Lifted from the Miry Clay: The Rescue of William Cowper

In the winter of 1763, English poet William Cowper was carried unconscious to St Albans Collegium, a private asylum north of London. He had tried three times to end his life — by poison, by blade, by hanging. Depression had swallowed him whole, and he saw no way out of the pit.

For eighteen months, Cowper sat in that quiet place, hollow and waiting. Then a copy of the Bible fell open to Romans 3:25, and something cracked open inside him. He later wrote that it was as if God Himself reached down and set his feet upon a rock. The darkness did not vanish overnight, but the foundation beneath him held.

What came next astonished everyone who knew him. Cowper moved to the village of Olney, where pastor John Newton — himself a man rescued from a very different kind of pit — became his dear friend. Together they produced the Olney Hymns, and from Cowper's pen flowed lines that congregations still sing today: "God moves in a mysterious way, His wonders to perform."

The Psalmist declared, "He lifted me out of the slimy pit, out of the mud and mire; He set my feet on a rock and gave me a firm place to stand. He put a new song in my mouth." William Cowper lived that psalm. The Almighty did not waste his waiting — He transformed it into worship that has strengthened the faithful for over two centuries.