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Self-Acquaintance.

By William Cowper

Topics: classic

Dear Lord! accept a sinful heart,     Which of itself complains,     And mourns, with much and frequent smart,     The evil it contains.     There fiery seeds of anger lurk,     Which often hurt my frame;     And wait but for the tempters work,     To fan them to a flame.     Legality holds out a bribe     To purchase life from thee;     And discontent would fain prescribe     How thou shalt deal with me.     While unbelief withstands thy grace,     And puts the mercy by;     Presumption, with a brow of brass,     Says, Give me, or I die.     How eager are my thoughts to roam     In quest of what they love!     But ah! when duty calls them home,     How heavily they move!     Oh, cleanse me in a Saviours blood,     Transform me by thy power,     And make me thy beloved abode,     And let me rove no more.

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"Dear Lord! accept a sinful heart,..."

"Self-Acquaintance." is a quintessential example of William Cowper's signature style... ### Why We Love This Line At Linespedia, we believe that poetry is the ultimate sanctuary for the soul...

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Author:William Cowper

"Dear Lord! accept a sinful heart,..." by William Cowper

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"The Text is taken from Percy's Reliques (1765), vol. i. p. 71, 'given from two MS. copies, transmitted from Scotland.' Herd had a very similar bal"

William Cowper

About William Cowper

William Cowper (1731–1800) was an English poet and hymnodist whose work bridges the gap between the Augustan age and Romanticism. His poems "The Task" and "John Gilpin" were enormously popular, and his hymn "God Moves in a Mysterious Way" remains widely sung.

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