’Tis finished, the Messias dies, Cut off for sins, &c. C. Wesley. [Good Friday.] In 1762 this hymn, in 2 stanzas of 8 lines, appeared in C. Wesley's Short Hymns, vol. ii. p. 234. These stanzas are:—
" 'Tis finished! the Messias dies,
Cut off for sins, but not His own!
Accomplish'd is the sacrifice,
The great redeeming work is done;
Finish'd the first transgression is,
And purg'd the guilt of actual sin,
And everlasting righteousness
Is now to all the world brought in.
" 'Tis finish'd, all my guilt and pain,
I want no sacrifice beside,
For me, for me, the Lamb is slain.
And I am more than justified;
Sin, death, and hell are now subdued,
All grace is now to sinners given,
And, lo, I plead th' atoning blood,
For pardon, holiness, and heaven."
It is from the first four lines of this hymn that Blair formed stanza iv. of his cento, "Behold the Saviour on the cross". The original, as above, was given in A. M. Toplady's Psalms & Hymns, 1776, No. 223, and thus came into use in the Church of England. Charles Wesley, however, was not satisfied with these stanzas, and at his death he left in manuscript another hymn on the same text, "It is finished," in 8 stanzas of 4 lines, of which stanzas i. and viii. are stanza i. 11.1-4, and stanza ii. 11. 5-8 (slightly altered) respectively of the 1762 text, and stanzas ii.-vii. are new. This text was given in the 1830 Supplement to the Wesleyan Hymn Book, and again in the Poetical Works, 1868-72, vol. xii. p. 99.
--John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology (1907)
Charles Wesley, M.A. was the great hymn-writer of the Wesley family, perhaps, taking quantity and quality into consideration, the great hymn-writer of all ages. Charles Wesley was the youngest son and 18th child of Samuel and Susanna Wesley, and was born at Epworth Rectory, Dec. 18, 1707. In 1716 he went to Westminster School, being provided with a home and board by his elder brother Samuel, then usher at the school, until 1721, when he was elected King's Scholar, and as such received his board and education free. In 1726 Charles Wesley was elected to a Westminster studentship at Christ Church, Oxford, where he took his degree in 1729, and became a college tutor. In the early part of the same year his religious impressions were much deepene… Go to person page >
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