The Story of Our Hymns Part 28

A SLAVE-TRADER WHO WROTE CHRISTIAN LYRICS

In one of England's famous old churches there is a tablet marking the last resting-place of one of its rectors, and on the tablet this epitaph:

"John Newton, _clerk, once an Infidel and Libertine, a servant of slavers in Africa, was, by the rich Mercy of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, preserved, restored, pardoned, and appointed to preach the Faith he had long labored to destroy_."

This inscription, written by Newton himself before his death, tells the strange story of the life of the man who wrote "How sweet the Name of Jesus sounds," and scores of other beautiful hymns.

Newton was born in London, July 24, 1725. His father was a sea captain.

His mother, a deeply pious woman, though frail in health, found her greatest joy in teaching her boy Scripture pa.s.sages and hymns. When he was only four years old he was able to read the Catechism.

The faithful mother often expressed the hope to her son that he might become a minister. However, when the lad was only seven years of age, the mother died, and he was left to shift largely for himself. On his 11th birthday he joined his father at sea, and made five voyages to the Mediterranean. Through the influence of evil companions and the reading of infidel literature, he began to live a G.o.dless and abandoned life.

Being pressed into the navy when a war seemed imminent, young Newton deserted. He was captured, however, and flogged at the mast, after which he was degraded.

At this point his life teems with reckless adventures and strange escapes. Falling into the hands of an unscrupulous slave-dealer in Africa, he himself was reduced practically to the abject condition of a slave. In his misery he gave himself up to nameless sins. The memory of his mother, however, and the religious truths which she had implanted in his soul as a child gave his conscience no peace.

The reading of "The Imitation of Christ," by Thomas a Kempis, also exerted a profound influence over him, and a terrifying experience in a storm at sea, together with his deliverance from a malignant fever in Africa, served to bring the prodigal as a penitent to the throne of mercy.

After six years as the captain of a slaveship, during which time Newton pa.s.sed through many severe struggles in trying to find peace with G.o.d through the observance of a strict moral life, he met on his last voyage a pious captain who helped to bring him to a truer and deeper faith in Christ.

For nine years at Liverpool he was closely a.s.sociated with Whitefield and the Wesleys, studying the Scriptures in Hebrew and Greek, and occasionally preaching at religious gatherings of the dissenters. In 1764 he was ordained as curate of Olney, where he formed the famous friendship with the poet William Cowper that gave to the world so many beautiful hymns.

It was at Newton's suggestion that the two undertook to write a hymn-book. The famous collection known as "The Olney Hymns," was the result of this endeavor. Of the 349 hymns in this book, Cowper is credited with sixty-six, while Newton wrote the remainder. "How sweet the Name of Jesus sounds" appeared for the first time in this collection. It is a hymn of surpa.s.sing tenderness, and ranks among the finest in the English language.

Other notable hymns, by Newton are: "Come, my soul, thy suit prepare,"

"Approach, my soul, the mercy-seat," "While with ceaseless course the sun," "One there is above all others," "For a season called to part,"

"Safely through another week," "On what has now been sown," "May the grace of Christ our Saviour," "Though troubles a.s.sail us, and dangers affright," "Day of judgment, day of wonders," and "Glorious things of thee are spoken."

Newton's life came to a close in London in 1807, after he had served for twenty-eight years as rector of St. Mary Woolnoth. Among his converts were numbered Claudius Buchanan, missionary to the East Indies, and Thomas Scott, the Bible commentator. In 1805, when his eyesight began to fail and he could no longer read his text, his friends advised him to cease preaching. His answer was: "What! shall the old African blasphemer stop while he can speak?"

When he was nearly eighty years old it was necessary for a helper to stand in the pulpit to help him read his ma.n.u.script sermons. One Sunday Newton had twice read the words, "Jesus Christ is precious." "You have already said that twice," whispered his helper; "go on." "John," said Newton, turning to his a.s.sistant in the pulpit, "I said that twice, and I am going to say it again." Then the rafters rang as the old preacher shouted, "_Jesus Christ is precious_!" Newton's whole life may be said to be summed up in the words of one of his appealing hymns:

Amazing grace! how sweet the sound That saved a wretch like me!

I once was lost, but now am found-- Was blind, but now I see.

A Hymn on G.o.d's Providence

G.o.d moves in a mysterious way, His wonders to perform: He plants His footsteps in the sea, And rides upon the storm.

Deep in unfathomable mines Of never-failing skill, He treasures up His bright designs, And works His sovereign will.

Ye fearful saints, fresh courage take: The clouds ye so much dread Are big with mercy, and shall break In blessings on your head.

Judge not the Lord by feeble sense, But trust Him for His grace; Behind a frowning Providence He hides a smiling face.

His purposes will ripen fast, Unfolding every hour.

The bud may have a bitter taste, But sweet will be the flower.

Blind unbelief is sure to err, And scan His works in vain.

G.o.d is His own interpreter, And He will make it plain.

William Cowper, 1774.

AN AFFLICTED POET WHO GLORIFIED G.o.d

Paul once wrote to the Corinthians: "G.o.d chose the weak things of the world, that he might put to shame the things that are strong."

