This hymn is set to an Early American Melody and the lyrics are written by William Cowper. It is published in an astounding 2,212 hymnals! Here's the story about William:

William Cowper was one of the rare hymn writers that were also a known secular poet. This popular and yet depressed literary character was born in his father’s rectory at Great Berkhampstead, England, in 1731.

After graduating from Westminster, he was apprenticed to an attorney. In 1754, Cowper was invited to the Bar, but never actually practiced law. He was chosen in 1763 to the Clerkship of Journals of the House of Lords. But just as Cowper’s profession seemed secured, disaster hit. When he was interviewed for the Clerkship, he experienced a panic attack. As a consequence, he was not granted the position, a failure that influenced a time of intense depression.

Through his depression, Cowper wrote one of his most loved and provocative hymns, “There is a Fountain Filled With Blood.” It was likely drafted in 1771, first published in Conyers’s Collection of Psalms and Hymns in 1772 and published again by Cowper and Newton in 1779 for The Olney Hymns.

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