In his book, The Hidden Smile of God, John Piper recounts the story of hymn writer William Cowper (pronounced “Cooper”). His is a sad tale including the death of his mother at age six, his abandonment by his father into boarding schools where it seems certain he was abused, and his constant battles with despair and depression leading to his commitment to an insane asylum and several unsuccessful attempts at suicide before he died, apparently in despair and loneliness, at the age of 69 in 1800.
Into this sad life, God brought mercy in the form of a gentle friend and encouraging pastor: John Newton. Yes, that John Newton. The slave-trader turned pastor. The defamer of Christ, turned proclaimer of Christ, who is most remembered for his hymn “Amazing Grace.”
For some 13 years Newton served as Cowper’s pastor, and during that time was used mightily by God to encourage and hold up this fragile saint. Under Newton’s leadership the two collaborated together on a hymnal, Newton writing some 200 and Cowper almost 70. This work produced several hymns still in our books, including the following by Cowper:
There is a fountain filled with blood
Drawn from Emmanuel’s veins;
And sinners, plunged beneath that flood,
Lose all their guilty stains.
The dying thief rejoiced to see
That fountain in his day;
And there have I, as vile as he,
Washed all my sins away.
Dear dying Lamb, thy precious blood
Shall never lose its power;
Till all the ransomed church of God
Be saved to sin no more.
E’er since, by faith, I saw the stream
Thy flowing wounds supply,
Redeeming love has been my theme,
And shall be till I die.
[You might particularly notice those last two lines; despite his despair, Cowper was still ultimately hopeful (confident) in Christ.]
After Newton had moved on to another place of ministry, he still remained as Cowper’s friend and encourager over Cowper’s last 20 years of life. In one of those later years, Newton took time to visit Cowper, and Cowper then responded with this note: “I found those comforts in your visit, which have formerly sweetened all our interviews, in part restored. I knew you; knew you for the same shepherd who was sent to lead me out of the wilderness into the pasture where the Chief Shepherd feeds His flock, and felt my sentiments of affectionate friendship for you the same as ever.”
It was a small act of grace by Newton, doing good to one of those in God’s household, but in this obedience, there resounds a grace that is still heard and sung today.
Never underestimate the power of an act of grace done for one of God’s sheep to the glory of God.
Words of Grace 