[Music]
O 'tis a glorious mystery,
'Tis a wonder, a wonder, a wonder;
That I should ever saved be
'Tis a wonder, a wonder, a wonder.
No heart can think or fully tell,
'Tis a wonder, a wonder;
My God has sav'd my soul from hell,
'Tis a wonder, a wonder, a wonder.
Two further stanzas of the text taken from _Good Old Songs_, No. 511,
are:
Great mystery that God should place,
'Tis a wonder _etc._
His love on any of Adam's race,
'Tis a wonder _etc._
That I should also share a part,
'Tis a wonder _etc._
And find a mansion in his heart,
'Tis a wonder _etc._
Great mystery, I can't tell why
That Christ for sinful worms should die;
Should leave the boundless realms of bliss,
And die for sinners on the cross.
The song is accredited in the _Social Harp_ to Henry F. Chandler and
dated 1854. A North Carolina variant, recorded in 1916, is in Sharp,
ii., 294. A variant in the present collection is 'Look Out', which see
for references to related secular tunes. The earliest American
recording of this melody known to me is that in Jeremiah Ingalls'
_Christian Harmony_ of 1805, p. 15. It begins:
When converts first begin to sing, wonder, wonder, wonder,
Their happy souls are on the wing, wonder, wonder, wonder.
Their theme is all redeeming love, glory hallelujah,
Fain would they be with Christ above, sing glory hallelujah.
No. 172
BOWERS or HAPPY SOULS (B), SOC 82