William Cowper (Уильям Купер)

Love Constrained to Obedience

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. 

1. No Sorrow Peculiar to the Sufferer
2. Denner's Old Woman
3. A Figurative Description of the Procedure of Divine Love
4. Afflictions Sanctified by the Word
5. The Doves

Распечатать (To print)

Количество обращений к стихотворению: 2097

Последние стихотворения

To English version