1000 Songs/Arise my soul arise (Charles Wesley)

Arise my soul arise (Wesley)

1000 Songs

Text

Arise, my soul, arise; shake off thy guilty fears;

The bleeding sacrifice in my behalf appears:

Before the throne my surety stands,

Before the throne my surety stands,

My name is written on His hands.

He ever lives above, for me to intercede;

His all redeeming love, His precious blood, to plead:

His blood atoned for all our race,

His blood atoned for all our race,

And sprinkles now the throne of grace.

Five bleeding wounds He bears; received on Calvary;

They pour effectual prayers; they strongly plead for me:

“Forgive him, O forgive,” they cry,

“Forgive him, O forgive,” they cry,

“Nor let that ransomed sinner die!”

The Father hears Him pray, His dear anointed One;

He cannot turn away, the presence of His Son;

His Spirit answers to the blood,

His Spirit answers to the blood,

And tells me I am born of God.

My God is reconciled; His pardoning voice I hear;

He owns me for His child; I can no longer fear:

With confidence I now draw nigh,

With confidence I now draw nigh,

And “Father, Abba, Father,” cry.

Author

Charles Wesley

Music

Here are some popular tunes for "Arise My Soul, Arise"

By Lewis Edson-

http://www.hymnary.org/page/fetch/TWC/427/low

By Daniel Towner-

http://www.hymnary.org/page/fetch/HFLC1974/218/low

Other arrangements-

http://www.igracemusic.com/hymnbook/hymns/a13.html

Background

Cultural setting

In his book My Life and the Story of the Gospel Hymns and of Sacred Songs and Solos, Ira Sankey writes:

"First published in 1742 under the title, "Behold the Man," this became one of the most useful of Charles Wesley's numerous hymns. In universal use in English countries, and translated into many languages, it has been the direct instrumentality in the conversion of thousands of souls. It has found expression in the exultant cry on the lips of many a dying saint.

'I have a record,' said a Wesleyan missionary laboring in the West Indies, 'of two hundred persons, young and old, who received the most direct evidence of the forgiveness of their sins while singing 'Arise, my soul.' The conversion of the greater number of these persons took place while I was a missionary abroad.'"

In her book Hymns That Every Child Should Know: A Selection of the Best Hymns of All Nations for Young People edited by Dolores Bacon, she writes:

"This hymn has extensive anecdotal history, but the most picturesque story recorded is that of its connection with a Patagonian missionary expedition which ended disastrously for all concerned. The company was wiped out by violence and disease, and the captain of the ship upon which the company had embarked wrote in his diary, Sept. 6, 1851: 'I neither hunger nor thirst, though five days without food. Marvelous loving kindness to me, a sinner.' This Captain Gardiner and John Babcock were almost the only ones left of the expedition. Babcock died first, and he asked the survivors to sing this hymn. That expedition was the direct means of establishing the first Terre del Fuegan missions."

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