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 toil'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 fulfill'd,
And hear his pardoning voice,
Changes a slave into a child,[1]
And duty into choice.
Love Constraining To Obedience.
William Cowper
(1)
Poem topics: child, hate, light, nature, power, son, strength, success, voice, raise, long, hear, choice, duty, chosen, beneath, slave, choose, distress, feel, Print This Poem , Rhyme Scheme
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