No strength of nature can suffice <br />To serve the Lord aright: <br />And what she has she misapplies, <br />For want of clearer light. <br /> <br />How long beneath the law I lay <br />In bondage and distress; <br />I toll'd the precept to obey, <br />But toil'd without success. <br /> <br />Then, to abstain from outward sin <br />Was more than I could do; <br />Now, if I feel its power within, <br />I feel I hate it too. <br /> <br />Then all my servile works were done <br />A righteousness to raise; <br />Now, freely chosen in the Son, <br />I freely choose His ways. <br /> <br />'What shall I do,' was then the word, <br />'That I may worthier grow?' <br />'What shall I render to the Lord?' <br />Is my inquiry now. <br /> <br />To see the law by Christ fulfilled <br />And hear His pardoning voice, <br />Changes a slave into a child, <br />And duty into choice.<br /><br />William Cowper<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/olney-hymn-54-love-constraining-to-obedience/
