Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing Lyrics
"Come, Thou Fount of Every Blessing" is a beloved hymn of grace and gratitude, written in 1758 by Robert Robinson — a young English convert who had come to faith under the preaching of George Whitefield. Its imagery, from raising an "Ebenezer" stone of remembrance to the unforgettable confession "prone to wander, Lord, I feel it," has kept it in constant use for more than 260 years. Today it is sung to the early-American tune NETTLETON, first printed in 1813.
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. Sorrowing I shall be in spirit, Till released from flesh and sin, Yet from what I do inherit, Here Thy praises I'll begin; Here I raise my Ebenezer; Here by Thy great help I've 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; How His kindness yet pursues me Mortal tongue can never tell, Clothed in flesh, till death shall loose me I cannot proclaim it well. 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. O that day when freed from sinning, I shall see Thy lovely face; Clothed then in blood washed linen How I'll sing Thy sovereign grace; Come, my Lord, no longer tarry, Take my ransomed soul away; Send thine angels now to carry Me to realms of endless day.
History
"Come, Thou Fount of Every Blessing" was written in 1758 by Robert Robinson (1735–1790), and the hymn is bound up with his own story. A few years earlier, in 1755, Robinson had come to faith under a sermon preached by the evangelist George Whitefield. He wrote the hymn at about age 22, and its language of being claimed and rescued by grace grew directly out of that conversion.
The text first appeared in print in A Collection of Hymns used by the Church of Christ in Angel-Alley, Bishopsgate in 1759, where it carried four stanzas. A year later, in 1760, Martin Madan produced an altered three-stanza version, and over time various hymnals have printed different selections and slightly different wordings of Robinson's verses. The hymn's recurring image, "Here I raise mine Ebenezer," reaches back to 1 Samuel 7:12, where Samuel sets up a "stone of help" to remember how far God had brought his people.
The melody came separately and much later. The tune now universally paired with the hymn, NETTLETON, is an anonymous early-American melody first printed in Wyeth's Repository of Sacred Music, Part Second in 1813. The tune is traditionally attributed to the evangelist Asahel Nettleton, but that attribution is unsupported — he did not compose it, and the tune was simply named after him. It's the union of Robinson's text with NETTLETON that congregations have sung for generations.
Cultural Significance
"Come, Thou Fount of Every Blessing" stands among the most enduring hymns of the 18th-century English evangelical revival, and it has long since outgrown its origins. It's sung widely across denominations, printed in hymnals of nearly every tradition, and recorded in styles ranging from shape-note singing to contemporary worship. Its theme — gratitude for grace already received, and a plea to be kept faithful — has kept it in steady use for more than two and a half centuries.
Much of that staying power comes from the hymn's honesty. The confession "prone to wander, Lord, I feel it, / prone to leave the God I love" is among the most quoted lines in all of English hymnody, precisely because it admits human frailty so plainly. Singers return to it because it names something real about the experience of faith, and that candor gives the hymn a quiet weight that more triumphant texts often lack.
Memorizing Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing
"Come, Thou Fount of Every Blessing" rewards memorization, and it's especially worth the effort for choir and church singers — knowing the verses by heart means you can watch the director, blend with your section, and sing to the congregation instead of reading from the hymnal. Several features of the hymn make it easier to commit to memory, and each one lines up with how Lines works:
- The images are built-in memory hooks. The hymn is unusually visual — the "fount" of blessing, the raised "Ebenezer," the wanderer's confession. Anchor each verse to its dominant picture, and you give your memory something concrete to grab rather than a string of abstract words.
- Each verse is a chunk. The hymn is strophic: every stanza is short, self-contained, and sung to the same repeating melody. Learn them one verse at a time rather than as a single long passage — chunking turns the hymn into a few small, manageable units.
- The melody is a scaffold. The tune's shape carries information about the next word, so the melody itself cues the line. Singing the words, rather than reading them silently, gives your memory a strong sequence to ride.
- One tune, many verses — so order is the challenge. Because every stanza shares the same melody, the hard part isn't the notes; it's keeping the verses in the right sequence. Spaced practice and sleep consolidation are what lock that order in, which is why returning to the hymn over several short sessions beats one long cram.
Lines is built around exactly this approach. Its five progressive practice modes walk you from recognizing the words to producing them from memory, one verse-chunk at a time, on a spacing schedule that consolidates the sequence between sessions. Practice "Come, Thou Fount of Every Blessing" verse by verse in Lines and you'll have every stanza — Ebenezer and all — ready to sing without opening the hymnal.
Memorize with Lines
Want to learn "Come, Thou Fount of Every Blessing" and other classic hymns by heart? Download Lines, our iOS app designed to help you memorize and retain lyrics through five progressive practice modes, chunking, and spaced practice. Perfect for choir singers, worship leaders, and anyone who wants to sing the verses with their eyes up.