William Cowper

From The Hidden Smile of God by John Piper:

The fruit of William Cowper’s affliction is a call to free ourselves from trite and chipper worship. If the Christian life has become the path of ease and fun in the modern West, then corporate worship is the place of increasing entertainment. The problem is not a battle between contemporary worship music and hymns; the problem is that there aren’t enough martyrs during the week. If no solders are perishing, what you want on a Sunday is Bob Hope and some pretty girls, not the army chaplain and a surgeon.
   Cowper was sick. But in his sickness he saw things that we so desperately need to see. He saw hell. And sometimes he saw heaven. He knew terror. And sometimes he know ecstasy. When I stand to welcome the people to worship on Sunday morning, I know that there are William Cowpers in the congregation. There are spouses who can barely talk. There are sullen teenagers living double lives at home and school. There are widows who still feel the amputation of a fifty-year partner,. There are single people who have not been hugged for twenty years. There are men in the prime of their lives with cancer. There are moms who have risked all for Jesus and bear the scars. There are tired and discouraged and lonely struggles. Shall we come to them with a joke?
   They can read the comics every day. What they need from me is not more bouncy, frisky smiles and stories. What they need is a kind of a joyful earnestness that makes the broken heart feel hopeful and helps the ones who are drunk with trifles sober up for greater joys.

—John Piper, The Hidden Smile of God, 167.

I reioyced, when they sayd to me, We wil go into the house of the Lord. (Psalme 122:1 Geneva Bible)

HYMN XIV
JEHOVAH–ROPHI, I am the Lord that healeth thee. Ex. xv.
by William Cowper (1731–1800)

HEAL us, Emmanuel, here we are,
   Waiting to feel thy touch;
Deep wounded souls to thee repair,
   And, Savior we are such.

Our faith is feeble we confess,
   We faintly trust thy word;
But wilt thou pity us the less?
   Be that far from thee, Lord!

Remember him who once apply’d
   With trembling for relief;
“Lord, I believe, with tears he cry’d,
   help my unbelief.”

She too, who touch’d thee in the press,
   And healing virtue stole;
Was answer’d, “Daughter, go in peace,
   Thy faith hath made thee whole.”

Conceal’d amid the gath’ring throng,
   She would have shunn’d thy view;
And if her faith was firm and strong,
   Had strong misgivings too.

Like her, with hopes and fears, we come,
   To touch thee if we may;
O! send us not despairing home,
   Send none unheal’d away.

—from Olney Hymns. Book I: On select Passages of Scripture.

Psalme 119:25–32
(Geneva Bible)
Daleth.

Grace be with you, and Peace from God our Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ.

I reioyced, when they sayd to me, We wil go into the house of the Lord. (Psalme 122:1 Geneva Bible)

HYMN XVII
JEHOVAH-NISSI,
The Lord my banner. Ex. xvii. 15.
by William Cowper (1731–1800)

BY whom was David taught,
   To aim the dreadful blow,
   When he Goliath fought,
      And laid the Gittite low?
No sword nor spear the stripling took,
But chose a pebble from the brook.

   ’Twas Israel’s God and king,
      Who sent him to the fight;
   Who gave him strength to fling,
      And skill to aim aright.
Ye feeble saints your strength endures,
Because young David’s God’s is yours.

   Who ordered Gideon forth,
      To storm th’ invaders’ camp,
   With arms of little worth,
      A pitcher and a lamp?
The trumpets made his coming known,
And all the host was overthrown.

   Oh! I have seen the day,
      When with a single word,
   God helping me to say,
      My trust is in the Lord;
My soul has quell’d a thousand foes,
Fearless of all that could oppose.

   But unbelief, self–will,
      Self–righteousness and pride,
   How often do they steal
      My weapon from my side?
Yet David’s Lord, and Gideon’s friend,
Will help his servant to the end.

—from Olney Hymns. Book I: On select Passages of Scripture.

Psalme 119:169–176
(Geneva Bible)
Tav.
169 Let my complaint come before thee, O Lord, and giue me vnderstanding, according vnto thy worde.
170 Let my supplication come before thee, and deliuer me according to thy promise.
171 My lippes shall speake praise, when thou hast taught me thy statutes.
172 My tongue shall intreate of thy word: for all thy commandements are righteous.
173 Let thine hand helpe me: for I haue chosen thy precepts.
174 I haue longed for thy saluation, O Lord, and thy Lawe is my delite.
175 Let my soule liue, and it shall praise thee, and thy iudgements shall helpe me.
176 I haue gone astraye like a lost sheepe: seeke thy seruant, for I doe not forget thy commandements.

