Winter has a joy for me,
While the Saviour's charms I read,
Lowly, meek, from blemish free,
In the snowdrop's pensive head.
Spring returns, and brings along
Life-invigorating suns:
Hark! the turtle's plaintive song
Seems to speak His dying groans!
Summer has a thousand charms,
All expressive of His worth;
'Tis His sun that lights and warms,
His the air that cools the earth.
What! has autumn left to say
Nothing of a Saviour's grace?
Yes, the beams of milder day
Tell me of his smiling face.
Life-invigorating suns:
Hark! the turtle's plaintive song
Seems to speak His dying groans!
Summer has a thousand charms,
All expressive of His worth;
'Tis His sun that lights and warms,
His the air that cools the earth.
What! has autumn left to say
Nothing of a Saviour's grace?
Yes, the beams of milder day
Tell me of his smiling face.
Light appears with early dawn,
While the sun makes haste to rise;
See His bleeding beauties drawn
On the blushes of the skies.
While the sun makes haste to rise;
See His bleeding beauties drawn
On the blushes of the skies.
Evening with a silent pace,
Slowly moving in the west,
Shews an emblem of His grace,
Points to an eternal rest.
Slowly moving in the west,
Shews an emblem of His grace,
Points to an eternal rest.
--William Cowper, ~1772; Olney, England
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2 comments:
Henceforth ... seed time and harvest ... and summer and winter ... shall not cease. Genesis 8: 22. Among God's promises.
William Cowper (pronounced "Cooper") has quite a fascinating history. He had serious, serious intractable depression, in a time when few interventions were available. It was probably one of those types of depression that was especially biologically based.
He did study to become a clergyman but was not able to take on many duties. He worked with John Newton, the author of "Amazing Grace" and also a clergyman, on a group of hymns called the Olney Hymns. Though Newton is far more known in the US, I understand it is the other way around in England. In fact, Cowper was Jane Austen's favorite poet.
A lot of people get the idea that right after Newton's reconversion to Christianity, he became an abolitionist. This is not true. Newton, BTW, ha been such a pain in the backside during his forced servitude on a ship that his shipmates left him as a white slave in Africa. His father finally found him and secured his freedom. Around this time, he became Christian again. Even so, Newton returned to working on slave ships himself, until he had a stroke. After having a stroke, Newton, gradually backed away from the slaving business and entered the clergy.
Though there is no explicit record of this, I believe it was Newton's association with Cowper that led to the formation of Newton's abolitionist sentiments. Cowper seemed clearly involved from a convicted conscience much earlier. Cowper had been in touch with William Wilberforce.
For an example of Cowper's early forays into abolitionism, you can see his poem "The [Slave's] Complaint" on my other blog.
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