More Favorite Hymns - There Is a Fountain

I have already posted William Cowper's God Moves in a Mysterious Way. Cowper was a contemporary and friend of John Newton (Amazing Grace). Together they published the Olney Hymnal, one of the most beloved hymnals in the history of the church.

Today, this is the best known of Cowper's hymns, though God Moves in a Mysterious Way remains my favorite. More can be learned about the occasion for the writing of this hymn at Cyberhymnal. For more about Cowper, see my post on God Moves in a Mysterious Way and the link there to John Piper's message on William Cowper.

I think at one time and/or one church or another, I have sung all these verse but the last. I include it because I like the idea of an instrument that God has tuned to play Jesus' name. In many places, it seems to me, that the second verse has been changed to "And there may I, though vile as he, wash all my sins away." Throughout the verse then "washed" is changed to "wash". I like Cowper's rendering better, in that it reminds us that once in Christ, all our sins are covered. However, it is good, after we have sinned, to come back to the gospel to be reminded of that truth.

There Is A Fountain

There is a fountain filled with blood drawn from Emmanuel’s veins;
And sinners plunged beneath that flood lose all their guilty stains.
Lose all their guilty stains, lose all their guilty stains;
And sinners plunged beneath that flood lose all their guilty stains.

The dying thief rejoiced to see that fountain in his day;
And there have I, though vile as he, washed all my sins away.
Washed all my sins away, washed all my sins away;
And there have I, though vile as he, washed all my sins away.

Dear dying Lamb, Thy precious blood shall never lose its power
Till all the ransomed church of God be saved, to sin no more.
Be saved, to sin no more, be saved, to sin no more;
Till all the ransomed church of God be saved, to sin no more.

E’er since, by faith, I saw the stream Thy flowing wounds supply,
Redeeming love has been my theme, and shall be till I die.
And shall be till I die, and shall be till I die;
Redeeming love has been my theme, and shall be till I die.

Then in a nobler, sweeter song, I’ll sing Thy power to save,
When this poor lisping, stammering tongue lies silent in the grave.
Lies silent in the grave, lies silent in the grave;
When this poor lisping, stammering tongue lies silent in the grave.

Lord, I believe Thou hast prepared, unworthy though I be,
For me a blood bought free reward, a golden harp for me!
’Tis strung and tuned for endless years, and formed by power divine,
To sound in God the Father’s ears no other name but Thine.