Grace be with you, and Peace from God our Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ.

I was glad when they said to me, “Let us go to the house of the Lord.”

HYMN XXII.
Jehovah-Shalem, The Lord send peace.    Judges vi. 24.
by William Cowper (1731–1800)

Jesus, whose blood so freely stream’d
To satisfy the laws demand;
By thee from guilt and wrath redeem’d,
Before the Father’s face I stand.

To reconcile offending man,
Make Justice drop her angry rod;
What creature could have form’d the plan,
Or who fulfil it but a God?

No drop remains of all the curse;
For wretches who deserv’d the whole;
No arrows dipt in wrath to pierce
The guilty, but returning soul.

Peace by such means so dearly bought,
What rebel could have hop’d to see?
Peace, by his injur’d sovereign wrought,
His Sov’reign fastened to the tree.

Now, Lord, thy feeble worm prepare!
For strife with earth and hell begins;
Confirm and gird me for the war,
They hate the soul that hates his sins.

Let them in horrid league agree!
They may assault, they may distress;
But cannot quench thy love to me,
Nor rob me of the Lord my peace.

—from Olney Hymns. Book I: On select Passages of Scripture.

John 6:41–51

Therefore the Jews were grumbling about Him, because He said, “I am the bread that came down out of heaven.” 42 They were saying, “Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How does He now say, ‘I have come down out of heaven’?” 43 Jesus answered and said to them, “Do not grumble among yourselves. 44 No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up on the last day. 45 It is written in the prophets, ‘And they shall all be taught of God.’ Everyone who has heard and learned from the Father, comes to Me. 46 Not that anyone has seen the Father, except the One who is from God; He has seen the Father. 47 Truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes has eternal life. 48 I am the bread of life. 49 Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died. 50 This is the bread which comes down out of heaven, so that one may eat of it and not die. 51 I am the living bread that came down out of heaven; if anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever; and the bread also which I will give for the life of the world is My flesh.”

