JOHN NEWTON, CLERK,
ONCE AN INFIDEL AND LIBERTINE,
A SERVANT OF SLAVES IN AFRICA,
WAS, BY THE RICH MERCY OF OUR LORD AND SAVIOUR
JESUS CHRIST,
PRESERVED, RESTORED, PARDONED,
AND APPOINTED TO PREACH THE FAITH HE HAD LONG
LABOURED TO DESTROY,
NEAR SIXTEEN YEARS AT OLNEY IN BUCKS,
AND TWENTY-EIGHT YEARS IN THIS CHURCH.
ON FEB. 1, 1750, HE MARRIED
MARY,
DAUGHTER OF THE LATE GEORGE CATLETT,
OF CHATHAM, KENT.
HE RESIGNED HER TO THE LORD WHO GAVE HER,
ON THE 15TH OF DECEMBER, 1790.
In his study at the vicarage in Olney, Bucks, are still to be seen the following lines, inscribed on the wall:—
"Since thou wast precious in my sight thou hast been honourable."—Isaiah xliii. 4.
But,
"Thou shalt remember that thou wast a bondman in the land of Egypt, and the Lord thy God redeemed thee!"—Deuteronomy xv. 15.
PRELIMINARY REMARKS ON THE OLNEY HYMNS.
The origin of the Olney Hymns, and the proportion contributed by Cowper to that collection, have been already stated in the first part of this work.[870] Before, however, we enter on the subject of these hymns, it will not perhaps be thought uninteresting to present the reader with a brief historical account of Psalmody, and to detail the circumstances which first gave rise to a metrical version of the Psalms of David. We shall extract the information principally from "Warton's History of English Poetry." Sir John Hawkins may also be consulted on the same subject.[871]
The praise of having first effected a metrical version of the Psalms is to be assigned to France. About the year 1540, Clement Marot, valet of the bedchamber to Francis I., was the favourite poet of France. Being tired of the vanities of profane poetry, and anxious to raise the tone of public taste and feeling, he attempted a version of the Psalms into French rhyme, aided by Theodore Beza, and encouraged by the Professor of Hebrew in the University of Paris. This translation, not aiming at any innovation in the public worship, received the sanction of the Sorbonne, as containing nothing contrary to sound doctrine. Solicitous to justify this new application of his poetical powers, Marot expatiates in his dedication on the superior claims of sacred poetry, and observes "that the golden age would now be restored, when we should see the peasant at his plough, the carman in the streets, and the mechanic in his shop, solacing their toils with psalms and canticles; and the shepherd and shepherdess, reposing in the shade, and teaching the rocks to echo the name of the Creator."[872]
This version soon eclipsed the brilliancy of his madrigals and sonnets. In the festive and splendid court of Francis I. of a sudden nothing was heard but the psalms of Clement Marot. By each of the royal family and the principal nobility of the court, a psalm was chosen, and adapted to a popular ballad tune.
Calvin soon discovered what a powerful auxiliary psalm-singing might prove to the reformed religion, and immediately introduced Marot's version into his congregation at Geneva. They were adapted to plain and easy melodies[873] by Guillaume de Franc, and became a characteristic badge of the newly established worship. Germany next caught the sacred ardour, and the choral mode of service yielded to the attractive and popular character of a devotional melody, in which all might join, without distinction of rank or character. Psalms singing being thus associated with the Reformed religion, became interdicted to the Catholics under the most severe penalties.