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Olney Hymns
Discover the book that brought us Amazing Grace.
In 1779 John Newton and his friend, poet William Cowper, published a collection of 348 hymns that were written especially for their local community in Olney. The most famous of which is Amazing Grace .
The hymns reveal Newton’s fiery love for the people of Olney, and his commitment to unveil the beauty and power of the Gospel to the people of his parish.
The collection was originally published in three books. Book I. includes hymns that are based on select texts of scripture.
Here at Hymns Of Note we love the Olney Hymns and have written about them in our two books ( Hymns Of Note and Hymns Of Rejoice ), but we struggled to find a good published edition of the hymns that wasn't just a facsimile of the original. So we decided to publish our own modern version that really celebrates these hymns.
Hymns Of Note aims to breathe new life into old hymns and is proud to present Olney Hymns Book I . The first collection of its kind, this book includes the original text of the hymns with updated formatting for the modern reader.
Book I. also includes John Newton's original preface to the Olney
From the preface to Olney Hymns by John
"…I offer [Olney Hymns] to the service and acceptance of all who love the Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity, of every name and in every place, into whose hands it may come; I more particularly dedicate to my dear friends in the parish and neighbourhood of Olney, for whose use the hymns were originally composed; as a testimony of the sincere love I bear them, and as a token of my gratitude to the Lord, and to them…"
In 1779 John Newton and his friend, poet William Cowper, published a collection of 348 hymns that were written especially for their local community in Olney. The most famous of which is Amazing Grace .
The hymns reveal Newton’s fiery love for the people of Olney, and his commitment to unveil the beauty and power of the Gospel to the people of his parish.
The collection was originally published in three books. Book I. includes hymns that are based on select texts of scripture.
Here at Hymns Of Note we love the Olney Hymns and have written about them in our two books ( Hymns Of Note and Hymns Of Rejoice ), but we struggled to find a good published edition of the hymns that wasn't just a facsimile of the original. So we decided to publish our own modern version that really celebrates these hymns.
Hymns Of Note aims to breathe new life into old hymns and is proud to present Olney Hymns Book I . The first collection of its kind, this book includes the original text of the hymns with updated formatting for the modern reader.
Book I. also includes John Newton's original preface to the Olney
From the preface to Olney Hymns by John
"…I offer [Olney Hymns] to the service and acceptance of all who love the Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity, of every name and in every place, into whose hands it may come; I more particularly dedicate to my dear friends in the parish and neighbourhood of Olney, for whose use the hymns were originally composed; as a testimony of the sincere love I bear them, and as a token of my gratitude to the Lord, and to them…"
340 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1779
35 people are currently reading
216 people want to read
About the author
John Newton
128 books110 followersLibrarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.
Please see: John Newton
John Newton was born in London and at age eleven went to sea with his father, a shipmaster on the Mediterranean. Disregarding his mother's prayer that he enter the ministry, he engaged in the lucrative but brutal African slave trade for a number of years. Afterwards, he served in the Church of England as pastor of Olney parish and later of the combined church of St. Mary's in London. In addition to the words of "Amazing Grace," Newton was a prolific songwriter whose other well-known hymns include "Glorious Things of Thee are Spoken" and "How Sweet the Name of Jesus Sounds."
Please see: John Newton
John Newton was born in London and at age eleven went to sea with his father, a shipmaster on the Mediterranean. Disregarding his mother's prayer that he enter the ministry, he engaged in the lucrative but brutal African slave trade for a number of years. Afterwards, he served in the Church of England as pastor of Olney parish and later of the combined church of St. Mary's in London. In addition to the words of "Amazing Grace," Newton was a prolific songwriter whose other well-known hymns include "Glorious Things of Thee are Spoken" and "How Sweet the Name of Jesus Sounds."
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
August 30, 2023
"Welcome to the Table" and "Jehovah Our Righteousness" are particular favorites.
July 13, 2013
Every morning is a DELIGHT, as I read, and re-read one of the poems in this book!
September 12, 2025
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.
"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.
March 14, 2022
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.
March 8, 2023
For those interested in the old poetry of the oldest hymns.
June 12, 2025
The number of works in here…amazing.
August 18, 2017
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!
Want to Read
December 27, 2011God Moves in a Mysterious Way'
July 2, 2020
keeping these open on my side table damn
March 20, 2024
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.
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews