MAY 8TH
TEXT: JOHN 19:34, EPHESIANS 1:7;
COLOSSIANS 1:20; HEBREWS 9:12-14
Memory Verse: But
now in Christ Jesus you who were far away have been brought near through the
blood of Christ (Ephesians 2:13)
William Cowper
is viewed by some as one of the finest of all English writers. But Cowper’s
emotional life was once of great turmoil. At an early age he was directed by
his father to study law. Upon completion of his studies, however, the prospect
of appearing for his final examination before the bar so frightened him that it
caused a mental breakdown and even an attempted suicide. Later he was placed in
an insane asylum for 18 months.
During this
detention, he one day read from the Scriptures the passages in Romans 3:25 that
Jesus Christ is “set forth to be a propitiation through faith in His blood, to
declare His righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance
of God.” Through his reading of the Bible, Cowper soon developed a personal
relationship with Christ and a sense of forgiveness of sin. This was in 1764,
when he was 33 years old.
Three years
later, Cowper was invited to move to Olney, England, where John Newton pastored
the parish Anglican Church. It was here for nearly two decades that Newton and
Cowper had a close personal friendship. In 1779 their combined talents produced
the famous Olney Hymns hymnal, one of
the most important single contributions made to the field of evangelical hymnody.
In this ambitious collection of 349 hymns, sixty-seven were written by Cowper
with the remainder by Newton.
“There is a
Fountain” was originally titled “Peace for the Fountain Opened.” The hymn, with
its vivid imagery, is based on the Old Testament text, Zechariah 13:1 – “In
that day there shall be a fountain opened to the house of David and to the
inhabitants of Jerusalem for sin and uncleanness.”
Only eternity
will reveal the hosts who, through the singing of this hymn, have been made
aware of the efficacy of Christ’s complete atonement.
There is a Fountain filled with blood drawn from
Immanuel’s veins, and sinners plunged beneath the flood lose all their guilty
stains.
The dying thief rejoiced to see that fountain in his
day, and there may I, through 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.
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.
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.
ACTION
POINT: Carry the joy of “redeeming love” as your day’s theme.
TAKEN FROM “AMAZING GRACE; 366
INSPIRING HYMN STORIES FOR DAILY DEVOTION”
