There is a fountain filled with blood,
Drawn from Immanuel's veins,
And sinners plunged beneath that flood
Lose all their guilty stains.
This hymn, despite the many arrows levelled at it by the modern critic, has lost none of its old-time power, and is possibly one of the most sung Gospel hymns of the last century.
William Cowper, the author, was born at the Rectory of Berkhampstead, just two hundred years ago. He had a chequered life. Delicate from childhood, he became sensitive and morbid, with frequent fits of melancholy. Trials and afflictions seemed to beset him, more or less, all the days of his life, relieved only by brief seasons of happiness, spent in the company of his friend and compeer, John Newton, at Olney. In his sixth year, Cowper lost his mother, who was the joy of his tender heart. Till the end of his life, the memory of his mother was to him ever green, and years after her death he found fullest expression of his pen-up love in the exquisite poem, "In Memoriam."
Educated at the famous Westminster School, where he had for a class-fellow Warren Hastings, he was afterwards apprenticed to an attorney, and called to the bar. Public life with its constant strain and perpetual bustle, was too much for his nervous temperament, and Cowper was compelled to relinquish his profession. He retired to the home of a friend at Huntingdon, removing later to Olney, where he first met John Newton, the author of "How sweet the name of Jesus sounds." After the two friends had lived together for some time, Newton, with the object of overcoming the ever recurring fits of despondency, suggested that Cowper should assist him in writing what is now known as the "Olney Hymns." Eager to occupy his time in a pursuit well pleasing to his literary tastes, as well as his spiritual aspirations, Cowper at once acted on the suggestion, and many gems of sacred song came from his pen. Probably the best known is:
God moves in a mysterious way,
His wonders to perform;
He plants His footsteps in the sea,
And rides upon the storm.
The story of how this hymn came to be written has often been told, but is worth recording here. During a fit of mental distress, the poet became possessed with the idea that he should go to a particular part of the River Ouse, and drown himself. The night was dark, and the coachman, purposely losing his way, brought Cowper safely back to his home again. By this time the cloud seemed to have lifted from his mind, and in deep contrition and thankfulness to God for his deliverance from danger and from death, he wrote this hymn, which, for more than a century and a half, has brought comfort and consolation to many a troubled heart.
During these dark and depressing periods, besides the writing of verse, Cowper engaged his attention in various everyday pursuits, such as carpentering, gardening, and the tending of tame hares and other playmates.
The house at Olney in which the poet lived, is now the Cowper Museum. Attached to it is the garden, laid out as it was in the days when William Cowper wandered among the flower-beds, or sat in the shady summer-house, a secluded spot to which the hymn writer would often steal, when the poetic impulse was upon him.
That the hymns of Cowper are not forgotten, even by the present generation, is shown by the fact that in 1931, people from many parts of the country journeyed to Olney, the home of the poet for many years, to witness the celebration of the bi-centenary of his birth, which took place on November 26th, 1731. In the Market Square of this quaint town there gathered a large number of school children, who had assembled to sing some of Cowper's best known hymns, and to listen to an address given on the life story of the poet.
In the parlour of Cowper's house, may be seen the manuscripts of many of his poems, also original letters, the poet's walking-stick, coffee-pot, and numerous mementoes of those far-off days. It was to this room, on that tragic night already referred to, that Cowper retired, and it is not improbable that it was upon the sofa, which may still be seen, the poet wrote his well-known hymn, "God moves in a mysterious way." On entering his bedroom, the visitor cannot but be impressed by the various objects that meet his gaze; and the mind involuntarily wanders over years long past and gone. It was here that the immortal poem, "Toll for the brave," was written. It was his favourite room, and in the quietude of this chamber many of his best hymns were composed, including the sublime lines:
Oh for a closer walk with God,
A calm and heavenly frame;
A light to shine upon the road
That leads me to the Lamb!
As a sacred poet Cowper takes a prominent place. Of the three hundred and forty-eight "Olney Hymns"—a collection of hymns of outstanding merit, composed at this time by John Newton and William Cowper—sixty-eight were written by the latter, a goodly number of which are to be found in most of the present-day hymnals.
In later years he removed from Olney, and died at East Dereham, on April 25th, 1800.
The hymns of Cowper invariably strike a plaintive note, and lack the element of brightness which characterise the compositions of Watts and Wesley. Of all the hymns from the pen of Cowper, the sweetest and most tender is the universally loved composition:
Hark, my soul! it is the Lord,
"Tis thy Saviour, hear His word;
Jesus speaks, and speaks to thee,
"Say, poor sinner, lov'st thou Me?
"I delivered thee when bound,
'And, when bleeding, healed thy wound;
Sought thee wand'ring, set thee right;
Turned thy darkness into light."
From Stories and Sketches of Our Hymns and Their Writers by David J. Beattie. Kilmarnock, Scotland: John Ritchie, [1934].
>> More William Cowper