In 1985, the Church issued a new hymn book containing 341 hymns entitled Hymns of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Some new hymns appeared, which had not been published by the Church before, such as How Great Thou Art. Others were left out of the book such as Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing. The Church did not give reasons for leaving out any particular hymn, just saying that the spirit was followed in the selection and there were too many hymns to be included into one book.
Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing is a Christian hymn composed by the 18th century Methodist pastor and hymnist Robert Robinson. He was born 27 September 1735 in Swaffham, Norfolk, England. Robinson’s widowed mother sent him to London at 14, to learn the trade of barber and hair dresser. However, after hearing a Methodist sermon he turned from his life of recklessness and hooliganism and became a Methodist minister. He later moved to the Baptist church and pastored in Cambridge, England. In later life he encountered a woman who was studying a hymnal. She asked how he liked the hymn she was humming. In tears, he replied:
Madam, I am the poor unhappy man who wrote that hymn many years ago, and I would give a thousand worlds, if I had them, to enjoy the feelings I had then.
Robert Robinson died 8 June 1790 at Showell Green, Warwickshire and is buried in Key Hill Cemetery, Birmingham, England.
There is a curious phrase at the beginning of verse 2: Here I raise my Ebenezer. How many times have I sung that without knowing what it means? Apparently it refers to 1 Samuel 7:12:
Then Samuel took a stone, and set it between Mizpeh and Shen, and called the name of it Ebenezer, saying, Hitherto hath the Lord helped us.
Samuel took a lamb and made an offering to the Lord asking that He would help the Israelites defeat the Philistines. When the Philistines were beaten, Samuel erected a stone and called it Ebenezer so as to remind Israel of what the Lord had done. The Ebenezer stone is a source of inspiration and reminder to many, as witnessed by The Heart Of The Matter, A Life Worthy, and Another Think. There is even a blog called Ebenezer Stone.
The Mormon Tabernacle Choir sings the hymn as follows, in an arrangement by Mack Wilberg. It is essentially the modern hymnal version, except that verse 2 is split into two parts and the last half of verse 3 is appended to each part to form two verses. See this Wikipedia article for the different versions, including the original. Here is the Mormon Tabernacle Choir singing Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing.
Also consider Mark Mabry’s spiritual journey to recreate and photograph the life and ministry of Jesus Christ. Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing is rendered in his Reflections of Christ video.
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.
Robert Robinson
2. Here I raise my Ebenezer;
Hither by Thy help I’ve come;
And I hope, by Thy good pleasure,
Safely to arrive at home.
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.
3. Jesus sought me when a stranger,
Wandering from the fold of God;
He, to rescue me from danger,
Interposed His precious blood.
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.
4. 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.
