Looking upwards in a storm

William Cowper · 1779

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

30 content lines · 179 words · Est. recitation about 2 min 7 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 19

William Cowper

8,8,8,8

Looking upwards in a storm.

God of my life, to thee I call,

Afflicted at thy feet I fall;
Ps 69:15

When the great water-floods prevail,

Leave not my trembling heart to fail!

Friend of the friendless, and the saint!

Where should I lodge my deep complaint?

Where but with thee, whose open door,

Invites the helpless and the poor!

Did ever mourner plead with thee,

And thou refuse that mourner's plea?

Does not the word still fixed remain,

That none shall seek thy face in vain?

That were a grief I could not bear,

Didst thou not hear and answer prayer;

But a prayer-hearing, answ'ring God,

Supports me under every load.

Fair is the lot that's cast for me!

I have an advocate with thee;

They whom the world caresses most,

Have no such privilege to boast.

Poor though I am, despised, forgot,
Ps 60:17

Yet God, my God, forgets me not;

And he is safe and must succeed,

For whom the LORD vouchsafes to plead.