A lot of friends have been excitedly posting about the new additions to the LDS Hymnbook and especially about the addition and return of Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing.

This is a truly wonderful song. It was a favorite when I was a Latter-day Saint. And the words have an even greater depth of meaning for me now as an Evangelical. 

I want to talk about the words of this great hymn and share some of my thoughts about what they would have meant to me as a Latter-day Saint and what they mean to me now. 

History of Robert Robinson 

But first a brief word about the composer Robert Robinson since he has a really interesting story.

Robinson came from a broken family and was living a life very distant from God. He went with some friends to hear the preaching of famed preacher George Whitfield possibly with the intention of heckling Whitfield. Whitfield’s Sermon on Matthew 3:7 “O generation of vipers, who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come?” powerfully touched Robinson and he was converted by the power of the word.

Robinson wrote Come Thou Fount two years after his conversion. He later became a minister who was known both for his musical talents and powerful preaching. He was briefly a methodist and then a reformed baptist, but he always embraced reformed/calvinist theology and that comes through in the lyrics to Come Thou Fount. 

Unfortunately it appears that Robinson may have wandered in his later years, showing sympathy to unitarian ministers like Joseph Priestly who denied the divinity of Christ. Priestly claimed after Robinson’s death that Robinson had become a unitarian and preached against the Trinity . But one of his long time close friends reported that a month before his death he testified “My soul rests its whole hope of salvation, on the atonement of Jesus Christ, my Lord and my God.”

There’s also a likely apocryphal but well known story of a woman sitting with Robinson on a stagecoach and singing to him the word to his own Hymn. Robinson allegedly responded: “ “Madam, I am the unhappy man who wrote that hymn many years ago; and, I would give a thousand worlds, if I had them, if I could feel now as I felt then.” Some versions of the story have her respond with “Sir, the ‘streams of mercy’ are still flowing” In some versions of the story Robinson then regains his faith in God as a result of this encounter. As nice as this story is, it comes across as highly implausible for a lot of reasons. In particular, it is of late origin and does not fit will into the timeline of Robinson’s life.

Taken as a whole it appears that Robinson remained true to his faith in Christ even though he was overly sympathetic to heretical persons and positions and prone to wander as he wrote in his most famous hymn.

Lyrics

Verse 1

• “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.

Come, Thou Fount of Every Blessing

This powerful line reflects the truth that Jesus Christ is the ultimate source of every good blessing.

When I hear this verse I am also reminded of Jesus’s promise in John 4: 13-14:

“Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”

When I hear this verse I also now reflect on how Jesus is the creator of everything that exists “things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through him and for him.” (Col 1:16). He is truly the fount of every blessing because he is the fount of everything that exists.  

As a Latter-day Saint I would have accepted that Jesus helped to create the world under the direction of the Father along with Michael/Adam and many other premortal spirits. But I would not have believed that Jesus is the creator of all things that exist including my spirit. More generally,I would not have seen God as the ultimate creator and source of everything that exists since I believed that the universe was eternal and had no beginning. Coming to see God as the true fount of every blessing has changed my heart in profound ways.

Tune my heart to sing Thy grace.

This line speaks to how our hearts are naturally out of alignment with God and how he must change our hearts in order to allow us to sing of his grace. 

In Jeremiah 17:9, the prophet speaks of our hearts as deceitfully wicked. above all things. This is a powerful description of our status until God changes our heart.

Ezekiel powerfully describes how this works”I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. “And I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes and to carefully observe My ordinances.” This new heart supplies the desire that our old heart lacked. It allows us to glory in God with our whole heart

I believed this in part as a Latter-day Saint. But what I did not appreciate was the full extent to which I was an “enemy to God” as the Book of Mormon puts it (Mosiah 3:19) or the degree to which God needed to change my heart to make me want to sing of his grace. 

Streams of mercy, never ceasing

I love the metaphor of God’s mercy as never ceasing streams. I recently went to Yosemite National Park for the first time and saw the majestic waterfalls. Looking at them, I understood something about the torrential force of Gods grace and mercy.

The streams of mercy described here are in many ways similar. They are also inexhaustible. They never dry up. Whatever we do, and however far we may wander they are still there. A constant and sure stream that we are invited to partake of. 

Call for songs of loudest praise

When we understand the depths of Gods mercy and his goodness, the most natural response of our heart is to cry out with songs of praise. As a Psalmist declared  “O sing unto the LORD a new song; for he hath done marvelous things.” (Psalm 96:1). 

This line also makes me think of David who was “leaping and dancing before the Lord.” David enthusiasm was met with skepticism by even his own wife. Be he was filled with a great desire to praise God with all of his heart and soul. 

Music has always really spoken to my heart both as a Latter-day Saint and as an Evangelical. There is beauty in more quiet revenant music. But two things that I particularly appreciate about evangelical worship are that 1) the songs are energetic and loud i.e. “songs of loudest praise”; and 2) the songs are focused on praising and glorifying God. 

