42

The Pilgrim’s Song

I

From Egypt lately freed
By the Redeemer’s grace,
A rough and thorny path we tread,
In hopes to see his face.

II

The flesh dislikes the way,
But faith approves it well!
This only leads to endless day,
All others lead to hell.

III

The promised land of peace
Faith keeps in constant view;
How diff’rent from the wilderness
We are now passing through!

IV

Here often from our eyes
Clouds hide the light divine:
There we shall have unclouded skies,
Our sun will always shine.

V

Here griefs and cares and pains
And fears distress us sore!
But there eternal pleasure reigns,
And we shall weep no more.

VI

Lord, pardon our complaints,
We follow at thy call;
The joy prepared for suff’ring saints
Will make amends for all.

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 Pilgrim’s Song.” First published in Olney Hymns (1779). Text: Poem Index, https://poemindex.org/john-newton/the-pilgrims-song/. Append #L14 to cite line 14, or #L4-L9 for lines 4–9.

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