[ { "title": "Light Shining out of Darkness", "author": "William Cowper", "lines": [ "God moves in a mysterious way", "His wonders to perform;", "He plants His footsteps in the sea,", "And rides upon the storm.", "", "Deep in unfathomable mines", "Of never-failing skill,", "He treasures up His bright designs,", "And works His sovereign will.", "", "Ye fearful saints, fresh courage take,", "The clouds ye so much dread", "Are big with mercy, and shall break", "In blessings on your head.", "", "Judge not the Lord by feeble sense,", "But trust Him for His grace;", "Behind a frowning providence", "He hides a smiling face.", "", "His purposes will ripen fast,", "Unfolding every hour;", "The bud may have a bitter taste,", "But sweet will be the flower.", "", "Blind unbelief is sure to err,", "And scan His work in vain:", "God is His own interpreter,", "And he will make it plain." ], "linecount": "24" }, { "title": "On The Loss Of The Royal George", "author": "William Cowper", "lines": [ "Written when the news arrived.", "", "Toll for the brave!", "The brave that are no more!", "All sunk beneath the wave", "Fast by their native shore.", "", "Eight hundred of the brave,", "Whose courage well was tried,", "Had made the vessel heel,", "And laid her on her side.", "", "A land-breeze shook the shrouds,", "And she was overset;", "Down went the Royal George,", "With all her crew complete.", "", "Toll for the brave!", "Brave Kempenfelt is gone;", "His last sea-fight is fought,", "His work of glory done.", "", "It was not in the battle,", "No tempest gave the shock,", "She sprang no fatal leak,", "She ran upon no rock.", "", "His sword was in its sheath,", "His fingers held the pen,", "When Kempenfelt went down", "With twice four hundred men.", "", "Weigh the vessel up,", "Once dreaded by our foes;", "And mingle with our cup", "The tears that England owes.", "", "Her timbers yet are sound,", "And she may float again", "Full charged with England's thunder,", "And plough the distant main.", "", "But Kempenfelt is gone,", "His victories are o'er;", "And he and his eight hundred", "Shall plough the wave no more." ], "linecount": "37" }, { "title": "On Opening a Place for Social Prayer", "author": "William Cowper", "lines": [ "Jesus! where'er Thy people meet,", "There they behold Thy mercy seat;", "Where'er they seek Thee, Thou art found,", "And every place is hallow'd ground.", "", "For Thou, within no walls confined,", "Inhabitest the humble mind;", "Such ever bring Thee where they come", "And going, take Thee to their home.", "", "Dear Shepherd of Thy chosen few!", "Thy former mercies here renew;", "Her to our waiting hearts proclaim", "The sweetness of Thy saving name.", "", "Here may we prove the power of prayer,", "To strengthen faith, and sweeten care;", "To teach our faint desires to rise,", "And bring all Heaven before our eyes.", "", "Behold, at Thy commanding word", "We stretch the curtain and the cord;", "Come Thou, and fill this wider space,", "And bless us with a large increase.", "", "Lord, we are few, but Thou art near:", "Nor short Thine arm, nor deaf Thine ear;", "Oh rend the heavens, come quickly down,", "And make a thousand hearts Thine own." ], "linecount": "24" }, { "title": "Retirement", "author": "William Cowper", "lines": [ "Far from the world, O Lord, I flee,", "From strife and tumult far;", "From scenes where Satan wages still", "His most successful war.", "", "The calm retreat, the silent shade,", "With prayer and praise agree;", "And seem, by Thy sweet bounty made,", "For those who follow Thee.", "", "There if Thy Spirit touch the soul,", "And grace her mean abode,", "Oh, with what peace, and joy, and love,", "She communes with her God!", "", "There like the nightingale she pours", "Her solitary lays;", "Nor asks a witness of her song,", "Nor thirsts for human praise.", "", "Author and Guardian of my life,", "Sweet source of light Divine,", "And, -- all harmonious names in one, --", "My Saviour! Thou art mine.", "", "What thanks I owe Thee, and what love,", "A boundless, endless store,", "Shall echo through the realms above,", "When time shall be no more." ], "linecount": "24" }, { "title": "The Task: Book VI, The Winter Walk at Noon (excerpts)", "author": "William Cowper", "lines": [ "Thus heav'nward all things tend. For all were once", "Perfect, and all must be at length restor'd.", "So God has greatly purpos'd; who would else", "In his dishonour'd works himself endure", "Dishonour, and be wrong'd without redress.", "Haste then, and wheel away a shatter'd world,", "Ye slow-revolving seasons! We would see", "(A sight to which our eyes are strangers yet)", "A world that does not dread and hate his laws,", "And suffer for its crime: would learn how fair", "The creature is that God pronounces good,", "How pleasant in itself what pleases him.", "Here ev'ry drop of honey hides a sting;", "Worms wind themselves into our sweetest flow'rs,", "And ev'n the joy, that haply some poor heart", "Derives from heav'n, pure as the fountain is,", "Is sully'd in the stream; taking a taint", "From touch of human lips, at best impure.", "Oh for a world in principle as chaste", "As this is gross and selfish! over which", "Custom and prejudice