Glorious Things Of Thee Are Spoken
Glorious Things of Thee Are Spoken
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 may’st 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 while 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.
THIS HYMN by John Newton is aptly sung to the tune called “Austria,” written by Franz Joseph Haydn, whose eighteenth-century life span coincided with that of Newton. Haydn once wrote, “When I think of the divine Being, my heart is so full of joy that the notes fly off as from a spindle, and as I have a cheerful heart, He will pardon me if I serve Him joyfully.”
Newton would have liked that. One of the stanzas of this hymn that is often omitted ends with the lines, “Fading is the worldling’s pleasure, all his boasted pomp and show; solid joys and lasting treasure, none but Zion’s children know.” Newton had tasted the pleasures of the world and was left with a bitter taste in his mouth. He much preferred the joys of Zion.
You will see Zion as a place of holy festivals. You will see Jerusalem, a city quiet and secure. . . . The Lord will be our Mighty One. He will be like a wide river of protection that no enemy can cross, that no enemy ship can sail upon. For the Lord is our judge, our lawgiver, and our king. He will care for us and save us.
Isaiah 33:20-22
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