God's Bountiful Goodness

Fountain of mercy, God of love

Author: Alice Flowerdew
Published in 152 hymnals

Printable scores: PDF, MusicXML
Audio files: MIDI, Recording

Representative Text

1 Fountain of mercy, God of love,
how rich Your bounties are!
The rolling seasons, as they move
proclaim Your constant care.

2 When in the bosom of the earth
the sower hid the grain,
Your goodness marked its secret birth,
and sent the early rain.

3 You gave the influence of spring;
the plants in beauty grew;
the summer came it sun to bring,
and mild refreshing dew.

4 These various mercies from above
matured the swelling grain;
a yellow harvest crowns Your love,
and plenty fills the plain.

5 Seed-time and harvest, Lord, alone
Your love on us bestows;
let us not then forget to own
from whom such blessing flows.

6 Fountain of love, our praise we bring;
to You our songs we'll raise;
and all created nature sing
in glad exultant praise.


Source: The Irish Presbyterian Hymbook #53

Author: Alice Flowerdew

Flowerdew, Alice, was born in 1759, and married to Mr. Daniel Flowerdew, who for a few years held a Government appointment in Jamaica, and died in 1801. After his decease Mrs. Flowerdew kept a Ladies' Boarding-school at Islington. During her residence at Islington she was a member of the General Baptist congregation, in Worship Street (now at Bethnal Green Road). Subsequently she removed to Bury St. Edmunds, and some years later to Ipswich, where she died Sept. 23, 1830. In 1803 she published a small volume of Poems on Moral and Religious Subjects. This work reached a 3rd edition in 1811, and in that edition appeared her well-known harvest hymn, "Fountain of mercy, God of love," q.v. Mrs. Flowerdew's maiden name has not been ascertained… Go to person page >

Text Information

First Line: Fountain of mercy, God of love
Title: God's Bountiful Goodness
Author: Alice Flowerdew
Meter: 8.6.8.6
Language: English
Copyright: Public Domain

Notes

Fountain of mercy, God of love. Alice Flowerdew. [Harvest.] Frst published in her Poems on Moral and Religious Subjects, 3rd edition, 1811, in 6 stanzas of 4 lines, and entitled, “Harvest Hymn." It has been contended by some that it is taken from John Needham's hymn, No. lvi., in his Hymns Devotional and Moral, &c, 1763, which opens:—

"To praise the ever bounteous Lord,
My soul, wake all thy powers:
He calls, and at His voice come forth
The smiling harvest hours."

Needham's hymn, however, is very inferior in design and composition, and has nothing in common with this, by Mrs. Flowerdew, save the subject of Harvest. Mrs. Flowerdew's hymn was brought into congregational use by Cotterill in his Selection, 1819, where it was given in 5 stanzas, the last being by himself or Montgomery. The latter repeated it in his Christian Psalmist, 1825. In the Anglican Hymn Book, 1868, it is given as "O Fount of mercy, God of love." Its use in its original and other forms is extensive in most English-speaking countries. Original text in Hymnal Companion, No. 50.
An altered version of this hymn is very popular. It was given in Murray's Hymnal, 1852, as:—

"Father of mercies, God of love,
Whose gifts all creatures share;"

and later in numerous collections in Great Britain and America, including Hymns Ancient & Modern, 1861 (where a doxology is substituted for the last stanza), and others. Another form of this hymn was given anonymously in Longfellow and Johnson's American Unitarian Book of Hymns,
1846; their Hymns of the Spirit, 1864; and in Mrs. E. Courtauld's Psalms, Hymns & Anthems, Lond., 1860. It begins, "Fountain of life, and God of love."

--John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology (1907)

Tune

(No tune is used in more than 10% of hymnals for this text.)

Timeline

Media

The Cyber Hymnal #1556
  • Adobe Acrobat image (PDF)
  • Noteworthy Composer score (NWC)
  • XML score (XML)
Methodist Tune Book: a collection of tunes adapted to the Methodist Hymn book #85

Instances

Instances (1 - 100 of 152)
Text

A Book of Hymns for Public and Private Devotion (15th ed.) #396

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A Book of Hymns for Public and Private Devotion. (10th ed.) #396

A Church of England Hymn Book #571

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A Collection of Hymns and Prayers, for Public and Private Worship #437

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A Collection of Hymns and Sacred Songs #329

A Collection of Hymns for Public and Private Devotion #d58

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A Collection of Hymns for the use of the African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church in America #1025

A Collection of Hymns for the use of the Wesleyan Methodist Connection of America #d142

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A Collection of Hymns, for the Christian Church and Home #377

