The Cyber Hymnal ‎#12493

12493. Thou Who Breakest Every Chain

1 Thou, who breakest every chain,
Thou, who still art ever near,
Thou, with whom disgrace and pain
Turn to joy and heaven e’en here;
Look upon our bonds and see
How doth all creation groan
’Neath the yoke of vanity;
Make Thy full redemption known!

2 Still we wrestle, cry, and pray,
Held in bitter bondage fast,
Fain our souls would break away
Into higher things at last;
Still our spirit clings to Thee,
Will not, dare not, let Thee go,
Till Thy power has set us free
From the bonds that cause our woe.

3 Ours the fault it is, we own:
We are slaves to self and sloth;
Yet, oh, leave us not alone
In the living death we loathe!
Crushed beneath our burden’s weight,
Crying at Thy feet we fall,
Show the path, though steep and strait,
Thou didst open once for all!

4 By Thy dying we were bought,
Ransomed from the world and sin;
By the work that Thou hast wrought,
Jesu, make us pure within.
Courage! long the time may seem;
Yet the day is coming fast;
We shall be like them that dream
When our freedom dawns at last!

Text Information

• First Line: Thou, who breakest every chain
• Title: Thou Who Breakest Every Chain
• Author: Gottfried Arnold
• Translator: Catherine Winkworth
• Meter: 77.77 D
• Language: English
• Source: Göttliche Liebes-Funcken Frankfurt am Main, Germany, 1698); Tr.: Lyra Germanica, second series, 1858
• Copyright: Public Domain
• Notes: Alternate tune: HOLLINGSIDE by John B. Dykes

Tune Information

• Name: DELIVERANCE
• Composer: Leighton George Hayne (1874)
• Meter: 77.77 D
• Key: C Major
• Source: Church Hymns with Tunes by Arthur S. Sullivan (London: Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, 1874)
• Copyright: Public Domain