Love constrained to Obedience
No strength of nature can suffice
To serve the Lord aright:
And what she has she misapplies,
For want of clearer light.
How long beneath the law I lay
In bondage and distress;
I toll’d the precept to obey,
But toil’d without success.
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.
Then all my servile works were done
A righteousness to raise;
Now, freely chosen in the Son,
I freely choose His ways.
“What shall I do,” was then the word,
“That I may worthier grow?”
“What shall I render to the Lord?”
Is my inquiry now.
To see the law by Christ fulfilled
And hear His pardoning voice,
Changes a slave into a child,
And duty into choice.
~ William Cowper
The Happy Wonderer ~ ellen b. 
Beautiful flying buttresses. Beautiful hymn.
Duty into a choice. So true!
Good morning Ellen B. and happy Sunday!
Where do you find all these lovely hymns? The depth of them puts our praise songs to shame…well, not all of them, but many.
Have a beautiful Sunday.
🙂 Cori G.
That’s a beautiful church. I can almost here an old pipe organ playing in my head when I look at that shot. Happy Sunday.
What a lovely hymn, Ellen! I’ve never seen it before.
What a masterpiece, hymn and photo. Hey, I’m popping in to personally invite you to do the video post thing on Tuesday. I saw on someone’s blog that you were considering it but felt insecure. I posted “how to” instructions under the button in my sidebar, if you’re interested. If not, come on over and go blog hopping tuesday!
Lovely..thank you for your Sunday hymn and pikkie. And I love your header..to honor and encourage!
Annie
ooooooooo
now, do tell, where is that?
What a BEAUTIFUL BEAUTIFUL Hymn! I love the last two lines of the last stanza.