These hymns were written in Olney, England and were originally published in 1779. This collection includes William Cowper's 68 Olney hymns, and twelve other sacred works. All of Cowper's most loved hymns are found "God Moves in Mysterious Ways," "There Is a Fountain Filled with Blood," and "O for a Closer Walk with God." This edition also contains a brief biographical sketch of William Cowper by Rev. Henry Stebbing, A. M. (1799-1883). All Bible references are complete text. Please The Olney Hymns (1779) were originally published without music. This edition is uniform with the first edition and contains no music. In those days hymns were sung using many different tunes that had the same meter. Music wasn’t commonly published in hymnbooks until well into the 1800’s.
William Cowper (1731-1800) was an English poet and hymnodist. One of the most popular poets of his time, Cowper changed the direction of 18th century nature poetry by writing of everyday life and scenes of the English countryside. In many ways, he was one of the forerunners of Romantic poetry. Samuel Taylor Coleridge called him "the best modern poet", whilst William Wordsworth particularly admired his poem Yardley-Oak. He was a nephew of the poet Judith Madan.
Cowper suffered from severe manic depression, and although he found refuge in a fervent evangelical Christianity, the inspiration behind his much-loved hymns, he often experienced doubt and feared that he was doomed to eternal damnation. His religious sentiment and association with John Newton (who wrote the hymn Amazing Grace) led to much of the poetry for which he is best remembered.
Not quite sure what I was expecting…it’s hymns. But Olney, MD is named after these hymns so I’m glad I can say I read them. Several of the less Jesus-y hymns were quite beautiful in their prose.
While some of the hymns are admittedly better than others, there are some that are excellent and rich and have already stood the test of time (and been put to good use!) Newton clearly has a heart of a pastor, which shows through his hymns. And Cowper has written some of my favorites, so it's all in all a great work!