Written by Robert Robinson back in the 18th century, this hymn carries some hidden treasures.
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.
Sounds nice and all, but there is in this first verse a serious point. Sure, we need to sing praise. Sure, God's grace is marvelous. Yes, yes, to all that. But note that the first verse is a prayer. And note the request. It is not a request to praise God, but a plea to
learn how. George Whitefield said, "Before you can speak peace to your heart, you must be brought to see that God may damn you for the best prayer you ever put up ..." Singing God's praise is good, but without God motivating, informing, and empowering it, it's just a clanging cymbal. "Tune my heart to sing Thy grace."
Here I raise mine 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,
Wandering from the fold of God;
He, to rescue me from danger,
Interposed His precious blood.
Lost on us is this concept of "Ebenezer". It comes from 1 Samuel 7 and was the claim, "Thus far the LORD has helped us." So Robinson says, "I'm only here because God did it." And as you look through the rest of the verse, this is the message. From before he was in the fold until he gets safely home, it is God's work.
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.
Daily ... that's what he says ... daily. Many debate whether or not you can lose your salvation. I feel like Mr. Robinson here. "Lose it? I'm not entirely sure how I can keep it." How will I make it? How will I safely arrive at home? How will I get there in the end? Like him, I'm prone to wander. Like him I have a naturally tendency to "leave the God I love." What hope is there for me? Hard work and perseverance? Not if it's up to me. That will have to be the work of God -- a daily work. Good thing I can count on Him.
3 comments:
We just sang this hymn in the church I attend. (I so appreciate some old hymns thrown in with all the newer praise songs.) I've always liked this particular hymn, but I have a thing about words, so calling someone a fount kind of bugs me. Fetter bugs me, and Ebenezer... well, of course THAT bugs me. I have always planned to "look up" what Ebenezer might mean when I get home, because I think it just makes most of us think of Scrooge, so thank you.
I sound pretty bugged, don't I? Well, I really LIKE the "prone to wander, Lord, I feel it. Prone to leave the God I love" part. It's a good hymn. A melodius sonnet. In fact, being as you laid the lyrics right out there for us, Stan, I think I'll just have to break into song right now. Thanks!
Okay, more break down.
"Fount of every blessing". Fount in the dictionary is defined as "One that initiates or dispenses; a source". I think that Christ as the source of every blessing could not be more suitable.
"Let thy goodness, like a fetter, bind my wandering heart to thee." Fetters are irons, shackles, things that bind ... you know, like "bind my wandering heart". I know, I know, poetic, but certainly accurate. To me, in fact, it seems like an excellent play on the emotions. So many think of being bound to Christ as "shackles" -- something bad. He thought being locked into Christ was the best possible thing.
I have to wonder about Ebenezer Scrooge. Was that Satan's attempt at subverting biblical good? Because "Ebenezer", as I said, means "Thus far the LORD has helped us." Connecting that to the content of the song is easy. Connecting it to Scrooge? Not so much.
Ironically, in Robinson's later years, a woman in a carriage regaled a fellow traveler with the song. "Isn't that wonderful?" she asked. "I wish I could get back there," he answered. It was Robinson himself, and he had wandered far from the Lord. So ... fetters, Ebenezer, yeah ... really good stuff. (I can say that because I didn't write it.)
Thank you for even more background. How interesting that a woman unknowingly sang Robinson's own song to him. Must have just been a coincidence, you think? :o) Surely not something orchestrated by God Himself because Mr. Robinson needed to hear those words.
It's just the archaic terms that sometimes get to me. But, once I get past them, I'm all for what they mean. Like... by all means, fetter me to a bulwark, man!
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