And Can It Be - wikipedia And Can It Be `` And Can It Be That I Should Gain ? '' is a Christian hymn written by Charles Wesley. Diarmaid MacCulloch suggests that the hymn is one of the best - loved of Wesley 's six thousand hymns. It is also the source for the 2003 song `` You Are My King ( Amazing Love ) '' which reached No. 1 on the Billboard Christian songs chart. `` And Can It Be '' was written in 1738 to celebrate Wesley 's conversion, which he regarded as having taken place on 21 May of that year. The lines `` My chains fell off, my heart was free / I rose, went forth, and followed thee '' are based on the story of the Liberation of Saint Peter in the New Testament. Wikisource has original text related to this article : And Can It Be References Jump up ^ Diarmaid MacCulloch, A History of Christianity : The First Three Thousand Years, p. 754. Jump up ^ Kenneth C. Kinghorn, Wesley : A Heart Transformed Can Change the World, p. 33. Jump up ^ Blair Gilmer Meeks, Expecting the Unexpected : An Advent Devotional Guide ( Upper Room Books, 2006 ), p. 38. External links And Can It Be, That I Should Gain ? entry at Hymnary.org Retrieved from `` https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=And_Can_It_Be&oldid=809246684 '' Categories : English Christian hymns 18th - century Christian texts Hymns by Charles Wesley 1738 works Talk About Wikipedia Add links This page was last edited on 7 November 2017, at 23 : 33. About Wikipedia

Question: who wrote the hymn and can it be
Answer: Charles Wesley