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Perseverance

I

Rejoice, believer, in the Lord,
Who makes your cause his own;
The hope that’s built upon his word
Can ne’er be overthrown.

II

Though many foes beset your road,
And feeble is your arm,
Your life is hid with Christan God,
Beyond the reach of harm.

III

Weak as you are, you shall not faint,
Or fainting shall not die;
Jesus, the strength of every saint,
Will aid you from on high.

IV

Though sometimes unperceived by sense,
Faith sees him always near,
A guide, a glory, a defence;
Then what have you to fear?

V

As surely as he overcame
And triumph’d once for you;
So surely you that love his name
Shall triumph in him too.

Where this text comes from

First published in Olney Hymns (1779). First located printing is this volume; an earlier periodical printing has not been established. [1] [2] [3]

Structure read from the source's markup; the words have not been compared against a page scan. Last checked 2026-08-15.

Taken from Standard Ebooks, standardebooks/john-newton_william-cowper_olney-hymns, book-3.xhtml. Rights: public domain (SE dedication; underlying text pre-1931).

Earlier sources (2)

This poem as JSON or plain text. Line anchors #L1–#L20.

Cite this poem

John Newton (1725–1807). “Perseverance.” First published in Olney Hymns (1779). Text: Poem Index, https://poemindex.org/john-newton/perseverance/. Append #L14 to cite line 14, or #L4-L9 for lines 4–9.

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