Hymn Collection: The Olney Hymns

The Olney Hymns is considered to be the most important and influential evangelical hymnal, other than the ones produced by the Wesley Brothers. Written by John Newton and William Cowper, this collection holds 348 hymns — 280 from Newton and the other 68 By Cowper. It was used by the congregation at Olney where Newton served as curate in the mid to late 1700s.

John Henry Johansen provided a great description of the context in which the collection was written:

The people of Olney were lacemakers, working by hand in their damp, ill-lit hovels; they were poor and they were ignorant, and suffered a great deal of hardship. Newton loved them and looked after them, even at the expense of the few wealthy members of his congregation who were by no means pleased to see their church filled up with noisy, uncouth villagers.

There was a large vacant mansion near the church that was used by Newton for special services, classes for children, prayer meetings, and weekday preaching services. All of these services became so popular that the “Great House” became the social center of the village. It was here that the Olney collection was written, published, and used.

Well-known tunes

Some hymns from this collection are still sung today, including

• “O for a closer walk with God” — Cowper
• “God moves in a mysterious way” — Cowper.
• “How sweet the name of Jesus sounds” — Newton
• “Glorious things of thee are spoken” — Newton
• “Amazing grace! how sweet the sound” — Newton

The Olney Hymns was the last of a group of hymnals that attempted to bring Evangelical hymnody into the church of England without attempting to accommodate it to the Book of Common Prayer.

John Newton (1725–1807) was an Anglican clergyman in England and the founder of the evangelical Clapham Sect.He started as an English sailor, in the Royal Navy for a period, and later a captain of slave ships.He became ordained as an evangelical Anglican cleric, served Olney, Buckinghamshire for two decades.

William Cooper (1731–1800) was an English poet and hymnodist. One of the most popular poets of his time, Cowper changed the direction of 18th century nature poetry by writing of everyday life and scenes of the English countryside. It was during his time in Olney that much of the Poetry that he is most remembered for was written.