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Hymn of the Month

September

O for a Thousand Tongues

Charles Wesley, 1707-1788
Written: 1739

John and Charles Wesley were students at Oxford University. Upon graduation the young brothers were sent to America by the Anglican Church to help stabilize the religious climate of the Georgia Colonies and to evangelize the Indians.

On board ship as they crossed the Atlantic, the Wesley brothers met a group of German Moravians, a small evangelical group known for missionary concern and enthusiastic hymn singing. John Wesley was so impressed with these people that he eventually made a detailed study of the hymnal used in their home church in Hernhut, Germany. Between 1737 and 1786 the Wesleys published between them sixty-three hymnals, with many hymns of Moravian background.

Following a short and unsuccessful ministry in America, the disillusioned Wesleys returned to England, where once again they came under the influence of a group of devout Moravian believers meeting in Aldersgate, London. In May 1738, both brothers realized that though they had been zealous in the church’s ministry neither had personally accepted Christ as Savior nor had known the joy of their religious faith as did their Moravian friends. They both made decisions to put their faith in the Lord Jesus and from that time, the Wesleys’ ministry took on a new dimension and power.

It is estimated that they traveled a quarter of a million miles throughout Great Britain, mostly on horseback, while conducting more than 40,000 public services. Charles published more than thirty poetical works, written either by himself or in conjunction with his brother. He alone wrote no less than 6,500 hymn texts including hymns for every festival of the Christian Church, every doctrine of the Christian Faith, and striking scenes in Scripture history.

“O for a Thousand Tongues” was written in 1739 on Charles’ first anniversary of his own Aldersgate conversion experience. It is thought to have been inspired by a chance remark by Peter Bohler, a Moravian leader, who exclaimed, “Had I a thousand tongues, I would praise Christ Jesus with all of them.” The hymn originally had eighteen stanzas and when published was entitled, “For the Anniversary Day of One’s Conversion.” Most of the verses, no longer used, dealt in a very personal way with Wesley’s own conversion experience.

The stanza that be­gins “O for a thou­sand tongues to sing” is verse seven of Wes­ley’s orig­in­al po­em. Beginning with a 1767 hymnbook, the seventh stanza was made the first. In the U.S., the hymn is commonly sung to Lowell Mason‘s 1839 arrangement of the hymn tune “Azmon”, written by Carl G. Glaser in 1828.

Charles Wesley died on March 29, 1788, having spent over fifty years in the service of the Lord he loved so intimately and served so effectively. Even as he lay on his death bed, it is said that he dictated a final hymn of praise to his wife.

Other hymns by Wesley include, “Christ the Lord Is Risen Today” (April 2014 Hymn of the Month), “Jesus Lover of My Soul” ,(February 2025 Hymn) and “Hark! The Herald Angels Sing” (December 2016 Hymn).

 

Taken from 101 Hymn Stories Copyright © 1982, 2012 by Kenneth W. Osbeck. Published by Kregel Publications, Grand Rapids, MI. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

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