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Play “Make Me a Captive, Lord”

Free same-meter accompaniment for Make Me a Captive, Lord (George Matheson): organ, piano or guitar playing the tune DIADEMATA (George J. Elvey) in four-part harmony, 4 verses, with the words on screen. Choose the key and speed, add an introduction, project the words on a TV, or practice your own choir part. Made for churches and home groups without a musician.

Sung here to DIADEMATA (George J. Elvey), a Short Meter Double (6.6.8.6 D) tune — not necessarily the tune usually paired with this text. Any tune in the same meter fits the words.

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  1. 1Make me a captive, Lord,
  2. And then I shall be free;
  3. Force me to render up my sword,
  4. And I shall conqu'ror be.
  5. I sink in life's alarms
  6. When by myself I stand;
  7. Impris'n me in Thy mighty arms,
  8. And strong shall be my hand.
  9. 2My heart is weak and poor
  10. Until it master find:
  11. It has no spring of action sure -
  12. It varies with the wind:
  13. It cannot freely move
  14. Till Thou hast wrought its chain;
  15. Enslave it with Thy matchless love,
  16. And deathless it shall reign.
  17. 3My pow'r is faint and low
  18. Till I have learned to serve,
  19. It wants the needed fire to glow,
  20. It wants the breeze to nerve;
  21. It cannot drive the world
  22. Until itself be driv'n;
  23. Its flag can only be unfurled
  24. When Thou shalt breathe from heav'n.
  25. 4My will is not my own
  26. Till Thou hast made it Thine;
  27. If it would reach a monarch's throne
  28. It must its crown resign:
  29. It only stands unbent
  30. Amid the clashing strife,
  31. When on Thy bosom it has leant,
  32. And found in Thee its life.

About this music

DIADEMATA — George J. Elvey. 'Diademata' George J. Elvey, 1868. Setting: "Appendix to Hymns Ancient and Modern", 1869.. The score is from the Open Hymnal Project, copied from "Appendix to Hymns Ancient and Modern", 1869 Hymn 318. Ed. William H. Monk. Unknown if the arrangement is Elvey's or Monk's.; music and setting are in the public domain. The words above are from the hymnal cited on the Make Me a Captive, Lord page.

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