Hymns: O for a Thousand Tongues to Sing

I’ve been exploring some of the very modern worship songs as an old guy 😀. But now, I’ve decided to alternate between very modern hymns, old hymns, and in-between hymns, namely the worship songs from the 60s to the 90s that feature in hymnbooks such as Mission Praise. Today it’s the turn of the old hymns.

Today’s song is O for a Thousand Tongues to Sing from 1739.

1 O for a thousand tongues to sing
my great Redeemer's praise,
the glories of my God and King,
the triumphs of his grace!

2 My gracious Master and my God,
assist me to proclaim,
to spread thro' all the earth abroad
the honors of your name.

3 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.

4 He breaks the power of cancelled sin,
he sets the prisoner free;
his blood can make the foulest clean;
his blood availed for me.

5 To God all glory, praise, and love
be now and ever given
by saints below and saints above,
the Church in earth and heaven.

I never remember singing this one as a Roman Catholic, but we sung it all the time in Cork Baptist Church and in most subsequent churches that I attended. It’s one of Charles’s Wesley’s hymns. Charles Wesley and myself have written over 6,500 between us. He wrote over 6,500 and I wrote none 😀. I must confess, I am a little jealous of hymn – and his brother John. But they didn’t have access to WordPress.com, so maybe I can make a bigger impact than them and they’ll be jealous of me 😀. Not gonna happen 😥.

Charles Wesley composed it to celebrate the first anniversary of his conversion. He was already categorized as a Christian, but the Wesleys, like all evangelical Christians, emphasized the need for individuals to come to personal faith in Christ, and not just to rely on your culture or religious background.

So what does he mean by “O for a thousand tongues.”? Moravian missionary, Peter Böhler, once told Wesley, “Had I a thousand tongues, I would praise him with them all.” I don’t think any of us would cope with having a thousand tongues in our mouths. Maybe he meant a thousand people. And millions have sung his redeemer’s praise over the last few hundred years.

The hymns is pretty clear and straight forward. One term that might puzzle some is “cancelled sin.” I think that he means that Christ’s death for us cancels the eternal consequences of sin. We’re heaven bound rather than hell bound. But we are still imperfect in this life, and we are still prone to temptation. I often think of the black dog and white dog illustration:

The “two dogs” illustration is a popular parable representing the internal struggle between good and evil, where a black dog symbolizes the sin nature (selfishness, anger) and a white dog represents a life led by the Holy Spirit (grace, love).

The core message is that the dog you “feed” the most is the one that grows stronger. And God breaks the power of the black dog, but you have your part to play too.

One slightly odd doctrine that the Wesleys believed is that you could become perfect in this life. And some evangelicals have believed variants of this outlook at times. I don’t believe it is correct, but I see no harm in aiming for perfection and feeling and acting as if you are finished with sin. Yet, the “Our Father” (The Lord’s Prayer) has the line “forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us.” The assumption is that we will sin.

1 John 1:8-10
If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. 9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. 10 If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word is not in us.

So, we have a Saviour who knew all our faults before the creation of the world and died for us.

2 Tim 1:9-10
He has saved us and called us to a holy life—not because of anything we have done but because of his own purpose and grace. This grace was given us in Christ Jesus before the beginning of time, ¹⁰ but it has now been revealed through the appearing of our Savior, Christ Jesus, who has destroyed death and has brought life and immortality to light through the gospel.

So, that’s why Charles Wesley longed for a thousand tongues to sing his great redeemers praise.

Here are some other versions of today’s hymn.