shall bear no sway,", "That govern all things here, should'ring aside", "The meek and modest truth, and forcing her", "To seek a refuge from the tongue of strife", "In nooks obscure, far from the ways of men;", "Where violence shall never lift the sword,", "Nor cunning justify the proud man's wrong,", "Leaving the poor no remedy but tears;", "Where he that fills an office shall esteem", "The occasion it presents of doing good", "More than the perquisite; where law shall speak", "Seldom, and never but as wisdom prompts,", "And equity; not jealous more to guard", "A worthless form, than to decide aright;", "Where fashion shall not sanctify abuse,", "Nor smooth good-breeding (supplemental grace)", "With lean performance ape the work of love....", "", "", "He is the happy man, whose life ev'n now", "Shows somewhat of that happier life to come:", "Who, doom'd to an obscure but tranquil state,", "Is pleas'd with it, and, were he free to choose,", "Would make his fate his choice; whom peace, the fruit", "Of virtue, and whom virtue, fruit of faith,", "Prepare for happiness; bespeak him one", "Content indeed to sojourn while he must", "Below the skies, but having there his home.", "The world o'eriooks him in her busy search", "Of objects more illustrious in her view;", "And occupied as earnestly as she,", "Though more sublimely, he o'erlooks the world.", "She scorns his pleasures, for she knows them not;", "He seeks not hers, for he has prov'd them vain.", "He cannot skim the ground like summer birds", "Pursuing gilded flies, and such he deems", "Her honours, her emoluments, her joys.", "Therefore in contemplation is his bliss,", "Whose pow'r is such, that whom she lifts from earth", "She makes familiar with a heav'n unseen,", "And shows him glories yet to be reveal'd....", "", "", "So life glides smoothly and by stealth away,", "More golden than that age of fabled gold", "Renown'd in ancient song; not vex'd with care", "Or stain'd with guilt, beneficent, approv'd", "Of God and man, and peaceful in its end.", "So glide my life away! and so at last", "My share of duties decently fulfill'd,", "May some disease, not tardy to perform", "Its destin'd office, yet with gentle stroke,", "Dismiss me weary to a safe retreat,", "Beneath a turf that I have often trod.", "It shall not grieve me, then, that once, when call'd", "To dress a sofa with the flow'rs of verse,", "I play'd awhile, obedient to the fair,", "With that light task; but soon, to please her more,", "Whom flow'rs alone I knew would little please,", "Let fall th' unfinish'd wreath, and rov'd for fruit;", "Rov'd far, and gather'd much: some harsh, 'tis true,", "Pick'd from the thorns and briars of reproof,", "But wholesome, well digested; grateful some", "To palates that can taste immortal truth,", "Insipid else, and sure to be despis'd.", "But all is in his hand whose praise I seek.", "In vain the poet sings, and the world hears,", "If he regard not, though divine the theme.", "'Tis not in artful measures, in the chime", "And idle tinkling of a minstrel's lyre,", "To charm his ear whose eye is on the heart;", "Whose frown can disappoint the proudest strain,", "Whose approbation--prosper ev'n mine." ], "linecount": "89" }, { "title": "Praise for Faith", "author": "William Cowper", "lines": [ "Of all the gifts Thine hand bestows,", "Thou Giver of all good!", "Not heaven itself a richer knows", "Than my Redeemer's blood.", "", "Faith too, the blood-receiving grace,", "From the same hand we gain;", "Else, sweetly as it suits our case,", "That gift had been in vain.", "", "Till Thou Thy teaching power apply,", "Our hearts refuse to see,", "And weak, as a distemper'd eye,", "Shut out the view of Thee.", "", "Blind to the merits of Thy Son,", "What misery we endure!", "Yet fly that Hand from which alone", "We could expect a cure.", "", "We praise Thee, and would praise Thee more,", "To Thee our all we owe:", "The precious Saviour, and the power", "That makes Him precious too." ], "linecount": "20" }, { "title": "Peace after a Storm", "author": "William Cowper", "lines": [ "When darkness long has veil'd my mind,", "And smiling day once more appears,", "Then, my Redeemer, then I find", "The folly of my doubts and fears.", "", "Straight I upbraid my wandering heart,", "And blush that I should ever be", "Thus prone to act so base a part,", "Or harbour one hard thought of Thee!", "", "Oh! let me then at length be taught", "What I am still so slow to learn,", "That God is love, and changes not,", "Nor knows the shadow of a turn.", "", "Sweet truth, and easy to repeat!", "But when my faith is sharply tried,", "I find myself a learner yet,", "Unskilful, weak, and apt to slide.", "", "But, O my Lord, one look from Thee", "Subdues the disobedient will,", "Drives doubt and discontent away,", "And Thy rebellious worm is still.", "", "Thou art as ready to forgive", "As I am ready to repine;", "Thou, therefore, all the praise receive;", "Be shame and self-abhorrence mine." ], "linecount": "24" }, { "title": "Prayer for Children", "author": "William Cowper", "lines": [ "Gracious Lord, our children see,", "By Thy mercy we are free;", "But shall these, alas! remain", "Subjects still of Satan's reign?", "Israel's young ones, when of old", "Pharaoh threaten'd to withhold,", "Then Thy messenger said, \"No;", "Let the children also go!