61

Look Unto Me, and Be Ye Saved

I

As the serpent raised by Moses
Heal’d the burning serpent’s bite,
Jesus thus himself discloses
To the wounded sinner’s sight:
Hear his gracious invitation,
“I have life and peace to give⁠—
I have wrought out full salvation;
Sinner, look to me and live.

II

“Pore upon your sins no longer,
Well I know their mighty guilt;
But my love than death is stronger,
I my blood have freely spilt:
Though your heart has long been harden’d,
Look on me⁠—it soft shall grow;
Past transgressions shall be pardon’d,
And I’ll wash you white as snow.

III

“I have seen what you were doing,
Though you little thought of me;
You were madly bent on ruin,
But I said⁠—It shall not be:
You had been for ever wretched,
Had I not espoused your part;
Now behold my arms outstretched
To receive you to my heart.

IV

“Well may shame and joy and wonder
All your inward passions move;
I could crush thee with my thunder,
But I speak to thee in love:
See! your sins are all forgiven⁠—
I have paid the countless sum!
Now my death has open’d heaven,
Thither you shall shortly come.”

V

Dearest Saviour, we adore thee
For thy precious life and death;
Melt each stubborn heart before thee,
Give us all the eye of faith:
From the law’s condemning sentence,
To thy mercy we appeal;
Thou alone canst give repentance,
Thou alone our souls canst heal.

Where this text comes from

First published in Olney Hymns (1779). First located printing is this volume; an earlier periodical printing has not been established. [1] [2] [3]

Structure read from the source's markup; the words have not been compared against a page scan. Last checked 2026-08-15.

Taken from Standard Ebooks, standardebooks/john-newton_william-cowper_olney-hymns, book-1.xhtml. Rights: public domain (SE dedication; underlying text pre-1931).

Earlier sources (2)

This poem as JSON or plain text. Line anchors #L1–#L40.

Cite this poem

John Newton (1725–1807). “Look Unto Me, and Be Ye Saved.” First published in Olney Hymns (1779). Text: Poem Index, https://poemindex.org/john-newton/look-unto-me-and-be-ye-saved/. Append #L14 to cite line 14, or #L4-L9 for lines 4–9.

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