“There Is a Fountain”: William Cowper’s hymn of hope in the darkness

The man who wrote it believed, for long periods of his life, that he was beyond saving. William Cowper, one of the finest English poets of the eighteenth century, suffered repeated episodes of severe depression and at times feared he was condemned by God. Yet he wrote one of the most confident hymns about grace ever sung: “There is a fountain filled with blood, drawn from Emmanuel’s veins.”

Cowper and Newton

Cowper was born in 1731 in Hertfordshire, England. He trained as a lawyer, but anxiety and depression overwhelmed him, and in 1763 he suffered a breakdown and attempted suicide. He spent time in an asylum, where he experienced a Christian conversion. Cowper later moved to the village of Olney, where John Newton, the former slave-ship captain who wrote “Amazing Grace”, was the curate. The two became close friends. Newton encouraged Cowper to write hymns, and together they produced the Olney Hymns, published in 1779.

The hymn

“There Is a Fountain” was written around 1772. Its image comes from Zechariah 13:1: “On that day a fountain will be opened to the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, to cleanse them from sin and impurity.” Cowper applied it to the death of Christ on the cross.

The dying thief

One verse refers to the thief crucified beside Jesus, who asked to be remembered and was promised paradise: “The dying thief rejoiced to see that fountain in his day; and there may I, though vile as he, wash all my sins away.” Cowper saw himself in the thief, a person with nothing to offer except a plea.

Later verses look to eternity: “Then in a nobler, sweeter song, I’ll sing Thy power to save, when this poor lisping, stammering tongue lies silent in the grave.” The words are especially moving given Cowper’s lifelong struggles.

Other hymns

Cowper also wrote “God Moves in a Mysterious Way” and “O for a Closer Walk with God”. These hymns, written by a man who often felt abandoned, have comforted people in their own darkness for centuries. The hymn’s strong imagery of blood, which some modern hymnals soften, connects with the deep emphasis on the blood of Christ in African churches. In Ghana and Nigeria, believers often speak of being washed or covered by the blood, and the hymn is sung at communion and in revival services.

Faith and mental illness

Cowper’s life reminds churches that faith and depression can exist together. He did not stop believing because he was ill, and his hymns show that a person can hold on to grace even when their feelings say otherwise. Cowper died in 1800. He was celebrated as a poet in his lifetime, and his hymns are still sung more than two centuries later.

A man who doubted he could be forgiven wrote that the fountain was enough for the dying thief and for him. Many people who sing it are hoping the same.