188    C.M.     WIlliam Cowper
Evangelical Obedience. Rom. 7. 9; Phil. 2. 13

1 No strength of nature can suffice
  To serve the Lord aright;
  And what she has she misapplies,
  For want of clearer light.

2 How long beneath the law I lay,
  In bondage and distress!
  I toiled the precept to obey,
  But toiled without success.

3 [Then to abstain from outward sin
  Was more than I could do;
  Now, if I feel its power within,
  I feel I hate it too.]

4 [Then, all my servile works were done
  A righteousness to raise;
  Now, freely chosen in the Son,
  I freely choose his ways.]

5 What shall I do, was then the word,
  That I may worthier grow?
  What shall I render to the Lord?
  Is my inquiry now.

6 To see the law by Christ fulfilled,
  And hear his pardoning voice,
  Changes a slave into a child,
  And duty into choice.