Come Thou Fount Of Every Blessing HYMN HISTORY

This is a story of how Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing came to be one of the most well known and loved hymns in all of church history!

Before we begin the tale, I would like to thank you for your interest in the HISTORY behind the hymn. You know, so often we just stand and sing the song without any thought. I’d like to change that, and I suspect you do, too! If that’s the case, be sure to let your friends know the history behind this hymn next time you come across it, maybe even THIS SUNDAY!

So, here’s the story behind “Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing”:

 

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Robert Robinson was a rather difficult, headstrong boy, and when his Dad died, things only got worse for his mother. So, when he turned 14 in 1749, his mother sent him to London for an apprenticeship.

I like to imagine this was done out of love, to instill some sense of responsibility and structure to young Robert’s life.

To no one’s surprise (especially not mine), he was just as much a troublemaker in London, and to make matters worse he gained some friends and followers as a leader!

When he was 17, he took his gang to a revival service where a well-known preacher at the time, George Whitfield, was speaking. I imagine him saying, “We’ll go down and laugh at the poor deluded Methodist.”

…But something happened that night that Robert wasn’t expecting…

After hearing the message, it moved him deeply and it made him rethink his life and how he was living it.

Nearly three years after hearing that sermon, a twenty-year-old Robert Robinson made his peace with God, and “found full and free forgiveness through the precious blood of Jesus Christ.”

Joining the Methodists, and feeling the call to preach, the self-taught Robinson was appointed by John Wesley himself to the Calvinist Methodist Chapel in Norfolk, England.

It was there, to accompany his sermon for Pentecost Sunday in 1858, the three-year anniversary of his conversion, he penned the words of this hymn: “Come, Thou Fount of Every Blessing.”

The first stanza is all praise and adoration, very fitting for the occasion, but the last two stanzas almost feel like a spiritual autobiography.

 

COME THOU FOUNT TEXT:

1

Come, Thou Fount of every blessing,

Tune my heart to sing Thy grace;

Streams of mercy, never-ceasing,

Call for songs of loudest praise.

Teach me some melodious sonnet,

Sung by flaming tongues above;

Praise the mount—I’m fixed upon it—

Mount of Thy redeeming love.

 

2

Here I raise my Ebenezer;

Hither by Thy help I’m come;

And I hope, by Thy good pleasure,

Safely to arrive at home.

Jesus sought me when a stranger,

Wand’ring from the fold of God;

He, to rescue me from danger,

Interposed His precious blood.

 

3

O to grace how great a debtor

Daily I’m constrained to be!

Let that grace now, like a fetter,

Bind my wand’ring heart to Thee:

Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it,

Prone to leave the God I love;

Here’s my heart, O take and seal it;

Seal it for Thy courts above.

 

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GOD uses Music and Hymns for HIS Glory

So there you have it! That’s the story about how one of the greatest hymns of the church came to be!

This just goes to show you how God works in mysterious ways sometimes. It’s a great reminder for me that God can use anyone for His purposes, and he might just have a plan in store for YOUR life. His plans are often ones that we would never expect or even be able to think of on our own, but if we say yes to His calling, our story is going to be awesome!

I would encourage you before you go to take a minute and reflect on your favorite hymns. Maybe one from your childhood that shaped your faith or your understanding of Christianity. I’ve written about some GREAT Christmas hymns if you’re at a loss, maybe just to get the gears going!

If you have one in mind that you’d like to share about, jump on over to my Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/enhymn/ and say hello.

Also, I do a weekly video on topics like this one, so you can also jump over there and check those out at https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCeG8OyPnqMhQzCAN-q4wm_A. Go ahead and subscribe to the channel, it would really mean a lot to me and I’d love to continue to bring you more Hymn Histories just like this.

 

Go with the power of MUSIC & WORSHIP in your hearts and minds…

Go in peace.