A Thought on the Sea-Shore

by REV. JOHN NEWTON (1725-1807)

IN every object here I see–
Something, O Lord, that leads to Thee;
Firm as the rocks Thy promise stands,
Thy mercies countless as the sands,
Thy love a sea immensely wide,
Thy grace an ever flowing tide.

In every object here I see
Something, my heart, that points at thee;
Hard as the rocks that bound the strand,
Unfruitful as the barren sand,
Deep and deceitful as the ocean,
And, like the tide, in constant motion.

John Newton Contemporaries
Thomas Gray
William Cowper
Gilbert Elliot
John Cunningham