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