T h e K i n g ’ s B u s i n e s s
292
May 1928
o f English literature from artificialism to naturalism. This is illustrated in his “ John Gilpin” and “ Task.” Charles Lamb wrote to Samuel Coleridge in 1796, “ I am glad you like Cowper. I can forgive a man for not enjoying Milton, but I would not call that man my friend wbo should be offended by the ‘divine chit-chat’ of Cow per.” His mother died when he was six and at sixty he wrote “ Lines on my Mother’s Portrait” beginning^ J “ Oh that those lips had language. L ife has passed With me but roughly since I heard thee last.” His years at Olney with Newton were the happiest of his life, and excepting the periods o f abnormal despon dency, he was happy in his hymn writing and other forms o f literary and Christian work. But when Newton took a church in London, conditions of life for the sensitive poet were not so favorable and his times of depression became more intense. ’ “ The Castaway” was writteh in one o f his darkest moods, “ in the twilight o f departing reason,” a brave effort to stem the tide o f despair. It was his latest work, giving tragic expression to his despondency that overcame him as a dark cloud from which his soul never emerged at the end o f life. But in spite of this, it is given on the authority o f a near' and dear relative, “ that from the moment that his spirit passed until the coffin lid was closed, the expression into which his countenance had settled was that o f calm ness and composure, mingled, as it were, with holy sur prise.” M rs . B rowning ’ s T ribute Mrs. Browning in her beautiful elegy on “ Cowper’s Grave” has expressed in a word the tragedy and glory o f Cowper’s life : “ O poets, from a maniac’s tongue was poured the death less singing! O Christians, at your cross of hope a hopeless hand was clinging, O men, this man, in brotherhood, your weary hearts be guiling, Groaned inly while he taught you peace, and died while ye were smiling. “ With quiet sadness and no gloom I learn to think upon him, With meekness that is gratefulness to God whose heaven hath won him, Who suffered once the madness-cloud to his own love to blind him, But gently led the blind along where breath and bird could find him.” Two great souls! Unlike by nature and circum stance, yet they were drawn together in a friendship made possible by a mutual passion for Jesus Christ. It is true of both that “ they learned in suffering what they taught in song.” Newton could write “ Come, my soul, thy suit pre pare, Jesus loves to answer prayer,” and Cowper could give the antiphonal:: “ Hark, my soul! it is the Lord.” With a shudder Newton sees the abyss o f sin from which he has been saved, and sings, “ Amazing grace! how sweet the sound That saved a wretch like me.” Cowper, in human weakness, and struggling toward God in despair, cries, “ O, for a closer walk with God!” and in a moment of triumph could sing, “ Redeeming love has been my theme And shall be till I die.”
truths -of Thomas a Kempis’ “ Imitation of Christ” con firming his; faith, he gave his heart to the God whom he had blasphemed. Newton continued to follow a sea-faring life after his 'conversion— or reformation— and while his life was changed he had no conscience regarding the traffic in slaves, which was his business. After six years he met a godly sea captain in St. Christophers, and what Peter Bohler did for the Wesleys this pious man was used of God to do for Newton. He was led into a deeper Christian experience and at once began his preparation for the min istry. He was twenty-nine years old, but he spent nine years in study— thus setting a fine example for the Chris tian worker o f today. His first parish was Olney,; where he labored for eighteen years, during which time his greatest work in hymn writing was done. Collaborating with Cowper from week to week, beginning in 1771, hymns were written for the immediate, services o f the Olney Church, particularly the prayer meetings in the “ Great House,” and published in 1779 as the “ Olney Hymns.” In the preface to this collection Newton says, that other than the prime motive of promoting faith and giving comfort to Christians, the hymns were compiled “ to perpetuate the remembrance of an intimate and enduring friendship” between Cowper and himself. It is thought by many that this has a deeper meaning than appears on the surface and that a tender, underlying motive was his great solicitude for his frail and despondent friend* and his desire to keep his mind diverted and active in this constructive work. Newton lived to be eighty-two years old, preaching almost to the day o f his death. He was urged to give up preaching when he could no longer read his text, but he replied, “ What! Shall the old African blasphemer stop virhile: he can speak?” His epitaph,, written by himself, is as folldws: “ John Newton, clerk, once an infidel and libertine, a servant of slaves in Africa, was by the rich grace o f our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ preserved, restored, pardoned and appointed to preach the faith he had long labored to destroy.” T he S tory of C owper William Cowper was born at Berkhamstead, the birth place o f Bishop Ken, in 1731. He was educated at West minster school with Warren Hastings, Churchill the poet, and Edward. Thurlow, afterward Lord Chancellor. In tended for the law,, he never was able to' follow the pro fession. Named as clerk o f the Journal in the House of Lords, he never took the position, as he was seized with a horror at the thought of public Scrutiny, and attempted suicide. He was the physical antithesis o f Newton— frail, sick ly, melancholy, given to moods that meant temporary in sanity. He attempted self-destruction several times, the most notable being with the hallucination that he must sac rifice his life as Abraham was led to offer his son Isaac. A t this time he. hired a cabman to drive him to a lonely place along the river, where he planned to drown him self. The driver had trouble in finding the place, and Cowper finally gave the order to return. Soon afterward he wrote his great hymn, “ God moves in a mysterious way, His wonders to perform ; He plants His footsteps on the sea, And rides upon the storm.” Cowper is ranked by many as the greatest English poet who has left any considerable contribution to hymn litera ture. The work of Cowper as a poet marks the transition
Made with FlippingBook - Online Brochure Maker