Teach me some melodious sonnet, Sung by flaming tongues above

The Bible describes angelic singing on several occasions.

• By far the most famous is when the angels appear to the Shepherds in Bethlehem. Luke records, “And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!”
• In Isaiah, the Angels cry out ““Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory!”
• And in Revelation “To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be blessing and honor and glory and might forever and ever!”
• Later in Revelation those who come through the great tribulation sing  “Great and amazing are your deeds, O Lord God the Almighty! Just and true are your ways, O King of the nations!”

What stands out to me with all of these is that the focus is on glorifying God and exalting in his goodness and greatness. This is the focus of true worship, and it is what we can be taught by “flaming tongues above.” This heart of worship is something that I have learned to more fully embrace.

Praise the Mount, I’m Fixed Upon It. Mount of Thy Redeeming Love. 

These words are a beautiful reminder of Calvary and crucifixion. Christ was fixed upon the cross in a glorious act of redeeming love. As Isaiah foretold, “He was pierced for our transgressions” and “the punishment that brought us peace was upon him.” 

The description of us as “fixed upon” the cross also implies an assurance and permanence. Just as Jesus was firmly nailed to the cross, so too did he take with him our sins and nail them firmly to the cross. As Paul explained, Christ has “canceled the charge of our legal indebtedness, which stood against us and condemned us; he has taken it away, nailing it to the cross.” 

As a Latter-day Saint, I saw Christ’s death as an act of redeeming love that paid the penalty for my sins on condition of my repentance. But the assurance that I am “fixed upon” the mount and that Christ once and for all died to take ALL of my guilt and shame and sin away was not something I could have embraced fully as a Latter-day Saint. 

Verse 2 

• Here I raise my Ebenezer; Hither by Thy help I’m Come; And I hope by Thine 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

Here I raise my Ebenezer; Hither by Thy help I’m come.

It’s a bit embarrassing to admit, but I  used to always think about Ebenezer Scrooge whenever I would hear this line. And I am guessing I’m not the only one. 

But this is actually a reference to a really profound story in the Book of 1 Samuel. 

The people of Israel had been led by Eli the negligent high priest and his corrupt sons. They took the arc of the covenant, the symbol of God’s presence, into battle against the Philistines like a good luck charm. And the arc was captured as they suffered a major defeat. Eli’s two sons are killed in battle and Eli himself falls down and breaks his neck. All seems lost 

But God is in control. Wherever the arc is taken among the Philistines, calamity follows. Idols are knocked down and decapitated. People spontaneously break out in tumors. They pass the arc around like a game of hot potato before resolving to return the arc to Israel with gifts for a sin offering. 

All of this leads to collective repentance among the israelites and to a massive revival. Samuel has them put away all of their idols and gather together at Mizpeh where he offers sacrifices to God. The Philistines hear this and decide to attack. The people fear but cry out to Samuel, “Do not stop crying out to the Lord our God for us, that he may rescue us from the hand of the Philistines.”

He offers a sacrifice to God of a suckling lamb and God hears and responds by attacking the philistine army “with loud thunder” which  “them into such a panic that they were routed before the Israelites.”

Thus, it is not the Israelite army that gets the credit for saving the ark and winning the war. To the contrary, it all rests on the Lord. 

Samuel sets up a stone and calls it Ebezener (Or stone of help) to commemorate this event and  declare “Thus far the Lord has helped us.”

I love this recognition by Samuel that even in the darkest moments God has been at work. He was the one who led Israel out of Egypt and into the promised land despite Israel’s rebelliousness and resistance. And he was the one who ensured that the Arc would be delivered. 

 Every difficult event and tragedy in our life is ultimately part of God’s design. We need to recognize the ways that he has helped bring us to where we are. We will then be ready to praise God the way that Samuel did and to trust in him. 

And I hope, by Thy good pleasure, Safely to arrive at home– 

This is the desire of every one that has been born again and in Christ. We see the temptations and dangers of Satan around us and long for deliverance to our heavenly home. At times we, like the Apostles caught in a storm on the sea of Galilee, feel overwhelmed and like we are about to drown.

The key that Robinson picks up on here is that ultimately our perseverance is not an act of our willpower and grit and determination. God in his good pleasure is the one who rescued us and brought us thur far. And he is the one who will bring us safely home. Jesus is truly the “the author and finisher of our faith”

Paul expressed this confidence so well in Philippians 1:6, “I am sure of this, that he who started a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.” 

When we recognize that it is only by God’s help and pleasure that we have come to faith in him in the first place then we can have confidence that he will likewise bring us home according to his good pleasure.

I used to believe that my eternal destiny depended largely on my choices and how I used my free will. But now I realize that ultimately far more depends on God and his good will and pleasure for. I still believe that I should use the time and talents God has given me to strengthen my faith and draw close to him. But I trust that he  started me on the journey to him and he will lead me home. 

