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Monday, November 26

Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing -Variations
by
Roger
on Mon 26 Nov 2007 06:00 PM PST
The lyrics we sing today are at least one stanza shorter that what Robinson authored over 200 years ago. Most information I can find states that there were originally four stanzas, and that the final stanza was dropped from a hymnal published in 1860 by Martin Madan. What's curious is that the text found at CyberHymnal.org contains five stanzas and that the additional material is woven in as a different arrangement from every other edition of the hymn I can find. The material certainly sounds like it could have been written by Robinson, but I can't find any authoritative source noting whether Robinson may have written five stanzas or if the additional material was added in by someone else at a later date.
So here are the two possible original versions of the hymn. On the right is the curious five stanza version, on the left is the traditional four stanza. Today, most of us sing the four stanza version without the final stanza.
1. 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.
2. 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.
3. 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.
4. 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.
5. 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. |
1. 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 God's unchanging love.
2. Here I raise my Ebenezer; Hither by Thy help I'm 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.
3. O to grace how great a debtor Daily I'm constrained to be! Let that grace now 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.
4. 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. |
Here are some contemporary renditions of the hymn on YouTube:
Sufjan Stevens - I enjoy his gentle peaceful approach. There's also a low-quality live version online.
David Crowder - He provides the hint of Irish flair without making it too much like a modern rock-worship song. (live version)
Mormon Tabernacle Choir - Though it looks like it was filmed in the early 90s, it is a majestically powerful presentation.
Gateway Worship - They use a couple of original stanzas as verses and write their own chorus. Not bad, but nothing can beat the traditional version.
Sunday, November 25

Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing -Authorship
by
Roger
on Sun 25 Nov 2007 10:36 PM PST
I've posted on my favorite hymn before, Be Thou My Vision. Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing may be my next favorite. I'm not sure we need any other songs in our churches. I recently discovered that the version most of us are familiar with is a shorter version of the original. Though the song has an Irish feel to it (and I enjoy singing it with a hint of Irish), the music was written by an American pastor, Asahel Nettleton, and the lyrics written by an English pastor, Robert Robinson. The text appeared somewhere around 1757-1759 and (from what I can tell) the text was combined with the music in 1813 by John Wyeth. In my next post I'll explore the variations of the song that exist.
Here's a bit about the author:
"During his early teen years, Robert Robinson lived in London, where he mixed with a notorious gang of hoodlums and led a life of debauchery. At the age of 17 he attended a meeting where the noted evangelist George Whitefield was preaching. Robinson went for the purpose of 'scoffing at those poor, deluded Methodists' and ended up professing faith in Christ as his Savior. Soon he felt called to preach the gospel and subsequently became the pastor of a rather large Baptist church in Cambridge, England. Despite his young age, Robinson became known as an able minister and scholar, writing various theological books as well as several hymns, including [Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing] when he was just 23 years of age." Amazing Grace by Kenneth W. Osbeck, p343.
Robinson actually became a Calvinist Methodist pastor in Norfolk before becoming a Baptist. He became close friends with noted Unitarian Joseph Priestly and many speculated that Robinson had then become a Unitarian. "However, in a sermon he preached
after he supposedly became a Unitarian, Robinson clearly declared that
Jesus was God, and added, "Christ in Himself is a person infinitely
lovely as both God and man.""(CHI)
"There is a well-known story of Robinson, riding a stagecoach with a
lady who was deeply engrossed in a hymnbook. Seeking to encourage him,
she asked him what he thought of the hymn she was humming. Robinson
burst into tears and said, "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."" (songsandhymns.org) This story of Robinson toward the end of his life has left many to wonder if, as he wrote in the hymn, he had wandered left the God he loved.
Monday, October 8
Journeyman Reflects Our Cultural Blind Spot
by
Amy
on Mon 08 Oct 2007 07:29 AM PDT
I wasn't going to start watching any new television shows
this year, but one of them caught my eye: Journeyman. I've always been a sucker for time travel plots or shows about people fixing things that have gone wrong (either in this
universe (Early Edition) or a parallel
one (Sliders)). You put both of those things together and you
have the formula that frequently appears in my list of favorite shows since
that king of all shows from my childhood, Voyagers!. (And yes, the exclamation point is part of
the title.) So I felt that if any show
was going to be so complete in its Amyness, it was my duty to at least give it
a try.
The plot of Journeyman
is simple. A man (Dan) suddenly finds himself
unexpectedly traveling to the past (so far, only within the past 30 or 40
years) for brief periods of time. He has
no control over when this happens or for how long, and at first, the trips seem
to be random. But soon he discovers there's a meaningful pattern to his journeys.
He finds himself following the life of a specific person as he jumps
through history. With a little help from
the Internet during his intermittent returns to the present, Dan is able to
figure out how he can help/protect/save the one he's following so that person
can then go on to fulfill his purpose of helping other people in the present. When Dan's mission is accomplished, he's on
to the next episode where he finds himself tracking a new person in
trouble. ...Okay, maybe that doesn't sound
so simple to some of you, but for sci-fi fans, this is a pretty common formula.
So far I've been enjoying the show, but I've found one thing
about it to be very odd. Dan expresses
his confusion about what is happening
to him and how, but he hasn't yet
even once asked the most obvious question to me: who is causing this to happen?
For any thoughtful observer, there's no doubt that a personal being is
behind his travels; random forces aren't complex (putting him in just the right
time and place over and over in a specific person's life) and meaningful
(there's a definite purpose--the person is saved so she can then do a specific act
in the future that will save others).
There is intelligence, foreknowledge, goodness, and care involved, and
all of these things point to a personal, powerful, compassionate being. Yet, there's no talk of God or to God, even though it seems that both
of these reactions would be most natural in this situation. There's only a strange, unnatural silence on the
whole subject--particularly strange since Dan recognizes the intelligent design
involved as he discovers and notes the "reasons why" he was "supposed"
to help each person.
So why no talk of who
might be behind this? It may be
because we've been conditioned by Darwinian thought to ignore obvious signs of
design and purpose. We want to enjoy
their benefits (a meaningful life, or in this case, a meaningful story) without
taking them too seriously or following them to their logical conclusion, so
we've trained ourselves not to ask the "who" question.
Eventually, though, I think Journeyman will have to have to deal with it. We may be indoctrinated enough to accept the
foolish denial of design and purpose when it comes to evolution, but I don't
think anyone will buy the idea for long that--in a play on Dawkins's original
quote about biology from The Blind
Watchmaker--"Journeyman is
the story of random, complicated plot twists that [only] give the appearance of
having been designed for a purpose." But who knows? We
might be capable of ignoring even this.
After all, we've been cultivating this blind spot since the beginning of
time:
[T]hat which is known about God
is evident within them; for God made it evident to them. For since the creation of the world His
invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly
seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without
excuse. For even though they knew God,
they did not honor Him as God or give thanks, but they became futile in their
speculations, and their foolish heart was darkened. (Romans 1:19-21)
Monday, June 11

Our Lives for God's Wonderful Plan
by
Amy
on Mon 11 Jun 2007 12:01 AM PDT
From John 9:2-3:
And His disciples asked Him, "Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he would be born blind?" Jesus answered, "It was neither that this man sinned, nor his parents; but it was so that the works of God might be displayed in him."
I was reminded again as I read this last night that everything is about God. This man had endured blindness for who knows how many years, but it wasn't for nothing; it was for the noblest of all causes--to display the glory and power of God. How much easier it is to endure everything when we remember that it's the glory of God that matters most (more than our comfort or even our lives), and that our sufferings for His glory are worth it because of what they accomplish for His plan! When seen this way, we can embrace them as our duty and willing service and submit to them "for the joy set before us" both now and in the end.
Thursday, April 12

