If you
had been saved from death physically, as well as spiritually, how might you
respond? Perhaps it could be said that both of these states of being were on William
Cowper’s (see his picture here) mind in his 40th year in 1771, when
he thought about his life and wrote some poetry that we know as “There Is a
Fountain”. It’s likely that he was
reading some of his bible, and that his friends at the time influenced his
thinking. Close associates’ influence on a writer’s creativity would not be
uncommon, but particularly in this Englishman’s life, he needed friends to help
sustain his mind and emotions.
An
examination of William Cowper’s first 40 years need not be too in-depth to
discover what drove him. He’d had many stress points as a child and adult,
which eventually led to temporary insanity and suicidal behavior in the decade
before his 1771 composition about “...a Fountain”. This fountain might have
also been metaphorically described as his oasis. The loss of his mother at age six, an uncle’s refusal
to allow his marriage to a cousin, and finally an agonizing nervous tension
over an approaching public examination for a clerk’s position in the House of
Lords were some of the incidents that pushed him over the edge in 1763. With the
care of a like-minded poet (Nathaniel Cotton) in an asylum, and later friends
like John Newton (composer of Amazing
Grace), Cowper recovered. It’s reported that Cowper’s allegiance to Christ
was spurred as he read a bible (Romans 3:25) during the 18 months under Cotton’s
treatment. Seven years later, in the midst of his friendship with Newton,
Cowper was apparently reading his bible yet again – Zechariah 13:1. Was he
still feeling the pangs of guilt rooted in some transgression, as he read about
the fountain’s cleansing power? Were he and Newton perchance discussing grace’s
startling effects? Was “… a Fountain” a herald of Newton’s efforts just a few
years hence? (He composed his most famous ode apparently in 1773.) Cowper and
Newton’s collaboration didn’t end with those two hymns, which were among the
300-plus hymns the two contributed to the Olney Hymnal that debuted in 1779.
Yet,
Cowper’s roller-coaster life continued after the creation of “There Is a
Fountain”. He had another serious bout with madness in 1773, which another
friend, Mary Unwin, helped him overcome. So, one might ask, ‘Did Cowper forget to keep
drinking from the Fountain?’ We don’t know, but it’s likely that 18th
Century medicine, particularly for mental health maladies like Cowper’s, wasn’t
totally effective. Even today, mental health patients have relapses. But, Cowper’s
therapy included devoted friends, like Unwin and Newton, and the Providential
One of whom he wrote. He does intervene in life, Cowper concluded (see song-story
on “God Moves in a Mysterious Way” elsewhere in this blog). This sometimes
mad-composer continued to write poetry through the remainder of his terrestrial
life in the latter 18th Century, while staying close to friends. And,
two of the more obscure verses of Cowper’s “Fountain” hymn tell of his
expectation to play a harp in the afterlife. These two verses –from the deep
recesses of Cowper’s mind – aren’t so crazy, are they? If your life becomes unhinged
sometimes, maybe you should access not just Cowper’s mind, but the remedy he
found. In fact, you’d be crazy not to.
The
following website has all seven original verses, including the last two that we
contemporaries rarely see and sing:
Information
on the life of William Cowper is found at:
See more
information on the song discussed above in The Complete Book of Hymns –
Inspiring Stories About 600 Hymns and Praise Songs by William J. Petersen
and Ardythe Petersen, Tyndale House Publishers, 2006. Also, see Amazing Grace: 366 Inspiring
Hymn Stories for Daily Devotions by Kenneth W. Osbeck, Kregel Publications,
1990; and Then Sings My Soul – 150 of the World’s Greatest Hymn Stories,
Robert J. Morgan, Thomas Nelson Publishers, 2003.
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