O my soul, what means this sadness?
Wherefore art thou thus cast down?
Let thy griefs be turn’d to gladness,
Bid thy restless fears be gone;
Look to Jesus
And rejoice in his dear name.

What tho’ Satan’s strong temptations
Vex and grieve thee day by day?
And thy sinful inclinations
Often fill thee with dismay?
Thou shalt conquer,
Thro’ the Lamb’s redeeming blood.

Tho’ ten thousand ills beset thee,
From without and from within,
Jesus saith he’ll ne’er forget thee,
But will save from hell and sin:
He is faithful
To perform his gracious word.

Tho’ distresses now attend thee,
And thou tread’st the thorny road,
His right hand shall still defend thee;
Soon he’ll bring thee home to God!
Therefore praise him—
Praise the great Redeemer’s name.

O that I could now adore him
Like the heavenly host above,
Who for ever bow before him
And unceasing, sing his love!
Happy songsters!
When shall I your chorus join?

John Fawcett (1740–1817)

170px-John_FawcettFawcett was con­vert­ed at age 16 un­der the min­is­try of George White­field (preaching on John 3:14). At first, he joined the Meth­od­ists, but three years lat­er be­gan at­tend­ing the Bap­tist Church in Brad­ford, Eng­land. He was or­dained a Bap­tist min­is­ter at Wains­gate, York­shire.
In 1772, he was in­vit­ed to Lon­don to suc­ceed Dr. John Gill as pas­tor of the Car­ter’s Lane Bap­tist Church. On the day of his de­part­ure, he had preached his fare­well ser­mon, the wa­gons were load­ed, and he was ready to go. But he was so over­come by the thought of leav­ing the con­gre­ga­tion he had come to love, that he can­celed his plans and stayed in Wains­gate. In 1793, Fawcett was in­vit­ed to become pre­si­dent of the Bap­tist Aca­de­my in Bris­tol, but he sim­i­lar­ly de­clined.