\"", "", "When the angel of the Lord,", "Drawing forth his dreadful sword,", "Slew with an avenging hand,", "All the first-born of the land;", "Then Thy people's door he pass'd,", "Where the bloody sign was placed:", "Hear us, now, upon our knees,", "Plead the blood of Christ for these!", "", "Lord, we tremble, for we know", "How the fierce malicious foe,", "Wheeling round his watchful flight,", "Keeps them ever in his sight:", "Spread Thy pinions, King of kings!", "Hide them safe beneath Thy wings;", "Lest the ravenous bird of prey", "Stoop and bear the brood away." ], "linecount": "24" }, { "title": "Jehovah-Shalom. The Lord Send Peace", "author": "William Cowper", "lines": [ "(Judges, vi.25)", "", "Jesus! whose blood so freely stream'd", "To satisfy the law's demand;", "By Thee from guilt and wrath redeem'd,", "Before the Father's face I stand.", "", "To reconcile offending man,", "Make Justice drop her angry rod;", "What creature could have form'd the plan,", "Or who fulfil it but a God?", "", "No drop remains of all the curse,", "For wretches who deserved the whole;", "No arrows dipt in wrath to pierce", "The guilty, but returning soul.", "", "Peace by such means so dearly bought,", "What rebel could have hoped to see?", "Peace by his injured Sovereign wrought,", "His Sovereign fasten'd to a tree.", "", "Now, Lord, Thy feeble worm prepare!", "For strife with earth and hell begins;", "Conform and gird me for the war;", "They hate the soul that hates his sins.", "", "Let them in horrid league agree!", "They may assault, they may distress;", "But cannot quench Thy love to me,", "Nor rob me of the Lord my peace." ], "linecount": "25" }, { "title": "Jehovah Jesus", "author": "William Cowper", "lines": [ "My song shall bless the Lord of all,", "My praise shall climb to His abode;", "Thee, Saviour, by that name I call,", "The great Supreme, the mighty God.", "", "Without beginning or decline,", "Object of faith and not of sense;", "Eternal ages saw Him shine,", "He shines eternal ages hence.", "", "As much when in the manger laid,", "Almighty Ruler of the sky,", "As when the six days' work He made,", "Fill'd all the morning stars with joy.", "", "Of all the crowns Jehovah bears,", "Salvation is His dearest claim;", "That gracious sound well pleased He hears", "And owns Emmanuel for His name.", "", "A 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." ], "linecount": "24" }, { "title": "Lively Hope and Gracious Fear", "author": "William Cowper", "lines": [ "I was a grovelling creature once,", "And basely cleaved to earth:", "I wanted spirit to renounce", "The clod that gave me birth.", "", "But God hath breathed upon a worm,", "And sent me from above", "Wings such as clothe an angel's form,", "The wings of joy and love.", "", "With these to Pisgah's top I fly", "And there delighted stand,", "To view, beneath a shining sky,", "The spacious promised land.", "", "The Lord of all the vast domain", "Has promised it to me,", "The length and breadth of all the plain", "As far as faith can see.", "", "How glorious is my privilege!", "To Thee for help I call;", "I stand upon a mountain's edge,", "O save me, lest I fall!", "", "Though much exalted in the Lord,", "My strength is not my own;", "Then let me tremble at His word,", "And none shall cast me down." ], "linecount": "24" }, { "title": "Living and a Dead Faith", "author": "William Cowper", "lines": [ "The Lord receives his highest praise", "From humble minds and hearts sincere;", "While all the loud professor says", "Offends the righteous Judge's ear.", "", "To walk as children of the day,", "To mark the precepts' holy light,", "To wage the warfare, watch, and pray,", "Show who are pleasing in His sight.", "", "Not words alone it cost the Lord,", "To purchase pardon for His own;", "Nor will a soul by grace restored", "Return the Saviour words alone.", "", "With golden bells, the priestly vest,", "And rich pomegranates border'd round,", "The need of holiness expressed,", "And called for fruit as well as sound.", "", "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!" ], "linecount": "24" }, { "title": "Exhortation to Prayer", "author": "William Cowper", "lines": [ "What various hindrances we meet", "In coming to a mercy seat!", "Yet who that knows the worth of prayer,", "But wishes to be often there?", "", "Prayer makes the darken'd cloud withdraw,", "Prayer climbs the ladder Jacob saw,", "Gives exercise to faith and love,", "Brings every blessing from above.", "", "Restraining prayer, we cease to fight;", "Prayer makes the Christian's armour bright;", "And Satan trembles when he sees", "The weakest saint upon his knees.", "", "While Moses stood with arms spread wide,", "Success was found on Israel's side;", "But when through weariness they fail'd,", "That moment Amalek prevail'd.", "", "Have you no words? Ah, think again,", "Words flow apace when you complain,", "And fill your fellow-creature's ear", "With the sad tale of all your care.", "", "Were half the breath thus vainly spent", "To heaven in supplication sent,", "Your cheerful song would oftener be,", "\"Hear what the Lord has done for me.