Come Thou Fount
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.
Sorrowing I shall be in spirit,
Till released from flesh and sin,
Yet from what I do inherit,
Here Thy praises I’ll begin;
Here I raise my Ebenezer;
Here by Thy great help I’ve come;
And I hope, by Thy good pleasure,
Safely to arrive at home.
Jesus sought me when a stranger,
Wandering from the fold of God;
He, to rescue me from danger,
Interposed His precious blood;
How His kindness yet pursues me
Mortal tongue can never tell,
Clothed in flesh, till death shall loose me
I cannot proclaim it well.
O to grace how great a debtor
Daily I’m constrained to be!
Let Thy goodness, like a fetter,
Bind my wandering 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.
O that day when freed from sinning,
I shall see Thy lovely face;
Clothèd then in blood washed linen|
How I’ll sing Thy sovereign grace;
Come, my Lord, no longer tarry,
Take my ransomed soul away;
Send thine angels now to carry
Me to realms of endless day
About this Hymn
This famous hymn was written by Robert Robinson. He was a pastor in the 18th century and wrote a number of hymns. He wrote these lyrics to the folk tune called “Nettleton.” Most historians attribute the Nettleton tune to have been written by John Wyeth.
Robert Robinson lived in England. His father passed away when he was very young, and Robert had to begin working at a young age. Without his father around he soon became quite rebellious. He and a group of friends came upon a gypsy lady who was quite drunk. They began taunting her and poured liquor on her. They started to demand that she tell them their fortunes for free. The gypsy pointed right at Robert and told him that he would live to see not only his children but also his grandchildren. Young Robert was said to have been especially struck with this. And this gypsy’s “fortune” is what spurred him to clean up his life.
Very soon thereafter, Robert went to hear the famous Methodist pastor George Whitefield preach. He didn’t want to be teased by his friends, so he suggested that they go to heckle the congregation. That very day, George Whitefield preached on Matthew 3:7 “O generation of vipers, who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come?” Robert said that he left in utter dread and conviction. This sermon and conviction haunted him for three years. Not long after his 20th birthday Robert became a follower of Christ and wanted to become a Baptist preacher too. He was only 22 when he wrote this famous hymn.
One story about Robert Robinson is quite sad. It goes that one-day Robert was in a coach and a lady was humming the tune to this song. Robert turned to her and said “Madam, I am the poor unhappy man who wrote that hymn many years ago, and I would give a thousand worlds, if I had them, to enjoy the feelings I had then.”
Prone to Wander
Robert felt in his heart that he was prone to wander. Even our feelings wander about. One moment we can be completely and utterly happy. The very next we can be in the pit of despair. Our feelings are not to be a trustworthy gauge of what is true, we should cling to Scripture for that. But our feelings can indeed tell us a bit about what is going on inside of our hearts.
How easy it is to leave church on Sunday morning and to find ourselves amid a dispute with our family before we even make it to lunch that very day.
Or with one hour we share the gospel with someone, with the next we find ourselves drifting into sinful thoughts.
How prone we are indeed, to wander from the God that we profess we love!
But God is faithful and eager to forgive. Let us encourage one another in our walk in Christ.
For more articles about emotional health please read here:https://strivingforeternity.org/dichotomy-of-man-suffering-with-depression/
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