which was practiced in other Anglican churches. When Newton couldn’t find enough available hymns for this purpose, he began writing his own. To assist him in this endeavor, he enlisted the aid of his friend and neighbor, William Cowper, a well-known writer of classic literature of this period. In 1779 their combined efforts produced the famous Olney Hymns hymnal, one of the most important single contributions made to the field of evangelical hymnody. In this ambitious collection of 349 hymns, sixty-seven