There is a Fountain Filled with Blood

“Praise for the Fountain Opened”, commonly known by its first line, “There is a fountain filled with blood,” is a hymn written by William Cowper. It was one of the first hymns he wrote after his first major bout of depression. Cowper was a close friend of John Newton, and together they published The Olney Hymns, which became very influential. Cowper passed away on April 25, 1800, and joined his beloved mother, father, and siblings in heaven, because of a “fountain of blood”
William Cowper (pronounced “Cooper”) was one of the few hymn writers that was also a recognized secular poet. This much-beloved and yet tormented literary figure was born in his father’s rectory at Great Berkhampstead, England, on Nov. 26, 1731. His father, George II, was a chaplain. His mother died when he was 6 years old. Cowper was first sent to a boarding school at Markyate. It was here he first began suffering from frequent emotional difficulties. He was transferred to Westminster where he was much happier. After graduating, he was apprenticed to a solicitor. In 1754, Cowper was called to the Bar, yet he never actually practiced law. He was nominated in 1763 to the Clerkship of Journals of the House of Lords. Just as Cowper’s career seemed assured, tragedy struck. When he was interviewed for the position, he suffered a panic attack. As a result, he was not awarded the position, a loss that led to a state of deep depression. He was treated at St. Alban’s Hospital and took up residence with the Rev. Morley Unwin in Huntingdon. During this time, his depression slowly lifted and he developed a lifetime friendship with Unwin’s wife. Unwin passed away in 1767, and John Newton, author of the famous hymn, “Amazing Grace,” persuaded Mrs. Unwin and her family along with Cowper to move to Olney, where he was the vicar of a small parish. Newton and Cowper developed a close friendship over the years, and began a joint publication that became very influential, The Olney Hymns.
During his depression, Cowper wrote one of his most beloved and most controversial hymns, “There is a Fountain Filled With Blood.” It was most likely written in 1771, first published in Conyers’s Collection of Psalms and Hymns in 1772 and republished by Cowper and Newton in 1779 for The Olney Hymns. Based on Zechariah 13:1, “On that day a fountain shall be opened for the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, to cleanse them from sin and impurity,” the hymn is a meditation on the saving power of the blood of Christ.
An unsuccessful, major alteration in 1819 sought to make the hymn less graphic by changing the first line to “From Calvary’s Cross a Fountain Flows.” Hymnologist E. E. Ryder says this alteration “forgets that what they [the offensive graphic language] express is not only poetry, but the poetry of intense and impassioned feeling, which naturally embodies itself in the boldest metaphors.” A second alteration was to stanza two, which Cowper originally wrote as: