Olney Hymns

by William Cowper

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.

Genres: Poetry, Music, Christian, Christianity, Theology, Spirituality, Religion

126 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1779

About the author

The Task , best-known work of William Cowper, British poet, considered a precursor of romanticism, in 1785 praises rural life and leisure.

William Cowper served as an English hymnodist. Cowper, one most popular man of his time, wrote of everyday nature scenes of the English countryside and thus changed the direction of 18th century. In many ways, he foreran later authors. Samuel Taylor Coleridge called him "modern," whilst William Wordsworth particularly admired Yardley-Oak . He a nephew of Judith Madan.

From severe manic depression, Cowper suffered, found refuge in a fervent evangelical Christianity, the inspiration behind his much-loved hymns, often experienced doubt, and feared doom to eternal damnation. His religious sentiment and association with John Newton (who wrote Amazing Grace , the hymn) led to much memorable writing.

Reviews

[Lois · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Welcome to the Table" and "Jehovah Our Righteousness" are particular favorites.

[Kenneth Garrett · Rating 5 out of 5]

Every morning is a DELIGHT, as I read, and re-read one of the poems in this book!

[Kelvin O'Connell · Rating 5 out of 5]

It is pretty easy to recognize the humble beauty of Cowper's religious verse:

"Forerunner of the sun,
It marks the Pilgrim's way;
I'll gaze upon it while I run
And watch the rising day"
is an ineffable image for MANY reasons. I mean the common meter, as ever with Cowper, are stimulating and fun and jangly and nice, but remarkably Cowper wrests internal vision and external sight GLORIOUSLY simply by combining the verbs "gaze" and "watch"; as he gazes on the pilgrims light he watched the sun rising! ITS SO SIMPLE, BUT THE EFFECT IS GLORIOUS!??!?!?! Internal meditation is an endless thing, not contradicted by other action, as the rituals of a Christian spirit manifest themselves in the physical world through the (humble humble humble) perception of Cowper (a Christian). Essentially, this is just Romanticism except we (Cowper) are replacing the ego projection onto nature with a Christian projection. suck it Wordsworth!!!!!! (WW did this too though because he was the biggest Cowper-esque poet ever).

So idk man... its kind of the best collection of religious verse ever, after The Temple by George Herbert, of course.

We ALL surely know
"God moves in a mysterious way,
His wonders to perform"
as of course these are some of the finest lines ever penned in a hymn. But the following line is, in my mind, significantly more beautiful

"He plants his footsteps in the sea"

Guys... diction.... the verb "plants" here is maybe the most exquisite and subtle poetic decision and poet has ever made. to PLANT a footstep, in the SEA no less?!?!!?!?! wow... like it makes YOU want to cry doesnt it... its okay no need to hide it i KNOW it does....
But, seriously. In painting God as this mysterious creator, classically the vestiges of his presence are scattered through the world, but as we know faith is no easy thing to come by, as his footsteps were placed in the sea (certainly a metaphor for human strife which Cowper repeats rather frequently).

Every hymn here is divine. Everyone filled with such sensitive poeticism, attention to faith, to humility, and essentially to fear and sickness and pain and suffering. Cowper doesn't paint the Christian as some kind of powerful knight who will GO OFF AND CRUSADE! like some fools want you to believe. God to Cowper is only comfort in a promise; he is groveling at the worlds feet and searching for promises, and eventually finding indisputable proof in illusions which we cannot help but believe too:

"See his bleeding beauties, drawn
On the blushes of the skies."

when Cowper goes anapestic the devil shivers.

[Tyler Ruth · Rating 3 out of 5]

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.

[Dwight Croy · Rating 5 out of 5]

For those interested in the old poetry of the oldest hymns.

[Catherine · Rating 4 out of 5]

The number of works in here…amazing.

[Molly Marie · Rating 5 out of 5]

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!

[Caleb]

God Moves in a Mysterious Way'

[Olivia Funk · Rating 5 out of 5]

keeping these open on my side table damn

[Calvert Wallace · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've been using this hymn book as a part of my morning devotion and have enjoyed it so much I am going through it again.