God moves in a mysterious way
His wonders to perform;
He plants His footsteps in the sea,
And rides upon the storm.
Deep in unfathomable mines
Of never-failing skill,
He treasures up His bright designs,
And works His sovereign will.
Ye fearful saints, fresh courage take,
The clouds ye so much dread
Are big with mercy, and shall break
In blessings on your head.
Judge not the Lord by feeble sense,
But trust Him for His grace;
Behind a frowning providence
He hides a smiling face.
His purposes will ripen fast,
Unfolding every hour;
The bud may have a bitter taste,
But sweet will be the flower.
Blind unbelief is sure to err,
And scan His work in vain:
God is His own interpreter,
And he will make it plain.


William Cowper

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He that negotiates between God and man, As God's ambassador, the grand concerns Of judgment an...
WILLIAM COWPER
Would I describe a preacher, . . . . I would express him simple, grave, sincere; In doct...
WILLIAM COWPER
I venerate the man whose heart is warm, Whose hands are pure, whose doctrine and whose life, C...
WILLIAM COWPER
There goes the parson, oh illustrious spark! And there, scarce less illustrious, goes the clerk.
WILLIAM COWPER
Praise enough To fill the ambition of a private man, That Chatham's language was his mother-to...
WILLIAM COWPER
He whistles as he goes, light-hearted wretch, Cold and yet cheerful; messenger of grief Perhap...
WILLIAM COWPER
There is in souls a sympathy with sounds:
And as the mind is pitch'd the ear is pleased
Wi...
WILLIAM COWPER
Where men of judgment creep and feel their way, The positive pronounce without dismay.
WILLIAM COWPER
I was a stricken deer that left the herd Long since.
WILLIAM COWPER
His mind his kingdom, and his will his law.
WILLIAM COWPER
Mercy to him that shows it, is the rule.
WILLIAM COWPER
What peaceful hours I once enjoy'd! How sweet their memory still! But they have left an aching...
WILLIAM COWPER
Meditation here may think down hours to moments. Here the heart may give a useful lesson to the head...
WILLIAM COWPER
O Winter! ruler of the inverted year, . . . I crown thee king of intimate delights, Fireside enjoyme...
WILLIAM COWPER
For 'tis a truth well known to most, That whatsoever thing is lost, We seek it, ere it comes t...
WILLIAM COWPER
Our wasted oil unprofitably burns, Like hidden lamps in old sepulchral urns.
WILLIAM COWPER
Oh, my friend, it's not what they take away from you that counts. It's what you do with what you h...
WILLIAM COWPER
'Twere better to be born a stone Of ruder shape, and feeling none, Than with a tenderness like...
WILLIAM COWPER
The earth was made so various, that the mind of desultory man, studious of change, and pleased with ...
WILLIAM COWPER
. . . Philologists, who chase A painting syllable through time and space Start it at home, and...
WILLIAM COWPER
Fast-anchor'd isle.
WILLIAM COWPER
Gloriously drunk, obey the important call.
WILLIAM COWPER
All learned, and all drunk!
WILLIAM COWPER
Reasoning at every step he treads, Man yet mistakes his way, Whilst meaner things, whom instinct l...
WILLIAM COWPER
A hat not much worse for wear.
WILLIAM COWPER
His head, Not yet by time completely silver'd o'er, Bespoke him past the bounds of freakish yo...
WILLIAM COWPER
Some to the fascination of a name, Surrender judgment hoodwinked.
WILLIAM COWPER
Exactness is the sublimity of fools. [Fr., L'exactitude est le sublime des sots.]
WILLIAM COWPER
Defend me, therefore, common sense, say From reveries so airy, from the toil Of dropping bucke...
WILLIAM COWPER
The solemn fog; significant and budge; A fool with judges, amongst fools a judge.
WILLIAM COWPER
Ceremony leads her bigots forth, prepared to fight for shadows of no worth. While truths, on which e...
WILLIAM COWPER
He is the freeman whom the truth makes free.
WILLIAM COWPER
The only true happiness comes from squandering ourselves for a purpose.
WILLIAM COWPER
The Frenchman, easy, debonair, and brisk, Give him his lass, his fiddle, and his frisk, Is alw...
WILLIAM COWPER
Words learned by rote a parrot may rehearse; but talking is not always to converse, not more distinc...
WILLIAM COWPER
'Tis hard if all is false that I advance
A fool must now and then be right, by chance.
WILLIAM COWPER
A life of ease is a difficult pursuit.
WILLIAM COWPER
The path of sorrow, and that path alone, Leads to the lands where sorrow is unknown.
WILLIAM COWPER
O solitude, where are the charms That sages have seen in thy face? Better dwell in the midst o...
WILLIAM COWPER
Oh, for a lodge in some vast wilderness, Some boundless contiguity of shade, Where rumour of o...
WILLIAM COWPER
I praise the Frenchman; his remark was shrewd,-- "How sweet, how passing sweet is solitude." B...
WILLIAM COWPER
A story, in which native humour reigns, Is often useful, always entertains; A graver fact, enl...
WILLIAM COWPER
Words learn'd by rote a parrot may rehearse, But talking is not always to converse, Not more d...
WILLIAM COWPER
Variety's the very spice of life, That gives it all its flavour.
WILLIAM COWPER
The earth was made so various, that the mind Of desultory man, studious of change And pleased ...
WILLIAM COWPER
God moves in a mysterious way, His wonders to perform; He plants his footsteps in the sea, And r...
WILLIAM COWPER
His wit invites you by his looks to come, But when you knock, it never is at home.
WILLIAM COWPER
Ten thousand casks, Forever dribbling out their base contents, Touch'd by the Midas finger of ...
WILLIAM COWPER
Still ending, and beginning still.
WILLIAM COWPER
We bear our shades about us; self-deprived Of other screen, the thin umbrella spread, And rang...
WILLIAM COWPER
Some boundless contiguity of shade.
WILLIAM COWPER
No tree in all the grove but has its charms, Though each its hue peculiar.
WILLIAM COWPER
Discourse may want an animated "No"To brush the surface, and to make it flow;But still remember, if ...
WILLIAM COWPER
Me howling blasts drive devious, tempest-tossed, / Sails ripped, seams opening wide, and compass los...
WILLIAM COWPER
Spare feast! a radish and an egg.
WILLIAM COWPER
I was a stricken deer, that left the herd / Long since.
WILLIAM COWPER
Away went Gilpin, neck or naught, / Away went hat and wig!
WILLIAM COWPER