O Happy Day

Hello to all those who are following us on this journey of the British Hymn Sites!   All is well with the group here in England and we hope all is well for you!   Thank you for visiting the blog and for your interest.

After two nights in Harrogate, we repacked our bags and loaded the coach this morning to head for Northampton where we would visit the church where Philip Doddridge (1702-1751) preached.  Doddridge was not only a Congregationalist preacher but he was also an educator, writer and composer of hymns.  His most well known hymn is “O Happy Day.”  We were greeted by the current minister who gave us some brief history of the church building and of Philip Doddridge.

Philip Doddridge Pulpit

The pulpit from which Doddridge preached is still located in the church.   The pews in the church have doors on the ends to keep out the chilly draft and each pew was rented by a certain family and became known as their pew.  The rental fee for the pew was in addition to their offering.  The minister made the comment that church members today are the same as then — many of us have our “assigned” pews and we don’t even have to pay rent for them!

In the end, Doddridge had 375 hymns published although most are sung infrequently.  While at the church we sang several of these hymns including “O Happy Day,” a song of celebration of a Christian’s day of salvation.

Back on the coach and we were off to Olney in Northampton.  After a bit of free time, we went to visit the sites of John Newton and William Cowper including the Cowper and Newton Museum. John Newton (1725-1807) was born in London in 1725.  He was the son of a strict sea captain who introduced him to life on board at age 11.  He worked for many years on merchant ships as well as the Royal Navy before joining the crew of a slave trading vessel.   However, years later he saw the error of his ways and joined the fight to abolish the trade.   He became the preacher for the Church of St. Peter & St. Paul from 1764-1780.   While living at the vicarage, he wrote perhaps the most popular hymn of all times, “Amazing Grace” which was written in preparation for a New Year’s Day sermon on January 1, 1773.

William Cowper lived just down the lane from John Newton and wrote such hymns as “There Is A Fountain” and “God Moves In a Mysterious Way.”  John and William became dear friends and together because of their shared Christian faith they published “The Olney Hymns” in 1779.

We were able to visit the home of Cowper which now houses the Museum, we sang in his garden and walked down the lane to Newton’s house (which is privately owned so we were not able to go inside).   “Amazing Grace” is said to have been written in this house (top right window in the photo).  We then continued our walk a very short distance to the church where Newton preached.  We sat inside the church surrounded by beautiful stained glass windows and sang “Amazing Grace” together.   We then walked to the cemetery and had our picture made at the gravesite of John Newton.  We have had a really great day in Northampton.

Today has been a gorgeous day — sunny and around 70 degrees.  We have been blessed with the best weather!  It’s wonderful!  We are now in Oxford for the night and will have another exciting day tomorrow.  Hope you will join us.

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