Come, thou fount of every blessing

with
JEWIN STREET
NETTLETON

I. Text: Origins

The oldest surviving publication of this hymn is in A Collection of Hymns for the Use of the Church of Christ: Meeting in Angel-Alley (London, 1759 | Fig. 1), in four stanzas of eight lines, without music, unattributed. It is ascribed to Robert Robinson (1735–1790) on the basis of his manuscripts, which included a list of his publications, including the entry, “Mr. Wheatley of Norwich published a hymn beginning ‘Come, thou fount of every blessing’ (1758).” This publication was probably a broadsheet; no known exemplars survive. His manuscripts also included a letter from John Rippon (1751–1836), acknowledging the contribution of this hymn to Rippon’s Selection of Hymns (1787). 

II. Text: Development

Shortly after its 1759 publication, the hymn appeared in Martin Madan’s Collection of Psalms and Hymns (London, 1760 | Fig. 2), shortened to three stanzas, and containing some key alterations, especially to the first four lines of stanza 2 and the sixth line of stanza 3 (“Here’s mine heart”). Madan’s edition also provided several Scripture references for comparison.

The following year, “Come thou fount” appeared in George Whitefield’s Collection of Hymns for Social Worship, 10th ed. (London: William Strahan, 1761 | Fig. 3). Whitefield’s version is unique in the way it changed all the singular pronouns into plural constructions for the purpose of congregational singing. Some of the turns of phrase are interesting, but they have not endured.

Madan’s alterations were repeated in The Collection of Hymns Sung in the Countess of Huntingdon’s Chapel (1764; 1770 ed. shown in Fig. 4), adding the minor change at 2.8 (“Interpos’d his precious blood”). The common change at the end of stanza 1, “Mount of thy redeeming love,” can be traced to the mid-1800s, but the source of that alteration is unclear.

In late 1903 or early 1904, British scholar William T. Brooke, who had contributed to Julian’s Dictionary of Hymnology, came into possession of a collection of hymn tracts published by the Wesleys, and inside the collection was a handwritten version of “Come, thou fount” spanning six stanzas. Based solely on the dates of the tracts, 1747–1762, Brooke quite readily declared, “I have no moral doubt that this is Robinson’s lost original of 1758.” This claim was reprinted in John Telford's Methodist Hymn-Book Illustrated (1906) and elsewhere. Unfortunately, Brooke did not supply a facsimile of this text, nor did he express any concern for the dating of the handwriting, nor did he offer a comparison with Robinson’s handwriting, nor could he explain the absence of a six-stanza version in any publication of the hymn in Robinson’s lifetime. The existence of a single, handwritten version in six stanzas is a curiosity, for sure, but the evidence is lacking to have any confidence in this as a rediscovered version of Robinson’s hymn from 1758. In fact, some small differences between Brooke’s text and the earliest printings from 1759 and 1760 would seem to cast doubt on this being from Robinson’s hand—unless somehow this is a revision and expansion rather than an antecedent. There are too many questions to give this version any real credence. The present location of Brooke’s copy is unknown.

III. Text: Analysis

Madan’s edition (Fig. 2) lists many important Scripture references. The opening line of the hymn is reflected in James 1:17, “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights” (ESV), and possibly also Jeremiah 2:13, “My people have committed two sins: They have forsaken me, the spring of living water, and have dug their own cisterns, broken cisterns that cannot hold water” (NIV). As Michael A.G. Haykin explained:

This text is highlighting the difference between pursuing God as one’s source of all in life and seeking this from other sources—sources that are finite, fallible, and ultimately flawed. . . . For just as a fountain is continually bubbling up with water for the nourishment of all that partake of it, so day after day God is overflowing with blessings, “streams of mercy, never ceasing,” for his children.[1]

At the end of first stanza, the “mount” is most likely Golgotha, where Christ was crucified.

The allusion to the Ebenezer stone in 1 Samuel 7:12 is somewhat obscure and is sometimes changed in modern hymnals to a phrase more readily understood by the average worshiper (“Here I raise my grateful tribute,” or something similar). The point of the allusion is to express gratitude for his salvation, which, according to the next line, happened by grace. To fully understand what Robinson meant when he said, “Jesus sought me when a stranger / wand’ring from the fold of God,” a reader should consult an account of his conversion experience, as in Haykin (2007) and elsewhere.

The third stanza expounds on how this saving grace was not a one-time event, but an ongoing experience:

God’s grace is not only life-changing grace that turns sinners into saints. It is also keeping, preserving grace, grace that enables frail human beings beset with fears and sins to remain true to their Lord. Every day of the believer’s life is a day in which he or she is indebted to grace.[2]

The fourth stanza, often omitted from hymnals, looks forward to heavenly realms, when the struggle with sin will end. Revelation 22:4 says believers will see the face of Christ, and Revelation 7:14 says those who made it through the tribulation will have their garments washed white by the blood of the Lamb. Finally, Robinson was eager for the second coming of Christ, asking God not to delay.

Literary scholar Leland Ryken asserted, “The overall thrust of this poem is to celebrate what God has done for sinners and the gratitude that they feel for their deliverance,”[3] and he equated the poem to Ephesians 2:4–7:

But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved—and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus (ESV).

