Read "The Moon has but a Borrow'D Light" by John Newton online for free on Textopian. Full text with search, annotations, highlights, and AI-powered reading aids.
I: The moon has but a borrow'd light, / A faint and feeble ray; / She owes her beauty to the night, / And hides herself by day.
II: No cheering warmth her beam conveys, / Though pleasing to behold; / We might upon her brightness gaze / Till we were starved with cold.
III: Just such is all the light to man / Which reason can impart; / It cannot show one object plain, / Nor warm the frozen heart.
IV: Thus moonlight views of truth divine / To many fatal prove; / For what avail in gifts to shine, / Without a spark of love?
V: The gospel, like the sun at noon, / Affords a glorious light; / Then fallen reason's boasted moon / Appears no longer bright.
VI: And grace, not light alone, bestows, / But adds a quick'ning power; / The desert blossoms like the rose, / And sin prevails no more.