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| Charles Wesley
"Christ the Friend of Sinners" (Where shall my wondering soul begin?) is accepted widely as the hymn written by Charles Wesley on the night of his conversion, May 23, 1738. However, some scholars argue that "Free Grace" (And can it be that I should gain) or "Hymn for Whitsunday" (Granted is the Savior’s Prayer) is "The Wesleys’ Conversion Hymn." In the first two stanzas, Wesley testifies of his transformation from a "child of wrath and hell" into a "child of God." Stanzas three and four illustrate his new commitment to tell others of God’s power. In the remaining stanzas he preaches the "Good News" to the unloved of society, just as he will to the crowds that come to hear his field preaching. |
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Where shall my wondering soul begin? How shall I all to heaven aspire? A slave redeem’d from death and sin, A brand pluck’d from eternal fire, How shall I equal triumphs raise, Or sing my great Deliverer's praise? O, how shall I the goodness tell, Father, which Thou to me hast show’d? That I, a child of wrath and hell, I should be call’d a child of God! Should know, should feel my sins forgiven, Blessed with this antepast of heaven! And shall I slight my Father's love, Or basely fear His gifts to own? Unmindful of His favors prove? Shall I, the hallow’d cross to shun, Refuse His righteousness t’ impart, By hiding it within my heart? No--though the ancient dragon rage, And call forth all his host to war; Though earth's self-righteous sons engage Them, and their god, alike I dare: Jesus, the sinner's Friend, proclaim; Jesus, to sinners still the same. |
Outcasts of men, to you I call, Harlots, and publicans, and thieves! He spreads His arms t’ embrace you all; Sinners alone His grace receives; No need of Him the righteous have; He came the lost to seek and save. Come, all ye Magdalens, in lust, Ye ruffians fell in murders old; Repent, and live: despair and trust! Jesus for you to death was sold; Though hell protest, and earth repine, He died for crimes like yours—and mine. Come, O my guilty brethren, come, Groaning beneath your load of sin! His bleeding heart shall make you room, His open side shall take you in. He calls you now, invites you home: Come, O my guilty brethren, come! For you the purple current flow’d In pardons from His wounded side, Languish’d for you the eternal God, For you the Prince of Glory died. Believe, and all your guilt’s forgiven; Only believe--and yours is heaven. |
Fanny Crosby Fanny Crosby wrote "Valley of Silence" at the age of ninety five in an attempt to capture the feelings of her "November Experience." The text is more private than Wesley’s because of the many confessional stanzas. While Wesley devotes most of his text to exhorting the unloved masses, Crosby uses conversational language to create intimacy with the reader. (It is as if she is sitting across from you.) In Wesley’s text God is suffering and moaning. In Crosby’s text, she is suffering and moaning for God, who when found, speaks to her as a lover. |
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I
walk down the Valley of Silence,
Long
ago I was weary of voices I walked through the world with the worldly, I craved what the world never gave, And I said, "In the world, each ideal That shines like a star on life’s wave Is tossed on the shores of the Real, And sleeps like a dream in its grave. |
And
still did I pine for the Perfect, And
I toiled on, heart-tired of human, Do
you ask what I found in this |
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