O For A Thousand Tongues To Sing (Hymn with words and music) - Charles W...

This timeless hymn has a wonderful story behind it. John and Charles Wesley were Anglican priests. They were both Oxford graduates. During John's time at Oxford he formed a small band of men who were earnest in doing good works and living pious lives. This small band of whom George Whitefield was a member, was known as the Holy Club.
In 1735 John and Charles sailed to America to convert the Native Americans in the Georgia colony. During the voyage a terrible storm threatened to sink the ship they were on. John and Charles were terrified along with the other passengers yet they observed a small group of Moravians who exhibited an unusual calm during the storm. Those Moravians exhibited a faith in Christ that the Wesley's did not have but desperately sought. The Wesleys returned to England after a short time in America where John stated, "we went to America to convert the savages but who will convert us?" Their memory of the Moravians stayed with them and would later influence them greatly in coming to a saving knowledge of Christ.
In 1738 John sat in a meeting at Aldersgate in London where he heard the reading of Luthers commentary on Romans 5:1 "Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ" In that very moment he felt his heart "strangely warmed" whereby he trusted Christ alone for his salvation and not his good works. Three days earlier Charles had also come to saving faith in Christ. The Wesley brothers had been Anglican priests for 7 years with no assurance of salvation. From that moment on these two men changed the course of history in Great Britain and North America. The Methodist movement was born which was a spiritual dynamo for nearly 100 years.
John's preaching attested to this conversion and Charles hymn writing also attested to his conversion as we see in this timeless hymn, "O For A Thousand Tongues to Sing". Such depth and testimony of true conversion few have been able to pen as Charles Wesley. I have sung this hymn for many years but never heard the tune in this Youtube video. Every time I listen to this version it brings a tear and shout of joy. In heaven we will sing music like this, not the trivial and vain stuff that is peddled today as "praise and worship". This hymn became a personal anthem for John and Charles. Every year on the anniversary of their conversions they would sing this hymn. It became a spiritual birthday song for them. May God richly bless you as you listen.