Jesus sought me when a stranger, Wand’ring from the fold of God;

Isaiah declared in his great vision of Christ in Isaiah 53  that “All of us like sheep have gone astray, We have turned, each one, to his own way.” I used to primarily envision myself as one of the 99 or as an under shepherd who would help gather the lost. But Robinson is capturing a profound biblical truth. Each of us was a wandering lost sheep. Each of us could not find out way back to the fold on our own. We were lost and didn’t know where to go. 

When Christ found each of us, we were wandering from the fold of God. We were strangers and had not yet heard his voice. But Christ came and we heard his voice and he came and rescued us. 

He, to rescue me from danger, Interposed His precious blood.

Even more extraordinarily, Christ laid down his life for us even though we were wandering and lost In John 10 Jesus declared himself to be the Good Shepherd. He explains that he will lay down his life for the sheep that the father has given him. He will seek them out and they will hear his voice. 

This is the good news of the Gospel of Christ. As Paul put it, “God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” We were as lost as we could be, as alienated as we could be, as distant as we could be, and as rebellious as we could be. And yet Christ still came to save us. He found us and “joyfully carr[ies] [us] home on his shoulders”  Luke 15:5 

Verse 3

• Oh, to grace how great a debtor, Daily I’m constrained to be! Let thy goodness like a fetter tie 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.

Oh, to grace how great a debtor, Daily I’m constrained to be!

When we recognize how deeply we were in debt to sin and how freely and fully God forgave us, our hearts will be constrained to praise him every single day. Even more so, we will recognize how much we depend on God every day to “Give us each day our daily bread. And forgive us our sins.”

When I hear these lines I am reminded of the parable that Jesus told a Pharisee named Simonin Luke 7. In that story one man had a small debt forgiven and the other a large debt forgiven. Jesus asked Simon which one would love his master more and Simon rightly concluded taht it was the one who had been forgiven more. Jesus then contrasted the actions of the proud and self-righteous Simon with that of a prostitute who recognized her sinfulness and abased herself before Christ. Christ summed up his point with these piercing words, “But whoever has been forgiven little loves little.”

One of the biggest changes in my life as an Evangelical has been being more open and vulnerable with my sin and my struggles. I used to feel the  need to be a strong example of faith for everyone around me. I worried that if I candidly admitted my failings or doubts that I would let someone down or harm someone else’s testimony. And since I held  a temple recommend and served faithfully in my callings I had a very high sense of self-worth and self-righteousness.  Now I am much more willing to critically examine my own shortcomings both privately and publicly. I see more and more what a great debtor I am to God’s grace each and every day. 

Let Thy goodness, like a fetter, Bind my wand’ring heart to Thee.

A fetter is chain used to restrain a prisoner. We don’t usually think about being bound and restrained as being a good thing, but being bound to Christ is the only source of true freedom. 

Robinson picks up on something really extraordinary here as well. What binds us to Christ is our recognition of his goodness. We are not constrained to remain with Christ out of fear or obligation. Instead, it is his love and his goodness that keeps us turning back to him again and again. The chains that we are bound by are an easy yoke and a light burden. 

I am reminded of Paul’s final words to the Saints in Ephesus:

“I ask that out of the riches of His glory He may strengthen you with power through His Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. Then you, being rooted and grounded in love, will have power, together with all the saints, to comprehend the length and width and height and depth of the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.

Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it, Prone to leave the God I love.

I relate deeply to these lines. As Robinson expressed, I have a “wand’ring heart.” I think we all ultimately do. We all are prone to wander away from the God that we love. Fortunately, we have a God who loves us even when we wander or stray. Indeed, as we already discussed, he loved even when we were wandering far away from him.

Here’s my heart, O take and seal it; Seal it for Thy courts above.

In Ephesians 1:13, Paul talks about how the Holy Spirit is a seal that seals us to God: “In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit.” 

If we are sealed with the Holy Spirit dwelling in us, then we can have an assurance of our salvation. 

This is true even when we are prone to wander or doubt, or sin. The Holy Spirit of Promise guarantees us an inheritance and continues to work with us to draw us back to the fold of God. 

Jesus said this about his sheep that are part of his fold in John 10:28: 

“No one can snatch them out of my hand. … And I give them life everlasting; and they shall not perish for ever, and no man shall pluck them out of my hand.” 

Paul express this in Romans 8 with a powerful poetic flourish:

“For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons,neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

If we understand this assurance we are no longer going to feel like God is ready to kick us out of his family when we mess up. We are no longer going to be anxious that he will abandon us when we sin. We will have confidence that he will make all things work out for our good and his glory, even our stumbles and shortcomings. 

I thank God for these powerful doctrines of salvation. I think God that he opened my eyes and tuned my heart to sing his grace. I hope that my review of Robinson’s hymn has helped you to greater appreciate what these powerful words mean and that my words will inspire you to a deeper study of the grace that Robinson sang so powerfully of.