See the battle of the ages, On one side our glorious Lord Against Him the devil rages, Hatred toward the saints outpoured But our God wins, The snake is crushed Against him, Christian, stand firm
A women ready to give birth, A dragon waiting to kill A Male Child caught up from the earth, After He has done God’s will Satan loses, Is disgusting Against him, Christian, stand firm
The devil is thrown from heaven, With all his accusations See the ancient serpent Satan, Work to deceive the nations Against his lies, Accusations, Against him, Christian, stand firm
(To the tune of “Lo He Comes With Clouds Descending”)
Here are some good posts for your weekend reading:
In Evil Long I Took Delight – John Newton (via Trevin Wax) In evil long I took delight, Unawed by shame or fear, Till a new object struck my sight, And stopped my wild career. I saw One hanging on a tree, In agonies and blood, Who fixed His languid eyes on me, As near His cross I stood…
Why Are You Afraid of Humility? – Chrysostom (via Trevin Wax) Before he humbled himself, only the angels knew him. After he humbled himself, all human nature knew him.
Free Me From My Need To Exalt Myself – Prayers For Today (via Trevin Wax) Lord, free me from my need to exalt myself. Where I am prone to seek things for myself, help me to seek the best things for You and others…
John Calvin’s 4 Rules of Prayer – Joel Beeke (via Ligonier) For John Calvin, prayer cannot be accomplished without discipline. He writes, “Unless we fix certain hours in the day for prayer, it easily slips from our memory.” He goes on to prescribe several rules to guide believers in offering effectual, fervent prayer…
Hope you have a great Lord’s Day humbly worshiping our great Savior!
A year after Charles Wesley was saved, he penned the hymn, O For A Thousand Tongues To Sing. In this hymn he wants to express his praise to God for his salvation. Notice his joy that salvation has been applied to him in this stanza:
I felt my Lord’s atoning blood Close to my soul applied; Me, me He loved, the Son of God, For me, for me He died!
Notice also that you have probably never seen this stanza as most hymnals only have four or five verses. But Wesley wrote many more as you can see below. Notice how he moves from praise in the beginning stanzas to a plea to other sinners to find the salvation that he has found in the later verses. For an organ version of one verse click here or listen to the music video at the beginning of this post for a simple rendition of the most familiar verses.
O for a thousand tongues to sing My great Redeemer’s praise, The glories of my God and King, The triumphs of His grace!
My gracious Master and my God, Assist me to proclaim, To spread through all the earth abroad The honors of Thy name.
Jesus! the name that charms our fears, That bids our sorrows cease; ’Tis music in the sinner’s ears, ’Tis life, and health, and peace.
He breaks the power of canceled sin, He sets the prisoner free; His blood can make the foulest clean, His blood availed for me.
He speaks, and, listening to His voice, New life the dead receive, The mournful, broken hearts rejoice, The humble poor believe.
Hear Him, ye deaf; His praise, ye dumb, Your loosened tongues employ; Ye blind, behold your Savior come, And leap, ye lame, for joy.
In Christ your Head, you then shall know, Shall feel your sins forgiven; Anticipate your heaven below, And own that love is heaven.
Glory to God, and praise and love Be ever, ever given, By saints below and saints above, The church in earth and heaven.
On this glad day the glorious Sun Of Righteousness arose; On my benighted soul He shone And filled it with repose.
Sudden expired the legal strife, ’Twas then I ceased to grieve; My second, real, living life I then began to live.
Then with my heart I first believed, Believed with faith divine, Power with the Holy Ghost received To call the Savior mine.
I felt my Lord’s atoning blood Close to my soul applied; Me, me He loved, the Son of God, For me, for me He died!
I found and owned His promise true, Ascertained of my part, My pardon passed in heaven I knew When written on my heart.
Look unto Him, ye nations, own Your God, ye fallen race; Look, and be saved through faith alone, Be justified by grace.
See all your sins on Jesus laid: The Lamb of God was slain, His soul was once an offering made For every soul of man.
Awake from guilty nature’s sleep, And Christ shall give you light, Cast all your sins into the deep, And wash the Æthiop white.
Harlots and publicans and thieves In holy triumph join! Saved is the sinner that believes From crimes as great as mine.
Murderers and all ye hellish crew In holy triumph join! Believe the Savior died for you; For me the Savior died.