In a very special sense this truth was exemplified in the life of the poet William Cowper. If G.o.d ever made use of a frail instrument through which to glorify Himself, He did it in this man. Feeble in health from childhood, with a sensitive, high-strung mind that ever was on the point of breaking, he still worked and wrought in such a way that his sad and feverish life certainly was not lived in vain.

Cowper was born at Great Berkhamstead, England, in 1731. His father was an English clergyman. His mother died when the child was only six years old. Even as a youth, he was distressed by frequent mental attacks. He once wrote pathetically: "The meshes of that fine network, the brain, are composed of such mere spinner's threads in me that when a long thought finds its way into them it buzzes, and tw.a.n.gs, and bustles about at such a rate as seems to threaten the whole contexture."

In the previous sketch we related how the famous friendship between the poet and John Newton led to the joint publication of "The Olney Hymns."

Newton's idea in suggesting this project was not merely "to perpetuate the remembrance of an intimate and endeared friendship," as he states in the preface of the noted collection, but also to occupy Cowper's mind, which already had given signs of approaching madness.

In 1773, two years after the two friends had begun "The Olney Hymns,"

Cowper pa.s.sed through a mental crisis that almost ended in tragedy.

Obsessed with the idea that it was the divine will that he should offer up his life by drowning himself in the Ouse river, the afflicted poet ordered a post chaise, and instructed the driver to proceed to a certain spot near Olney, where he planned to leap into the river. When he reached the place, Cowper was diverted from his purpose when he found a man seated at the exact place where he had intended to end his life.

Returning home, he is said to have thrown himself on his knife, but the blade broke. His next attempt was to hang himself, but the rope parted.

After his recovery from this dreadful experience, he was so impressed by the realization of G.o.d's overruling providence that he was led to write the hymn, "G.o.d moves in a mysterious way." It is regarded by many critics as the finest hymn ever written on the theme of G.o.d's providence. James T. Fields declares that to be the author of such a hymn is an achievement that "angels themselves might envy."

That G.o.d had a purpose in sparing the life of the sorely tried man is made clear when we learn that Cowper lived for twenty-seven years after pa.s.sing through this crisis. Although he continued to experience some distressing periods, it was during these years that he wrote some of his most beautiful hymns. Among these are "O for a closer walk with G.o.d,"

"Sometimes a light surprises," "Jesus, where'er Thy people meet," "In holy contemplation," and "There is a fountain filled with blood."

The latter hymn has often been criticized because of its strong figurative language. The expression, "a fountain filled with blood," has proved so offensive to modern taste that many hymn-books have omitted this touching hymn. Dr. Ray Palmer, writer of "My faith looks up to Thee," opposed these views vigorously. He once wrote:

"Such criticism seems to us superficial. It takes the words as if they were intended to be a literal prosaic statement. It forgets that what they express is not only poetry, but the poetry of intense and impa.s.sioned feeling, which naturally embodies itself in the boldest metaphors. The inner sense of the soul, when its deepest affections are moved, infallibly takes these metaphors in their true significance, while a cold critic of the letter misses that significance entirely. He merely demonstrates his own lack of the spiritual sympathies of which, for fervent Christian hearts, the hymn referred to is an admirable expression."

Certainly it is a hymn that has spread blessings in its path, and countless are the stories of how it has broken down the resistance of hardened human hearts. One of these tells how a Belfast minister once visited a mill where two hundred girls were employed, many of them from his own congregation. One girl, when she saw her pastor entering, began to sing "There is a fountain filled with blood." Other girls took up the lines, and soon the glorious song was ringing above the noise of all the looms. The manager, who was an unbeliever, was so moved that he seized his hat and ran from the building. Later he confessed to the minister, "I never was so hard put to it in all my life. It nearly broke me down."

Cowper also wrote a number of secular poems that achieved great fame.

"The Task," has been called "one of the wisest books ever written, and one of the most charming." Another poem, "John Gilpin," is a very happy and mirthful narrative.

Although Cowper's mother died in his early childhood, he never forgot her. When he was fifty-six years old, a cousin sent him a miniature of his mother. In acknowledging the gift, he wrote: "I had rather possess my mother's picture than the richest jewel in the British crown; for I loved her with an affection that her death, fifty years since, has not in the least abated."

Cowper died in 1800. Three years before his death, he lost his lifelong comforter and friend, Mrs. Morley Unwin, who had cared for him with the solicitude of a mother. The sorrow was almost too great for his feeble nature, and he again sank into deepest gloom. At times he thought G.o.d had forsaken him. Only at intervals was he able to resume his literary work.

His last poem was "The Castaway," written March 20, 1799. Through all his spiritual and mental depression, however, he was ever submissive to the will of G.o.d. But the time of release for this chastened child of G.o.d was at hand.

Bishop Moule tells the story of his departure thus: "About half an hour before his death, his face, which had been wearing a sad and hopeless expression, suddenly lighted up with a look of wonder and inexpressible delight. It was as if he saw his Saviour, and as if he realized the blessed fact, 'I am not shut out of Heaven after all!' This look of holy surprise and of joyful adoration remained until he had pa.s.sed away, and even as he lay in his coffin the expression was still there. One who saw him after death wrote that 'with the composure and calmness of the face, there mingled also a holy surprise.'"