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True and False Comforts

I

God, whose favourable eye
The sin-sick soul revives,
Holy and heav’nly is the joy
Thy shining presence gives.

II

Not such as hypocrites suppose,
Who, with a graceless heart,
Taste not of thee, but drink a dose
Prepared by Satan’s art.

III

Intoxicating joys are theirs,
Who, while they boast their light,
And seem to soar above the stars,
Are plunging into night.

IV

Lull’d in a soft and fatal sleep,
They sin and yet rejoice;
Were they indeed the Saviour’s sheep.
Would they not hear his voice?

V

Be mine the comforts that reclaim
The soul from Satan’s pow’r;
That make me blush for what I am,
And hate my sin the more.

VI

’Tis joy enough, my All in All,
At thy dear feet to lie;
Thou wilt not let me lower fall,
And none can higher fly.

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

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

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