With me, your chief, ye then shall know, Shall feel your sins forgiven; Anticipate your heaven below, And own that love is heaven.
On the day of Charles Wesley’s conversion, he penned the hymn Where Shall My Wondering Soul Begin which we looked at in a past post. Soon after, he penned a much more familiar hymn with much the same message – And Can It Be. Like his first hymn, he expresses his amazement that God would save him – notice expecially his use of the phrase “for me” in the first verse. Notice his excitement at his forgiveness, the quenching of God’s wrath, and the reality that in Christ he will face no condemnation. By the way, also notice that he wrote more than the four verses in our typical hymnals. I particularly like the fifth verse. The entire hymn is one of my favorites, and I especially like verse four. I confess though that I have a doctrinal difference with one line in verse three. “Emptied himself of all but love” I suspect attempts to address Philippians 2, but I would disagree that the Son gave up his other attributes to become a man. If you want the music, you can link here for an organ version of the first verse or try a beautiful rendition of the four most common verses in the music video at the beginning of this post.
And can it be that I should gain
An interest in the Savior’s blood?
Died He for me, who caused His pain—
For me, who Him to death pursued?
Amazing love! How can it be,
That Thou, my God, shouldst die for me?
Amazing love! How can it be,
That Thou, my God, shouldst die for me?
’Tis mystery all: th’Immortal dies:
Who can explore His strange design?
In vain the firstborn seraph tries
To sound the depths of love divine.
’Tis mercy all! Let earth adore,
Let angel minds inquire no more.
’Tis mercy all! Let earth adore;
Let angel minds inquire no more.
He left His Father’s throne above
So free, so infinite His grace—
Emptied Himself of all but love,
And bled for Adam’s helpless race:
’Tis mercy all, immense and free,
For O my God, it found out me!
’Tis mercy all, immense and free,
For O my God, it found out me!
Long my imprisoned spirit lay,
Fast bound in sin and nature’s night;
Thine eye diffused a quickening ray—
I woke, the dungeon flamed with light;
My chains fell off, my heart was free,
I rose, went forth, and followed Thee.
My chains fell off, my heart was free,
I rose, went forth, and followed Thee.
Still the small inward voice I hear,
That whispers all my sins forgiven;
Still the atoning blood is near,
That quenched the wrath of hostile Heaven.
I feel the life His wounds impart;
I feel the Savior in my heart.
I feel the life His wounds impart;
I feel the Savior in my heart.
No condemnation now I dread;
Jesus, and all in Him, is mine;
Alive in Him, my living Head,
And clothed in righteousness divine,
Bold I approach th’eternal throne,
And claim the crown, through Christ my own.
Bold I approach th’eternal throne,
And claim the crown, through Christ my own.
Today, we begin my plan (which I mentioned a few posts ago) to regularly feature a great hymn of the faith. We begin with what was probably Charles Wesley’s first hymn. It was written on the same day of his conversion – May 21, 1738. I personally don’t remember ever singing it, but as we are going to look at several Charles Wesley hymns in the next few weeks, it seems a good place to start. Wesley’s journal for that day reads:
At nine, I began an hymn upon my conversion, but I was persuaded to break off for fear of pride. Mr. Bray, coming encouraged me to proceed in spite of Satan. I prayed Christ to stand by me, and finished the hymn. Upon my afterwards showing it to Mr. Bray, the devil threw in a fiery dart, suggesting that it was wrong, and I had displeased God. My heart sunk within me; when, casting my eye upon a Prayer-book, I met with an answer for him. “Why boastest thou thyself, thou tyrant, that thou canst do mischief?” Upon this, I clearly discerned it was a device of the enemy to keep back glory from God.
As you read the hymn, notice in the third and fourth verses how he seems to wrestle with Satan on whether he should continue with the hymn. Notice also how he begins with amazement that God should save him, and ends with a plea for sinners of every kind to come and find this great salvation that he has just experienced. Oh that we too would be amazed at God’s salvation and desire to tell others! If you want the music, you can link here for an organ version of the first verse.
Where shall my wondering soul begin? How shall I all to heaven aspire? A slave redeemed from death and sin, A brand plucked from eternal fire, How shall I equal triumphs raise, Or sing my great Deliverer’s praise?
