There Is A Fountain Filled With Blood: Behind The Hymn

As a blog that claims to love and adore the hymns of our faith, we don’t say as much about hymns as I’d like. The root of that is that I, like many, sometimes take hymns for granted. One of the things that I am most thankful for in growing up in the Methodist church, is the good old Methodist hymnal. I can remember times when my friend and I would go to the local Methodist church on summer afternoons and play and sing the old hymns for hours. Seriously, who ever heard of two teenagers sneaking into a church and singing hymns for fun? And we were sure to sing every verse…or at least the ones that were printed. Many of Charles Wesley’s hymns had umpteen stanzas that were only published as a 6 stanza hymn. Very sad. Its like publishing a book with only a quarter of the chapters in it. Sorry, that’s one of my soapboxes…

Anyways, in order to remedy what may seem to some as an ambivalence towards hymns, we are going to try to start posting a Behind the Hymn series every so often; both to spread the love for these various hymns to our readers, as well as keep our own personal love for them brightly burning. We will try to include whatever history of the hymn is readily available, delve into its theological teachings, and offer any other information that may assist you in putting it in its proper historical context. In other words, we’re going to tell you everything we know about it…!

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There Is A Fountain: History

This is one of the first hymns Cow­per wrote af­ter his first at­tack of tem­po­ra­ry mad­ness. Cow­per had been prom­ised a post as Clerk of the Jour­nal to the House of Lords, but was dis­mayed up­on learn­ing he would have to un­der­go a pub­lic ex­am­in­a­tion in the House be­fore be­gin­ning his du­ties. The fol­low­ing ar­ti­cle from the North Amer­i­can Re­view, Jan­u­a­ry, 1834, de­scribes his di­lem­ma, and how God pre­vent­ed him from de­stroy­ing him­self:

As the time drew nigh, his agony became more and more in­tense; he hoped and be­lieved that mad­ness would come to relieve him; he attempted also to make up his mind to commit su­i­cide, though his conscience bore stern testimony against it; he could not by any argument per­suade himself that it was right, but this des­per­a­tion pre­vailed, and he pro­cured from an apothecary the means of self-destruction. On the day before his public appearance was to be made, he happened to notice a letter in the newspaper, which to his dis­or­dered mind seemed like a ma­lig­nant li­bel on himself. He im­med­i­ate­ly threw down the pa­per and rushed into the fields, de­ter­mined to die in a ditch, but the thought struck him that he might es­cape from the count­ry. With the same vi­o­lence he pro­ceed­ed to make hasty prep­ar­a­tions for his flight; but while he was en­gaged in pack­ing his port­man­teau his mind changed, and he threw him­self into a coach, or­der­ing the man to drive to the Tower wharf, in­tend­ing to throw him­self in­to the ri­ver, and not re­flect­ing that it would be im­poss­i­ble to ac­comp­lish his pur­pose in that pub­lic spot. On ap­proach­ing the wa­ter, he found a por­ter seated upon some goods: he then re­turned to the coach and was con­veyed to his lodg­ings at the Temple. On the way he at­tempt­ed to drink the laud­a­num, but as oft­en as he raised it, a con­vuls­ive agi­ta­tion of his frame pre­vent­ed it from reach­ing his lips; and thus, re­gret­ting the loss of the op­por­tun­i­ty, but un­a­ble to avail him­self of it, he ar­rived, half dead with an­guish, at his apart­ment. He then shut the doors and threw him­self upon the bed with the laud­a­num near him, try­ing to lash himself up to the deed; but a voice within seemed con­stant­ly to for­bid it, and as of­ten as he ex­tend­ed his hand to the poi­son, his fing­ers were con­tract­ed and held back by spasms.