\"" ], "linecount": "24" }, { "title": "Joy and Peace in Believing", "author": "William Cowper", "lines": [ "Sometimes a light surprises", "The Christian while he sings;", "It is the Lord who rises", "With healing on His wings;", "When comforts are declining,", "He grants the soul again", "A season of clear shining,", "To cheer it after rain.", "", "In holy contemplation", "We sweetly then pursue", "The theme of God's salvation,", "And find it ever new;", "Set free from present sorrow,", "We cheerfully can say,", "E'en let the unknown to-morrow", "Bring with it what it may!", "", "It can bring with it nothing,", "But He will bear us through;", "Who gives the lilies clothing,", "Will clothe His people too;", "Beneath the spreading heavens", "No creature but is fed;", "And He who feeds the ravens", "Will give His children bread.", "", "Though vine nor fig tree neither", "Their wonted fruit shall bear,", "Though all the field should wither,", "Nor flocks nor herds be there:", "Yet God the same abiding,", "His praise shall tune my voice;", "For, while in Him confiding,", "I cannot but rejoice." ], "linecount": "32" }, { "title": "The Task: Book V, The Winter Morning Walk (excerpts)", "author": "William Cowper", "lines": [ "'Tis morning; and the sun, with ruddy orb", "Ascending, fires th' horizon: while the clouds,", "That crowd away before the driving wind,", "More ardent as the disk emerges more,", "Resemble most some city in a blaze,", "Seen through the leafless wood. His slanting ray", "Slides ineffectual down the snowy vale,", "And, tinging all with his own rosy hue,", "From ev'ry herb and ev'ry spiry blade", "Stretches a length of shadow o'er the field.", "Mine, spindling into longitude immense,", "In spite of gravity, and sage remark", "That I myself am but a fleeting shade,", "Provokes me to a smile. With eye askance", "I view the muscular proportion'd limb", "Transform'd to a lean shank. The shapeless pair,", "As they design'd to mock me, at my side", "Take step for step; and, as I near approach", "The cottage, walk along the plaster'd wall,", "Prepost'rous sight! the legs without the man.", "The verdure of the plain lies buried deep", "Beneath the dazzling deluge; and the bents,", "And coarser grass, upspearing o'er the rest,", "Of late unsightly and unseen, now shine", "Conspicuous, and, in bright apparel clad", "And fledg'd with icy feathers, nod superb.", "The cattle mourn in corners where the fence", "Screens them, and seem half petrified to sleep", "In unrecumbent sadness. There they wait", "Their wonted fodder; not like hung'ring man,", "Fretful if unsupply'd; but silent, meek,", "And patient of the slow-pac'd swain's delay.", "He from the stack carves out th' accustom'd load,", "Deep-plunging, and again deep-plunging oft,", "His broad keen knife into the solid mass:", "Smooth as a wall the upright remnant stands,", "With such undeviating and even force", "He severs it away: no needless care,", "Lest storms should overset the leaning pile", "Deciduous, or its own unbalanc'd weight....", "", "", "'Tis liberty alone that gives the flower", "Of fleeting life its lustre and perfume,", "And we are weeds without it. All constraint,", "Except what wisdom lays on evil men,", "Is evil; hurts the faculties, impedes", "Their progress in the road of science; blinds", "The eyesight of discovery, and begets,", "In those that suffer it, a sordid mind", "Bestial, a meagre intellect, unfit", "To be the tenant of man's noble form.", "Thee therefore, still, blameworthy as thou art,", "With all thy loss of empire, and though squeez'd", "By public exigence till annual food", "Fails for the craving hunger of the state,", "Thee I account still happy, and the chief", "Among the nations, seeing thou art free,", "My native nook of earth! . . ....", "", "", "But there is yet a liberty unsung", "By poets, and by senators unprais'd,", "Which monarchs cannot grant, nor all the pow'rs", "Of earth and hell confederate take away;", "A liberty which persecution, fraud,", "Oppression, prisons, have no pow'r to bind;", "Which whoso tastes can be enslav'd no more.", "'Tis liberty of heart, deriv'd from Heav'n,", "Bought with his blood who gave it to mankind,", "And seal'd with the same token. It is held", "By charter, and that charter sanction'd sure", "By th' unimpeachable and awful oath", "And promise of a God. His other gifts", "All bear the royal stamp that speaks them his,", "And are august, but this transcends them all." ], "linecount": "72" }, { "title": "On Receipt Of My Mother's Picture", "author": "William Cowper", "lines": [ "Oh that those lips had language! Life has pass'd", "With me but roughly since I heard thee last.", "Those lips are thine--thy own sweet smiles I see,", "The same that oft in childhood solaced me;", "Voice only fails, else, how distinct they say,", "\"Grieve not, my child, chase all thy fears away!