hymns His foundation is in the holy mountains. The Lord loves the gates of Zion more than all the dwellings of Jacob. Glorious things are spoken of you, O city of God!
J
Psalm 87:1–3
ohn Newton’s most well-known song is “Amazing Grace,” but he actually wrote hundreds of hymns and gospel songs—in fact, a whole hymnal’s worth. After Newton’s dramatic conversion (see p. 464), he eventually became a pastor in Olney, Buckinghamshire, in rural England. Ministering to mostly poor, uneducated believers, Newton realized that the high church ceremonies were not helping his congregants draw closer to the Lord. So Newton recruited his friend, poet William Cowper, and the two began writing songs for the church to sing, eventually compiling them into The Olney Hymns. In the preface of the hymnal, Newton explained that their goal was to compose songs “designed for public worship, and for the use of plain people” and to support “the faith and comfort of sincere Christians.” In all, there were 348 songs in the original publication, many of which are still sung by Christians today. Newton and Cowper divided The Olney Hymns into three sections: “Book I—On Select Texts of Scripture,” “Book II—On Occasional Subjects,” and “Book III—On the Progress and Changes of the Spiritual Life.” They further divided each book by assigning songs to each book of the Bible, thereby teaching parishioners not just the words of Scripture, but also the order of it. One of the most well-known songs in The Olney Hymns is “Glorious Things of Thee Are Spoken,” which is in Book I and is based on several passages of Scripture. In fact, Newton annotated more Scripture sources for this hymn than any other in the book. The first two lines of the hymn, “Glorious things of thee are spoken, Zion, city of our God,” come from Psalm 87:3. For the next two, “He whose word cannot be broken, formed thee for thee own abode,” Newton referenced Psalm 132:14. The next line, “On the Rock of Ages founded,” comes directly from Jesus’ mouth when He renamed Simon “Peter,” saying, “On this rock I will build My church” (Matt. 16:18). “With salvation’s walls surrounded” originates in Isaiah 26:1; and for “See! the streams of living waters, spring from eternal love,” Newton notated Psalm 46:4. The imagery of “Round each habitation hovering, see the cloud and fire appear!” draws its inspiration from Isaiah 4:5, 6. The inspired greeting from John to the seven churches in Revelation, “To Him who loved us and washed us from our sins in His own blood, and has made us kings and priests to His God and Father, to Him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen” (1:5, 6), serves as the inspiration for the line in verse four, “Jesus, whom their souls rely on, makes them kings and priests to God.” “Glorious Things of Thee Are Spoken” is a wonderful song of praise to the Lord and encouragement to believers, but it’s also a great lesson in worship. With this song, and The Olney Hymns on the whole, Newton proved that when praising God, the best place to start is in the Holy Scriptures.
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