Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, OLNEY HYMNS: 64. NOT OF WORKS, by WILLIAM COWPER


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OLNEY HYMNS: 64. NOT OF WORKS, by                 Poet Analysis     Poet's Biography
First Line: Grace, triumphant in the throne
Last Line: But the grace that never can.


GRACE, triumphant in the throne,
Scorns a rival, reigns alone;
Come and bow beneath her sway,
Cast your idol works away!
Works of man, when made his plea,
Never shall accepted be;
Fruits of pride (vain-glorious worm!)
Are the best he can perform.

Self, the god his soul adores,
Influences all his powers;
Jesus is a slighted name,
Self-advancement all his aim:
But when God the Judge shall come
To pronounce the final doom,
Then for rocks and hills to hide
All his works and all his pride!

Still the boasting heart replies,
"What! the worthy and the wise,
Friends to temperance and peace,
Have not these a righteousness?"
Banish every vain pretence
Built on human excellence;
Perish everything in man,
But the grace that never can.





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