This brother had a very deep experience and revelation concerning the cross at Calvary. I could not find any other hymns written by William Newell. I still like to research the biography of these obscure authors. Little is known of this man, it seems he was an Ohio native. It is interesting to see how many of these scholars were influenced by The Moody Bible Institute.
Biography:
William was the son of David Ayers Newell and Elizabeth Reed, and husband of Mellicent Woodworth.
He graduated from Wooster College, Ohio, in 1891, then attended Princeton and Oberlin Seminaries.
After ordination, he became pastor of Bethesda Congregational Church in Chicago, Illinois. In 1895, he became assistant superintendent of the Moody Bible Institute in Chicago.
Newell was known for his Biblical commentaries on Romans, Hebrews, and the Book of Revelation.
He moved to Leesburg, Florida, in 1910, and for some time was pastor of the Presbyterian church there.
I woke up this morning with these lyrics in my head. I was thinking about the words ‘there my burdened soul found liberty’ and how many people I pray would find that truth. What beautiful words are here.
Just writing in my journal this morning and wrote something about his mercy and grace. Immediately I flashed back to “mercy there was great and Grace was free pardon there was multiplied to me…” the words of the first stanza and much of the other stanzas came rushing back to me after decades (I am in my 60s now) of not singing it. I see the value in all forms of Christian music and have been touched by all genres, but this flashback to my childhood with the exact memory of the lyrics was incredible. I also realized how easy it is to sing, even hymns, without thinking about what the actual words mean, but just focusing on singing the parts (if you are musically inclined), or possibly just the melody line if you’re not. It wasn’t until my 20s That at one moment, I fullyrealized the importance of the lyrics! It happened when I looked back at another old hymn called “Am I a soldier of the cross? “