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Sunday, May 23, 2021

I’ve Found a Friend


James Grindlay Small was born in Edinburgh in 1817, and died at Renfrew in 1888. He joined the Church of Scotland in 1834, and became minister of the Free Church at Bervie in 1847.

1. I’ve found a Friend, oh, such a Friend!
He loved me ere I knew Him;
He drew me with the cords of love,
And thus He bound me to Him.
And round my heart still closely twine
Those ties which naught can sever,
For I am His, and He is mine,
Forever and forever.

2. I’ve found a Friend, oh, such a Friend!
He bled, He died to save me;
And not alone the gift of life,
But His own self He gave me.
Naught that I have my own I call,
I hold it for the Giver;
My heart, my strength, my life, my all,
Are His, and His forever.

3. I’ve found a friend, O such a friend!
All pow’r to Him is given,
To guard me on my onward course,
And bring me safe to heaven:
Th’eternal glories gleam afar
To nerve my faint endeavor;
So now to watch, to work, to war,
And then to rest forever.

4. I’ve found a Friend, oh, such a Friend!
So kind, and true, and tender,
So wise a Counsellor and Guide,
So mighty a Defender!
From Him who loves me now so well,
What power my soul can sever?
Shall life or death, or earth or hell?
No? I am His forever.

By James Grindlay Small (1817-1888). Jesus, the Friend was first published in The Revival Hymn Book in 1863 and then in Small’s Psalms & Sacred Songs, 1866.

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