Olney Hymns (1840)/Book 1/Hymn 130

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130.
The Inward Warfare.—Gal. v, 17.

1 Strange and mysterious is my life,
What opposites I feel within!
A stable peace, a constant strife;
The rule of grace, the power of sin:
Too often I am captive led,
Yet daily triumph in my Head.

2 I prize the privilege of prayer,
But oh! what backwardness to pray!
Though on the Lord I cast my care,
I feel its burden every day;
I seek his will in all I do,
Yet find my own is working too.

3 I call the promises my own,
And prize them more than mines of gold;
 ​Yet though their sweetness I have known,
They leave me unimpress'd and cold:
One hour upon the truth I feed,
The next I know not what to read.

4 I love the holy day of rest,
When Jesus meets his gather'd saints;
Sweet day, of all the week the best!
For its return my spirit pants:
Yet often through my unbelief,
It proves a day of guilt and grief.

5 While on the Saviour I rely,
I know my foes shall lose their aim;
And therefore dare their power defy,
Assured of conquest through his name:
But soon my confidence is slain,
And all my fears return again.

6 Thus diff'rent powers within me strive,
And grace and sin by turns prevail;
I grieve, rejoice, decline, revive,
And vict'ry hangs in doubtful scale:
But Jesus has his promise past,
That grace shall overcome at last.

131.
Contentment.[1]—Phil, iv, 11.C.

1 Fierce passions discompose the mind,
As tempests vex the sea;
But calm content and peace we find
When, Lord, we turn to thee.

2 In vain by reason and by rule
We try to bend the will;
For none but in the Saviour's school
Can learn the heavenly skill.

3 Since at his feet my soul has sat,
His gracious words to hear;
Contented with my present state,
I cast on him my care.

  1. ↑ Book iii, Hymn 55.
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