Hymn: “Glorious Things of Thee Are Spoken” – John Newton (1725-1807)
Typical
Tune: AUSTRIAN HYMN
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| "Doth this cup thy thirst assuage?" |
How long has it been since you used the word ‘assuage’?
Unless you’ve been doing a bit part on Downton Abbey or some other British
drama, it’s probably been a while!
This
grand old hymn about Zion, the city of God founded on the Rock of Ages was
penned by the same man who wrote what has been dubbed the Christian National
Anthem: “Amazing Grace”!
This
particular hymn-line follows a couple of statements about how the sons and
daughters of God are well-supplied with living water; then the question is
asked how could any one of those sons and daughters (you and I) ever fall by
the wayside when we have such a rich supply of living water to quench our thirst?
I know it is hyperbole and that the question is rhetorical… and all that
poetic-device stuff, but seriously, folks: how can we claim to be thirsty when
we have been offered a never-thirst-again dose of effervescent refreshment to
even our driest moments?
I
know that many people pooh-pooh hymn singing because archaic words crop up now
and again. (I can’t believe I just typed “pooh-pooh” into one of these
postings! My apologies to people with preschoolers.) For sure, the use of assuage is archaic; but without turning
to any dictionary or book of synonyms, in this context we all know what it
means. It’s not nearly as off-putting as raising one’s Ebenezer!
The
next line of the hymn seems to indicate that the assuaging agent is grace… like
that amazing grace of one of John Newton’s other hymns – grace that never fails
from age to age.
So
before you start swooning and crying out in your dehydration, step into that
river of grace – that life-giving, life-maintaining, life-sustaining free gift
of God. It could easily be the pause that refreshes!
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