50

What Shall I Render?

I

For mercies, countless as the sands,
Which daily I receive
From Jesus my Redeemer’s hands,
My soul, what canst thou give?

II

Alas! from such a heart as mine
What can I bring him forth?
My best is stain’d and dyed with sin,
My all is nothing worth.

III

Yet this acknowledgment I’ll make
For all he has bestow’d⁠—
Salvation’s sacred cup I’ll take,
And call upon my God.

IV

The best returns for one like me,
So wretched and so poor,
Is from his gifts to draw a plea,
And ask him still for more.

V

I cannot serve him as I ought,
No works have I to boast;
Yet would I glory in the thought
That I should owe him most.

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-1.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). “What Shall I Render?.” First published in Olney Hymns (1779). Text: Poem Index, https://poemindex.org/john-newton/what-shall-i-render/. Append #L14 to cite line 14, or #L4-L9 for lines 4–9.

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