Fountain of grace, rich, full, and free

Author: James Edmeston

Edmeston, James, born Sept. 10, 1791. His maternal grandfather was the Rev. Samuel Brewer, who for 50 years was the pastor of an Independent congregation at Stepney. Educated as an architect and surveyor, in 1816 he entered upon his profession on his own account, and continued to practice it until his death on Jan. 7, 1867. The late Sir G. Gilbert Scott was his pupil. Although an Independent by descent he joined the Established Church at a comparatively early age, and subsequently held various offices, including that of churchwarden, in the Church of St. Barnabas, Homerton. His hymns number nearly 2000. The best known are “Lead us, Heavenly Father, lead us” and "Saviour, breathe an evening blessing." Many of his hymns were written for c… Go to person page >

Fountain of grace, rich, full, and free. J. Edmeston. All-sufficiency of Christ.] Published in his Hymns for the Chamber of Sickness, n.d. [1844], p. 19, in 4 stanzas of 4 lines. In 1855 it was given anonymously in H. W. Beecher's Plymouth Collection, No. 531. From that date it gradually grew in favour until it has taken its place in most of the leading American hymn-books.

--John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology (1907)