And Can It Be
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"And Can It Be That I Should Gain?" is a Christian hymn written by
Charles Wesley Charles Wesley (18 December 1707 – 29 March 1788) was an English Anglican cleric and a principal leader of the Methodist movement. Wesley was a prolific hymnwriter who wrote over 6,500 hymns during his lifetime. His works include "And Can It ...
in 1738 to celebrate his
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, which he regarded as having taken place on 21 May of that year. The hymn celebrates personal salvation through the death and
resurrection of Jesus The resurrection of Jesus () is Christianity, Christian belief that God in Christianity, God Resurrection, raised Jesus in Christianity, Jesus from the dead on the third day after Crucifixion of Jesus, his crucifixion, starting—or Preexis ...
, and is one of the most popular Methodist hymns today.


History

Charles Wesley (1707–1788), along with his brother
John Wesley John Wesley ( ; 2 March 1791) was an English cleric, Christian theology, theologian, and Evangelism, evangelist who was a principal leader of a Christian revival, revival movement within the Church of England known as Methodism. The societies ...
, was one of the founding figures of
Methodism Methodism, also called the Methodist movement, is a Protestant Christianity, Christian Christian tradition, tradition whose origins, doctrine and practice derive from the life and teachings of John Wesley. George Whitefield and John's brother ...
. Like his brother, he was profoundly influenced by a religious conversion. Charles's experience took place on 21 May 1738 (the feast of
Pentecost Pentecost (also called Whit Sunday, Whitsunday or Whitsun) is a Christianity, Christian holiday which takes place on the 49th day (50th day when inclusive counting is used) after Easter Day, Easter. It commemorates the descent of the Holy Spiri ...
), and it inspired him to write two new hymns, "And Can It Be that I Should Gain" and "Where Shall My Wondering Soul Begin?". After this, Charles went on to become a prolific hymnodist, composing over 6,500 hymns. The original six-verse hymn "And Can It Be?" was first published in 1739 in John Wesley's hymnal, ''Hymns and Sacred Poems'', with the title "Free Grace". The hymn remains popular today and is included in many contemporary hymn books. In 2013, following a survey conducted by the
BBC Television BBC Television is a service of the BBC. The corporation has operated a Public service broadcasting in the United Kingdom, public broadcast television service in the United Kingdom, under the terms of a royal charter, since 1 January 1927. It p ...
programme ''
Songs of Praise ''Songs of Praise'' is a BBC Television religious programme that presents Christian hymns, worship songs and inspirational performances in churches of varying denominations from around the UK alongside interviews and stories reflecting how Ch ...
'', "And Can It Be?" was voted number 6 in the UK's Top 100 Hymns.
Diarmaid MacCulloch Diarmaid Ninian John MacCulloch (; born 31 October 1951) is an English academic and historian, specialising in ecclesiastical history and the history of Christianity. Since 1995, he has been a fellow of St Cross College, Oxford; he was former ...
suggests that the hymn is one of the best-loved of Wesley's six thousand hymns. "And Can It Be?" was the source for Phillips, Craig & Dean's 2003
Contemporary Christian Contemporary history, in English-language historiography, is a subset of modern history that describes the historical period from about 1945 to the present. In the social sciences, contemporary history is also continuous with, and related t ...
song " You Are My King (Amazing Love)". The
Newsboys Newsboys (sometimes stylised as newsboys) are a Christian rock band that has existed in various permutations since its founding in 1985 in Mooloolaba, Queensland, Australia, by Peter Furler and George Perdikis. Now based in Nashville, Tenness ...
' cover of the song reached No. 1 on the ''Billboard'' Christian songs chart.


