12

The Effort-in Another Measure

I

Approach, my soul, the mercy-seat
Where Jesus answers pray’r;
There humbly fall before his feet,
For none can perish there.

II

Thy promise is my only plea,
With this I venture nigh:
Thou callest burden’d souls to thee,
And such, O Lord, am I.

III

Bow’d down beneath a load of sin,
By Satan sorely press’d;
By war without and fears within,
I come to thee for rest.

IV

Be thou my shield and hiding-place!
That, shelter’d near thy side,
I may my fierce accuser face,
And tell him, Thou hast died.

V

Oh wond’rous love, to bleed and die,
To bear the cross and shame,
That guilty sinners, such as I,
Might plead thy gracious name.

VI

“Poor tempest-tossed soul, be still,
My promised grace receive;”
’Tis Jesus speaks⁠—I must, I will,
I can, I do believe.

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–#L24.

Cite this poem

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

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