Chapter 4 – Cowper’s Creed … And its Critics

The doctrines of grace have been differently explained by a variety of people.  In history, John Calvin is the great exponent of these particular doctrines.  In Cowper’s day it was Whitefield, Romaine, Newton and others who proclaimed the sovereignty of grace in the salvation of the sinner.  Man dead in trespasses and sins must be awakened and savingly joined to Christ by a sovereign act of God the Holy Spirit.  The faith which a person is called upon to exercise in Christ is itself the gift of God and the life lived is by God’s enabling.

It may well be summarised by the phrase, ‘the Sovereignty of God in all things’.

But where did Cowper stand?

Mine has been a life of wonders for many years, and a life of wonders I in my heart believe it will be to the end.  Wonders I have seen in the great deeps, and wonders I shall see in the paths of mercy also. This … is my creed.’ [1]

A creed is a declaration of what is believed.  It may be spoken or written.  It may be set forth in an orderly manner or presented haphazardly.  But which ever way it is communicated, it bears testimony to the foundational principles that govern life.

To study the Olney Hymns of Cowper is to be introduced to ‘the great deeps’ as well as ‘the paths of mercy’.

What did Cowper believe?  What were his views of God in creation, salvation and providence?  How did he understand man as a creature, a sinner and a saint?  What did he see as the Christian’s great hope?  How did he view affliction in the Christian life?  What place did he give to God’s word? Ella informs us, ‘It is in Cowper’s contributions to the famous Olney Hymns that we find some of the clearest statements of his theology.’[2]

Cowper’s theology was his creed.  And it is expressed with clarity in his Christian poetry.  The statements are succinct and often memorable.  This is one of the real advantages of poetic expression.  The village folk of Olney and subsequently the Christian world at large have been the beneficiaries.

What was his creed?  In a word it was ‘avowedly Calvinistic’ says S.M. Houghton.[3] For Cowper, salvation was all of grace.  Conceived in the eternal counsels of the Triune God, its purposes were accomplished in the perfect obedience and atoning death of the ‘dear dying Lamb’ (Hymn 15).  The benefits thus procured are applied by the effectual working of the Holy Spirit.  The believer’s life is a sustained life and the grace of God that saves is the very grace that leads to glory.  But grace is not to be presumed.  It is grace that the sinner must seek and appropriate by faith in Christ.

Yet not unsought, or unimplor’d,

The plenteous grace shall I confer.        (Hymn 13)

There is no hyper-Calvinism in Cowper.  The offers of mercy are wide and free.

The vile, the lost, he calls to them
Ye trembling souls appear!

The righteous in their own esteem,
Have no acceptance here.

Approach ye poor, nor dare refuse
The banquet spread for you;

Dear Saviour, this is welcome news,
Then I may venture too. (Hymn 27)

There is the erroneous view that Calvinism rightly understood cannot include a genuine overture of mercy to sinners, and that the doctrine of election is incompatible with the sincere desire in God that men and women turn to him in repentance and faith.[4]

Cowper did not accept such a view.  His doctrines of God and Man, Election and Salvation are eminently Scriptural.  There was no deviation from historic Calvinism as formulated in the five key Reformed doctrines which occupied the Synod of Dort (1618-19).  This too was the position of most of the Puritans in the 17^th Century, as well as Whitefield, Newton, Harris, Rowland and Grimshaw during the Evangelical Revival.  In the Olney Hymns, Cowper is expressing Reformation Theology in his unique poetic style.  He held to the Five Points of Calvinism, as they are commonly known.  Yet his critics are either ignorant or prejudiced, and persist in misrepresenting or caricaturing his Reformed beliefs.

Whatever one’s convictions concerning Calvinism, it is inexcusable when a critic misrepresents Calvin’s theology.  Professor Hartley displays such an approach when he says, ‘After the Fall, according to Calvinistic interpretation, God decreed that man’s will should not work in harmony with the Divine will.  But God became merciful, allowing salvation to the elect by Christ’s sacrifice.’[5]

Routley tells us that, ‘Calvinism – so uncongenial to Cowper’s temperament…broke his heart.’[6] Later on he says that Cowper was ‘immobilized by Calvinism’.[7] To find a  sympathetic understanding, and balanced review of Cowper’s Calvinistic verse, one would have to look beyond Routley.  Yet his influence has been considerable.

William Benham, editor of the Globe Edition of Cowper’s Poems which Ella tells us was ‘the once definitive’ edition, says,

It became as clear to me as any demonstration could make it, that the Calvinistic doctrine and religious excitements threw an already trembling mind off its balance, and aggravated a malady which but for them might probably have been cured.[8]

Theologically, Cowper has been presented in a poor light by many editors and biographers who have stumbled at his Reformed convictions.

The establishment of the Cowper Memorial Museum at Olney, the emergence of such publishing houses as The Banner of Truth Trust and Evangelical Press whose contributors and reviewers understand a full orbed Calvinism, and the research of Dr George Ella have combined to address past misunderstandings.  For this the Christian Church should be particularly grateful.

We now turn to Cowper’s own expression of the Doctrines of Grace with particular reference to the Five Points of Calvinism.

For a comprehensive statement in verse of his spiritual pilgrimage his Song of Mercy and Judgment is worthy of careful study.  It was written soon after his conversion.

The final two lines of each of the thirteen verses alternate the following expressions.

Grace Divine, how sweet the Sound,

Sweet the grace which I have found.

Sweet the Sound of Grace Divine,

Sweet the grace which makes me thine.[9]

John Newton may well have had these words of Cowper in mind when some eight to nine years later he wrote,

Amazing grace, (how sweet the Sound)
That saved a wretch like me!