Cowper’s hymns are not all the voice of the penitent or of the anxious believer. He shared Newton’s opinion as to the classification of Calvinists, and two of his compositions evidently refer to the second basket of figs. They illustrate Hazlitt’s criticism, ‘His satire is excellent. It is pointed and forcible, with the polished manners of the gentleman and the honest indignation of the virtuous man.’[162] The following verses are a good example of his satire. A LIVING AND A DEAD FAITH With golden bells, the priestly vest, And rich pomegranates bordered round, The need of holiness expressed, And called for fruit as well as sound. Easy indeed it were to reach A mansion in the courts above, If swelling words and fluent speech Might serve instead of faith and love. But none shall gain the blissful place, Or God’s unclouded glory see, Who talks of free and sovereign grace, Unless that grace has made him free! This is not a favourite strain of Cowper’s. His hymns are nearly always the expression of personal emotion or experience. We may close our quotations from his Olney hymns with one which expresses, in his own way, the common yearning of all who love our Lord Jesus Christ. LONGING TO BE WITH CHRIST My Saviour, whom absent I love, Whom, not having seen, I adore; Whose name is exalted above All glory, dominion, and power; Dissolve Thou these bonds that detain My soul from her portion in Thee, Ah! strike off this adamant chain, And make me eternally free. Oh then shall the veil be removed, And round me Thy brightness be poured, I shall meet Him whom absent I loved, I shall see Him whom unseen I adored. Newton’s contribution to the Olney hymns is considerable both in quality and quantity. His preface disarms criticism. Dr. Watts might, as a poet, have a right to say, ‘That it cost him some labour to restrain his fire, and to accommodate himself to the capacities of common readers.’ But it would not become me to make such a declaration. It behoved me to do my best.... If the Lord, whom I serve, has been pleased to favour me with that mediocrity of talent, which may qualify me for usefulness to the weak and the poor of His flock, without quite disgusting persons of superior discernment, I have reason to be satisfied. It is quite refreshing to find a hymn-writer who describes himself thus. They have often been modest men and women, but have had a fairly good idea of the value of their own compositions.