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Grace and Providence

I

Almighty King! whose wondrous hand
Supports the weight of sea and land,
Whose grace is such a boundless store
No heart shall break that sighs for more,

II

Thy providence supplies my food,
And ’tis thy blessing makes it good;
My soul is nourish’d by thy word
Let soul and body praise the Lord.

III

My streams of outward comfort came
From him, who built this earthly frame;
Whate’er I want his bounty gives,
By whom my soul for ever lives.

IV

Either his hand preserves from pain,
Or, if I feel it, heals again;
From Satan’s malice shields my breast,
Or over-rules it for the best.

V

Forgive the song that falls so low
Beneath the gratitude I owe!
It means thy praise, however poor⁠—
An angel’s song can do no more.

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

William Cowper (1731–1800). “Grace and Providence.” First published in Olney Hymns (1779). Text: Poem Index, https://poemindex.org/william-cowper/grace-and-providence/. Append #L14 to cite line 14, or #L4-L9 for lines 4–9.

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