Love divine all love’s excelling – this great hymn by Charles Wesley is
among the most universally published hymns in hymnbooks of all
persuasions. And yet there was little agreement on what tune it should
be set to: contenders included “Beecher”, “Love divine” (by Stainer), or
even that grand Welsh tune “Hyfrydol” – but in recent decades another
Welsh tune, “Blaenwern”, turned out the most popular by far.
Shaun Yong
1 Love divine, all loves excelling,
joy of heav’n, to earth come down,
fix in us thy humble dwelling,
all thy faithful mercies crown.
Jesus, thou art all compassion,
pure, unbounded love thou art.
Visit us with thy salvation;
enter ev’ry trembling heart.
2 Breathe, O breathe thy loving Spirit
into ev’ry troubled breast.
Let us all in thee inherit,
let us find the promised rest.
Take away the love of sinning;
Alpha and Omega be.
End of faith, as its beginning,
set our hearts at liberty.
3 Come, Almighty, to deliver,
let us all thy life receive.
Suddenly return, and never,
nevermore they temples leave.
Thee we would be always blessing,
serve thee as thy hosts above,
pray, and praise thee without ceasing,
glory in thy perfect love.
4 Finish, then, thy new creation;
true and spotless let us be.
Let us see thy great salvation
perfectly restored in thee.
Changed from glory into glory,
till in heav’n we take our place,
till we cast our crowns before thee,
lost in wonder, love and praise.
Charles Wesley (1707-1788)
A favourite hymn of Vivian Nind,
who writes: This was sung at our wedding in St Andrew’s. The following day we were celebrating Harvest Festival and so the church was full, not only of flowers, but late-summer fruit and vegetables as well.
Surf for more stories about this hymn.
here is one such link
Thank you VERY much, Shaun. That was wonderful moment of memories. I plugged my earphones into my laptop and sang along with great pleasure.
Vivian
Thank you for your appreciative comments Vivian – I’ve passed them on to Shaun.
All best wishes
Ruth