\"", "The meek intelligence of those dear eyes", "(Blest be the art that can immortalize,", "The art that baffles time's tyrannic claim", "To quench it) here shines on me still the same.", "", "Faithful remembrancer of one so dear,", "Oh welcome guest, though unexpected, here!", "Who bidd'st me honour with an artless song,", "Affectionate, a mother lost so long,", "I will obey, not willingly alone,", "But gladly, as the precept were her own;", "And, while that face renews my filial grief,", "Fancy shall weave a charm for my relief--", "Shall steep me in Elysian reverie,", "A momentary dream, that thou art she.", "", "My mother! when I learn'd that thou wast dead,", "Say, wast thou conscious of the tears I shed?", "Hover'd thy spirit o'er thy sorrowing son,", "Wretch even then, life's journey just begun?", "Perhaps thou gav'st me, though unseen, a kiss;", "Perhaps a tear, if souls can weep in bliss--", "Ah that maternal smile! it answers--Yes.", "I heard the bell toll'd on thy burial day,", "I saw the hearse that bore thee slow away,", "And, turning from my nurs'ry window, drew", "A long, long sigh, and wept a last adieu!", "But was it such?--It was.--Where thou art gone", "Adieus and farewells are a sound unknown.", "May I but meet thee on that peaceful shore,", "The parting sound shall pass my lips no more!", "Thy maidens griev'd themselves at my concern,", "Oft gave me promise of a quick return.", "What ardently I wish'd, I long believ'd,", "And, disappointed still, was still deceiv'd;", "By disappointment every day beguil'd,", "Dupe of to-morrow even from a child.", "Thus many a sad to-morrow came and went,", "Till, all my stock of infant sorrow spent,", "I learn'd at last submission to my lot;", "But, though I less deplor'd thee, ne'er forgot.", "", "Where once we dwelt our name is heard no more,", "Children not thine have trod my nurs'ry floor;", "And where the gard'ner Robin, day by day,", "Drew me to school along the public way,", "Delighted with my bauble coach, and wrapt", "In scarlet mantle warm, and velvet capt,", "'Tis now become a history little known,", "That once we call'd the past'ral house our own.", "Short-liv'd possession! but the record fair", "That mem'ry keeps of all thy kindness there,", "Still outlives many a storm that has effac'd", "A thousand other themes less deeply trac'd.", "Thy nightly visits to my chamber made,", "That thou might'st know me safe and warmly laid;", "Thy morning bounties ere I left my home,", "The biscuit, or confectionary plum;", "The fragrant waters on my cheeks bestow'd", "By thy own hand, till fresh they shone and glow'd;", "All this, and more endearing still than all,", "Thy constant flow of love, that knew no fall,", "Ne'er roughen'd by those cataracts and brakes", "That humour interpos'd too often makes;", "All this still legible in mem'ry's page,", "And still to be so, to my latest age,", "Adds joy to duty, makes me glad to pay", "Such honours to thee as my numbers may;", "Perhaps a frail memorial, but sincere,", "Not scorn'd in heav'n, though little notic'd here.", "", "Could time, his flight revers'd, restore the hours,", "When, playing with thy vesture's tissued flow'rs,", "The violet, the pink, and jessamine,", "I prick'd them into paper with a pin,", "(And thou wast happier than myself the while,", "Would'st softly speak, and stroke my head and smile)", "Could those few pleasant hours again appear,", "Might one wish bring them, would I wish them here?", "I would not trust my heart--the dear delight", "Seems so to be desir'd, perhaps I might.--", "But no--what here we call our life is such,", "So little to be lov'd, and thou so much,", "That I should ill requite thee to constrain", "Thy unbound spirit into bonds again.", "", "Thou, as a gallant bark from Albion's coast", "(The storms all weather'd and the ocean cross'd)", "Shoots into port at some well-haven'd isle,", "Where spices breathe and brighter seasons smile,", "There sits quiescent on the floods that show", "Her beauteous form reflected clear below,", "While airs impregnated with incense play", "Around her, fanning light her streamers gay;", "So thou, with sails how swift! hast reach'd the shore", "\"Where tempests never beat nor billows roar,\"", "And thy lov'd consort on the dang'rous tide", "Of life, long since, has anchor'd at thy side.", "But me, scarce hoping to attain that rest,", "Always from port withheld, always distress'd--", "Me howling winds drive devious, tempest toss'd,", "Sails ript, seams op'ning wide, and compass lost,", "And day by day some current's thwarting force", "Sets me more distant from a prosp'rous course.", "But oh the thought, that thou art safe, and he!", "That thought is joy, arrive what may to me.", "My boast is not that I deduce my birth", "From loins enthron'd, and rulers of the earth;", "But higher far my proud pretensions rise--", "The son of parents pass'd into the skies.", "And now, farewell--time, unrevok'd, has run", "His wonted course, yet what I wish'd is done.", "By contemplation's help, not sought in vain,", "I seem t' have liv'd my childhood o'er again;", "To have renew'd the joys that once were mine,", "Without the sin of violating thine:", "And, while the wings of fancy still are free,", "And I can view this mimic shew of thee,", "Time has but half succeeded in his theft--", "Thyself remov'd, thy power to sooth me left." ], "linecount": "121" }, { "title": "The Task: Book IV, The Winter Evening (excerpts)", "author": "William Cowper", "lines": [ "Hark! 