The Wanderer — Part 1
“O let me not wander from thy commandments”
(Psalm 119:10).
One day towards the close of the 18th century, a gentleman and lady sat side by side in a stagecoach as it rumbled its way through the English countryside. The lady appeared occupied with the content of a book in her hand, at times reading from its open page, and at other times meditating on what she had read with evident delight. As she was enjoying the words of a hymn, she turned to the man beside her, a stranger, and tred to interest him as well. When she asked him if he knew the hymn he seemed embarrassed and agitated. Finally he burst into tears, as said, “I am the poor, unhappy man who composed that hymn years ago, and I would give a thousand worlds if I could enjoy it the way I did back then.”
The gentleman was Robert Robinson. The hymn the lady was reading was, “Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing.” He had written it some 30 years previous to the above incident. One verse of the hymn reads:
“Prone to wander, Lord I feel it;
“Prone to leave the God I love.”
