The words
Stanza 1. What contradictions meetIn ministers’ employ!It is a bitter sweet,A sorrow full of joy:No other post affords a placeFor equal honor, or disgrace!
Stanza 2. Who can describe the painWhich faithful preachers feel;Constrained to speak, in vain,To hearts as hard as steel?Or who can tell the pleasures felt,When stubborn hearts begin to melt?
Stanza 3. The Savior’s dying love,The soul’s amazing worth;Their utmost efforts move,And draw their bowels forth:They pray and strive, their rest departs,Till CHRIST be formed in sinners hearts.
Stanza 4. If some small hope appear,They still are not content;But, with a jealous fear,They watch for the event:Too oft they find their hopes deceived,Then, how their inmost souls are grieved!
Stanza 5. But when their pains succeed,And from the tender bladeThe rip’ning ears proceed,Their toils are overpaid:No harvest–joy can equal theirs,To find the fruit of all their cares.
Stanza 6. On what has now been sownThy blessing, LORD, bestow;The pow’r is thine alone,To make it spring and grow:Do thou the gracious harvest raise,And thou, alone, shalt have the praise.
Olney Hymns (1779), Book 2, Hymn 26. John Newton. Public domain. CCEL transcription with modernized spelling. www.praylock.com/olney-hymns/2-26
