There Is A Fountain

While living under the spiritual care of Rev. John Newton, William Cowper (pronounced Cooper) wrote “There Is A Fountain.” It was first published in 1772 and has since found its way into more than 2,440 hymnals, surpassing John Newton’s “Amazing Grace” by over 1,000 hymnal publishings in a similar time frame.

Born to John and Ann Cowper, he descended from the British aristocracy. His father, John, was chaplain to King George II and nephew of the first Earl Cowper, and his mother, Ann’s bloodline can be traced back to King Henry III. Sadly, his mother passed when he was just 6 years old, and he was sent off to boarding school soon after. This tragedy would become the catalyst for a life-long battle with deep, destructive depression.

Despite a very promising legal and political career path, roughly 26 years after his mother’s passing, his mental illness drove him to a failed suicide attempt that would then land him in an asylum for 18 months. That time would set about a spiritual renewal in Cowper that would bring much-needed healing to him. Through a mutual friendship, he befriended Rev. John Newton, and the two published the Olney Hymns project in 1779. This is just one of Cowper’s beloved hymns included in that project.

Numerous adaptations would be published after Cowper’s death. One major and mostly unsuccessful alteration sought to remove language that was thought to be too graphic in the first verse. What we have today was originally published in 1859 and includes the added refrains within each stanza. The popular tune of the hymn was first published in 1865.

There is a fountain filled with blood
Drawn from Immanuel’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 hymn is mostly based upon Zecharia 13:1 (ESV), “On that day there shall be a fountain opened for the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, to cleanse them from sin and uncleanness.”

The dying thief rejoiced to see
That fountain in his day;
And there may I, though vile as he,
Wash all my sins away:
Wash all my sins away,
Wash all my sins away;
And there may I, though vile as he,
Wash all my sins away.

Dear dying Lamb, Thy precious blood
Shall never lose its pow’r,
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.

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.

When this poor lisping, stamm’ring tongue
Lies silent in the grave,
Then in a nobler, sweeter song
I’ll sing Thy pow’r to save:
I’ll sing Thy pow’r to save,
I’ll sing Thy pow’r to save;
Then in a nobler, sweeter song
I’ll sing Thy pow’r to save.

Cowper’s later years gave way to more writing, but not hymns. In his most famous work, “The Task, A Poem, In Six Books”, he writes in book three, lines 108-116,

I was a stricken deer that left the herd
Long since; with many an arrow deep infixt
My panting side was charged when I withdrew
To seek a tranquil death in distant shades.
There was I found by one who had himself
Been hurt by th’ archers. In his side he bore
And in his hands and feet the cruel scars.
With gentle force soliciting the darts
He drew them forth, and heal’d and bade me live.

As the scriptures say, “But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ- by grace you have been saved- and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing, it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.” Ephesians 2:4-9 (ESV)

Part of the reason this hymn doesn’t share the same popularity as  “Amazing Grace” is because of its graphic depiction of the work of the cross. It’s natural to desire to sing about grace rather than blood. But the blood applied is that which brings saving grace. Scottish theologian P.T. Forsyth once said, “The blood of Christ stands not simply for the sting of sin on God, but the scourge of God on sin, not simply for God’s sorrow over sin, but for God’s wrath on sin.”

The publishers of hymnals over the centuries have rightly included this hymn more than most. It points us to the means by which we are cleansed. A.W. Tozer writes, “Only the blood of Jesus can cleanse us, yet if we withhold ourselves from that blood, we will be unclean forever.” We cannot gloss over that, which may make us uncomfortable. Jesus did not shed his blood for our comfort. Our sin that leads us to a bitter end has but one cure: the blood of Christ.

“Be assured that there is no sin you have ever committed that the blood of Jesus Christ cannot cleanse.” Billy Graham