Scripture Verse

What is man, that Thou shouldest magnify him, and that Thou shouldest set Thine heart upon him? Job 7:17

Introduction

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Henry Carey
1687–1743

Words: Charles Wes­ley, Hymns and Sac­red Po­ems 1749.

Music: Car­ey’s Sur­rey Hen­ry Car­ey, 1723. Har­mo­ny from The Eng­lish Hym­nal (Lon­don: Ox­ford Uni­ver­si­ty Press, 1906), num­ber 491 (🔊 pdf nwc).

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Charles Wesley (1707–1788)

The first verse has giv­en a voice to ma­ny a grate­ful heart in the re­view of God’s mer­cies. The Rev. Jo­seph Agar of­ten quot­ed it; and the Rev. W. J. Shrews­bu­ry, who died in 1866, made his last ap­pear­ance in pub­lic on a mis­sion­ary plat­form at Gros­ve­nor Street, where he be­gan his brief ad­dress with the first verse of this hymn.

Telford, p. 236

Lyrics

What am I, O Thou glo­ri­ous God!
And what my fa­ther’s house to Thee,
That Thou such mer­cies hast be­stowed
On me, the chief of sin­ners, me!
I take the bless­ing from above,
And won­der at Thy bound­less love.

Me in my blood Thy love passed by,
And stopped, my ru­in to re­trieve;
Wept o’er my soul Thy pi­ty­ing eye,
Thy bow­els yearned, and sound­ed Live!
Dying, I heard the wel­come sound,
And par­don in Thy mer­cy found.

Honor, and might, and thanks, and praise,
I render to my par­don­ing God,
Extol the rich­es of Thy grace,
And spread Thy sav­ing name abroad,
That only name to sin­ners giv’n,
Which lifts poor dy­ing worms to Heav’n.

Jesus, I bless Thy gra­cious pow­er,
And all with­in me shouts Thy name;
Thy name let ev­ery soul adore,
Thy power let ev­ery tongue pro­claim;
Thy grace let ev­ery sin­ner know,
And find with me their hea­ven be­low.