“But I would ye should understand, brethren, that the things which happened unto me have fallen out
rather unto the furtherance of the gospel.” Philippians 1:12.

William Cowper wrote the the great hymn “There is a fountain.” He was a prolific hymn writer and poet. He
and John Newton collaborated on writing the Olney Hymns, many of which are still popular today.
His life was one full of adversity and unfulfilled dreams. He was denied permission to marry his first love
and while in his early thirties, he suffered a nervous breakdown under the stress of a new position to
which he had been appointed.
After recovery, he was engaged to marry the widow Mary Unwin, but another breakdown prevented it
and he never married.
Death, betrayal, despair, health problems, financial reversals, depression and on and on goes the litany
of each beleaguered member of the human race. One could look at his problems and throw up his hands
in defeat and quit. Perhaps no one would blame him.
Mr. Cowper’s life was one of constant upheavel and negative energy drain, semmingly on every hand.
However, instead of crying, “Why me, Lord?” out of the depts came the truth put to music of God’s redem-
ptive gift through the blood of Jesus Christ.