At this time one of the in­mates of the place came in, but he con­cealed his ag­i­ta­tion, and as soon as he was left alone, a change came over him, and so de­test­a­ble did the deed ap­pear, that he threw away the laud­a­num and dashed the vial to pieces. The rest of the day was spent in heavy insensibility, and at night he slept as usual; but on waking at three in the morning, he took his penknife and lay with his weight upon it, the point toward his heart. It was brok­en and would not pen­e­trate. At day break he arose, and pas­sing a strong gar­ter around his neck, fast­ened it to the frame of his bed: this gave way with his weight, but on securing it to the door, he was more successful, and remained suspended till he had lost all consciousness of existence. After a time the garter broke and he fell to the floor, so that his life was saved.; but the conflict had been greater than his reason could endure. He felt for himself a contempt not to be expressed or imagined; whenever he went into the street, it seemed as if every eye flashed upon him with indignation and scorn; he felt as if he had offended God so deep­ly that his guilt could ne­ver be for­giv­en, and his whole heart was filled with tu­mult­u­ous pangs of despair. Mad­ness was not far off, or rather mad­ness was al­ready come.

Af­ter re­cov­er­ing, Cow­per came to real­ize how God can erase the stain of any sin.

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There Is A Fountain: Hymn and Thoughts

Words: Will­iam Cow­per, in Con­yer’s Col­lect­ion of Psalms and Hymns, 1772.

Music: Cleans­ing Fount­ain, 19th Cen­tu­ry Amer­i­can camp meet­ing tune (MI­DI, score).

“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 first stanza of this hymn immediately draws us to the central theme of the work, namely the “fountain”. First of all, Cowper writes that this fountain “is”. Preempting all that may read the hymn, this fountain existed from the time of the crucifixion, and has been ready to cleanse in all its power ever since. We are then told that this fountain is “filled” up. No meager volume exists in this most precious of fountains, no drops reserved for only a handful of congregants, but enough flowing mass is in this fountain to save a “multitude that no man can number”, and could save all the sinners of ten thousand worlds if it were purposed to do so. The fountain “is” and it is “filled”. And what this glorious fountain is filled with meets us next: its filled with “blood drawn from Emmanuel’s veins”. That line is so sweet it sends chills down my spine every time it comes across my heart. We know where that blood has come from…and from whose veins it was drawn. It was Christ. Oh, it was Christ! And mind you, this fountain worth of blood was not drawn with a harmless needle, but beaten out by whips and rods, thorn pierced brows, crucified hands and feet, and a lacerated side. The “drawing” out of this blood, Christ’s blood, was accomplished in the crucifixion. And for what? So that “sinners plunged beneath that flood” would “lose all their guilty stains”! I love that word “plunged”. One of Webster’s definitions says that it means “to become pitched or thrown headlong forward and downward”. Amen! and Amen! Lord, we all like dirty sheep have gone astray. Grab us, and thrust us into this blessed fountain of your blood. The words are true; sinners are apprehended by Christ, and thrown headlong into this blood filled fountain, to lose all their guilty stains. In this first stanza alone, we are given a vision of the Savior, the gift, the price, the place, and the preemptive love that brought us there.

“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.”

Moving from general sinners to one man in specific, Cowper recalls now the “dying thief”. You may remember this man from Luke 23:39-42: “One of the criminals who were hanged railed at him, saying, “Are you not the Christ? Save yourself and us!” But the other rebuked him, saying, “Do you not fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation? And we indeed justly, for we are receiving the due reward of our deeds; but this man has done nothing wrong.” And he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” And he said to him, “Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise.” This mention of the “dying thief” drives home a theological point, that – though on death’s doorstep, and without any deed, save that of faith in Christ – the thief saw “the fountain in his day”. The next lines are pieces of hymnal mastery: “And there have I, though vile as he, washed all my sins away”. In these few words, we are reminded that 1) We have, and can only, wash our sins away in one place, the same place as that dying thief, beneath the shadow of the cross, in the fountain filled with blood. There was no other place, no other salvation for the thief, and there is no other name under heaven whereby any man can be saved but that of Jesus Christ; that same Jesus that hung crucified beside the thief 2) By faith in Christ, we too shall be with him one day in Paradise 3) We are indeed as “vile as” the thief, and are worthy to have hung on that very same cross, and suffer that very same death 4) Because of our faith in Christ “all”, not “some” or “many” or even “most, but “all” of “our sins” have been washed away. No sin is left to accuse, and no condemnation left to bare – in Christ it has all been washed 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.”

