Robert Robinson

Robert Robinson

Robert Robinson, the author of the hymn Come, Thou Fount of Every Blessing, was born in 1735, and lost his father at age 8.  His widowed mother struggled and eventually apprenticed him to a barber, hoping to give him a profession to sustain him.  Robert was prone to read more than practice his trade, however, and had a difficult time.  Without a father’s guidance, he fell into bad company and did some things he was later very ashamed of.

He was shaken by the words of a fortune-telling gypsy his group was making fun of, and rethought the direction of his life.  Seeking direction, he went to hear the great evangelist George Whitfield, who preached that day on the words of John the Baptist in Matthew 3:7, “You brood of vipers!  Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come?”  Whitfield’s words bothered him greatly for over three years before he came to peace with God, and a saving faith at age 20.  Two years later, he wrote his famous hymn.

Robert became a Methodist, and pastored a church three years after his salvation.  “Prone to wander”, he later became a Baptist where he authored a detailed history of Baptists in England.  He switched from there to an Independent church, and later to a Congregationalist pulpit. 

Robert, later in his life, became close friends with a popular Unitarian pastor named Joseph Priestly.  He was accused of converting to Unitarianism, which holds to the doctrine that Jesus was not fully Divine.  This was very likely a false charge, but there is little doubt he was influenced and confused by Priestly and his teaching.

In his confusion and subsequent depression, there is a widely-told story that Robinson was in a stagecoach with an elderly lady who began humming the tune to that hymn.  She stopped and asked him if he knew what she was humming.  Robert replied, “Madam, I am the poor unhappy man who wrote that hymn many years ago, and I would give a thousand worlds, if I had them, to enjoy the feelings I had then.”  The woman thought on his words then replied, “Sir, the ‘streams of mercy’ are still flowing.”  He was touched, and restored by the woman’s words – ministered to by the words of his own hymn.

The word ‘Ebenezer’ is unusual to us.  It refers specifically to the stone in I Samuel 7:12, “Then Samuel took a stone and set it between Mizpah and Shen, and named it ‘Ebenezer’, saying ‘Thus far the Lord has helped us.” (NASB)

The words of the hymn are different in different hymnals.  I believe the below to be the original text:

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.

https://www.godtube.com/popular-hymns/come-thou-fount-of-every-blessing/

https://www.christianity.com/church/church-history/timeline/1701-1800/did-robert-robinson-wander-as-he-feared-11630313.html

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Robinson_(Baptist)

Polycarp

One of our very early church fathers, Polycarp, was the Bishop of Smyrna (modern-day Izmir in Turkey) in the second century.  Born around AD 70, tradition tells us he was personally discipled by the Apostle John and was appointed by the Apostles as leader of the church in Smyrna – one of the cities noted in Revelation Chapter 2. 

Not much is known about Polycarp’s ministry, other than it being long and fruitful.  It is known that he was a fierce opponent of heretical teaching, including Marcionism and Gnosticism.  Some letters from him to the church in Philippi survive, instructing them to persevere in the faith and some practicalities in how to avoid financial dishonesty in the church. 

Bishop Polycarp is most noted for his death.  At the very old age of 86, during one of the Roman persecutions, some friends encouraged him to flee.  He reluctantly fled to an estate outside the city.  While in hiding, he claimed to have received a vision.  He did not reveal the details of the vision, but simply declared to his friends, “I must be burned alive.”  When the Romans caught up to him, he went willingly.

During his trial, the Roman Proconsul conducting the trial felt sorry for him because of his advanced age.  Polycarp was offered immunity if he would just speak the words, “Caesar is Lord” and offer a pinch of incense to a statue of Caesar.  Polycarp responded, “Eighty-six years I have served Him and he has never done me wrong.  How, then, can I blaspheme my King who saved me?”  Polycarp’s refusal greatly angered the official, and he condemned the elderly Bishop to be burned at the stake.  Polycarp replied, “Come, do what you will.  Why do you delay?”  When the soldiers carrying out the execution moved to nail the bindings in his hands to the stake he refused, stating that God would give him the strength to remain in the fire.

Polycarp died while praying aloud.  The early accounts of his death indicate that many people who witnessed his death came to faith.

Packer, J.I., 131 Christians Everyone Should Know, Holman Publishing, 2000.

https://www.polycarp.net/