186 OUK HYMNS :
to mental improvement. Even amidst his privations in Africa he studied Euclid, and mastered six hooks, and during his voyages he pursued the study of Latin, though at first he had not even a dictionary to assist him. In the year 1761, and when in his thirty- ninth year, he entered upon a regular ministry. The Earl of Dartmouth presented him to the Vicarage of Olney. There he remained nearly sixteen years, faithfully serving in the Gospel, and at the same time daily consoling the suffering poet Cowper, and stimulating him to useful effort. Together they enjoyed the friendship of the eminent dissenting minister, the Rev. William Bull ; together they dispensed the bounty of the henevolent John Thornton ; and together they produced the "Olney Hymns." These hymns were written for the use of Newton s congregation, and contain those of Newton s and Cowper s which are so much in use in the Christian Church, and several of which are found in the " New Congregational Hymn Book."
On leaving Olney, Newton hecarne rector of St. Mary Woolnoth, in London ; there he became generally known, and his Christian usefulness was very great. His power was not merely in the pulpit, but in conversation and in his correspondence. Several of his works consist of letters : they are rich in Christian ex perience, and admirable for their clearness and simplicity. In this also Newton and Cowper were alike : both were eminent letter- writers.
His principal works were, besides the " Olney Hymns," a volume of Sermons, in 1760, before he took orders ; " Forty-one Letters on Religious Subjects;" his " Narrative," published in 1764 ; a volume of Sermons in 1767 ; his " Review of Ecclesi astical History," in 1769 ; and in 1781 his " Cardiphonia, or Utterances of the Heart." He also published, in 1786, " Messiah," being fifty discourses on the Scripture passages in the Oratorio of that name.
One of the above works, his " Narrative," is intensely interest ing. It traces minutely those remarkable special providences by which his life was spared just when it seemed about to be taken,
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