Truths of the weightiest importance follow each other in rapid succession in the chapter we are now reading. There are probably very few parts of the Bible which contain so many “deep things” as the Sixth Chapter of St. John. Of this the passage before as is a signal example.
   We learn, for one thing, from this passage, that Christ’s lowly condition, when He was upon earth, is a stumbling-block to the natural man. We read that “the Jews murmured, because Jesus said, I am the bread that came down from heaven. And they said, Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How is it then that he saith, I came down from heaven?”—Had our Lord come as a conquering king, with wealth and honours to bestow on His followers, and mighty armies in His train, they would have been willing enough to receive Him. But a poor, and lowly, and suffering Messiah was an offence to them. Their pride refused to believe that such an one was sent from God.
   There is nothing that need surprise us in this. It is human nature showing itself in its true colors. We see the same thing in the days of the Apostles. Christ crucified was “to the Jews a stumbling-block, and to the Greeks foolishness.” (1 Cor. i. 23.) The cross was an offence to many wherever the Gospel was preached.—We may see the same thing in our own times. There are thousands around us who loathe the distinctive doctrines of the Gospel on account of their humbling character. They cannot away with the atonement, and the sacrifice, and the substitution of Christ. His moral teaching they approve. His example and self-denial they admire. But speak to them of Christ’s blood,—of Christ being made sin for us,—of Christ’s death being the corner-stone of our hope,—of Christ’s poverty being our riches,—and you will find they hate these things with a deadly hatred. Truly the offence of the cross is not yet ceased!
   We learn, for another thing, from this passage, man’s natural helplessness and inability to repent or believe. We find our Lord saying,—“No man can come unto me, except the Father which hath sent me draws him.” Until the Father draws the heart of man by His grace, man will not believe.
   The solemn truth contained in these words is one that needs careful weighing. It is vain to deny that without the grace of God no one ever can become a true Christian. We are spiritually dead, and have no power to give ourselves life. We need a new principle put in us from above. Facts prove it. Preachers see it. The Tenth Article of our own Church expressly declares it,—“The condition of man after the fall of Adam is such that he cannot turn and prepare himself, by his own natural strength and good works, to faith and calling upon God.” This witness is true.
   But after all, of what does this inability of man consist? In what part of our inward nature does this impotence reside? Here is a point on which many mistakes arise. Forever let us remember that the will of man is the part of him which is in fault. His inability is not physical, but moral. It would not be true to say that a man has a real wish and desire to come to Christ, but no power to come. It would be far more true to say that a man has no power to come because he has no desire or wish.—It is not true that he would come if he could. It is true that he could come if he would.—The corrupt will,—the secret disinclination,—the lack of heart, are the real causes of unbelief. It is here the mischief lies. The power that we want is a new will. It is precisely at this point that we need the “drawing” of the Father.
   These things, no doubt, are deep and mysterious. By truths like these God proves the faith and patience of His people. Can they believe Him? Can they wait for a fuller explanation at the last day? What they see not now they shall see hereafter. One thing at any rate is abundantly clear, and that is, man’s responsibility for his own soul. His inability to come to Christ does not make an end of his accountableness. Both things are equally true. If lost at last, it will prove to have been his own fault. His blood will be on his own head. Christ would have saved him, but he would not be saved. He would not come to Christ, that he might have life.
   We learn, lastly, in this passage, that the salvation of a believer is a present thing. Our Lord Jesus Christ says,—“Verily, verily, I say unto you, he that believeth on me hath everlasting life.” Life, we should observe, is a present possession. It is not said that he shall have it at last, in the judgment day. It is now, even now, in this world, his property. He hath it the very day that he believes.
   The subject is one which it much concerns our peace to understand, and one about which errors abound. How many seem to think that forgiveness and acceptance with God are things which we cannot attain in this life,—that they are things which are to be earned by a long course of repentance and faith and holiness,—things which we may receive at the bar of God at last, but must never pretend to touch while we are in this world! It is a complete mistake to think so. The very moment a sinner believes on Christ he is justified and accepted. There is no condemnation for him. He has peace with God, and that immediately and without delay. His name is in the book of life, however little he may be aware of it. He has a title to heaven, which death and hell and Satan can not overthrow. Happy are those who know this truth! It is an essential part of the good news of the Gospel.
   After all, the great point we have to consider is whether we believe. What shall it profit us that Christ has died for sinners, if we do not believe on Him? “He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him.” (John iii. 36.)

—J. C. Ryle, Expository Thoughts on the Gospels (Baker Books, 2007) [Westminster (PB) | Amazon (HC)], 3:379–382.

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

I was glad when they said to me, “Let us go to the house of the Lord.”

Hymn LVIII.
O Lord, I will praise thee! Isaiah xii.
William Cowper (1731–1800)

I will praise thee every day
Now thine anger’s turned away!
Comfortable thoughts arise
From the bleeding sacrifice.

Here in the fair gospel field,
Wells of free salvation yield
Streams of life, a plenteous store,
And my soul shall thirst no more.

Jesus is become at length
My salvation and my strength;
And his praises shall prolong,
While I live, my pleasant song.

Praise ye, then, his glorious name,
Publish his exalted fame!
Still his worth your praise exceeds,
Excellent are all his deeds.

Raise again the joyful sound,
Let the nations roll it round!
Zion shout, for this is he,
God the Savior dwells in thee.

—Olney Hymns. Book I: On select Passages of Scripture.

6 just as David also speaks of the blessing on the man to whom God credits righteousness apart from works:

7

“Blessed are those whose lawless deeds have been forgiven,

And whose sins have been covered.

8

“Blessed is the man whose sin the Lord will not take into account.”

—Romans 4

The apostle asks, How was Abraham justified? He answers, “By believing.” Then he asks, How was David justified? And he answers, “By believing.” In both cases by the “righteousness of God”; a righteousness “without works”; a righteousness “without law” and yet a righteousness witnessed by the law and the prophets; a righteousness in accordance with all true law and government; a righteousness for the unrighteous.

Again, the apostle raises the question, What makes a blessed man? And he refers to David’s announcement respecting blessedness, and its cause or root. The blessed man is the man to whom “God imputeth righteousness without works.” To a sinner this is absolutely essential; it is a sine qua non, indispensable. There can be no blessedness in any other way. After the imputation has taken place, there are innumerable sources of blessedness, all pouring in their joy and peace; but this is the beginning. No blessedness without this divine reckoning of righteousness; but with this a man’s blessedness commences. Heaven is begun within him, the heaven that David tasted, and which he so often speaks of: “in His favor is life.” (Psalm 3:5.)

