O for a Thousand Tongues to Sing

O For A Thousand Tongues To Sing is a Christian hymn written by Charles Wesley. Wesley wrote the hymn in 1739 in commemoration of the first anniversary of his conversion to Methodism. Wesley and his brother, John, wrote over 6,000 hymns, many of which were subsequently reprinted, frequently with alterations, in hymnals, particularly those of the Methodist Church.

O For A Thousand Tongues To Sing was originally a 19-stanza poem; the traditional first stanza of today’s hymn was in fact the seventh stanza of Wesley’s poem. The poem first appeared in print in 1740 and did not at that time carry a specific tune.

The hymn today is most commonly sung to Lowell Mason’s 1839 arrangement of the tune Azmon, written by Carl G. Glaser in 1828. No more than six verses are normally sung today, though many hymnals print the entire poem.

O For A Thousand Tongues To Sing has been the first hymn in Methodist Hymnals worldwide since Wesley published his Collection of Hymns for the Use of the People Called Methodists in 1780.