1
Of all the gifts Thy love bestows,
Thou Giver of all good.
E’en heav’n itself no richer knows
Than Jesus and His blood.
Thou Giver of all good.
E’en heav’n itself no richer knows
Than Jesus and His blood.
2
Faith, too, that trusts in Him through grace,
From that same love we gain;
Else, sweetly as it suits our case,
The gift had been in vain.
From that same love we gain;
Else, sweetly as it suits our case,
The gift had been in vain.
3
We praise Thee, and would praise Thee more,
To Thee our all we owe:
The precious Savior, and the power
That makes Him precious too.
To Thee our all we owe:
The precious Savior, and the power
That makes Him precious too.
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Storrs, Connecticut, United States
William Cowper wrote a few lines about his mother’s portrait at 60 whom he lost as a child:
“And while that face renews my filial grief,
Fancy shall weave a charm for my relief. ”
A contemporary of John Wesley and George Whitfield – leaders of the evangelical revival in England-Cowper embraced the Calvinistic theology of Whitfield. A warm Evangelical brand of Calvinism shaped by John Newton (“Old African Blasphemer”), remembers when young people gathered at 4 AM to hear Whitfield preach in the open air.
William was 27 when Jonathan Edwards died in America, lived through the American and French Revolution and Ben Franklin gave his volume a good revival. He spent almost all his adult life at Olney and Weston, the rural English country.
Cowper’s father of Great Berkhamsted was the rector to the Church of St. Peter and King George II’s chaplain. His father’s sister was a poet, Judith Madan and his mother was Ann née Donne. He and his brother John were the only two of seven children to live past infancy. He was from a well-to-do family but not evangelical so Cowper had no saving relation to Christ. After his mother’s death at 6 years old, he was sent to San Potoman’s Boarding School. From the age of 10 to 17 he attended Westminster Private School. He learned Greek and Latin well enough to translate Homer’s works and Madame Guyon’s writings.
In 1749, William became an apprentice to a solicitor with a view to practice law but he had no heart for the public life as a lawyer. For 10 years he lived a life of leisure with little involvement in his supposed career. In 1752, he sank into his first of four paralyzing depressions. This would be one of the major battles; break downs so severe as to set him to “string out of windows. ” For weeks at a time he struggled with despair which became the theme of his life. At 21 years old not yet a believer he wrote, “Day and night I was upon the rack lying down with horror and rising up in despair. ” He came through this depression with the help of the poems by George Herbert who lived 150 years earlier which contained beauty enough for hope. William would take several months away from London by way of Southampton. That was the “Hand of mercy,” the merciful hand of God in nature but he did not see Him or give Him the glory.
Between 1749 and 1756 Cowper was falling in love with Theodora his cousin. He would visit her home on the weekends. She became the “Delia” of his poems. They became engaged but her father forbade the marriage because of the “inappropriateness of their consanguinity. ” A relationship developed for 7 years as well as their engagement only to shatter on a “brick wall” at the last minute. After 1756, they never saw each other again. She would outlive him but never married. She followed his poetic career anonymously and sent a regular stipend. He wrote 19 poems to her.
In 1759, at age 28 through influence of his father, he was appointed Commissioner of Bankruptcy in London, four years later he was about to be made Clerk of Journalism in Parliament but fear struck him and he had a mental breakdown. He tried to commit suicide three times and was sent to an asylum. For six months his feelings where those of “a man when he arrives at the place of execution. ”
The traumatic death of his mother and his father’s decision to send him away to boarding school where he was bullied extensively caused young William’s breakdowns.
William was saved at age 32 in an asylum, after trying three times to commit suicide. In July 1764, he was outside the asylum’s garden reading the Scriptures and read Romans 3:23 “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. ” Verse 24 further explained that we are justified by His grace through the relationship with Jesus Christ whom God put forward as a propitiation for our sin. Through His blood we are forgiven by faith. “I received the strength to believe it! My pardon sealed in His blood. ” It was here he wrote the hymn: “There is a fountain filled with blood. ”
Washington, DC, United States
James 1:17 All good giving and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variation or shadow cast by turning.