O how shall I the goodness tell, Father, which Thou to me hast showed? That I, a child of wrath and hell, I should be called a child of God, Should know, should feel my sins forgiven, Blessed with this antepast of Heaven!
And shall I slight my Father’s love? Or basely fear His gifts to own? Unmindful of His favors prove? Shall I, the hallowed cross to shun, Refuse His righteousness to impart, By hiding it within my heart?
No! though the ancient dragon rage, And call forth all his host to war, Though earth’s self-righteous sons engage Them and their god alike I dare; Jesus, the sinner’s friend, proclaim; Jesus, to sinners still the same.
Outcasts of men, to you I call, Harlots, and publicans, and thieves! He spreads His arms to embrace you all; Sinners alone His grace receives; No need of Him the righteous have; He came the lost to seek and save.
Come, O my guilty brethren, come, Groaning beneath your load of sin, His bleeding heart shall make you room, His open side shall take you in; He calls you now, invites you home; Come, O my guilty brethren, come!
For you the purple current flowed In pardons from His wounded side, Languished for you the eternal God, For you the Prince of glory died: Believe, and all your sin’s forgiven; Only believe, and yours is Heaven!
I have been teaching a class on the Great Awakening for some teens from Christian families in our area. This last week, we looked at Charles Wesley. I gave them a list of some of his hymns and asked how many they were familiar with. Even after exploring some of the titles, the most any of them recognized was four. Four! Here are some of the titles from the list:
A Charge to Keep I Have And Can It Be that I Should Gain Christ the Lord Is Risen Today Come, Holy Ghost, Our Hearts Inspire Come, Thou Long-Expected Jesus Depth of Mercy Hail The Day That Sees Him Rise Hark! the Herald Angels Sing Jesus, Lover of My Soul Lo, He Comes with Clouds Descending Love Divine, All Loves Excelling O For a Heart to Praise My God O For a Thousand Tongues to Sing Rejoice, the Lord Is King
Most were not familiar with And Can It Be or For A Thousand Tongues To Sing. I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised. I know many churches no longer sing hymns. And yet, I found their ignorance of even the most well-known hymns incredibly depressing. We are losing our Christian heritage. The church I grew up in really never taught about the history of the church, but at least I had the great hymns. Many of the next generation don’t even have that anymore.
I’m not here to knock new choruses and hymns. There are some great new songs worth learning and singing for the rest of our lives. But there is a place for the old hymns too, for at least the following reasons:
1. The hymns connect us to our heritage, reminding us that we are part of something bigger than just today. The church didn’t start in my generation; it has been here for 2000 years, and the hymns help us connect with the wisdom of those who have gone before us.
2. Many hymns have incredible theological depth. In an age of theological shallowness and downright ignorance in the church, we need all the help we can get to teach the doctrines of the faith.
3. Many of the hymns have incredible experiental depth. They are not passionless theological treatises, but passionate responses to who God is, what he has done, and what he has yet to do. Many of the hymn writers had an experiential walk with God that puts ours to shame. We need to be reminded that our lukewarm state is not normal.
4. Over time, the best hymns have been passed on, while most of the chaff has fallen away. Wesley wrote 9000 hymns, yet we only sing a fraction of what he wrote. (I’ve read some of the hymns that rightly didn’t make the cut!) Perhaps there are some jems that over time were overlooked and lost. Undoubtedly there are some inferior songs that have somehow been passed on. But overall the old hymns in our hymnals today are the best of the best. Undoubtedly there are some new songs that will likewise stand the test of time and be sung down through the ages, but many will fall away like chaff.
5. We need to sing the same songs year after year so that we might memorize them. As we learn them, they can over time form us. Even more they can encourage us in times of trouble. And should our memories start to go in old age, those hymns we learned as children and sang all of our lives have incredible staying power. I distinctly remember my grandpa advanced with Alzheimer’s disease unable to remember much of anything but yet able to sing many of the old hymns from memory. And many have told me of similar experiences in older folks that they have known. What about the next generation that never sang a song more than two months before the moving on to the next great hit?
With all of the above in mind, I want to do my part to encourage the continued use of the old hymns. That means, among other things, that I am starting a new feature on this blog. I want to regularly feature a great hymn of the faith. Each feature will include the words, a link to the music, some commentary, and when possible some history behind the hymn. Stay tuned!
Brian J. Mikul 