Mickey Starling
reporter3@greenepublishing.com
Robert Robinson is best remembered as the writer of the beloved hymn, “Come Thou Fount.” Born in the 1700s, he was a contemporary of evangelist George Whitefield and fellow minister Jonathan Edwards. Robinson was born in Suffolk, England to parents who struggled to make ends meet.
To make matters worse, his father abandoned the family when Robinson was around seven years old and passed away a year later. His mother struggled to pay for his education and eventually changed course for her bright young son and sent him to London to be a barber’s apprentice.
However, the drastic environmental change to a large city brought much temptation to Robinson, who started “running with the wrong crowd.” One day, the devious teens decided to drop in on a sermon of Whitefield’s and cause trouble. Yet, Robinson left the service with a newfound trouble: he couldn’t get the convicting words of Whitefield out of his head. He eventually became a Christian in 1755. “I found full and free forgiveness through the precious blood of Jesus Christ,” Robinson said of his decision.
The next several years found Robinson learning and studying, as well as listening to prominent preachers throughout England. At 23, he penned the words to “Come Thou Fount,” which featured authentic lyrics that reflected Robinson’s life accurately. The third verse seems especially reflective of his inner struggles:
“O to grace how great a debtor
Daily I’m constrained to be!
Let that grace now, 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.”
Wandering was a consistent theme in his life. He often struggled with his faith and even dabbled in doctrines outside of Christianity. During one of those periods of wandering, it is said that Robinson boarded a coach and sat across from a lady holding a songbook and humming “Come Thou Fount.” She told Robinson how much the song had helped her. She proceeded to ask him if he had ever heard it. Robinson began to weep, saying, ““Madam, I am the poor, unhappy man who composed that hymn many years ago. I would give a thousand worlds, if I had them, to enjoy the feelings that I had then.”
Reportedly, this encounter shook Robinson sufficiently to restore him to his original faith. This brings to mind a popular phrase in Christian circles: “All who wander are not lost.” I also find the fact that Robinson included his own weaknesses in his lyrics, for all the world to see, as a sign of refreshing humility. Such honesty is sure to increase the blessings flowing from that wonderful fount.