Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing

Robert Robinson, 1758

What This Song Teaches Us About God

Robinson wrote this hymn as a young man who had come to faith after a troubled youth, and that backstory runs through every verse. It is not written from a position of having it all together — it is written by someone who knows he is prone to wander, has experienced grace firsthand, and is asking God to keep holding on to him.

The hymn teaches that God is the source of every good thing, that He is faithful across time, and that we are forgetful people who need worship partly to remember what is true about Him. But the most striking part is its confession: “Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it — prone to leave the God I love.” Robinson’s response to that danger is not trying harder but asking God to “take and seal” his heart. This is a hymn about grace holding us, not us holding on to grace.

Scripture Connections

• 1 Samuel 7:12 — Samuel set up a stone called “Ebenezer,” meaning “Thus far the Lord has helped us” — Robinson borrowed this image directly as a way of marking God’s faithfulness in his life.
• Psalm 103:2 — “Praise the Lord, my soul, and forget not all his benefits” — the hymn’s call to remember God’s goodness echoes this psalm’s warning against spiritual forgetfulness.
• Jude 24 — God is able to keep us from stumbling and to present us blameless — the hymn’s plea for God to hold our hearts reflects our dependence on Him, not our own willpower.

Clarifying the Language

“Come, thou Fount of every blessing” — “Fount” is an old word for “fountain” or “source.” The hymn is calling on God as the origin of all good things.

“Here I raise mine Ebenezer” — In the Old Testament, the word “Ebenezer” means “stone of help.” When the Israelites won a great victory, Samuel set up a stone to mark the spot and remember God’s help. Robinson borrows this image to say: “I am marking this moment — God has helped me this far.”

“Tune my heart to sing thy grace” — Like a musical instrument that needs tuning, Robinson is asking God to align his heart so that it naturally produces worship rather than running in the wrong direction.

“Streams of mercy, never ceasing” — The image is of God’s mercy as a river that never runs dry, always flowing, always available — an unending supply of grace.