Olney Hymn 54: Love Constraining To Obedience

William Cowper 1731 (Berkhamsted) – 1800 (Dereham)



No strength of nature can suffice
To serve the Lord aright:
And what she has she misapplies,
For want of clearer light.

How long beneath the law I lay
In bondage and distress;
I toll'd the precept to obey,
But toil'd without success.

Then, to abstain from outward sin
Was more than I could do;
Now, if I feel its power within,
I feel I hate it too.

Then all my servile works were done
A righteousness to raise;
Now, freely chosen in the Son,
I freely choose His ways.

'What shall I do,' was then the word,
'That I may worthier grow?'
'What shall I render to the Lord?'
Is my inquiry now.

To see the law by Christ fulfilled
And hear His pardoning voice,
Changes a slave into a child,
And duty into choice.

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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

42 sec read
85

Quick analysis:

Scheme XAXA BCBC DADA EFEF AXAX AGAG
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 712
Words 141
Stanzas 6
Stanza Lengths 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4

William Cowper

William Macquarie Cowper was an Australian Anglican archdeacon and Dean of Sydney. more…

All William Cowper poems | William Cowper Books

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