'tis the twanging horn! O'er yonder bridge,", "That with its wearisome but needful length", "Bestrides the wintry flood, in which the moon", "Sees her unwrinkled face reflected bright,", "He comes, the herald of a noisy world,", "With spatter'd boots, strapp'd waist, and frozen locks;", "News from all nations lumb'ring at his back.", "True to his charge, the close-pack'd load behind,", "Yet careless what he brings, his one concern", "Is to conduct it to the destin'd inn:", "And, having dropp'd th' expected bag, pass on.", "He whistles as he goes, light-hearted wretch,", "Cold and yet cheerful: messenger of grief", "Perhaps to thousands, and of joy to some;", "To him indiff'rent whether grief or joy.", "Houses in ashes, and the fall of stocks,", "Births, deaths, and marriages, epistles wet", "With tears that trickled down the writer's cheeks", "Fast as the periods from his fluent quill,", "Or charg'd with am'rous sighs of absent swains,", "Or nymphs responsive, equally affect", "His horse and him, unconscious of them all.", "But oh th' important budget! usher'd in", "With such heart-shaking music, who can say", "What are its tidings? have our troops awak'd?", "Or do they still, as if with opium drugg'd,", "Snore to the murmurs of th' Atlantic wave?", "Is India free? and does she wear her plum'd", "And jewell'd turban with a smile of peace,", "Or do we grind her still? The grand debate,", "The popular harangue, the tart reply,", "The logic, and the wisdom, and the wit,", "And the loud laugh--I long to know them all;", "I burn to set th' imprison'd wranglers free,", "And give them voice and utt'rance once again.", "Now stir the fire, and close the shutters fast,", "Let fall the curtains, wheel the sofa round,", "And, while the bubbling and loud-hissing urn", "Throws up a steamy column, and the cups,", "That cheer but not inebriate, wait on each,", "So let us welcome peaceful ev'ning in.", "Not such his ev'ning, who with shining face", "Sweats in the crowded theatre, and, squeez'd", "And bor'd with elbow-points through both his sides,", "Out-scolds the ranting actor on the stage:", "Nor his, who patient stands till his feet throb,", "And his head thumps, to feed upon the breath", "Of patriots, bursting with heroic rage,", "Or placemen, all tranquility and smiles.", "This folio of four pages, happy work!", "Which not ev'n critics criticise; that holds", "Inquisitive attention, while I read,", "Fast bound in chains of silence, which the fair,", "Though eloquent themselves, yet fear to break;", "What is it, but a map of busy life,", "Its fluctuations, and its vast concerns?...", "", "", "Oh winter, ruler of th' inverted year,", "Thy scatter'd hair with sleet like ashes fill'd,", "Thy breath congeal'd upon thy lips, thy cheeks", "Fring'd with a beard made white with other snows", "Than those of age, thy forehead wrapp'd in clouds,", "A leafless branch thy sceptre, and thy throne", "A sliding car, indebted to no wheels,", "But urg'd by storms along its slipp'ry way,", "I love thee, all unlovely as thou seem'st,", "And dreaded as thou art! Thou hold'st the sun", "A pris'ner in the yet undawning east,", "Short'ning his journey between morn and noon,", "And hurrying him, impatient of his stay,", "Down to the rosy west; but kindly still", "Compensating his loss with added hours", "Of social converse and instructive ease,", "And gath'ring, at short notice, in one group", "The family dispers'd, and fixing thought,", "Not less dispers'd by day-light and its cares.", "I crown thee king of intimate delights,", "Fire-side enjoyments, home-born happiness,", "And all the comforts that the lowly roof", "Of undisturb'd retirement, and the hours", "Of long uninterrupted ev'ning, know.", "No rattling wheels stop short before these gates;", "No powder'd pert proficient in the art", "Of sounding an alarm, assaults these doors", "Till the street rings; no stationary steeds", "Cough their own knell, while, heedless of the sound,", "The silent circle fan themselves, and quake:", "But here the needle plies its busy task,", "The pattern grows, the well-depicted flow'r,", "Wrought patiently into the snowy lawn,", "Unfolds its bosom; buds, and leaves, and sprigs,", "And curling tendrils, gracefully dispos'd,", "Follow the nimble finger of the fair;", "A wreath that cannot fade, or flow'rs that blow", "With most success when all besides decay.", "The poet's or historian's page, by one", "Made vocal for th' amusement of the rest;", "The sprightly lyre, whose treasure of sweet sounds", "The touch from many a trembling chord shakes out;", "And the clear voice symphonious, yet distinct,", "And in the charming strife triumphant still;", "Beguile the night, and set a keener edge", "On female industry: the threaded steel", "Flies swiftly, and, unfelt, the task proceeds.", "The volume clos'd, the customary rites", "Of the last meal commence. A Roman meal;", "Such as the mistress of the world once found", "Delicious, when her patriots of high note,", "Perhaps by moonlight, at their humble doors,", "And under an old oak's domestic shade,", "Enjoy'd--spare feast!