Scripture Verse

I will take the stony heart out of their flesh, and will give them a heart of flesh. Ezekiel 11:19

Introduction

portrait
Alexander R. Reinagle (1799–1877)

Words: Charles Wes­ley, June 1746. Wes­ley wrote this hymn dur­ing a vis­it to Port­land, where the quar­ry­men’s work sug­gest­ed the theme and the line Strike with the ham­mer of Thy Word, and break these hearts of stone. It ap­peared in Hymns and Sac­red Po­ems, 1749.

Music: St. Pe­ter (Rei­na­gle) Al­ex­an­der R. Rein­agle, 1836 (🔊 pdf nwc).

portrait
Charles Wesley (1707–1788)

Lyrics

Come, O Thou all-vic­to­ri­ous Lord!
Thy power to us make known;
Strike with the ham­mer of Thy Word,
And break these hearts of stone.

O that we all might now be­gin
Our fool­ish­ness to mourn;
And turn at once from ev­ery sin,
And to our Sav­ior turn.

Give us our­selves and Thee to know,
In this our gra­cious day;
Repentance un­to life be­stow,
And take our sins away.

Conclude us first in un­be­lief,
And free­ly then re­lease;
Fill ev­ery soul with sac­red grief,
And then with sac­red peace.

Impoverish, Lord, and then re­lieve,
And then en­rich the poor;
The know­ledge of our sick­ness give,
The know­ledge of our cure.

That bless­èd sense of guilt im­part,
And then re­move the load;
Trouble, and wash the trou­bled heart
In Thine aton­ing blood.

Our des­per­ate state through sin de­clare,
And speak our sins for­giv’n;
By per­fect ho­li­ness pre­pare,
And take us up to Hea­ven.