William R Newell – death, Apr. 1, 1956

Years I spent in vanity and pride,
Caring not my Lord was crucified,
Knowing not it was for me He died on Calvary.

Refrain

Mercy there was great, and grace was free;
Pardon there was multiplied to me;
There my burdened soul found liberty at Calvary.

By God’s Word at last my sin I learned;
Then I trembled at the law I’d spurned,
Till my guilty soul imploring turned to Calvary.

Now I’ve given to Jesus everything,
Now I gladly own Him as my King,
Now my raptured soul can only sing of Calvary!

Oh, the love that drew salvation’s plan!
Oh, the grace that brought it down to man!
Oh, the mighty gulf that God did span at Calvary!

William R Newell died this date, 4/1/1956, at Deland, FL.  Born in Ohio (Savannah, 5/22/1868) he graduated from Woos­ter Coll­ege there and later attended Princeton and Oberlin Seminaries.  He pastored Be­thes­da Con­gre­ga­tion­al Church and was as­sist­ant su­per­in­ten­dent of Moody Bi­ble In­sti­tute, both in Chi­ca­go.  He penned Bib­li­cal com­ment­aries on Ro­mans, He­brews, and the Book of Rev­e­la­tion but is best known for “At Calvary” (“Years I spent in vanity and pride”) written while at Moody Bible Institute.