Hymn
Make Me a Captive, Lord
Make me a captive, Lord,
And then I shall be free;
Force me to render up my sword,
And I shall conqu'ror be.
I sink in life's alarms
When by myself I stand;
Impris'n me in Thy mighty arms,
And strong shall be my hand.
My heart is weak and poor
Until it master find:
It has no spring of action sure -
It varies with the wind:
It cannot freely move
Till Thou hast wrought its chain;
Enslave it with Thy matchless love,
And deathless it shall reign.
My pow'r is faint and low
Till I have learned to serve,
It wants the needed fire to glow,
It wants the breeze to nerve;
It cannot drive the world
Until itself be driv'n;
Its flag can only be unfurled
When Thou shalt breathe from heav'n.
My will is not my own
Till Thou hast made it Thine;
If it would reach a monarch's throne
It must its crown resign:
It only stands unbent
Amid the clashing strife,
When on Thy bosom it has leant,
And found in Thee its life.
Make Me a Captive, Lord — Text from The New Christian Hymnal, 1929. Public domain. https://yeshuanow.com/hymns/make-me-a-captive-lord
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Questions about this hymn
Who wrote Make Me a Captive, Lord?
The words of Make Me a Captive, Lord were written by George Matheson; the version here was published in 1929. The library also holds O Love That Wilt Not Let Me Go, another hymn by George Matheson.
Is Make Me a Captive, Lord public domain?
Yes. The words here are taken from The New Christian Hymnal, published in 1929. Works published before 1931 are out of copyright in the United States, so you can print, project, perform and record this hymn freely. How we source and check every hymn.
What is the metre of Make Me a Captive, Lord?
Make Me a Captive, Lord is in Short Metre Double (6.6.8.6 D). Hymns in the same metre can usually be sung to the same tunes — for example, Commit Thou All Thy Griefs, I Was A Wandering Sheep and Thou Art Gone Up On High.