(new article tomorrow)
Author of the great old hymn There Is a Fountain Filled With Blood, William Cowper (1731-1800) was one of the most popular poets of his time.
According to Wikipedia, "Cowper changed the direction of 18th-century nature poetry by writing of everyday life and scenes of the English countryside. In many ways, he was one of the forerunners of Romantic poetry. Samuel Taylor Coleridge called him 'the best modern poet', whilst William Wordsworth particularly admired his poem Yardley-Oak."
Cowper's father was one of King George II’s chaplains and his mother was related to the poet John Donne. His mother died when he was only six years old and he was then sent off to a boarding school where he was treated badly and ostracized by his peers.
At 18, he became a lawyer’s apprentice and spent the next decade training to become a lawyer but struggled with depression and, as he was about to be examined to practice law, had a mental breakdown. He was sent to a mental hospital, in those days called "asylums."
"He struggled from manic depression and often felt that he was doomed to eternal damnation and hell," informs one website. "He made several attempts at drinking poison only to have spasms in his hand which prevented him from doing so. He then tried to hang himself with a strong garter. He passed out and then the garter broke while he was still suspended. He struggled with knowing that God could forgive him for this attempt.
"One day at the asylum, Cowper found a Bible on a bench. He opened it up and turned to the account of Lazarus being raised from the dead, which Cowper said showed him the mercy of the Savior."
He turned to Romans 3, where he read, "Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God; To declare, I say, at this time his righteousness: that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus."
It was upon reading this passage that Cowper said he was immediately converted. He wrote, "The full beams of the sun of righteousness shone upon me. I saw the sufficiency of the atonement He had made, my pardon sealed in His blood, and all the fullness and completeness of His justification."
Once regaining his mental health, Cowper left the asylum and moved to the English town of Olney, where John Newton became his pastor. Newton encouraged Cowper to write hymns and he completed 68 of them in a short period of time. There is a Fountain Filled With Blood was the first one he wrote.
"There are many interesting stories told about the impact of this great hymn and one has to do with a large religious service conducted at the Golden Gate Exposition in San Francisco," says a post at Barry's Blog. "The gifted speaker began to direct most of his eloquence against the power of the blood of Christ. When he was done, an elderly lady stood up in the midst of the crowd and softly began to sing this hymn as a touching rebuttal to the speaker's remarks.
"A hush fell over the audience as they listened. But before she could begin the second verse, about one hundred people rose to join her. By the time they reached the third verse, nearly a thousand were singing along. The triumphant, thrilling strains rang out - 'Dear dying Lamb, Thy precious blood shall never lose its power, 'til all the ransomed church of God be saved to sin no more.' The message, written by one cured by the Lord from deep depression, still rings out today in the hearts of those who've experienced the power of the blood of Christ."
The lyrics:
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