Poem by William Cowper

Olney Hymn 54. 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. Olney Hymn 9. The Contrite Heart
2. A Comparison. Addressed to a Young Lady
3. To a Young Friend, on His Arriving at Cambridge Wet, When No Rain Had Fallen There
4. Olney Hymn 24. Prayer for Children
5. An Epitaph

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