Oh! For a Closer Walk with God - William Cowper

 

William Cowper (pronounced “Cooper”) was born in 1731, the son of a minister in the Church of England. When he was only six years old, his mother died, and he was sent to several orphanages and boarding schools. The older boys severely bullied a shy child, William. He suffered from depression and despair all his life, and he sometimes even attempted suicide. His father wanted him to become a lawyer, but he was too frightened and never took the exam.

 

When he was a young adult, he was committed to a mental institution where a Christian doctor gave him the best therapy he could get; the doctor led him to the Lord.  After that, he went to live in the small town of Olney with the Unwin family. Mrs. Unwin was a woman of strong faith, and he enjoyed feeling like part of a family, something that he hadn’t known as a child. Mrs. Unwin thought that writing would help with his depression, and she suggested he write poetry. Although William doubted his ability, he followed her advice like a child.

 

During this time, John Newton, the author of “Amazing Grace,” was his pastor and became his close friend. They even collaborated on “Olney Hymns” (1779), an important collection in the evangelical world. Cowper would probably have never had a writing career had Newton and Mrs. Unwin not suggested he do so. Despite his troubled life, he was called by many “the greatest poet of his time, producing much poetry and other fine hymns such as “There Is a Fountain Filled with Blood” and “God Moves in a Mysterious Way.”

 

The words to this particular hymn were written by Cowper when Mrs. Unwin faced a severe illness. He expressed his anxiety to another friend, “Her illness has been a sharp trial to me.  Oh, that it may have a sanctifying effect!” His account of how the song came about was written in a letter to his aunt: “I began to compose the verses yesterday morning before daybreak, but fell asleep at the end of the first two lines; when I awoke again, the third and fourth were whispered to my heart in a way which I have often experienced.” Mrs. Unwin did recover from the illness and lived another 25 years.

 

“Oh! For a Closer Walk with God” was first published in Richard Conyer’s 1772 “Collection of Psalms and Hymns.”  The hymn as it is known today was first published as “Walking With God” in “Olney Hymns.” The most commonly used tune for the hymn, “Beatitudo,” was composed in 1875 by John B. Dykes, British composer of three hundred hymn tunes.  “Beatitudo” is a Latin word meaning "the condition of blessedness."

 

Even though Cowper was burdened with depression and doubt, this hymn expresses the desire to have a closer walk with the Lord. The middle stanzas are reminders that believers sometimes stray from the Lord and miss “the blessedness” of that relationship. When sin hinders the believer’s relationship with the Lord, it needs to be confessed to restore the joy of fellowship once known. The last stanza returns to the thoughts of the opening stanza but with increased assurance and peace. May the Christian’s daily prayer be “Oh! for a closer walk with God.”

 

William Cooper died in 1800. He believed that the promises of God were all true, but he’d always thought that they didn’t apply to him. He considered himself to be a castaway. It was said that at his passing, his “expression was that of calmness and composure, mingled as it were with holy surprise.” It was as though he finally realized he was a child of God and was being welcomed home to heaven. For ye were sometimes darkness, but now are ye light in the Lord: walk as children of light (Ephesians 5:8).

 

 

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