Wesley, Charles. "Hymn IX." Hymns for Those that Seek and Those that have Redemption in the Blood of Jesus Christ. London: Strahan, 1747. p. 11-12. Accessed through The Center for Studies in the Wesleyan Tradition, Duke Divinity School.
Lost in Love
Read a devotion about this wonderful hymn.
Image by Kathryn Price, United Methodist Communications.
Hymn IX.12
To: "Jesus, shew us thy salvation."
- Love divine, all loves excelling,
Joy of heaven to earth come down,
Fix in us thy humble dwelling,
All thy faithful mercies crown;
Jesu, thou art all compassion,
Pure unbounded love thou art,
Visit us with thy salvation,
Enter every trembling heart.
- Breathe, O breathe thy loving Spirit
Into every troubled breast,
Let us all in thee inherit,
Let us find that second rest:
Take away our power13 of sinning,
Alpha and Omega be,
End of faith as its beginning,
Set our hearts at liberty.
- Come, Almighty to deliver,
Let us all thy life receive,
Suddenly return, and never,
Never more thy 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.
- Finish then thy new creation,
Pure and sinless let us be,
Let us see thy great salvation,
Perfectly restor'd in thee;
Chang'd from glory into glory,
Till in heaven we take our place,
Till we cast our crowns before thee,
Lost in wonder, love, and praise!
12Manuscript precursors of this hymn appear in MS Shent, 94a–94b; and MS Thirty, 135–36.
13The italics for emphasis were added in 2nd edn. (1747) and following.
Learn more about Charles Wesley's work at The Center for Studies in the Wesleyan Tradition, Duke Divinity School.
