Some months back someone in the church asked me about a story I gave concerning the author of the hymn, “Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing.” As the story was told to me, Robert Robinson (1735-1790), once a minister of the gospel of Jesus Christ, and who penned the words, “prone to wander, Lord I feel it; prone to leave the God I love…” did, in fact forsake the Lord. This would certainly be a tragic happening, for a professing believer to fall away from the Lord.
But, as I mentioned, this is how the story was told to me. So recently, I thought I should seek to verify the story one way or the other, and this is what I found:
Robert Robinson (1735-1790), the author of "Come, Thou Fount," knew what it was to be "prone to wander." As a teenager, Robinson went to a George Whitefield meeting with the purpose of ridiculing him. Instead, Robinson was converted and later entered the ministry. The text of this great hymn was written when he was only twenty-three years of age while he ministered at the Calvinistic Methodist Church in Norfolk, England. Read the text of this hymn as follows (I particularly like the last verse which is absent from most hymnals):
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.
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.
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;
Clothed 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.
*In 1 Samuel 7:12, Saul erected a stone as a memorial to God which he named “Ebenezer” because, he said, “Hitherto hath the LORD helped us.” (KJV)
As the story goes, some years later, Robinson did begin to “wander” and he eventually left the ministry. After some time, he found himself sitting by a lady in a stagecoach who was humming the hymn, “Come, Thou Fount.” When asked by her what he thought of it, he said, “Madam, I am the unhappy man who wrote that hymn many years ago, and I would give a thousand worlds to enjoy the feelings I had then.”
Now some of the accounts have Mr. Robinson coming back to the Lord while others leave the question hanging. But may all this serve to remind us to heed th words of the Apostle Paul as he wrote to the Corinthians in 1 Cor. 10:12,
“Therefore let him who thinks he stands take heed that he does not fall.”
We must be ready to raise our "Ebenezer" in recognition that it’s only by God’s doing that we have come this far. May we also long for “that day when freed from sinning,” we shall see His lovely face and sing of His sovereign grace!
Soli Deo Gloria,
Pastor Ed
But, as I mentioned, this is how the story was told to me. So recently, I thought I should seek to verify the story one way or the other, and this is what I found:
Robert Robinson (1735-1790), the author of "Come, Thou Fount," knew what it was to be "prone to wander." As a teenager, Robinson went to a George Whitefield meeting with the purpose of ridiculing him. Instead, Robinson was converted and later entered the ministry. The text of this great hymn was written when he was only twenty-three years of age while he ministered at the Calvinistic Methodist Church in Norfolk, England. Read the text of this hymn as follows (I particularly like the last verse which is absent from most hymnals):
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.
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.
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;
Clothed 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.
*In 1 Samuel 7:12, Saul erected a stone as a memorial to God which he named “Ebenezer” because, he said, “Hitherto hath the LORD helped us.” (KJV)
As the story goes, some years later, Robinson did begin to “wander” and he eventually left the ministry. After some time, he found himself sitting by a lady in a stagecoach who was humming the hymn, “Come, Thou Fount.” When asked by her what he thought of it, he said, “Madam, I am the unhappy man who wrote that hymn many years ago, and I would give a thousand worlds to enjoy the feelings I had then.”
Now some of the accounts have Mr. Robinson coming back to the Lord while others leave the question hanging. But may all this serve to remind us to heed th words of the Apostle Paul as he wrote to the Corinthians in 1 Cor. 10:12,
“Therefore let him who thinks he stands take heed that he does not fall.”
We must be ready to raise our "Ebenezer" in recognition that it’s only by God’s doing that we have come this far. May we also long for “that day when freed from sinning,” we shall see His lovely face and sing of His sovereign grace!
Soli Deo Gloria,
Pastor Ed
3 comments:
I have never seen that final verse. I like it! Thanks for sharing.
Thanks for commenting Annette - I too find that last verse inspiring - to be finally freed from sinning and to worship Christ in absolute purity - wow!
Thanks for posting the story of Robert Robinson and his great hymn. A cautionary tale indeed, as all believers share a proneness to wander from the paths of righteousness.
You have the story essentially correct. I tell it on my daily blog on hymn history, Wordwise Hymns, here: http://wordwisehymns.com/2009/06/09/today-in-1790-robert-robinson-died/
Post a Comment