And Can It Be?
And Can It Be?
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 Lord, shouldst die for me?
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 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.
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.
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.
CHARLES WESLEY is probably the greatest hymnwriter the church has ever known. From the time of his conversion in 1738, Wesley wrote an average of two hymns a week every week for fifty years, composing between five and six thousand hymns during his lifetime. Most of these hymns were written on horseback as he traveled with his brother John, preaching and ministering to the poor.
The Wesleys broke with the conventions of their day and did the unthinkable—preaching the gospel outdoors. Traveling the highways and byways of England, they brought the Good News of Christ to thousands of poor farmers and illiterate coal miners. These were people at the margins of society, people most churches did not bother to think about. It was for them that Charles Wesley composed his hymns, bringing theology to the heart, where people experienced the love of God in profound ways.
So now there is no condemnation for those who belong to Christ Jesus. . . . [God]sent his own Son in a body like the bodies we sinners have. And in that body God declared an end to sin’s control over us by giving his Son as a sacrifice for our sins.
Romans 8:1, 3
From the book
