Be gone unbelief

When we speak of “Amazing Grace,” it seems almost everyone knows John Newton (1725-1807). However, it also seems that many are unaware of the hundreds of other hymns he has written.

The following hymn, written by Newton, is Hymn 37 in the section “Conflict” in the 3rd edition of Book III of Olney Hymns, pp. 315-316. It carries the heading “I will trust and not be afraid.” It is presented in seven 8-line stanzas of 5s.&6s. meter. It is more common today, perhaps, to present the hymn in 4-line stanzas of 10s.11s. Over the years, the hymn has been paired with various tune, including Hanover and Lyons.

XXXVII. I will trust and not be afraid.

1. Begone unbelief, 

My Saviour is near,

And for my relief 

Will surely appear:

By prayer let me wrestle,

And he will perform,

With Christ in the vessel, 

I smile at the storm.

2. Tho’ dark be my way, 

Since he is my guide,

’Tis mine to obey, 

’Tis his to provide;

Tho’ cisterns be broken,

And creatures all fail,

The Word he has spoken 

Shall surely prevail.

3. His love in time past 

Forbids me to think

He’ll leave me at last 

In trouble to sink;

Each sweet Ebenezer 

I have in review,

Confirms his good pleasure 

To help me quite through.

4. Determined to save, 

He watched o’er my path,

When Satan’s blind slave, 

I sported with death;

And can he have taught me 

To trust in his name,

And thus far have brought me, 

To put me to shame?

5. Why should I complain 

Of want or distress,

Temptation or pain? 

He told me no less:

The heirs of salvation, 

I know from his word,

Thro’ much tribulation 

Must follow their Lord. (u)

6. How bitter that cup, 

No heart can conceive,

Which he drank quite up, 

That sinners might live!

His way was much rougher, 

And darker than mine;

Did Jesus thus suffer,

And shall I repine?

7. Since all that I meet 

Shall work for my good,

The bitter is sweet, 

The medicine food;

Tho’ painful at present, 

’Twill cease before long,

And then, oh! how pleasant, 

The conqueror’s song! (x)

(u) Acts xiv. 22. (x) Rom. viii. 37.

Newton relates two lines to specific Scripture texts.

• Acts 14:22 ...we must through much tribulation enter into the kingdom of God.
• Romans 8:37 Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us.

Additionally, an allusion to Romans 8:28 is found in the first two lines of the seventh stanza.

• And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.