Charles Wesley (1707–1788; see Biographies) wrote this soon after his conversion (May 1738), for it appeared under the title “Free Grace” in Psalms and Hymns, 1738, and also in Hymns and Sacred Poems, 1739. It is a profound study of the atonement by one who was deeply touched by the mystery and significance of the death of Christ. In his journal, May 21, 1738, he records: “At 9 I began a hymn on my conversion but was persuaded to break off for fear of pride. I prayed Christ to stand by me and finished the hymn.”

Both John and Charles Wesley often told in their journals how they made use of hymns in their evangelistic ministry. The August 22, 1739, entry in Charles’s journal tells how this hymn was used by the Holy Spirit in the conviction and conversion of a drunken servant of a Mr. Seward: “This morning the work upon poor Robin appeared to be God’s work. The words that made the first impression were [from stanza 2]:

’Tis mercy all, immense and free;
For, O my God, it found out me!

He now seems full of sorrow and joy and astonishment and love.”

Notice how the third stanza uses the poetic analogy of being freed by the grace of God from a prisonhouse of sin. Peter’s miraculous release from prison (Acts 12:7–9) is remembered by the phrases “dungeon flamed with light,” “my chains fell off,” and “I rose, went forth, and followed Thee.”

The tune SAGINA is the only survivor from The Bouquet, 1825, which was published by Thomas Campbell. The book had 23 of his original tunes, to all of which he gave botanical names. Sagina is a plant of the pink family that grows in low-lying marshy areas and provides fodder in springtime for grazing sheep. Thomas Campbell, of whom little is known, was born in Sheffield and is not the poet of the same name mentioned in Grove’s Dictionary of Music and Musicians.