18th-century Christian hymn
| "Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing" |
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| Written | 1758 (1758) |
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| Text | by Robert Robinson |
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| Meter | 8.7.8.7 |
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| Melody | "Nettleton" by John Wyeth |
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"Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing" is a Christian hymn written by the pastor and hymnodist Robert Robinson, who penned the words in the year 1758 at the age of 22.[1][2]
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.
The original text[3] of the hymn "Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing"
Tunes
In the United States, the hymn is usually set to an American folk tune known as "Nettleton", which first appears in Wyeth's Repository of Sacred Music, Part Second (1813), possibly collected by Elkanah Kelsey Dare, who was the musical editor (John Wyeth himself was a printer).[4] The tune appears on page 112 in F major for two voices (tenor and bass), with a revival chorus (Hallelujah, Hallelujah, we are on our journey home); the facing page has another musical setting ("Concert") in A minor without any chorus. Asahel Nettleton also published music, so some attribute his namesake tune directly to him.[5] In the United Kingdom, the hymn is also often set to the tune "Normandy" by C Bost.[6] The "Nettleton" tune is used extensively in partial or full quotation by the American composer Charles Ives, in such works as the First String Quartet and the piano quintet and song "The Innate". The "Nettleton" tune is also quoted at the end of "My Trundle Bed" by Tullius C. O'Kane.
In the shape note tradition, most tunebooks have one or more tunes other than "Nettleton" that use Robinson's lyrics, in part, or in whole, often adding a camp meeting-style revival chorus between each verse. Because most singers have the lyrics memorized, it can be sung at remarkably fast tempos without stumbling over the words. For example, the tune "Warrenton," which first appeared in the 1838 edition of William Walker's Southern Harmony, is sung in 4/4 time or 2/2 cut time; to fit the text to this melody, the second half of each verse is omitted and replaced with a chorus of "I am bound for the kingdom, will you come to glory with me? / Hallelujah, praise the Lord!"[7]
Text
The lyrics, which dwell on the theme of divine grace, are based on 1 Samuel 7:12, in which the prophet Samuel raises a stone as a monument, saying, "Hitherto hath the Lord helped us" (KJV). The English transliteration of the name Samuel gives to the stone is Ebenezer, meaning Stone of Help. The unusual word Ebenezer commonly appears in hymnal presentations of the lyrics (verse 2).
Various revised versions appear in hymnals, often changing phrases or replacing the reference to Ebenezer.[8][9]
The version in Nazarene hymnals and those of the Holiness movement replaces "wandering" with "yielded," and "prone to wander" with "let me know Thee in Thy fullness".
Many choirs, including the Tabernacle Choir at Temple Square, sing it in an arrangement by Mack Wilberg. It splits verse 2 into two parts and the last half of verse 3 is appended to each part to form two verses.
A version titled "O Thou Fount of Every Blessing" and attributed to Robert Robinson is found in several shape-note hymnals of the American South. The melody is attributed to A. Nettleton, while several phrases are changed.
