They heard the strange, unwonted sound

Verse 1
They heard the strange, unwonted sound,
Of joy inhanc’d by smart, and woe,
Of liberty in fetters found;
The voice of saints who Jesus know,
Which comforts every soul that mourns,
And dungeons into temples turns.

Verse 2
They heard the voice so rarely heard
By wretches poor in bonds confin’d,
The voice which spake their God prepar’d
Imprison’d spirits to unbind,
Out of their sinful sleep to raise,
And fill their hearts with prayer and praise.

Hymnal/Album: Originally titled: “‘And the prisoners heard them.’—[Acts 16,] v. 25.” This hymn appears in the 1764 manuscript “MS Acts.” This manuscript is part of the collection of the Methodist Archive and Research Centre in The John Rylands Library, The University of Manchester (accession number MA 1977/555, Charles Wesley Notebooks Box 1). Accessed through the website of The Center for Studies in the Wesleyan Tradition, Duke Divinity School. Published in The Poetical Works of John and Charles Wesley, Collected and Arranged by G. Osborn, Vol. 12 (London: Wesleyan-Methodist Conference Office, 1871), page 319.
Publishing: Public Domain