Musical Notes

Hello OCBC family,
“I will extol you, my God and King,
    and bless your name forever and ever.
Every day I will bless you
    and praise your name forever and ever.
Great is the LORD, and greatly to be praised,
    and his greatness is unsearchable.” (Psalm 145:1-3).

This wonderful psalm is the last psalm written by David; after this psalm, the rest of them are anonymous. This is a personal invitation from David to extol and celebrate the King of Eternity for who He is, what He has done, and what He has promised. This psalm is an acrostic design using the 22 letters of the Hebrew alphabet for each stanza. If we use a musical term, this psalm goes in crescendo of praise that completes the Psalter and might be called “The Final Hallel” (Psalms 145-150).

This psalm has been inspiration for many composers through the ages from Gregorian chants to classical composers, to western culture to native culture from different countries and cultures, and for hymn writers. One of these hymn writers is Charles Wesley.

He wrote the famous and loved hymn “O for a Thousand Tongues to Sing.” Charles Wesley is the brother of the famous methodist preacher John Wesley. Being ordained in the Church of England, Charles (and John as well), did not have assurance about his personal salvation. It was through the preaching of Moravian pastors that he became a real believer. One of these pastors was Peter Böhler. This pastor said one time, “Had I a thousand tongues, I would praise Christ with them all.”

Because of this phrase and using Psalm 145, Charles Wesley wrote his popular hymn.

“O for a thousand tongues to sing
My great Redeemer's praise,
The glories of my God and King,
The triumphs of His grace!”

Charles wrote this hymn for the first anniversary of his conversion, May 1738. The hymn was placed first in John Wesley's A Collection of Hymns for the People Called Methodists published in 1780.

Originally this hymn had 18 stanzas, but now, most of the hymnals just publish 4, 5 or 6 stanzas. There are many stanzas that have a strong language that might not be good for a worship service, or perhaps, yes. Let me share with you, stanza 15 and 16,

“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,
Ye sons of lust and pride,
Believe the Savior died for you;
For me the Saviour died.”

Another wonderful stanza is this one,

“He breaks the pow'r of canceled sin,
He sets the pris'ner free;
His blood can make the foulest clean,
His blood availed for me.”

On this stanza, Wesley is telling us that the gospel justifies and sanctifies and believers are freed from sin's dominion.

Let us join our voices to celebrate our Master and God, because He saved us from our sin.

“My gracious Master and my God,
Assist me to proclaim,
To spread thro' all the earth abroad
The honors of Thy name.”

In His service,
Israel