Olney Hymns · Chapter
Faith a New and Comprehensive Sense explained
This poem by Newton extols faith as a spiritual sense that surpasses the five physical senses.
What happens
This poem by Newton extols faith as a spiritual sense that surpasses the five physical senses. It describes how faith enables believers to perceive the unseen world, hear God's voice, feel divine power, taste God's goodness, and smell the fragrance of Christ's name. The poem concludes that without saving faith, humans are spiritually senseless and lost.
Themes in this chapter
Faith and Trust in Christ
The entire poem celebrates faith as a comprehensive spiritual sense that perceives Christ and divine realities.
Grace and Unmerited Favor
Faith is portrayed as a gift that provides a perpetual feast of God's truth and goodness, unmerited by human effort.
Characters to notice
- Jesus Christ
Faith views Jesus on the throne and smells the dear Redeemer's name.
- God
Faith hears the mighty voice of God and derives vigour from his boundless source.
- The Narrator
The speaker reflects on the nature of faith and its superiority over physical senses.
Key passages
“Sight, hearing, feeling, taste, and smell. Are gifts we highly prize; But faith does singly each excel, And all the five comprise.”
Although we value our five physical senses, faith surpasses them all and encompasses them.
The opening stanza establishes the central metaphor of faith as a superior sense.
“More piercing than the eagle’s sight, It views the world unknown, Surveys the glorious realms of light, And Jesus on the throne.”
Faith sees beyond the visible world, perceiving heavenly glory and Christ enthroned.
Faith is depicted as having a sharper vision than an eagle, enabling spiritual insight.
“It smells the dear Redeemer’s name Like ointment poured forth; Faith only knows, or can proclaim, Its savour or its worth.”
Faith perceives the preciousness of Christ's name, like fragrant ointment, and only faith can truly appreciate its value.
The sense of smell is used to illustrate the intimate knowledge of Christ that faith provides.
“Till saving faith possess the mind, In vain of sense we boast; We are but senseless, tasteless, blind, And deaf and dead and lost.”
Without saving faith, our physical senses are useless; we are spiritually dead and lost.
The final stanza underscores the necessity of faith for true spiritual life.