O for a closer walk with God

O for a closer walk with God. William Cowper* (1731-1800). Written in 1767 (see below), and first printed in Richard Conyers*’s Collection of Psalms and Hymns (1772) and then in Augustus Montague Toplady*’s Toplady's Psalms and Hymns (1776) before publication in Olney Hymns (1779). It was Hymn III in Book I of OH, entitled ‘Walking with God’, with a link to Genesis 5: 24, ‘And Enoch walked with God’. It was written in December 1767 when Cowper’s friend, Mary Unwin, was seriously ill, and probably reflects his fear for the outcome and his struggle to submit to the will of God. The text in 1779 was as follows: Oh! for a closer walk with God,  A calm and heav’nly frame;A light to shine upon...