by John Newton

“ My soul once had its plenteous years, And throve, with peace and comfort filled, Like the fat kine and ripened ears, Which Pharaoh in his dream beheld. With pleasing frames and grace received, With means and ordinances fed; How happy for a while I lived, And little feared the want of bread. But famine came and left no sign, Of all the plenty I had seen; Like the dry ears and half-starved kine, I then looked withered, faint and lean. ”