A! Mba Le L'egberun Ahon

Author: Charles Wesley

A! mba le l' egberun ahon. Fun 'yin Olugbala, Ogo Olorun Oba mi, Isegun ore Re. Jesu t' O s' eru wa d' ayo, T' O mu 'banuje tan; Orin ni l' eti elese, Iye at' ilera. O segun agbara ese O da ara tubu; Eje Re le w' eleri mo, Eje Re seun fun mi O soro oku gbohun Re O gba emi titun Onirobinuje y'ayo Otosi si gbagbo Odi, e korin iyin Re Aditi gbohun Re Afoju, Olugbala de Ayaro fo f'ayo Baba mi at' Olorun mi, Fun mi n' iranwo Re; Ki nle ro ka gbogbo aiye, Ola oruko Re. Source: Yoruba Baptist Hymnal #291 & Iwe Orin Irapada Ti Ijo Aposteli Na #8

O for a thousand tongues to sing My dear Redeemer's praise! The glories of my God and King, The triumphs of His grace! Jesus! the Name that charms our fears, That bids our sorrows cease; 'Tis music in the sinner's ears, 'Tis life, and health, and peace. He breaks the power of cancell'd sin, He sets the prisoner free; His blood can make the foulest clean, His blood avail'd for me He speaks, - and, listening to his voice, New life the dead receive; The mournful, broken hearts rejoice; The humble poor believe. Hear him, ye deaf; his praise, ye dumb, Your loosen'd tongues employ; Ye blind, behold your Saviour come, And leap, ye lame, for joy. My gracious Master and my God, Assist me to proclaim, To spread through all the world abroad The honours of Thy name.

Charles Wesley

"O for a Thousand Tongues to Sing" is a Christian hymn written by Charles Wesley. Charles Wesley wrote over 6,000 hymns, many of which were subsequently reprinted, frequently with alterations, in hymnals, particularly those of Methodist Churches.

Charles Wesley was suffering a bout of pleurisy in May, 1738, while he and his brother were studying under the Moravian scholar Peter Böhler in London. At the time, Wesley was plagued by extreme doubts about his faith. Taken to bed with the sickness on May 21 Wesley was attended by a group of Christians who offered him testimony and basic care, and he was deeply affected by this. He read from his Bible and found himself deeply affected by the words, and at peace with God. Shortly his strength began to return. He wrote of this experience in his journal and counted it as a renewal of his faith; when his brother John had a similar experience on the 24th, the two men met and sang a hymn Wesley had written in praise of his renewal.

One year from the experience, Wesley was taken with the urge to write another hymn, this one in commemoration of his renewal of faith. This hymn took the form of an 18-stanza poem, beginning with the opening lines 'Glory to God, and praise, and love,/Be ever, ever given' and was published in 1740 and entitled 'For the anniversary day of one's conversion'. The seventh verse, which begins, 'O for a thousand tongues to sing', and which now is invariably the first verse of a shorter hymn, recalls the words of Peter Böhler who said, 'Had I a thousand tongues I would praise Him with them all.' The hymn was placed first in John Wesley's A Collection of Hymns for the People Called Methodists published in 1780. It appeared first in every (Wesleyan) Methodist hymnal from that time until the publication of Hymns and Psalms in 1983.

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