9, in 4 stanzas of 8 lines ( Poetical Works, 1868-72, vol. First published in Hymns for those that Seek, and those that Have Redemption, 1747, No. As is customary in a Charles Wesley text, biblical allusions abound.Īs a sung prayer, probably towards the end of the service or, given its tone of praise, as a closing hymn Advent. Though this stanza was an outcome of the Specifically Wesleyan doctrine of perfection, it is our fervent Christian prayer that our sanctification will ultimately lead to glorification. But the final stanza is clearly a prayer for sanctification, for consistently holy lives. A tone of praise and adoration runs throughout the text. In fact, "Love Divine" was set to a Purcell tune in John and Charles Wesley's Sacred Melody (1761).Īddressed to Christ, this text begins as a prayer for the indwelling of his love in our lives: "fix in us thy humble dwelling" and "let us all thy life receive" (st. Many hymnals, including the Psalter Hymnal, omit the original second stanza, which contained the questionable line "take away our power of sinning." A verse from John Dryden's poem beginning with the words "Fairest isle, all isles excelling" used by Henry Purcell in his opera King Arthur were undoubtedly Wesley's inspiration for writing this text. 3:14Ĭonsidered by many to be among Charles Wesley's ( PHH 267) finest texts, "Love Divine" was published in four stanzas in his Hymns for those that seek, and those that have Redemption in the Blood of Christ (1747).
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