Christian Classics
‹ Olney Hymns

John Newton & William Cowper · 296 of 356

51. I was a groveling creature once

Hymn 51

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.