Yes, He _speaks and speaks to thee_,
May He help thee to believe!
Richard Cecil says that Herbert was a ‘favourite’ of Newton’s, and
there are not wanting reminiscences of Herbert in the Olney hymns,
though Newton had little of Herbert’s ingenuity or power, and he says
in a few plain words what Herbert weaves into a quaint poem, bright
and ever-memorable with some ‘conceit’ such as he only conceived. If
we set Newton and Herbert side by side, the comparison is, of course,
all in favour of Herbert. Herbert speaks to himself and to God in what
is an unknown tongue to many a good plain Christian. Newton wrote for
his simple labouring folk at Olney; he is the poet of the rustic
prayer-meeting. Bemerton and Olney were both villages in the land of
Beulah, but there is a difference in the dialect, which is easily
accounted for when we remember the contrast between the life of
Herbert and of Newton. When they passed through a similar spiritual
experience they described it in very different fashion, but, though
there are diversities of gifts, there is the same Spirit; there is the
same self-distrust, self-abhorrence; and there is the same calm
acceptance of the great salvation and its joys. George Herbert tells
his deepest, sweetest experience in the final poem of _The
Temple_.[163] Newton tells his story in simple, homely verse that is
not poetry, but is prayer and praise expressed in natural rhythm.
Dost Thou ask me who I am?
Ah, my Lord, Thou know’st my name:
Yet the question gives a plea
To support my suit with Thee.
Thou didst once a wretch behold,
In rebellion blindly bold,
Scorn Thy grace, Thy power defy:
That poor rebel, Lord, was I.
Once a sinner near despair,
Sought Thy mercy-seat by prayer;
Mercy heard and set him free:
Lord, that mercy came to me.
Many years have passed since then,
Many changes I have seen,
Yet have been upheld till now;
Who could hold me up but Thou?
IV
Eighteenth-century Hymns