfort be withdrawn,
On this my steadfast soul relies,
Father, Thy mercy never dies.
Fixed on this ground will I remain,
Though my heart fail, and flesh decay;
This anchor shall my soul sustain,
When earth’s foundations melt away;
Mercy’s full power I then shall prove,
Loved with an everlasting love.
Johann Andreas Rothe 1688-1758Translated by John Wesley
Born in Silesia in 1688, Johann Andreas Rothe studied at the university of Leipzig. His work included being a ‘general preacher’, a tutor, and later he became a pastor. He had a great interest in the Moravian community at Herrnhut, which formed part of his parish.
Difficulties arose when the higher ecclesiastical authorities questioned him about his relationship with the Moravians, and he had to move to be an assistant pastor in another parish.
There seems to be no record of his conversion and salvation experience, but this hymn is a solid testimony to his deep experience of salvation through the blood of Jesus.
Yet again, I am astonished at the array of strong Biblical truth embodied in these verses.
Search me, O God,
my actions try,
and let my life appear
as seen by thine
all-searching eye:
to mine my ways make clear.
Search all my sense,
and know my heart,
who only canst make known;
and let the deep,
the hidden part
to me fully shown.
Throw light into
the darkened cells
where passion reigns within;
quicken my conscience
till it feels
the loathsomeness of sin.
Search all my thoughts,
the secret springs,
the motives that control;
the chambers
where polluted things
hold empire o’er the soul.
Search, till thy fiery
glance hast cast
its holy light through all,
and I by grace
am brought at last
before thy face to fall.
Thus prostrate
I shall learn of thee
what now I feebly prove –
that God alone
in Christ can be
unutterable love!
Francis Bottome, 1823-1894.
This hymn seems to be a lovely elaboration of the David’s request, “Search me, O God, and know my heart; try me, and know my anxieties; and see if there is any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.” Psalm 139:23,24, NKJV
That plea in the third verse of the hymn, ‘Quicken my conscience till it feels the loathsomeness of sin,’ vividly expresses our need to see sin as God sees it.
Oh that we had that absolute aversion to sin; that hatred of sin which He has.
Did Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane struggle with the absolute loathsomeness of sin and its consequences?
This hymn is a precious prayer for every child of God who wants to know more of that
‘unutterable love.’
Oh that God would give us such an earnestness to “Be holy as he is holy.”
Born in Derbyshire, England, Francis Bottome emigrated to the United States in 1850, and entered the Methodist Episcopal ministry. He returned to England later in life and died in Cornwall.
He wrote several hymns, including ‘O spread the tidings round, wherever man is found,’ which has the familiar chorus beginning, ‘The Comforter has come.’
He also wrote ‘Let us sing of His love once again.’
Abide in Him always, and feed on His Word.
Make friends of God’s children, help those who are weak,
Forgetting in nothing His blessing to seek.
Take time to be holy, the world rushes on;
Spend much time in secret, with Jesus alone.
By looking to Jesus, like Him thou shalt be;
Thy friends in thy conduct His likeness shall see.
Take time to be holy, let Him be thy Guide;
And run not before Him, whatever betide.
In joy or in sorrow, still follow the Lord,
And, looking to Jesus, still trust in His Word.
Take time to be holy, be calm in thy soul,
Each thought and each motive beneath His control.
Thus led by His Spirit to fountains of love,
Thou soon shalt be fitted for service above.
William Dunn Longstaff, 1822-1894
For many years, William Longstaff was treasurer of Bethesda Free Chapel in Sunderland, England. He was friends with Salvation Army founder William Booth and evangelists Dwight Moody and Ira Sankey. He wrote this hymn after hearing a sermon at New Brighton on “Be ye holy as I am holy,” 1 Peter 1:15. First published in Gospel Hymns and Sacred Songs and Solos, in 1891, it was greatly used in encouraging holiness among the Lord’s people.
It is usually sung to the tune ‘Holiness’ by George C. Stebbins, written in 1890. It is not a hymn to be sung hastily; the tune is admirably suited to a thoughtful consideration of God’s serious commandment to every one of us.
Whether in the relatively slow pace of late 19th century life or in clamour of the 21st century, no Christian is exempt from the need to take time to consider the state of our lives in God’s sight.
The message of this old hymn is greatly needed in the church today. The demands on our time often seem endless, and whether we take time or make time to be holy, sacrifice and discipline are involved.
Jesus knew that pressure very well. Every day, sacrifice and discipline were part of his life.
“And in the morning, rising up a great while before day, he went out, and departed into a solitary place, and there prayed.” Mark 1:35 KJV
Our load was laid on Thee;
Thou stoodest in the sinner’s stead,
Didst bear all ill for me.
A Victim led, Thy blood was shed;
Now there’s no load for me.
Death and the curse were in our cup:
O Christ, ’twas full for Thee;
But Thou hast drained the last dark drop,
’Tis empty now for me.
That bitter cup, love drank it up;
Now blessing’s draught for me.
Jehovah lifted up His rod;
O Christ, it fell on Thee!
Thou wast sore stricken of Thy God;
There’s not one stroke for me.
Thy tears, Thy blood, beneath it flowed;
Thy bruising healeth me.
The tempest’s awful voice was heard,
O Christ, it broke on Thee!
Thy open bosom was my ward,
It braved the storm for me.
Thy form was scarred, Thy visage marred;
Now cloudless peace for me.
Jehovah bade His sword awake;
O Christ, it woke ’gainst Thee!
Thy blood the flaming blade must slake;
Thine heart its sheath must be;
All for my sake, my peace to make;
Now sleeps that sword for me.
For me, Lord Jesus, Thou hast died,
And I have died in Thee!
Thou’rt ris’n – my bands are all untied,
And now Thou liv’st in me.
When purified, made white and tried,
Thy glory then for me!
Anne Ross Cousin, 1824-1906
The doctrine of the Lord Jesus Christ receiving God’s punishment for our sins has been called into question in recent years in the UK evangelical church. Some of its well-known members seem unable to accept that a loving Father could impose pain and suffering on His one and only Son.
The language of this hymn may be old-fashioned, but I’m sure its Biblical truth could bring a breath of fresh spiritual air to many church meetings.
Anne Ross Cousin was the wife of William Cousin, a pastor of the Free Church of Melrose, Scotland.
Two of her other hymns are also well-known and included in several song books, ‘The Sands of Time are Sinking’ and ‘To Thee and to thy Christ, O God.’
“All we like sheep have gone astray;
We have turned, every one, to his own way;
Isaiah 53:6 NKJV
Lord, crucified, give me a heart like Thine.
Teach me to love the dying souls of men,
And keep my heart in closest touch with Thee,
And give me love, pure Calvary love,
To bring the lost to Thee.
I have known this chorus for many years from the old Elim Chorus books, where the tune to which it is set exactly fits the words. I can find no record of its author.
I would challenge any one to sing it prayerfully and not be moved in spirit.
Jonathan Goforth, 1859-1936, loved it. He was a Canadian Presbyterian missionary to China where he became its foremost missionary revivalist in the early 20th century.
If you need information about the thousands of Christian hymns and songs that have been written, there are some good websites out there.
This one has information on over 7,000 hymns and songs – Hymntime
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