--a radish and an egg!", "Discourse ensues, not trivial, yet not dull,", "Nor such as with a frown forbids the play", "Of fancy, or proscribes the sound of mirth:", "Nor do we madly, like an impious world,", "Who deem religion frenzy, and the God", "That made them an intruder on their joys,", "Start at his awful name, or deem his praise", "A jarring note. Themes of a graver tone,", "Exciting oft our gratitude and love,", "While we retrace with mem'ry's pointing wand,", "That calls the past to our exact review,", "The dangers we have 'scaped, the broken snare,", "The disappointed foe, deliv'rance found", "Unlook'd for, life preserv'd and peace restor'd--", "Fruits of omnipotent eternal love.", "Oh ev'nings worthy of the gods! exclaim'd", "The Sabine bard. Oh ev'nings, I reply,", "More to be priz'd and coveted than yours,", "As more illumin'd, and with nobler truths.", "That I, and mine, and those we love, enjoy...." ], "linecount": "130" }, { "title": "The Task: Book II, The Time-Piece (excerpts)", "author": "William Cowper", "lines": [ "England, with all thy faults, I love thee still--", "My country! and, while yet a nook is left", "Where English minds and manners may be found,", "Shall be constrain'd to love thee. Though thy clime", "Be fickle, and thy year most part deform'd", "With dripping rains, or wither'd by a frost,", "I would not yet exchange thy sullen skies,", "And fields without a flow'r, for warmer France", "With all her vines; nor for Ausonia's groves", "Of golden fruitage, and her myrtle bow'rs.", "To shake thy senate, and from heights sublime", "Of patriot eloquence to flash down fire", "Upon thy foes, was never meant my task:", "But I can feel thy fortunes, and partake", "Thy joys and sorrows, with as true a heart", "As any thund'rer there. And I can feel", "Thy follies, too; and with a just disdain", "Frown at effeminates, whose very looks", "Reflect dishonour on the land I love.", "How, in the name of soldiership and sense,", "Should England prosper, when such things, as smooth", "And tender as a girl, all essenc'd o'er", "With odours, and as profligate as sweet;", "Who sell their laurel for a myrtle wreath,", "And love when they should fight; when such as these", "Presume to lay their hand upon the ark", "Of her magnificent and awful cause?", "Time was when it was praise and boast enough", "In ev'ry clime, and travel where we might,", "That we were born her children. Praise enough", "To fill th' ambition of a private man,", "That Chatham's language was his mother tongue,", "And Wolfe's great name compatriot with his own.", "Farewell those honours, and farewell with them", "The hope of such hereafter! They have fall'n", "Each in his field of glory; one in arms,", "And one in council--Wolfe upon the lap", "Of smiling victory that moment won,", "And Chatham heart-sick of his country's shame!", "They made us many soldiers. Chatham, still", "Consulting England's happiness at home,", "Secur'd it by an unforgiving frown", "If any wrong'd her. Wolfe, where'er he fought,", "Put so much of his heart into his act,", "That his example had a magnet's force,", "And all were swift to follow whom all lov'd.", "Those suns are set. Oh, rise some other such!", "Or all that we have left is empty talk", "Of old achievements, and despair of new....", "", "", "There is a pleasure in poetic pains", "Which only poets know. The shifts and turns,", "Th' expedients and inventions multiform", "To which the mind resorts in chase of terms", "Thought apt, yet coy, and difficult to win,", "T' arrest the fleeting images that fill", "The mirror of the mind, and hold them fast,", "And force them sit, till he has pencill'd off", "A faithful likeness of the forms he views;", "Then to dispose his copies with such art", "That each may find its most propitious light,", "And shine by situation hardly less", "Than by the labour and the skill it cost,", "Are occupations of the poet's mind", "So pleasing, and that steal away the thought", "With such address from themes of sad import,", "That, lost in his own musings, happy man!", "He feels th' anxieties of life, denied", "Their wonted entertainment, all retire.", "Such joys has he that sings. But ah! not such,", "Or seldom such, the hearers of his song.", "Fastidious, or else listless, or perhaps", "Aware of nothing arduous in a task", "They never undertook, they little note", "His dangers or escapes, and haply find", "Their least amusement where he found the most.", "But is amusement all? Studious of song,", "And yet ambitious not to sing in vain,", "I would not trifle merely, though the world", "Be loudest in their praise who do no more.", "Yet what can satire, whether grave or gay?", "It may correct a foible, may chastise", "The freaks of fashion, regulate the dress,", "Retrench a sword-blade, or displace a patch;", "But where are its sublimer trophies found?", "What vice has it subdu'd? whose heart reclaim'd", "By rigour, or whom laugh'd into reform?", "Alas! Leviathan is not so tam'd.", "Laugh'd at, he laughs again; and, stricken hard,", "Turns to the stroke his adamantine scales,", "That fear no discipline of human hands.", "The pulpit, therefore, (and I name it fill'd", "With solemn awe, that bids me well beware", "With what intent I touch that holy thing)--", "The pulpit (when the satirist has