Tunes paired with Cowper's
Sometimes a light surprises the Christian when he sings

By Leland Bryant Ross

     In some ways, William Cowper's "Sometimes a light surprises" (originally titled "Joy and Peace in Believing" when it appeared in the Olney Hymns in 1779) is a case study in the diversity and instability of hymn tune pairings. In the Hymnary.org database, the hymn appears in hymnals 403 times. Of these, 160 or so instances have a tune given. About 70 (44%) of these are paired with a single tune, BENTLEY, composed by John P. Hullah in 1867. But among the 23 instances of the hymn published since 1979, only 2 (less than 9%) are paired with BENTLEY; since 1979, the most paired tunes for this hymn have been OFFERTORIUM, which is an adaptation of a tune composed by Michael Haydn, and PETITION, composed by his brother Joseph Haydn. Each appears in five hymnals. The other 13 instances since 1979 are split amongst 7 different tunes, while the non-BENTLEY instances *before* 1979 are split amongst