“O for a Thousand Tongues to Sing”: Charles Wesley’s anniversary hymn

On 21 May 1738, Charles Wesley, a young Anglican clergyman, wrote in his journal that he had found peace with God after a long struggle. A year later he marked the anniversary in the way he knew best: he wrote a hymn. Its original first line was “Glory to God, and praise and love,” but the verse that became famous began further down: “O for a thousand tongues to sing my great Redeemer’s praise.” For more than two centuries, that line opened the hymnbooks of the Methodist movement.

Böhler's remark and the original

The idea for the opening line is often traced to Peter Böhler, a Moravian missionary who influenced both John and Charles Wesley. Böhler is reported to have said that if he had a thousand tongues, he would praise Christ with them all. Charles took the phrase and made it the heart of his song.

The hymn Wesley wrote had eighteen stanzas, far too many for congregational singing. Editors selected the verses that are sung today, beginning with the “thousand tongues” stanza, which was the seventh in the original.

The words and the hymnbook

The hymn celebrates the power of Christ’s name. One of its best-loved verses says: “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.” Another speaks of Christ breaking “the power of cancelled sin” and setting “the prisoner free.”

When John Wesley published A Collection of Hymns for the Use of the People Called Methodists in 1780, this hymn stood first. It kept that place in many Methodist hymnals for generations, so that it became the hymn new members met before any other.

Azmon and Wesley's output

In North America, the hymn is most often sung to Azmon, a tune by the German composer Carl Gotthelf Gläser, arranged by Lowell Mason in the nineteenth century. In Britain, other tunes such as Lyngham and Richmond are also used. Charles Wesley wrote thousands of hymns in his lifetime, including “Hark! the Herald Angels Sing” and “Love Divine, All Loves Excelling.” Many treat this one as the summary of his whole message: grace received and praise returned.

African churches and praying with it

Methodist churches in Ghana, Nigeria, Sierra Leone and elsewhere still sing the hymn, often in translation. Its theme of praise from every tongue fits churches where worship happens in many languages. The hymn invites worshippers to imagine praise too large for one voice. Singing it, a congregation becomes one small part of the thousand tongues Wesley longed for.

Charles Wesley wrote the hymn to remember one day in May 1738. Congregations who have never heard of that day still sing his anniversary song every Sunday somewhere in the world.