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What thousands never knew the road! The narrow way
William Cowper printed it in 1779 in Olney Hymns, Book III, no. 73.
WRITTEN BY
William Cowper 1731–1800
PRINTED
1779 Olney Hymns · no. 73
METRE
Long Metre 8.8.8.8 · 5 stanzas
WRITTEN ON
A subject no verse printed above it
The hymn, and the Scripture in it
All 5 stanzas as Cowper printed them, with the verses their lines echo beside them. Point at a line to join it to its verse; click to read the passage.
SHARED WORDSthe verse shares the line's wording ECHOproposed by an AI model, confirmed by a separate check Not the author's own notes
AMONG THE SCRIPTURES
The stanzas at the centre; around them, every book its heading and its echoes come from, Old Testament on the left and New on the right. Choose a stanza or a book.
a line echoes this verse its heading or an echo comes from here
STANZA I
What thousands never knew the road
What thousands never knew the road!
What thousands hate it when ’tis known!
None but the chosen tribes of God,
Will seek or choose it for their own.
No line of this stanza quotes a verse closely; it is the hymn's own confession.
Its place in the book
Book III of the hymn book, “On the progress and changes of the spiritual life”, holds these hymns in this order: 106 hymns. This is number 73. Point at a tick to see the hymn; click it to open that hymn.
NO. 73 · WILLIAM COWPER · THIS HYMN What thousands never knew the road!
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