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Ephraim Repenting. - Jeremiah xxxi.18-20.

By William Cowper

Topics: classic

My God, till I received thy stroke,     How like a beast was I!     So unaccustomd to the yoke,     So backward to comply.     With grief my just reproach I bear,     Shame fills me at the thought;     How frequent my rebellions were!     What wickedness I wrought!     Thy merciful restraint I scornd,     And left the pleasant road;     Yet turn me, and I shall be turnd,     Thou art the Lord my God.     Is Ephraim banishd from my thoughts,     Or vile in my esteem?     No, saith the Lord, with all his faults,     I still remember him.     Is he a dear and pleasant child?     Yes, dear and pleasant still;     Though sin his foolish heart beguiled,     And he withstood my will.     My sharp rebuke has laid him low,     He seeks my face again;     My pity kindles at his woe,     He shall not seek in vain.

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"My God, till I received thy stroke,..."

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Author:William Cowper

"My God, till I received thy stroke,..." by William Cowper

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"The Text is taken from Percy's Reliques (1765), vol. i. p. 71, 'given from two MS. copies, transmitted from Scotland.' Herd had a very similar bal"

William Cowper

About William Cowper

William Cowper (1731–1800) was an English poet and hymnodist whose work bridges the gap between the Augustan age and Romanticism. His poems "The Task" and "John Gilpin" were enormously popular, and his hymn "God Moves in a Mysterious Way" remains widely sung.

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