Hauxley C.M.

My first attempt at writing in Sacred Harp style - perhaps not wholly successful in this aim. I realised afterwards that I must have had Billings' "Africa" (Sacred Harp #178) in mind. Named after the village in Northumberland on whose beach I came up with the melody. I intend to replace the current file with a revised version of this song which was sung at a singing of my compositions in Cork in 2015.

Oft I reflect upon the grace,
With tears of thankfulness,
Which call'd me from my native place,
The world's wide wilderness.

Thick darkness overspread my mind,
I stumbled in the night;
All my affections were inclined
To creaturely delight.

God saw me, in this wretched case,
A slave to base desire;
And by an act of special grace,
The brand pluckt from the fire.

Satan's dominion he destroy'd,
And spoke me into peace;
My soul a perfect calm enjoy'd,
And solaced in the bliss.

Still may a sense of mercies past
Provoke me unto praise,
And whet my appetite to taste
The larger draughts of grace.