Lively hope, and gracious fear

William Cowper · 1779

Catalog grade guidance: 3–5 — Olney hymn for school recitation; preview archaic diction.

28 content lines · 155 words · Est. recitation about 1 min 54 sec (approx.)

Public-domain text for reading and recitation practice. Source: Christian Classics Ethereal Library (Olney Hymns, 1779).Estimated time uses ~120 words/minute plus short pauses—not a contest rule.

Hymn 51

William Cowper

8,6,8,6

Lively hope, and gracious fear.

I was a groveling creature once,

And safely cleaved to earth;

I wanted spirit to renounce

The clod that gave me birth.

But God has 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.