Whether They Listen or Not
by
Amy
on Thu 12 Apr 2007 09:51 AM PDT
I've been a little discouraged lately as I've been reading the words of people who hate Christianity (not to mention Christians) and interacting with others who go round and round in circles of pseudo-intellectual misdirection, avoiding God at all cost. Then I came across this passage in Ezekiel:
I am sending you to them who are stubborn and obstinate children, and you shall say to them, "Thus says the Lord God." As for them, whether they listen or not--for they are a rebellious house--they will know that a prophet has been among them. And you, son of man, neither fear them nor fear their words, though thistles and thorns are with you and you sit on scorpions; neither fear their words nor be dismayed at their presence, for they are a rebellious house. But you shall speak My words to them whether they listen or not, for they are rebellious (Ezekiel 2:4-7).
On the one hand, this is encouraging. I'm not experiencing anything unusual, here, and just as Ezekiel was commanded to speak God's truth regardless of the results, I should also speak the truth as God has commanded me. It's valuable for me to honor God by proclaiming His truth even if nobody turns toward it. But, oh, the grief and frustration! After all my efforts and prayers--no matter how intense, only the Holy Spirit can change people, not I. And when He chooses not to draw people to Himself, all I can do is look on helplessly as people refuse to see the truth and, instead, grow darker and darker. I fully believe that God has good, just, and merciful reasons for this, but that doesn't always make it emotionally easier, as Jeremiah, the weeping prophet, could tell you.
Nor does it make it easier to continue. I've had times when I've been able to put hope aside and simply honor God with my work and be satisfied, but the hopelessness is starting to drain me, leaving in its place something that scares me even more--apathy towards the lost. I don't want to stop caring about people or trying to help them, but lately I've caught myself shrugging my shoulders and thinking, "What's the use?"
I can only pray for God's mercy through Psalm 51:10-13:
Create in me a clean heart, O God,
And renew a steadfast spirit within me.
Do not cast me away from Your presence
And do not take Your Holy Spirit from me.
Restore to me the joy of Your salvation
And sustain me with a willing spirit.
Then I will teach transgressors Your ways,
And sinners will be converted to You.
May it be, Lord Jesus!
Saturday, March 10

Benjamin Keach and Effectual Means of Salvation
by
Roger
on Sat 10 Mar 2007 07:51 PM PST
Tomorrow morning I’ll be leading the catechism reading at
my church. Each week, we recite a few questions from the catechism written by
Benjamin Keach. As Reformed Baptists, we hold to the Confession of 1689. Keach
wrote his catechism in an effort to further explain the theology of the Confession.
Unfortunately, at least for us today, there are parts that
still beg further explanation. The question I have in mind deals with the
sacraments:
Q. 98. How do Baptism and the Lord's Supper become effectual
means of salvation?
A. Baptism and the Lord's Supper become effectual means of
salvation, not from any virtue in them or in him that administers them, but
only by the blessing of Christ and the working of His Spirit in them that by
faith receive them. (1 Peter 3:21; 1 Cor. 3:6,7; 1 Cor. 12:13)
I think the phrase “effectual means of salvation” can be confusing.
It could easily be taken as referring to a way in which we earn salvation, such
as a means to an end. We may even be encouraged to take it this way when
reading the first supporting passage: (1 Peter 3:21) “Baptism, which corresponds
to this, now saves you, not as a removal of dirt from the body but as an appeal
to God for a good conscience.”
The problem with this interpretation of the question is
twofold. First, Reformed Baptists believe baptism and partaking in the Lord’s
Supper are the appropriate actions of someone already saved, and we are saved
by grace alone- not by works. So we would never say in a catechism that
practicing sacraments are ways to become saved. Second, I know of no Reformed theologian (Baptist
or otherwise) who believes that such a view is taught in the Bible, or
specifically in 1 Peter 3:21*.
So what do we mean by referring to the sacraments as “effectual
means of salvation?” The answer is found in a previous question of the
catechism:
Q. 95. What are the outward and ordinary means whereby
Christ communicates to us the benefits of redemption?
A. The outward and ordinary means whereby Christ communicates to us the
benefits of redemption are His ordinances, especially the Word, Baptism, the
Lord's Supper and Prayer; all which are made effectual to the elect for salvation.
(Rom. 10:17; James 1:18; 1 Cor. 3:5; Acts 14:1; 2:41,42)
The benefits of redemption begin first and foremost with our
justification before God due to Christ bearing the penalty for our sins on the
cross. But that is not the only benefit, and the benefits are not confined to
the moment we acknowledge Christ as our Lord and Savior. Rather, the benefits
of redemption are applied to us throughout our lives. Paul said in Philippians
to “work out our salvation with fear and trembling.” This doesn’t mean we work
toward salvation, but that we are to participate in the results (benefits) of
our salvation.
To the point, the sacraments are ways in which salvation is
worked out in our lives as a result of already being saved. The sacraments are
especially “effectual” because they are ordinances that were instituted and
commanded by Christ and the Holy Spirit makes special use of them in our
process of sanctification. *For a good explanation of this verse, see Matt Slick's article.
Tuesday, February 20

