WILLIAM COWPER:
the man of God's stamp
By George Ella
Joshua Press, Ontario. 240 pages. £9.99
ISBN 1 894400 09 7
(Distributors in the UK are Evangelical Press)
William Cowper (pronounced 'Cooper') is now largely remembered for some of his Olney hymns, and the sacrificial efforts of the great John Newton in trying to steer him through bouts of extremely serious depression.
Because mental illness that makes a man suicidal and convinces him that God has abandoned him is still badly understood, it remains hard to understand Cowper's interesting life and erratic achievements. For instance, why did his Calvinistic theology, which includes final perseverance, fail to protect him from the conviction that God has passed him by?
