Glorious things of thee are spoken

Glorious things of thee are spoken. John Newton* (1725-1807). Written for Easter Day 1775, this was first published in Olney Hymns (1779) in five 8-line stanzas. It is from Book I, ‘On select Passages of Scripture’, with the title ‘Zion, or the city of God’, and a reference to Isaiah 33: 27, 28 (since there are only 24 verses in Isaiah 33, this is a printer’s error, probably for Isaiah 33: 20, 21). From early times editors have tried different selections and ordering of stanzas, with verbal alterations. Some early variations, such as the addition of a doxology by an unknown writer, have not lasted. However, a version consisting of stanzas 1, 2, and 5, from Thomas Cotterill*’s Selection of...