01c. 1765 ADThe words of prophecy, those truths divine, Which make that Heaven, if thou desire it, thine— (Awful alternative! believed, beloved, Thy glory—and thy shame if unimproved,) Are never long vouchsafed, if pushed aside With cold disgust, or philosophic pride.William Cowper / quote ↗
02c. 1765 ADPity Religion has so seldom found A skilful guide into poetic ground! The flowers would spring where’er she deigned to stray, And every muse attend her in the way. Virtue, indeed, meets many a rhyming friend, And many a compliment politely penned; But unattired in that becoming vest Religion weaves for her, and half undressed, Stands in the desert, shivering and forlorn A wintry figure, like a withered thorn. The shelves are full, all other themes are sped; Hackneyed and worn to the last flimsy thread, Satire has long since done his best, and curs’d; And loathsome ribaldry has done his worst; Fancy has sported all her powers away In tales and trifles, and in children’s play; And ’tis the sad complaint, and almost true, Whate’er we write, we bring forth nothing new. ’Twere new, indeed, to see a bard all fire, Touched with a coal from Heaven, assume the lyre And tell the world, still kindling as he sung, With more than mortal music on his tongue, That he who died below, and reigns above, Inspires the song, and that His name is Love.William Cowper / quote ↗
03c. 1765 ADReligion! what treasures untold Reside in that heavenly word, More precious than silver and gold, Or all that this earth can afford.William Cowper / quote ↗
04c. 1765 ADAll flesh is grass, and all its glory fades Like the fair flower, dishevelled in the wind; Riches have wings, and grandeur is a dream.William Cowper / quote ↗
05c. 1765 ADWhat is all righteousness that men devise? What, but a sordid bargain for the skies? But Christ as soon would abdicate His own, As stoop from Heaven to sell the proud a throne.William Cowper / quote ↗
06c. 1765 ADA cheerful confidence I feel, My well-placed hopes with joy I see; My bosom glows with heavenly zeal To worship Him who died for me. As man He pities my complaint; His power and truth are all divine; He will not fail, He cannot faint, Salvation’s sure, and must be mine.William Cowper / quote ↗
07c. 1765 ADWhat prodigies can power divine perform More grand than it produces year by year, And all in sight of inattentive man? Familiar with the effect, we slight the cause, And in the constancy of nature’s course, The regular return of genial months, See nought to wonder at.William Cowper / quote ↗
08c. 1765 ADA few forsake the throng; with lifted eyes, Ask wealth of Heaven, and gain a real prize— Truth, wisdom, grace, and peace like that above, Sealed with His signet whom they serve and love.William Cowper / quote ↗
09c. 1765 ADThere is no flesh in man’s obdurate heart, It does not feel for man; the natural bond Of brotherhood is severed, as the flax That falls asunder at the touch of fire. He finds his fellow guilty of a skin Not coloured like his own; and having power T’ enforce the wrong, for such a worthy cause, Dooms and devotes him as a lawful prey. ***** Thus man devotes his brother, and destroys; And worse than all, and most to be deplored, As human nature’s broadest, foulest blot, Chains him, and tasks him, and exacts his sweat With stripes, that mercy, with a bleeding heart, Weeps, when she sees inflicted on a beast. Then what is man? and what man seeing this, And having human feelings, does not blush, And hang his head, to think himself a man.William Cowper / quote ↗
10c. 1765 ADSacred interpreter of human thought, How few respect, or use thee as they ought! But all shall give account of every wrong, Who dare dishonour or defile the tongue; Who prostitute it in the cause of vice, Or sell their glory at the market price!William Cowper / quote ↗
11c. 1765 ADNot to understand a treasure’s worth Till time has stolen away the slighted good, Is cause of half the poverty we feel, And makes the world the wilderness it is.William Cowper / quote ↗
12c. 1765 ADLike crowded forest trees we stand, And some are marked to fall: The axe shall smite, at God’s command, And soon shall smite us all. Green as the bay tree, ever green, With its new foliage on, The gay, the thoughtless have I seen; I passed, and they were gone.William Cowper / quote ↗
