Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing
Words: Robert Robinson, 1758. Music: American folk tune. Public Domain.

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.

Therefore I, Lord, will remember
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,
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 that grace now 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, Lord, take and seal it,
Seal it for Thy courts above.

Teach me some melodious sonnet,
Sung by flaming tongues above.
Here’s my heart, Lord, take and seal it,
Seal it for Thy courts above.

Scripture References
1 Sam 7:12-14; 2 Pet 2:25

Notes
The tune is known as Nettleton, by attribution to the evangelist Asahel Nettleton who composed it early in the nineteenth century.

“When [Robinson] was 17 he and some friends attended a meeting where George Whitefield was preaching. Robinson and his friends went for the purpose of ‘scoffing at the poor deluded Methodists.’ However, Whitefield’s strong evangelistic preaching so impressed him that he was converted to Christ.” 101 Hymns Stories by Kenneth Osbeck pg. 52.

Robinson penned these words at age 22 or 23 as a hymn-poem for the conclusion of his sermon for Whitsunday, 1758.

In stanza three, Robinson speaks of being “prone to wonder, prone to leave the God I love”. In his later life, he lapsed into sin. There is a well-known story of Robinson, riding a stagecoach with a lady who was deeply engrossed in a hymnbook. Seeking to encourage him, she asked him what he thought of the hymn Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing. Robinson burst into tears 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.”

Ebenezer
The word “Ebenezer” comes from Hebrew and is actually two words pronounced together: Even Haazer. It literally means “Stone of Help”.

Fetter
1. A chain or shackle placed on the feet.
2. Usually, fetters. anything that confines or restrains.