William Cowper (pronounced Cooper) suffered a mental breakdown in 1763 and was sent to St. Albans Insane Asylum in England. Six weeks into his stay, he found a Bible on a bench left by his doctor. William read with fascination the story of Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead. He was drawn to Christ’s mercy in the story and sensed the same mercy being extended to him. He opened his heart to Christ and felt “the full beams of the Sun of Righteousness shine upon me.” William eventually recovered and was released, now a confirmed believer. One might assume his troubles were over. Not by a long shot.
John Newton (1725-1807), once captain of a slave ship turned preacher, met William and invited him to his parish. John had lost his mother when he was six, just as William had. He recognized William’s bent toward melancholy and reclusiveness. John invited William to join him in writing hymns for his Olney congregation. They collaborated on a hymnbook that included John’s most famous hymn, “Amazing Grace.”
William continued to suffer bouts of paralyzing depression and several times attempted suicide. His “fatal dream” reduced him to abject despair, yet John and William maintained a twenty-seven-year friendship. They visited each other’s homes so often that they paid a neighbor one guinea each year for the right to take a shortcut through her orchard. William lived with John Newton and his family during a particularly difficult season of depression. One of John’s lesser-known hymns, “Lord, Afford Me a Spring” expresses a longing for spring and petitions God to lift our “drooping souls.” What a great way to lead us into prayer today: