COME THOU FOUNT OF EVERY BLESSING

Robert Robinson was born to lowly parents in Norfolk, England in 1735. His father died when he was 8 years old. At the age of 14, Robert’s mother sent him to London to learn the barbering trade.

Without the necessary fatherly influence and now on his own, he became associated with a notorious gang of hoodlums and lived a debauched life. At the age of 17, he and his friends attended a church meeting for the purpose of scoffing at the poor deluded Methodists! George Whitefield was speaking that night and his strong, evangelical message so impressed young Robinson that he was converted to Christ.

A few years later, Robert felt called to preach and entered the ministry. He became known as an able theologian through his writings, hymns and other works. In his hymn, COME THOU FOUNT OF EVERY BLESSING, he talks about raising an Ebenezer...which refers to a lasting symbol meant to remind us of God’s faithfulness. Yet he also writes about the spiritual unstableness that sometimes plagues believers when he writes... ”Prone to wander – Lord, I feel it. Prone to leave the God I love!” And then his prayer... ”Take my heart and seal it for Thy courts above!” Robert wrote this hymn at the age of 23.