O how I love Thy holy word. W. Cowper. [Holy Scripture in Affliction.] This is No. 17 of Book iii. It is in 6 stanzas of 4 lines, and headed, "Afflictions sanctified by the Word." It is in common use in its original form, but a cento therefrom, beginning with stanza iii., "Long unafflicted, undismayed," is much more popular than the complete hymn.
--John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology (1907)