Jehovah Our Righteousness

My God, how perfect are Thy ways!

But mine polluted are;

Sin twines itself about my praise,

And slides into my prayer.

When I would speak what Thou hast done

To save me from my sin,

I cannot make Thy mercies known,

But self-applause creeps in.

Divine desire, that holy flame

Thy grace creates in me;

Alas! impatience is its name,

When it returns to Thee.

This heart, a fountain of vile thoughts.

How does it overflow,

While self upon the surface floats,

Still bubbling from below.

Let others in the gaudy dress

Of fancied merit shine;

The Lord shall be my righteousness,

The Lord forever mine.

—William Cowper in Olney Hymns

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More Cowper poetry:

• The Contrite Heart
• The New Convert
• Old Testament Gospel
• To the Immortal Memory of the Halibut
• Jehovah-Jesus
• Self-Acquaintance

On the life of Cowper: 

• A lecture on the life of Cowper by Michael Haykin 
• Cowper 1
• Cowper 2