And Can It Be That I Should Gain by Charles Wesley

• Posted: September 7, 2008
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• Author: Tom Arthur
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• Filed under: Highly Recommended, Hymn
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• Tags: And Can It Be That I Should Gain, Carlton Young, Charles Wesley, Ludmila Garbuzova, Methodist, Richard Heitzenrater, Wesleyan

And Can It Be That I Should Gain
By Charles Wesley
CCLI Song# 25280
Reviewed By Richard Heitzenrater
Duke Divinity School William Kellon Quick Professor of Church History and Wesley Studies
(rheitzenrater[at]div[dot]duke[dot]edu)

Lyrics
Charles Wesley
Sample Music (Sagina or Garbuzova)

Charles Wesley wrote many poetic lines that have been set to music and enjoyed by generations of people the world over. Many of them are designed for special seasons of the Christian year, and many others relate specifically to soteriology, or the salvation of humankind. One of the best of the latter is his hymn first published in 1739 under the title, “Free Grace.” The first line provides the title that identifies it in  most hymnals today: “And can it be that I should gain/an interest in the Savior’s blood.”

THEOLOGY

The text in six stanzas is one of Charles’ most powerful and relates closely to his own special experience of God’s presence and power on May 21, 1738. The questions that open the hymn are a remarkable reiteration of the perplexion faced by one who is confronted by the wonder of God’s forgiving love. “Died he for me, who caused his pain? . . . Amazing Love! How can it be / That thou, my God, shouldst die for me?” This mystery is at the heart of God’s love and mercy, which is inexplicable even to the angels. We are left simply to adore the depths of divine mercy. The fourth stanza (usually now penultimate) ends with a joyous summary by the believer, formerly imprisoned by his sins, of the transformation that occurred: “My chains fell off, my heart was free, / I rose, went forth, and followed thee.”

MUSIC

Although this hymn was set to at least seven different tunes in its first century of publication, the music seldom does justice to the words. The meter and rhyming pattern is Wesley’s most common form—nearly one tenth of his prolific output was in six lines of eight beats, ABABCC. But questions asked in the text are difficult to convey and reinforce with music. The most commonly used setting—“Sagina,” a bombastic though uninspiring tune first published in 1825—is uninspiring and particularly inappropriate to the words.

A recent composition, however, written by the Russian Methodist musician, Ludmila Garbuzova, especially for this text (and arranged by Carlton Young), unfolds the intensity of the words with intensity and grace. Its E-minor key draws out the questions in the text with feeling and its soaring melody reinforces the joyous images that burst forth from the text. This new accompaniment can be found in a collection (both in hard copy and in CD form) edited by S T Kimbrough, Songs of the World, which contains eighteen Charles Wesley texts with new settings by composers from eleven different countries around the world.

CONCLUSION—Highly recommend

Using this new setting, which is not only beautiful but also quite easy to sing, Wesley’s words take on life and meaning. The singer and listener can understand why Charles Wesley’s poetic expressions of the Christian life have become so central to the worship experience of millions of people in dozens of denominations. He expresses the joy and wonder of God’s power and presence that so many people have themselves felt in their own lives.

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