The hymn turns now to a prayer to the “Dear dying Lamb”, Christ our Savior. It pleads, with unshakable confidence, that His “precious blood shall never lose its power”. Though this is the first mention of the word “power” in the hymn, it has been implied from the beginning. The context of the prayer and the extent this “power” is to be upheld is until “all the ransomed church of God be saved, to sin no more”. Again, we are left with a theologically rich statement. We are told that 1) there is a “ransomed church of God” 2) this “ransom” priced has already been paid, else it wouldn’t be called “ransomed” 3) the “church” is then in the process of being saved -as it has been bought and paid for by Christ’s sacrifice in eternity, and is being accomplished in time (that is why we can be said to be predestined, but not saved until we put our faith in Christ) 4) the church is “of God”, or rather is God’s – not man’s, nor Rome’s, but God’s – with Christ as its chief cornerstone 5) the church is to be “saved to sin no more”, which implies a perseverance until its final glorification – and this dear friends is a blessed concept to wrap your heart around, because it tells us that God will not leave us or forsake us or His blood-bought church.

“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.”

Making sure that we do not miss the means by which we are to reach this blessed “stream” we are encountered with the words “by faith”. We are reminded that without faith we have no eyes to see this fountain. Apart from faith we are blind to the “supply” of redemption that has been offered up to us. And we know from Ephesians 2:8 that “it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God”. Even this “faith” to see Christ as our Redeemer, is a gift from God. But once we do see by faith, and every moment thereafter, we can not help but make “redeeming love” our theme, until the very day of our death. And that theme is one that will never fade, or dim with age – but will grow brighter and clearer as we near Canaan’s Shore. Webster says that a “theme” is a specific and distinctive quality, characteristic, or concern. Once encountered with grace, we become defined, and distinguished by Christ’s redemption of our souls. “Redeeming love” truly does become our theme.

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

Undoubtedly one of my favorite lines in all of hymnody, the line “when this poor lisping, stammering tongue lies silent in the grave” speaks a deathknell to our sinful, pride-drenched heart. We, like Moses, Isaiah, and all mankind, when confronted with the glory of the Lord stand in “lisping, stammering” awe – until that day when we shall see Him face to face, and be delivered from this bodily shell. Then we, like the cloud of witnesses before us shall, sing in a “nobler, sweeter song” of Christ’s unrelenting “power to save”. It will be “nobler” because it will be seen perfectly, from the perspective of eternity. And it will be “sweeter” because it will be on that side of glory, accompanied, and encompassed about by the angels of the Lord, all the host of Heaven, and all the redeemed of God. And “sweeter” still will it be because we will see the awesome “power” that Christ hath wrought in the “saving” of innumerable lost and dying souls. Those to whom we looked and said, “That man is lost, with no hope”, or “Only God can save him now” – those will be the ones in whom we glory in Christ’s “power to save” and seek that which was lost, and praise Him that he did indeed bring “many sons to glory”.

“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.”

And this closing verse, oh wow. Though I’m not sold on the idea of “a golden harp” being prepared for me, of the other words I am quite. Apart from Christ, we are unworthy to enter in to the place that the Lord hath prepared for us. And even then, our faculties and calling in heaven shall all be “strung and tuned” to praise and worship the King upon his throne, and nothing centered on ourselves. This opportunity to worship Our God is a “blood bought free reward”, not a mundane or taxing duty – but a joyful gift, and gladly accepted reward. But what the worship itself entails in this hymn, is so rich in truth it demands our meditation: our instrument of praise “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.” Here, Cowper answers the first question in the Westminster Catechism, and settles all questions of the purposes of man. The Catechism asks: What is the chief end of man? Their answer: The chief end of man is to glorify God and enjoy him forever. Few hymns can put that concept in to a stanza like William Cowper’s There Is A Fountain. We are to “sound in God the Father’s ears no other name but Thine”. Amen! There is nothing else I’d rather utter than the name of my king…

Hope y’all enjoyed our first Behind The Hymn series. I know I did!

‘BH

(lyrics and history above was found at CyberHymnal.org)

~ by Brother Hank on June 25, 2007.