at last,", "Strutting and vapouring in an empty school,", "Spent all his force, and made no proselyte)--", "I say the pulpit (in the sober use", "Of its legitimate, peculiar pow'rs)", "Must stand acknowledg'd, while the world shall stand,", "The most important and effectual guard,", "Support, and ornament of Virtue's cause....." ], "linecount": "101" }, { "title": "Prayer for Patience", "author": "William Cowper", "lines": [ "Lord, who hast suffer'd all for me,", "My peace and pardon to procure,", "The lighter cross I bear for Thee,", "Help me with patience to endure.", "", "The storm of loud repining hush;", "I would in humble silence mourn;", "Why should the unburnt, though burning bush,", "Be angry as the crackling thorn?", "", "Man should not faint at Thy rebuke,", "Like Joshua falling on his face,", "When the cursed thing that Achan took", "Brought Israel into just disgrace.", "", "Perhaps some golden wedge suppress'd,", "Some secret sin offends my God;", "Perhaps that Babylonish vest,", "Self-righteousness, provokes the rod.", "", "Ah! were I buffeted all day,", "Mock'd, crown'd with thorns and spit upon,", "I yet should have no right to say,", "My great distress is mine alone.", "", "Let me not angrily declare", "No pain was ever sharp like mine,", "Nor murmur at the cross I bear,", "But rather weep, remembering Thine." ], "linecount": "24" }, { "title": "The Future Peace and Glory of the Church", "author": "William Cowper", "lines": [ "(Isaiah, ix. 15-20)", "", "Hear what God the Lord hath spoken,", "\"O my people, faint and few,", "Comfortless, afflicted, broken,", "Fair abodes I build for you.", "Thorns of heartfelt tribulation", "Shall no more perplex your ways;", "You shall name your walls, Salvation,", "And your gates shall all be Praise.", "", "\"There, like streams that feed the garden,", "Pleasures without end shall flow,", "For the Lord, your faith rewarding,", "All His bounty shall bestow;", "Still in undisturb'd possession", "Peace and righteousness shall reign;", "Never shall you feel oppression,", "Hear the voice of war again.", "", "\"Ye no more your suns descending,", "Waning moons no more shall see;", "But your griefs forever ending,", "Find eternal noon in me:", "God shall rise, and shining o'er ye,", "Change to day the gloom of night;", "He, the Lord, shall be your glory,", "God your everlasting light.\"" ], "linecount": "25" }, { "title": "The House of Prayer", "author": "William Cowper", "lines": [ "(Mark, xi.17)", "", "Thy mansion is the Christian's heart,", "O Lord, Thy dwelling place secure!", "Bid the unruly throng depart,", "And leave the consecrated door.", "", "Devoted as it is to Thee,", "A thievish swarm frequents the place,", "They steal away my hopes from me,", "And rob my Saviour of His praise.", "", "There, too, a sharp designing trade", "Sin, Satan, and the World maintain;", "Nor cease to press me, and persuade", "To part with ease, and purchase pain.", "", "I know them, and I hate their din;", "And weary of the bustling crowd;", "But while their voice is heard within,", "I cannot serve Thee as I would.", "", "Oh! for the joy thy presence gives,", "What peace shall reign when Thou art there;", "Thy presence makes this den of thieves", "A calm delightful house of prayer.", "", "And if Thou make Thy temple shine,", "Yet self-abased, will I adore;", "The gold and silver are not mine;", "I give Thee waht was Thine before." ], "linecount": "25" }, { "title": "The Christian", "author": "William Cowper", "lines": [ "Honor and happiness unite", "To make the Christian's name a praise;", "How fair the scene, how clear the light,", "That fills the remnant of His days!", "", "A kingly character He bears,", "No change His priestly office knows;", "Unfading is the crown He wears,", "His joys can never reach a close.", "", "Adorn'd with glory from on high,", "Salvation shines upon His face;", "His robe is of the ethereal dye,", "His steps are dignity and grace.", "", "Inferior honors He disdains,", "Nor stoops to take applause from earth;", "The King of kings Himself maintains", "The expenses of His heavenly birth.", "", "The noblest creature seen below,", "Ordain'd to fill a throne above;", "God gives him all He can bestow,", "His kingdom of eternal love!", "", "My soul is ravished at the thought!", "Methinks from earth I see Him rise!", "Angels congratulate His lot,", "And shout Him welcome to the skies." ], "linecount": "24" }, { "title": "Jesus Hasting to Suffer", "author": "William Cowper", "lines": [ "The Saviour, what a noble flame", "Was kindled in his breast,", "When hasting to Jerusalem,", "He march'd before the rest.", "", "Good will to men, and zeal for God,", "His every thought engross;", "He longs to be baptized with blood,", "He pants to reach the cross!", "", "With all His suffering full in view,", "And woes to us unknown,", "Forth to the task His spirit flew,", "'Twas love that urged Him on.", "", "Lord, we return Thee what we can:", "Our hearts shall sound abroad,", "Salvation to the dying Man,", "And to the rising God!", "", "And while Thy bleeding glories here", "Engage our wondering eyes,", "We learn our lighter cross to bear,", "And hasten to the skies." ], "linecount": "20" } ]