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Time, by moments, steals away A new-year’s thought and prayer
John Newton printed it in 1779 in Olney Hymns, Book II, no. 4.
WRITTEN BY
John Newton 1725–1807
PRINTED
1779 Olney Hymns · no. 4
METRE
7.7.7.7 5 stanzas
WRITTEN ON
A subject no verse printed above it
The hymn, and the Scripture in it
All 5 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
Time, by moments, steals away
Time, by moments, steals away,
First the hour, and then the day;
Small the daily loss appears,
Yet it soon amounts to years:
Thus another year is flown,
Now it is no more our own
(If it brought or promised good)
Than the years before the flood.
Its place in the book
Book II of the hymn book, “On occasional subjects”, holds these hymns in this order: 100 hymns. This is number 4. Point at a tick to see the hymn; click it to open that hymn.
NO. 4 · JOHN NEWTON · THIS HYMN Time, by moments, steals away
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