Lyrics: Robert Robinson, 1757
Music: NETTLETON, attributed to Asahel Nettleton.
Theme: And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Ephesians 4:30.
Several CCM artists and groups and choirs have recorded version of this old hymn. The words have been revised many times over the years and even the “traditional version” that most of us know is not really the version that Robinson first wrote. I’m rather fond of this musical version by Sufjan Stevens, and the video that is posted with it (African wildlife photos by Nick Brandt) grows on you:
As for lyrics, these are the words I learned in church growing up:
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 unchanging love.
2. Here I raise mine Ebenezer;
Hither by Thy help I’m come;
And I hope, by Thy 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.
3. 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.
You can see several other variations, including Robinson’s original words, at Wikipedia. Interestingly enough, none of the lyrics at Wikipedia matches exactly the the words we sing at my church. Someone in my church, I think, objected to the words “prone to wander, prone to leave the God I love” (conflicting with the doctrine of eternal security of the believer?), and so we sing something like ” Sorely tempted, Lord I feel it, Pulled to grieve the God I love.” I find the change unnecessary, but also not worth the bother of protesting.
There is an unsubstantiated story that Mr. Robinson did wander from the fold of Christianity in later years, but others dispute the veracity of the story. You can read more about it in the Christian History article linked below.
Sources:
Did Robert Robinson Wander As He Had Feared?, Glimpses of Christian History, June 9.
Prone to wander is one of my favorite lines because that’s exactly how I am. So interesting!
You didn’t mention WARRENTON; for that matter, I wonder what it was sung to before there was NETTLETON. It’s 8.7.8.7.D, so of course there are a billion and three possible tunes… But WARRENTON (from the shapenote tradition, and typically found alongside NETTLETON in Southern Baptist hymnals) is the only one I’ve seen used with any frequency.
One of my favorites, and I quite concur with Amy on the wandering bit.
My impression on Robinson is that he had a depressive disorder of some sort, perhaps similar to what Cowper suffered from, but I’m probably just going on hearsay.
Wish me well on this afternoon’s hymn-sing! I’ll mention this site even though you didn’t get the 100 out in time for me to do a countdown or anything. Not your fault. Maybe you ought to stop after you post #2, and have a new poll to see what hymn, of all those not yet on your list, people think won the whole kaboodle.
Guess the last five is even better! But unfortunately the link that’s supposed to give you a list of the last 96 (including #101) just coils back circularly on itself, swallowing its own tail as it were…
Having just come home from an interesting hymn-sing, I am too exhausted to vote right now, but I’ll try to by morning.