SKU: A0.844351

This arrangement of And Can It Be That I Should Gain? is for cello solo and piano.
A theme and variation treatment is used.  

For a piano background Mp3 track, search for:
Cello - And Can It Be? Piano Accompaniment, Dan Cutchen

Time: approximately 6:00

And Can It Be That I Should Gain? is a Christian hymn written by Charles Wesley. And Can It Be was written in 1738 to celebrate Wesley's conversion, which he regarded as having taken place on May 21 of that year.

This beautiful hymn has been popular and enduring.

And Can It Be That I Should Gain is perhaps one of the most joyfully poignant hymns penned by Charles Wesley (1707-1788). On Whitsunday (Pentecost), May 21, 1738, three days before his brother John experienced his heart strangely warmed,’ Charles was convalescing in the home of John Bray, a poor mechanic, when he heard a voice saying, In the name of Jesus of Nazareth, arise, and believe, and thou shalt be healed of all thy infirmities. The voice was most likely Mr. Bray’s sister who felt commanded to say these words in a dream.

Anglican hymn writer Timothy Dudley-Smith, notes that the following then happened:

Charles got out of bed and opening his Bible read from the Psalms: He have put a new song in my mouth, even praise unto our God, followed by the first verse of Isaiah 40, Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith your God. He wrote in his journal, I have found myself at peace with God, and rejoiced in the hope of love Christ (Dudley-Smith, 1987, 1).

The statement from Mr. Bray’s sister sparked within Charles a conviction like he had never felt before. Moved and convicted in spirit, Charles wrestled with these words until he came to rest in his faith, knowing that it is by faith we are saved (Ephesians 2:8).

Soon after this conversion experience, he wrote two hymns in celebration of the amazing love he had come to know: And Can It Be that I Should Gain and Where Shall My Wondering Soul Begin? (United Methodist Hymnal, 342)

There has been some debate as to which hymn was written first, but most current scholarship accepts the latter as the first hymn written by Charles after his conversion experience. No matter its place in the chronology of Wesley's output, And Can It Be has been and remains one of his most remarkable hymns, expressing like no other the rapturous joy of receiving salvation.