Words

The title and first lines of the hymn are framed as a
rhetorical question A rhetorical question is a question asked for a purpose other than to obtain information. In many cases it may be intended to start a discourse, as a means of displaying or emphasizing the speaker's or author's opinion on a topic. A simple example ...
written in the first person, in which the narrator/singer asks if he can benefit from the sacrifice of Jesus (the
blood of Christ Blood of Christ, also known as the Most Precious Blood, in Christian theology refers to the physical blood actually shed by Jesus Christ primarily on the Cross, and the salvation which Christianity teaches was accomplished thereby, or the sacram ...
), despite being the cause of Christ's death. The hymn makes reference to several biblical events, and each verse returns to the individual's experience of faith and personal salvation. The second verse expresses amazement at the apparent paradox of the death of the immortal Christ — "'Tis mystery all! Th'Immortal dies!" — referring to the
New Testament The New Testament (NT) is the second division of the Christian biblical canon. It discusses the teachings and person of Jesus in Christianity, Jesus, as well as events relating to Christianity in the 1st century, first-century Christianit ...
accounts of the
Passion of Jesus The Passion (from Latin , "to suffer, bear, endure") is the short final period before the death of Jesus, described in the four canonical gospels. It is commemorated in Christianity every year during Holy Week. The ''Passion'' may include, amo ...
. The following verse celebrates the Incarnation of Jesus and borrows a verse from Philippians 2:6- 8, "Emptied himself of all but Love, and bled for Adam's helpless race". In the fourth verse ("My chains fell off"), Wesley makes reference to the imprisonments of both
Saint Peter Saint Peter (born Shimon Bar Yonah; 1 BC – AD 64/68), also known as Peter the Apostle, Simon Peter, Simeon, Simon, or Cephas, was one of the Twelve Apostles of Jesus and one of the first leaders of the Jewish Christian#Jerusalem ekklēsia, e ...
and
Saint Paul Paul, also named Saul of Tarsus, commonly known as Paul the Apostle and Saint Paul, was a Christian apostle ( AD) who spread the teachings of Jesus in the first-century world. For his contributions towards the New Testament, he is generally ...
— the
Liberation of Peter The liberation of the apostle Peter is an event described in chapter 12 of the Acts of the Apostles, in which the apostle Peter is rescued from prison by an angel. Although described in a short textual passage, the tale has given rise to theolog ...
in Acts 12 and the Liberation of Paul in
Acts 16 Acts 16 is the sixteenth chapter of the Acts of the Apostles in the New Testament of the Christianity, Christian Bible. It records the start of the second missionary journey of Paul the Apostle, Paul, together with Silas and Saint Timothy, Timothy ...
— as
metaphor A metaphor is a figure of speech that, for rhetorical effect, directly refers to one thing by mentioning another. It may provide, or obscure, clarity or identify hidden similarities between two different ideas. Metaphors are usually meant to cr ...
s for the narrator's liberation from sin. With the line "Thine eye diffused a quickening ray", Wesley describes the liberating power of God descending on the captive soul using words closely based on a line from
Alexander Pope Alexander Pope (21 May 1688 Old Style and New Style dates, O.S. – 30 May 1744) was an English poet, translator, and satirist of the Age of Enlightenment, Enlightenment era who is considered one of the most prominent English poets of the early ...
's 1717 poem ''
Eloisa to Abelard ''Eloisa to Abelard'' is a verse epistle by Alexander Pope that was published in 1717 and based on a well-known medieval story. Itself an imitation of a Latin poetic genre, its immediate fame resulted in a large number of English imitations thro ...
'': :''Thy eyes diffus'd a reconciling ray,'' :''And gleams of glory brighten'd all the day.'' The fifth verse uses words from Romans 8:1 to describe the doctrine of
Justification by faith (or simply ), meaning justification by faith alone, is a soteriological doctrine in Christian theology commonly held to distinguish the Lutheranism, Lutheran and Reformed tradition, Reformed traditions of Protestantism, among others, from th ...
— "No condemnation now I dread" — and looks forward to the believer receiving a crown in heaven after death.


Musical setting

Early publications of "And Can It Be" set the hymn to a variety of tunes. One of the first settings was to the tune , composed by the songwriter and dramatist Henry Carey. In ''A Collection of Tunes, Set to Music, as they are commonly sung at the Foundery'' (1742) the hymn was set to Samuel Akeroyde's tune , and in the 1786 edition of ''A Collection of Hymns'', the tune was specified. In Britain the hymn is most commonly sung to the tune , which was composed by Yorkshireman Thomas Campbell (1800–1876). It was first published in 1825 in his hymnal ''The Bouquet: a collection of tunes composed and adapted to Wesley's Hymns''; the floral title referred to Campbell's tunes all being given botanical names. , named after Sagina, a small flowering plant, was published to accompany a translation by John Wesley of a German hymn by Johann Scheffler, "Thee will I love, my strength, my tow'r" (''" Ich will dich lieben, meine Stärke"'') "And Can It Be" was paired with the tune in hymnals of the Methodist Episcopal Church until the 1989 publication of The United Methodist Hymnal,"The United Methodist Hymnal", The United Methodist Publishing House: Nashville, 1989, Hymn 363 where it was first paired with , which has since become the most firmly established tune for the hymn. Musicologist
Percy Scholes Percy Alfred Scholes (pronounced ''skolz''; 24 July 1877 – 31 July 1958) was an English musician, journalist, vegetarianism activist and prolific writer, whose best-known achievement was his compilation of the first edition of the '' Oxford Co ...
characterises this type of tune as "Old Methodist" and considers that its style may have been influenced by the popular choruses of
George Frideric Handel George Frideric (or Frederick) Handel ( ; baptised , ; 23 February 1685 – 14 April 1759) was a German-British Baroque composer well-known for his operas, oratorios, anthems, concerti grossi, and organ concerti. Born in Halle, Germany, H ...
.


References


External links

* *
Hymnary.org Hymnary.org is an online database of hymns, hymnodists and hymnals hosted by Calvin University's Calvin Institute of Christian Worship and Christian Classics Ethereal Library. The searchable database contains over one million hymn tunes and texts ...

And Can It Be, That I Should Gain?
{{authority control English Christian hymns 18th-century Christian texts Hymns by Charles Wesley 1738 works Protestant hymns 18th-century hymns