What Tho' I Cannot Break My Chain

Representative Text

1 What tho' I cannot break my chain
or e'er throw off my load,
the things impossible to men
are possible to God.

2 Who, who shall in thy presence stand,
or match Omnipotence;
unfold the grasp of thy right hand
and pluck the sinner thence?

3 Faith to be healed I fain would have,
O might it now be giv'n;
thou canst, thou canst the sinner save,
and make me meet for heav'n.

4 Bound down with twice ten thousand ties,
yet let me hear thy call;
my soul in confidence shall rise,
shall rise and break through all.

5 Thou canst o'ercome this heart of mine,
thou wilt victorious prove;
for everlasting strength is thine,
and everlasting love.


Source: Trinity Hymnal (Rev. ed.) #458

Author: Charles Wesley

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 >

Author: Augustus Toplady

Toplady, Augustus Montague, the author of "Rock of Ages," was born at Farnham, Surrey, November 4, 1740. His father was an officer in the British army. His mother was a woman of remarkable piety. He prepared for the university at Westminster School, and subsequently was graduated at Trinity College, Dublin. While on a visit in Ireland in his sixteenth year he was awakened and converted at a service held in a barn in Codymain. The text was Ephesians ii. 13: "But now, in Christ Jesus, ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ." The preacher was an illiterate but warm-hearted layman named Morris. Concerning this experience Toplady wrote: "Strange that I, who had so long sat under the means of grace in England, should b… Go to person page >

Text Information

First Line: What, though I cannot break my chain
Title: What Tho' I Cannot Break My Chain
Author: Augustus Toplady
Author: Charles Wesley
Meter: 8.6.8.6
Language: English
Copyright: Public Domain

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The Cyber Hymnal #7282

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Trinity Hymnal (Rev. ed.) #458

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