Many textual adjustments are often employed in trying to reframe the 18th-century English language for modern ears. 

IV. Tunes

1. JEWIN STREET

This hymn was first set to music in Thomas Knibb’s The Psalm Singers Help: Being a Collection of Tunes in Three Parts (London, ca. 1765 | Fig. 6), with a tune called JEWIN STREET. In this printing, the source of the text was given as “Mr. G.W. Page 184,” which refers to George Whitfield’s Collection (1761 | Fig. 3). The tune carries from left to right across the page break. The pairing of “Come thou fount” with JEWIN STREET was very popular from the late 1700s into the early 1800s and was included, for example, in editions of John Rippon’s Selection of Psalm and Hymn Tunes (1792 and thereafter).

2. NETTLETON

In modern hymnals, this hymn is most widely known with the tune NETTLETON, which was first printed in Wyeth’s Repository of Sacred Music, Part Second (Harrisburg, PA, 1813 | Fig. 7), edited by John Wyeth, where it was named HALLELUJAH, scored for two parts (melody and bass), and set to Robinson’s text. Notice how this original printing repeated the last two musical phrases and added the refrain “Hallelujah, hallelujah, we are on our journey home.”

On the same page as HALLELUJAH was the first printing of another early American tune, MINISTER’S FAREWELL. This was replaced in the second edition (1820) with a tune called PROVIDENCE.

The change in name to NETTLETON appeared as early as 1852 in Temple Melodies, edited by Darius E. Jones. The name is in reference to Asahel Nettleton (1783–1844), and the tune has been erroneously attributed to him in some collections, even though Nettleton is not known to have been a composer, and his collection Village Hymns for Social Worship (1824) contained no music. A separate tune book prepared as a companion to Village Hymns, called Zion’s Harp (New Haven, CT: N. & S.S. Jocelyn, 1824), does not contain this tune, nor was it prepared by Nettleton himself.

The most common harmonization of the tune comes from the Hymnal of the Methodist Episcopal Church with Tunes (1878 | Fig. 8), which was edited by Eben Tourjée of Boston and Joseph P. Holbrook of New York. This has been repeated in many other collections.

V. Legacy

Fellow hymn writer and clergyman John Newton (1725–1807) was a great admirer of this hymn and he quoted it several times. In a letter to John Thornton, 4 August 1770, he wrote:

He found me in a waste howling wilderness, in the most helpless state of sin and misery—but in consequence of his everlasting purpose and love, he was pleased to deliver me from ruin, to call me by his grace, to give me a name and place amongst his children, and amongst his ministers. O to grace how great a debtor, daily I’m constrained to be! My soul desires to set up an Ebenezer to his glory this day.[4]

In his diary, 27 June 1777, he wrote:

Lord thou art Sovereign and dost all things well, and right. But I must, I will say, Why me? O to grace how great a debtor. For I was vile beyond measure, yet I obtained mercy.[5]

Newton’s affection for this hymn illustrates how quickly and how pervasively Robinson’s text entered into the parlance of English Christianity.

by CHRIS FENNER
for Hymnology Archive
5 September 2018
rev. 22 September 2024

Footnotes:

1. Michael A.G. Haykin, “Come thou fount of every blessing,” Ministry of Grace (2007), p. 36.

2. Michael A.G. Haykin, “Come thou fount of every blessing,” Ministry of Grace (2007), p. 39.

3. Leland Ryken, 40 Favorite Hymns on the Christian Life (Phillipsburg, NJ: P&R Publishing, 2019), p. 60.

4. Cambridge University, Thornton Papers, Add 7826/1/A, transcribed by Marylynn Rouse, The John Newton Project (http://www.johnnewton.org).

5. John Newton’s diary, Friday 27 June 1777, transcribed by Marylynn Rouse, The John Newton Project (http://www.johnnewton.org).

Related Resources:

John Julian, “Come, thou fount of every blessing,” A Dictionary of Hymnology (London, 1892), p. 252: Google Books

Erik Routley, I’ll Praise My Maker: A Study of the Hymns of Certain Authors Who Stand in or Near the Tradition of English Calvinism (London: Independent Press, 1951).

Michael Haykin, “Come, thou fount of every blessing: Robert Robinson’s hymnic celebration of sovereign grace,” Ministry of Grace: Essays in Honor of John G. Reisinger (Frederick, MD: New Covenant Media, 2007), pp. 31–43.

Robert Cottrill, “Come, thou fount of every blessing,” Wordwise Hymns (18 June 2012):
https://wordwisehymns.com/2012/06/18/come-thou-fount-of-every-blessing/

Leland Ryken, “Come, thou fount of every blessing,” 40 Favorite Hymns on the Christian Life (Phillipsburg, NJ: P&R Publishing, 2019), pp. 57–60.

Hymn Tune Index:
http://hymntune.library.uiuc.edu/default.asp

J.R. Watson, “Come, thou fount of every blessing,” Canterbury Dictionary of Hymnology:
http://www.hymnology.co.uk/c/come,-thou-fount-of-every-blessing

“Come, thou fount of every blessing,” Hymnary.org:
https://hymnary.org/text/come_thou_fount_of_every_blessing