STUDY / LIVING THE CHRISTIAN LIFE / HYMNS
No words can declare
John Newton printed it in 1779 in Olney Hymns, Book III, no. 1.
WRITTEN BY
John Newton 1725–1807
PRINTED
1779 Olney Hymns · no. 1
METRE
10.10.11.11 6 stanzas
WRITTEN ON
A subject no verse printed above it
The hymn, and the Scripture in it
All 6 stanzas as Newton printed them, with the verses their lines echo beside them. Point at a line to join it to its verse; click to read the passage.
SHARED WORDSthe verse shares the line's wording ECHOproposed by an AI model, confirmed by a separate check Not the author's own notes
AMONG THE SCRIPTURES
The stanzas at the centre; around them, every book its heading and its echoes come from, Old Testament on the left and New on the right. Choose a stanza or a book.
a line echoes this verse its heading or an echo comes from here
STANZA I
No words can declare
No words can declare,
No fancy can paint,
What rage and despair,
What hopeless complaint,
Fill Satan’s dark dwelling,
The prison beneath;
What weeping and yelling,
And gnashing of teeth!
No line of this stanza quotes a verse closely; it is the hymn's own confession.
Its place in the book
Book III of the hymn book, “On the progress and changes of the spiritual life”, holds these hymns in this order: 106 hymns. This is number 1. Point at a tick to see the hymn; click it to open that hymn.
NO. 1 · JOHN NEWTON · THIS HYMN No words can declare
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