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A Collection of Hymns, for the use of the United Brethren in Christ #845

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A Collection of Hymns, for the use of the Wesleyan Methodist Connection of America. #731

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A Collection of Psalms and Hymns for Christian Worship #549

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A Collection of Psalms and Hymns for Christian Worship (10th ed.) #549

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A Collection of Psalms and Hymns for Christian Worship (6th ed.) #549

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A Collection of Psalms and Hymns for Christian Worship. (3rd ed.) #549

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A Collection of Psalms and Hymns for Christian Worship. (45th ed.) #549

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A Collection of Psalms and Hymns for Christian Worship. 16th ed. #549

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A Collection of Psalms and Hymns for the Sanctuary #615

A Collection of Psalms and Hymns Suited to the Various Occasions of Public Worship #d95

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A Collection of Psalms and Hymns, for Social and Private Worship (Rev. ed. with supplement) #625

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A Collection of Psalms and Hymns #A30

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A Collection of Spiritual Hymns #585

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A Manual of Devotion and Hymns for the House of Refuge, City of New York #367

A Selection of Psalms and Hymns for ... Diocese of Nova Scotia. 3rd ed. #d91

A Selection of Psalms and Hymns for the Use of the Diocese of Nova Scotia. 3rd ed. #d91

Appendix to Mennonite Hymn Book #d15

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Book of Worship (Rev. ed.) #550

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Book of Worship with Hymns and Tunes #554

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Book of Worship #550

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Christian Hymns for Public and Private Worship #703

Christian Psalms and Hymns to Aid in Public and Private Devotion #d241

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Church Harmonies #879

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Church Hymns #302

Church Melodies, a Collection of Psalms, Hymns and Spiritual Songs #d280

Church Music, a Collection of Hymn Tunes. #d40

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Church Psalmist #614

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Church Psalmist #614

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Church Psalmist #614

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Church Psalmody #H648

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Church Psalmody #648

Compilation of Hymns for the Use of the Churches of the Christian Union #d192

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Deutsches Lieder- und Melodienbuch #a428

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Evangelical Hymnal #563

General Baptist Hymn Book #d145

Grammar School Hymn Book #d64

Harmony in Praise #d49

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Hymn and Tune Book for the Church and the Home. (Rev. ed.) #835

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Hymn and Tune Book, for the Church and the Home #549

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Hymn Book of the United Evangelical Church #563

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Hymn-Book of the Evangelical Association #776

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Hymnal and Liturgies of the Moravian Church #862

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Hymnal of the Methodist Episcopal Church #1081

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Hymnal of the Methodist Episcopal Church #1081

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Hymnal of the Presbyterian Church in Canada #312

Hymnal of the Presbyterian Church in Canada with Accompanying Tunes #d79

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Hymns and Songs of Praise for Public and Social Worship #1255

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Hymns and Tunes #428

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Hymns for Christian Devotion #877

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Hymns for Christian Devotion #877

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Hymns for Public Worship #565

Hymns for Public Worship in the Diocese of Fredericton. 2nd ed. #d50

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Hymns for Schools #245

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Hymns for Sunday Schools #280

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Hymns for the Sanctuary #589

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Hymns for the Sanctuary and Social Worship #1202

Hymns for the Use of the Brethren in Christ #d131

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Hymns for the Use of the Methodist Episcopal Church. Rev. ed. #1025

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Hymns for the Worship of God #175

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Hymns of Faith and Love #169

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Hymns of the Protestant Episcopal Church of the United States, as authorized by the General Convention #84

Hymns of the Rural Spirit #64

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Hymns of the Spirit #206

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Hymns #933

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Hymns #933

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Hymns #933

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Manual of Christian Psalmody #648

Massachusetts Sabbath School Hymn Book #d44

Melodies of the Church #d262

Methodist Hymn and Tune Book #d203

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Methodist Hymn and Tune Book #631

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Methodist Hymn-Book #909

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Methodist Tune Book #85

Missionary Hymns #d27

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New Hymn and Tune book #45a

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New Hymn and Tune Book #45a

Old Choir Selections #d9

Our Service of Song #d71

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Precious Gems No. 1 #76

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Psalms and Hymns, Adapted to Public Worship #128

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Psalms and Hymns #724

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Psalms, Hymns and Spiritual Songs, Original and Selected. (7th ed.) #S408

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Seamen's Hymns #614

Seamen's Hymns and Devotional Assistant #d172

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Selections from the Psalms of David in Metre #H84

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Social Psalmist #614

Pages

Exclude 150 pre-1979 instances
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