O For a Heart to Praise My God
O for a heart to praise my God, A heart from sin set free,
A heart that always feels thy blood So freely shed for me.
A heart resigned, submissive, meek, My great Redeemer’s throne,
Where only Christ is heard to speak, Where Jesus reigns alone.
A humble, lowly, contrite heart, Believing, true, and clean,
Which neither life nor death can part From Christ who dwells within.
A heart in every thought renewed And full of love divine,
Perfect and right and pure and good, A copy, Lord, of thine.
Thy nature, gracious Lord, impart; Come quickly from above;
Write thy new name upon my heart, Thy new, best name of Love.
“O FOR A HEART TO PRAISE MY GOD” (UMH 417) was published in 1780 with eight stanzas. It was entitled “Make me a clean Heart, O God”, drawing from Psalm 51:10. However, in 1849, the Methodist Episcopal hymnal dropped stanzas five, six and seven. The five remaining stanzas have been retained since then.
This hymn is grounded on God’s steadfast love and the covenant relationship that God offers to all who love Him.
In the first four stanzas, Charles Wesley describes the qualities of the heart. “A heart from sin set free” tells us about God’s saving grace. Charles Wesley goes on to say that the heart is resigned, submissive, meek, contrite, believing, true and clean. However, he does not claim these to be attributes of his own heart. Rather, in the final stanza, he asks the Lord to impart these qualities to him. He then calls upon the Lord to come quickly and “write a new name upon my heart, the new, best name of Love.”
Although the hymn alludes to Psalm 51, the last line of the last stanza takes us to Jeremiah 31:31- 33 where God tells Jeremiah, “I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.” This calls us to the renewal of the heart and our relationship with God.
Judith Mosomos is a Lecturer in Church Music at the Methodist School of Music.
