The Olney Hymns are in part an expression of Newton's and Cowper's personal religious faith and experience, and a reflection of the principal tenets of the Evangelical faith: the inherent sinfulness of man; religious conversion; atonement; activism; devotion to the Bible; God's providence; and the belief in an eternal life after death. However, the hymns were primarily written for immediate and day-to-day use in Newton's ministry at Olney. Here they were sung, or chanted, in church or at Newton's other Sunday and weekday meetings as a collective expression of worship. Hymn singing, though, was not without controversy, particularly within the Established church, the Church of England. By the 1760s hymns had become an established feature of religious devotion in the Evangelical church, where early (post-Reformation) hymns were versifications (song-like verses adapted from the original words) of the biblical text of the psalms, known as metrical psalms. In the Church of England, hymns other than metrical psalms were of questionable legality until the 1820s, as they were not explicitly sanctioned by the Book of Common Prayer. As a consequence, many church leaders reserved hymn-singing for meetings other than the main Sunday services, and for private or household devotions.
The Olney Hymns are in part an expression of Newton's and Cowper's personal religious faith and experience, and a reflection of the principal tenets of the Evangelical faith: the inherent sinfulness of man; religious conversion; atonement; activism; devotion to the Bible; God's providence; and the belief in an eternal life after death. However, the hymns were primarily written for immediate and day-to-day use in Newton's ministry at Olney. Here they were sung, or chanted, in church or at Newton's other Sunday and weekday meetings as a collective expression of worship. Hymn singing, though, was not without controversy, particularly within the Established church, the Church of England. By the 1760s hymns had become an established feature of religious devotion in the Evangelical church where early (post-Reformation) hymns were versifications (song-like verses adapted from the original words) of the biblical text of the psalms, k,nown as metrical psalms. In the Church of England, hymns other than metrical psalms were of questionable legality until the 1820s, as they were not explicitly sanctioned by the Book of Common Prayer. As a consequence, many church leaders reserved hymn-singing for meetings other than the main Sunday services, and for private or household devotions.