There is, then, blessedness on earth, even to a sinner,—true blessedness,—that which God calls by that name. In spite of weariness, sorrow, conflict, cares, fears, burdens, there is such a thing as blessedness. And this blessedness God freely presents to each unblessed, sorrowful, burdened son of Adam, without money and without price.

The apostle, in quoting the words of David, thus prefaces and interprets them: “David describeth the blessedness of the man unto whom God imputeth righteousness without works.” Righteousness without works was that which David enjoyed. He obtained righteousness without working for it at all; righteousness by simply taking it from another, and using it as if it were his own.

We must have a righteousness, else we cannot stand before God; we cannot have a religion. God must deal with us, and we must deal with God, on the footing of righteousness; not simply of grace; for He is the righteous as well as the gracious God. When we go to Him we must do so with a righteousness in our hand, either our own or another’s. Our transactions with God must all be of this nature. They must be righteous transactions; dealings between a righteous God and men who are, at the same moment, in His eye, both righteous and unrighteous, and therefore needing both grace and righteousness. A personal righteousness on our part is an impossibility. We cannot work for it; and we cannot get it by working. In going to God we must begin, not encl with righteousness; so that we must have it before we can please God or do any good thing; in other words, it must be free, and it must come to us at once, and it must satisfy both God and our own conscience. Only the righteousness of another can do this; “righteousness without works”; righteousness which does not depend on our doing, or feeling, or praying, or repenting, but which comes to us at once from God, as the root and fountainhead of all working, and goodness, and holiness on our part. The prodigal did not work for the “best robe,” but got it all ready-made from his father’s hands; Joseph did not work for his coat of many colors, but received it as the gift of his father’s love; Adam did not work for the skins with which the Lord God clothed him: so is it with the sinner in his approaches to God, and in God’s approaches to him. “Righteousness without works” is given him; nay, put upon him as a raiment, a divine raiment, to fit him for drawing near to God.

There are three things noted here as making up this blessedness, and indispensable to its existence:

I. Iniquities are forgiven. It is “transgression” in the original Psalm. This is one kind of sin, and generally denotes the worst. There is then “transgression” or “iniquity”; but it is forgiven (or “borne,” as the word means); for there is forgiveness with God, that He may be feared; a complete, free, divine forgiveness; such as God delights to give, and the sinner to receive. “He forgiveth all our iniquities”; He forgives without reserve, or stint, or uncertainty. He removes our iniquities from us as far as east is from the west. He retains not one; He blots out all.

II. Sins are covered. There is, and there has been, sin; but it is no longer visible; it is buried; it is covered; it is put out of sight, as if God himself no longer saw it. It is God who covers, not man; He covers by means of the blood of atonement; He covers by burying it in the grave of Christ. Thus our sins are completely covered, hidden, forgiven. They are first “borne,” and then “buried.” Could any words more completely express forgiveness?

III. Sin is not imputed. There are three words in this passage expressive of sin, as in God’s first full announcement of Himself as the great forgiver (Exodus 34:6.); transgression, iniquity, sin; meaning every kind and form of sin. And there are three words used in reference to the putting away of sin,—forgiving (bearing), covering, not imputing. This last,—the non-imputation,—is said specially to be Jehovah’s doing. This non-imputation is without works; it is free; it is divine; it is perfect; it is sure; it comes as the consequence of believing.

Thus there are three foundation stones laid for the sinner’s blessedness; each of them ample; all of them together fully sufficient. On these he must rest. Without these he can have no joy. His belief of God’s testimony to these is that which connects him with this threefold foundation, and with the blessedness. He believes, and becomes a blessed man. The grace or free love of God, contained in these three things, is that which pours blessedness into his soul.

The Psalmist adds, and “in whose spirit there is no guile.” Forgiveness makes him a guileless man; it takes away all temptation to speak or act untruly and deceitfully with God, or with man, or with himself. He becomes an Israelite indeed. Pardon has made him such. Being fully forgiven, he has no longer any motive to conceal the very worst of himself. God’s forgiveness frank and ample has superseded the necessity of any palliation or excuse; has delivered him from the temptation to make the best of his case and of himself. He thinks, feels, acts, speaks honestly. He confesses sin, and he finds God faithful and just to forgive his sins.

—Horatius Bonar, Light & Truth: Bible Thoughts & Themes

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.