The tempest-tossed friendship of John Newton and William Cowper
Jennifer M. Trafton | posted 1/01/2004 12:00AM
In his preface to the Olney Hymns (1779), John Newton explained the larger purpose of the collection: "A desire of promoting the faith and comfort of sincere Christians, though the principal, was not the only motive to this undertaking. It was likewise intended as a monument, to perpetuate the remembrance of an intimate and endeared friendship." This friend and co-author of the hymnbook was the poet William Cowper (1731-1800).
At first, Newton was in awe of this sophisticated gentleman who would later become known as one of the great English poets of the eighteenth century. But the author of such well-known hymns as "God moves in a mysterious way" and "There is a fountain filled with blood" was also a man of deep struggles.
Newton witnessed his role model undergo an emotional collapse that left Cowper completely dependent for a time upon him. The former sea captain who had braved his own storms faced the difficult—perhaps impossible—task of steering his dear friend through an even fiercer ...
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