There is a Fountain Filled with Blood

William Cowper’s (1731-1800) life was tragic from his earliest years for his mother died when he was only six years old, and when at ten years old he was sent to boarding school, he suffered severe bullying by older boys. Not without intelligence or skill, he was sent to study law and attempted to practice this profession for some nine years without success. He had a downtrodden manner and demeanour and he reached a point where he spiralled downwards into an abyss where to him suicide was the only option. As he prepared for a job interview for a place in the House of Lords, he felt the pressure of life was too much and Cowper attempted to take his life more than 5 times in one night, yet each time he failed! At first he tried drinking laudanum but his hand would not put the liquid to his mouth, so he smashed the vial of poison in frustration, then he tried jumping into the Thames but a stagecoach porter was watching so he could not, then he tried to pierce his heart with a penknife but the point broke, and when he tried to hang himself, twice the cord or stay gave way. 

Cowper was eventually admitted to an Asylum but by the grace of God a relative visited him there and told him of Jesus’ power to save him. For the very first time in his life a ray of hope shone into his dark heart. After the relative departed, Cowper opened the Bible and the first passage he read was, Romans 3:25, “Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood.” The Blood of Jesus became a very precious truth to him. The first hymn he wrote was, There is a Fountain Filled with Blood based on of Zechariah 13:1. This hymn was so greatly loved by, “The Prince of Preachers”, C.H. Spurgeon that he asked that at least one verse be engraved on his tomb stone, which one can view to this day, “E’re since by faith I saw the stream, Thy flowing wounds supply, Redeeming love has been my theme, And shall be till I die.” Cowper’s name will be familiar to the reader, for when we looked at John Newton’s Amazing Grace and the history of the Hymn itself, William Cowper was mentioned as he was neighbour and inseparable best friends to John Newton and together they were responsible for the creation of The Hymn, and compiled the very first Hymn Book, Olney Hymns, to which Cowper contributed 67 hymns. This was the beginning of popular hymns. His use of words was amazing. He was considered the greatest national poet of the century.

---

There is a fountain filled with blood 
Drawn from Emmanuel’s veins;
And sinners plunged beneath that flood 
Lose all their guilty stains.

The dying thief rejoiced to see 
That fountain in his day;
And there have I, though vile as he, 
Washed all my sins away!
 
I do believe, I shall believe, 
That Jesus died for me!   
That on the Cross He shed His blood
From sin to set me free.

Dear dying Lamb, Thy precious blood  
Shall never lose its power
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.