Many hymns were written in Germany and England throughout the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries.  Charles Wesley wrote nearly 9,000 hymns during his lifetime and Isaac Watts wrote over 1,000. Below is a list of some of the most famous hymns that date back to the eighteenth century and as you can see from the titles, many of them refer to the Easter story, including references both to the suffering of Christ and the cross and to the joy of his resurrection and new life.

•  When I Survey the Wondrous Cross              1707
•  Alas! And Did My Savior Bleed?                      1707
•  O God, Our Help in Ages Past                         1714
•  Joy to the World!                                               1719
•  O for a Thousand Tongues to Sing                1739
•  Hark! The Herald Angels Sing                         1739
•  Christ the Lord Is Risen Today                        1739
•  Rejoice, the Lord is King!                                  1744
•  Come, Thou Long-Expected Jesus                 1744
•  Love Divine, All Loves Excelling                       1747
•  O Happy Day                                                       1755
•  Come, Thou Almighty King                               1757
•  Come, Thou Fount of Every Blessing              1758
•  There Is a Fountain Filled with Blood              1772
•  Rock of Ages                                                       1776
•  Amazing Grace                                                    1779
•  All Hail the Power of Jesus’ Name                   1779
•  Blest Be the Tie That Binds                                1782
•  On Jordan’s Stormy Banks I Stand                   1787

“When I Survey the Wondrous Cross”

Isaac Watts published his first book of hymns in 1707 and it included the first public printing of “When I Survey the Wondrous Cross.” He is described as the “Father of English Hymnody” and many people think that this is his greatest hymn.

When I survey the wondrous cross
On which the Prince of glory died,
My richest gain I count but loss,
And pour contempt on all my pride.

Forbid it, Lord, that I should boast,
Save in the death of Christ my God!
All the vain things that charm me most,
I sacrifice them to His blood.

See from His head, His hands, His feet,
Sorrow and love flow mingled down!
Did e’er such love and sorrow meet,
Or thorns compose so rich a crown?

[His dying crimson, like a robe,
Spreads o’er His body on the tree;
Then I am dead to all the globe,
And all the globe is dead to me.]

Were the whole realm of nature mine,
That were a present far too small;
Love so amazing, so divine,
Demands my soul, my life, my all.

“O for a thousand tongues to sing”

Charles Wesley is remembered for the thousands of hymns he wrote in England and in particular for the hymn titled which was published in a hymnal in 1780. The famous opening line is said to have been inspired by the Moravian missionary from Germany called Peter Böhler who once said “Had I a thousand tongues, I would praise him with them all!” Wesley’s hymn contains striking contrasts between the darkness of sin and the light of the atoning blood that heals and between the fears of sin and death with the joy of a new life. It also contains striking oxymorons: “Hear him, ye deaf; his praise, ye dumb, your loosened tongues employ; ye blind, behold your savior come, and leap, ye lame, for joy.”

 O for a thousand tongues to sing
my great Redeemer’s praise,
the glories of my God and King,
the triumphs of his grace!

 My gracious Master and my God,
assist me to proclaim,
to spread thro’ all the earth abroad
the honors of your name.

 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 cancelled sin,
he sets the prisoner free;
his blood can make the foulest clean;
his blood availed for me.

 To God all glory, praise, and love
be now and ever given
by saints below and saints above,
the Church in earth and heaven.