Pain Now, the Land of Happy Later
by
Amy
on Tue 20 Feb 2007 12:22 AM PST
In his book of children's poems, Where
the Sidewalk Ends, Shel Silverstein has this poem titled "The Land
of Happy":
Have you been to The Land of
Happy, Where everyone's happy all day, Where they joke and they sing Of the happiest things, And everything's jolly and gay? There's no one unhappy in Happy, There's laughter and smiles
galore. I have been to The Land of Happy-- What a bore!
Growing up, this poem was unsettling to me; to affirm it
seemed somehow wrong, and yet I knew it to be true. I much preferred books, movies, and
television shows that included bad guys and the people fighting to stop them
over stories about people living happily and somewhat non-eventfully. I couldn't reconcile my preference with the
fact that heaven would have none of this excitement; what was wrong with me
that I didn't prefer the Land of Happy?
It's taken me years, but I finally see now that there's no
contradiction between 1) loving, honoring, and desiring good and 2) preferring
stories with bad guys over the Land of Happy.
I was drawn to stories with evil and suffering not because I was
attracted to the evil, but because that evil brought out the glory and
character of the good that struggled against it; it was the response of goodness that I was tuning in to see. The characters in those stories who rose up
against the bad guys revealed the power and beauty of goodness in a way that an
unprovoked--though perfectly good--character would not.
I'm not saying that goodness needs evil to exist--that would
be nonsense. I'm saying that there are
aspects of goodness and God's character (which is the definition of goodness)
that we would never understand, appreciate, or glorify were we not to see Him
interact with a sinful world.
Let me explain what I mean.
Think of all the heroes of 9/11--those who saved others, often at the
cost of their own lives. The day before
9/11, those people shopped, put gas in their cars, and fed their kids. Nobody could see the depth of their character
by watching them do these ordinary things; it took something as horrible as
9/11 to reveal their strength, courage, and selflessness to the world even
though those traits already existed within each of them.
In the same way, God's character would have been the same
regardless if sin had ever come into the world, but there would have been many
aspects of Him that we would never have seen, experienced, or understood, and
so we would have known Him less deeply. God would have been just (as He always was),
but without judgment, would we have known?
God would have been merciful and forgiving, but without our need for
mercy, would we see this? The very words
"judgment" and "mercy" would be meaningless to us.
The aspects of God's character we learn about now from our
suffering will make our time with Him in eternity even more glorious. But after sin has served its purpose here, we
won't need it to continue. We'll have
all of human history on which to reflect in order to truly know God's character,
and all of eternity to enjoy Him face to face in peace.
He will swallow up death for all
time, And the Lord God will wipe tears
away from all faces, And He will remove the reproach of
His people from all the earth; For the Lord has spoken. And it will be said in that day, "Behold, this is our God for
whom we have waited that He might save us. This is the Lord for whom we have
waited; Let us rejoice and be glad in His
salvation."
Isaiah 25:8-9
Monday, January 1

