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Sweet was the time when first I felt Oh that I were as in months past!

John Newton printed it in 1779 in Olney Hymns, Book I, no. 43, under Job 29:2.

WRITTEN BY

John Newton 1725–1807

PRINTED

1779 Olney Hymns · no. 43

METRE

Common Metre 8.6.8.6 · 8 stanzas

WRITTEN ON

Job 29:2 the verse printed above it

The hymn, and the Scripture in it

All 8 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

Sweet was the time when first I felt

The Savior’s pard’ning blood

Applied, to cleanse my soul from guilt,

And bring me home to God.

No line of this stanza quotes a verse closely; it is the hymn's own confession.

Where Newton found it

Newton printed the hymn under Job 29:2. The line that comes closest to it is marked.

“How I long for the months gone by, for the days when God watched over me, JOB 29:2 · BEREAN STANDARD BIBLE READ JOB 29

Sweet was the time when first I felt The Savior’s pard’ning blood Applied, to cleanse my soul from guilt, And bring me home to God. STANZA I

Its place in the book

Book I of Olney Hymns walks through the Bible from Genesis to Revelation, one hymn per passage: 141 hymns. This is number 43. Point at a tick to see the hymn; click it to open that hymn.

NO. 43 · JOHN NEWTON · THIS HYMN Sweet was the time when first I felt

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