First Line: | O thou that hangedst on the tree |
Author: | Charles Wesley |
Copyright: | Public Domain |
O Thou that [Who] hangedst on the tree. C. Wesley. [For Condemned Malefactors.] Published in Hymns & Sacred Poems, 1749, vol. i, in 14 stanzas of 4 lines, and headed, “For Condemned Malefactors." It is based on the Prayer-Book Version of Psalms lxxix. 12 (Poetical Works, 1868-72, vol. iv., p. 460). From this hymn the following are taken:—
1. O Thou that hangedst on the tree. Composed of stanzas i. iv.-vii. in the 1830 Supplement of the Wesleyan Hymn Book.
2. O Thou Who hangedst on the tree. A cento in the Hymnary, 1812, stanzas i.-iv., very much altered from, and stanzas v.-viii. based upon Wesley.
3. Canst Thou reject our dying prayer? Composed of stanza viii.-xi. in the 1830 Supplement to the Wesleyan Hymn Book.
4. Thou that didst hang upon the tree. A cento in the American Sabbath Hymn Book, 1858, and others. Stanzas i, viii.,x.,xi., altered.
5. We have no outward righteousness. Composed of stanzas iv.-vii. in the American Methodist Episcopal Hymns, 1849, and their Hymnal, 1878.
Most of these centos are in extensive use in Great Britain and America.
--John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology (1907)