Jonathan Edwards' Resolutions
by
Roger
on Mon 01 Jan 2007 02:18 PM PST
| I’ve never been a huge fan of New Year’s resolutions. I
actually don’t understand all the hype about the new year in general, but
resolutions seem especially odd since so many people make promises to
themselves they seldom keep. Sure, it’s good to strive to loose weight, read
more, watch TV less, etc., but for most people it lasts a few weeks at best and
then they go on with life as it used to be.
Over the past week or so I’ve been reflecting on Jonathan
Edwards’ Resolutions. His 70
resolutions weren’t trendy goals for the new year, but purposeful steps for
discipline for his entire life and ministry. Here’s a bit of background on Resolutions from Stephen J. Nichols:
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“When he wrote these seventy
resolutions, Edwards was completing his schooling and ministerial training and
was anticipating setting out on his life’s work. He took advantage of the
opportunity to pause and reflect on the type of person he wanted to be and the
way in which he wanted to live his life.
In a manner that would typify his
entire career, he took up his pen and, in the moments of quiet he could wrest
from a busy day, wrote the guidelines, the systems of checks and balances he
would use to chart out his life—his relationship, his conversations, his desires,
his activities. In short, through these resolutions he offers himself his own
advice…
Edwards prefaces his Resolutions with an exhortation to
‘remember to read over these resolutions once a week.’ Perhaps this bit of
advice is also worthy of our imitation. The Resolutions
are as relevant today as they were when he first penned them so long ago. Reading through them on a
regular basis may very well help us also to live with all of our might to the
glory and praise of God.” (Jonathan
Edwards’ Resolutions and Advices to Young Converts ed. Stephen J. Nichols,
pages 5 & 12) You can read the resolutions online, and it may be good to also print them out and post them somewhere. The booklet by Dr. Nichols I quoted from is handy to have on the nightstand and gives some background on Resolutions, as well as Advice to Young Converts.
Thursday, November 9

Perseverance
by
Amy
on Thu 09 Nov 2006 12:08 AM PST
An unexpected signature line on a seemingly random email I received at work today brought to my attention a poem. It turned out to be an answer to a weary and discouraged prayer for endurance uttered just minutes before. God is so good! Here is an excerpt for your encouragement:
The Building of the Ship
by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
Build me straight, O worthy Master!
Stanch and strong, a goodly vessel,
That shall laugh at all disaster,
And with wave and whirlwind wrestle!...
Ah! it is not the sea,
It is not the sea that sinks and shelves,
But ourselves
That rock and rise
With endless and uneasy motion,
Now touching the very skies,
Now sinking into the depths of ocean.
Ah! if our souls but poise and swing
Like the compass in its brazen ring,
Ever level and ever true
To the toil and the task we have to do,
We shall sail securely, and safely reach
The Fortunate Isles, on whose shining beach
The sights we see, and the sounds we hear,
Will be those of joy and not of fear!
Sunday, June 11

Who Was and Is and Is to Come
by
Roger
on Sun 11 Jun 2006 10:16 AM PDT
For a number of years now I’ve spent most of my Sunday
devotions in Isaiah 6 and Revelation 4 so I would refocus each week on God’s
holiness. One might think after several years that I might have plumbed the
depths of these passages, but this morning I saw something fresh.
In Isaiah, the prophet is before the throne of God while the
creatures around the throne proclaim “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts;
the whole earth is full of his glory!” In Revelation, John is before the throne
while the creatures around it proclaim “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God
Almighty, who was and is and is to come!” For some reason it never occurred to
me to ask why they are saying something different.
I think there’s a point being made here. God spoke in the
Hebrew Bible through many prophets. The people of those times saw many
miraculous works. But for several centuries God was in this sense silent. Many
questioned whether God was still with them; perhaps He’d left completely on
account of their unfaithfulness. John tells us that the God who raised Jesus
from the dead is the same God who brought His people out of Egypt, who put them
to exile and brought them back. The God who was is the same God today, and He
will still be the same God in the next age.
This speaks not only of God’s uniformity, but also of
His immutability and faithfulness. Over all the ages He is a God who does not
change. He is forever holy above all things. In every age He is faithful to His
word and faithful to His precepts. This same God who called the Israelites, who
sacrificed His Son for the many, is the same God today who is faithful in our
lives to bring about blessing and hope for the age to come when He will be
faithful still.
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