13c. 1765 ADHe bids him glow with unremitting love To all on earth, and to Himself above Condemns the injurious deed, the slanderous tongue, The thought that meditates a brother’s wrong; Brings not alone the more conspicuous part— His conduct—to the test, but tries his heart.William Cowper / quote ↗
14c. 1765 ADMarble and recording brass decay, And like the ’graver’s memory, pass away; The works of man inherit, as is just, Their author’s frailty, and return to dust; But truth divine for ever stands secure, Its head is guarded, as its base is sure; Fixed in the rolling flood of endless years, The pillar of the eternal plan appears; The raving storm and dashing wave defies, Built by that Architect who built the skies.William Cowper / quote ↗
15c. 1765 ADBut what is Truth? ’Twas Pilate’s question, put To Truth itself, that deigned him no reply. And wherefore? Will not God impart His light To them that ask it? Freely,—’tis His joy, His glory, and His nature, to impart. But to the proud, uncandid, insincere, Our negligent enquirer, not a spark.William Cowper / quote ↗
16c. 1765 ADAll truth is precious, if not all divine, And what dilates the powers must needs refine.William Cowper / quote ↗
17c. 1765 ADThe man we celebrate must find a tomb, And we that worship him, ignoble graves. Nothing is proof against the general curse Of vanity, that seizes all below.William Cowper / quote ↗
18c. 1765 ADFrom Sinai’s top Jehovah gave the law, Life for obedience, death for every flaw. When the great Sovereign would His will express, He gives a perfect rule, what can He less? And guards it with a sanction as severe As vengeance can inflict, or sinners fear: Else His own glorious rights He would disclaim, And man might safely trifle with His name.William Cowper / quote ↗
19c. 1765 ADVirtue with peculiar charms appears Crowned with the garland of life’s blooming years.William Cowper / quote ↗
20c. 1765 ADO for a closer walk with God, A calm and heavenly frame, A light to shine upon the road That leads me to the Lamb. Where is the blessedness I knew When first I saw the Lord? Where is the soul-refreshing view Of Jesus and his word? Return, O holy Dove! return, Sweet messenger of rest! I hate the sins that made thee mourn, And drove thee from my breast. The dearest idol I have known, Whate’er that idol be, Help me to tear it from thy throne, And worship only thee. So shall my walk be close with God, Calm and serene my frame; So purer light shall mark the road That leads me to the Lamb.William Cowper / quote ↗
21c. 1765 ADHalf mankind maintain a churlish strife With Him, the Donor of eternal life, Because the deed, by which His love confirms The largess He bestows, prescribes the terms. Compliance with His will your lot ensures, Accept it only, and the boon is yours. And sure it is as kind to smile and give, As with a frown to say, Do this and live.William Cowper / quote ↗
22c. 1765 ADKnowledge and wisdom, far from being one, Have oft-times no connexion, knowledge dwells In heads replete with thoughts of other men; Wisdom in minds attentive to their own. Knowledge, a rude unprofitable mass, The mere materials with which wisdom builds, Till smooth’d and squared, and fitted to its place, Does but encumber whom it seems t’ enrich. Knowledge is proud that he has learn’d so much, Wisdom is humble that he knows no more.William Cowper / quote ↗
23c. 1765 ADThus wisdom’s words discover Thy glory and Thy grace, Thou everlasting Lover Of our unworthy race! Thy gracious eye surveyed us Ere stars were seen above; In wisdom Thou hast made us, And died for us in love.William Cowper / quote ↗
24c. 1765 ADNot words alone it cost the Lord, To purchase pardon for His own; Nor will a soul by grace restored, Return the Saviour’s words alone. Easy indeed it were to reach A mansion in the courts above, If swelling words and fluent speech, Might serve instead of faith and love. But none shall gain the blissful place, Or God’s unclouded glory see, Who talks of free and sovereign grace, Unless that grace has made him free.William Cowper / quote ↗
