: "Thee we would be always blessing / serve thee with thy hosts above". At its first appearance, the hymn was in four stanzas of eight lines (8.7.8.7.D), and this four-stanza version remains in common and current use to the present day, being taken up as early as 1760 in Anglican collections such as those by
Madan (1760 and 1767),
Conyers (1772), and
Toplady (1776); in hymn books associated with
Whitefield (1767, 1800) and the
Countess of Huntingdon's Connexion (1780, and 1800); and in Methodist hymn books slightly outside the mainstream (the
Select Hymns of 1783; Spence's
Pocket Hymn Books of the early 19th century; and the American "Wesleyan" Methodist hymn books). A second, abridged version (with the second stanza omitted), appeared as early as 1778 in
Hymns and Psalms for the Service of Fitz-Roy Chapel (London, 1778), then in the Wesleyan "Large Hymn Book" of 1780, and thence in many others, chiefly British and predominantly Anglican, but including also many later official Methodist hymn books. A sample collation of 85 hymn books containing some version of this hymn suggests that the abridged version appears in roughly 25% of Protestant hymn books; the full four-stanza version in most of the remainder.
Theologically-motivated alterations The omission of the second stanza is consistent with several other loci of textual variation in the hymn in this respect: the passages which are most subject to change tend for the most part to be those that advance a distinctively Wesleyan "Perfectionist" account of the Christian life—i.e. those that suggest that one can be
completely cleansed of
sin in this life, Many—certainly including those of a more Calvinist persuasion, and even perhaps Wesley's brother
John—found this idea troublesome. Even some fairly innocuous lines ("Let us all thy Life receive," stanza 3) were probably read as suspiciously Perfectionist, hence the common alteration to "Let us all thy
Grace receive." The same is probably true of other oft-changed lines. Most of the more enduring alterations occurred in one or another of the hymn books that together constituted the fledgling ecumenical Evangelical hymnody that emerged in the decades around 1770, partly from the Calvinist wing of the Church of England, partly from
Calvinistic Methodists and their circle; preeminently among them the collections of
Martin Madan (1760 and many subsequent editions), his imitator
Richard Conyers (1772); the more overtly Calvinistic Anglican
Augustus Toplady; the hymn books of erstwhile Wesley ally,
George Whitefield; and those associated with the Countess of Huntingdon's chapels (and their later incarnation as the
Countess of Huntingdon's Connexion). Madan in particular is known for his influential hymn tinkering: :Madan's knack in reconstructing the work of other hands made his book a permanent influence both for good and evil. A number of familiar hymns still bear the marks of his editorial revision. It was doubtless on theological grounds that the line "Finish then thy New Creation" (stanza 4) was often replaced by "
Carry on thy (or 'the') new creation," the latter suggesting an ongoing process of sanctification rather than its achievement; and "Let us see thy great Salvation / Perfectly restor'd in Thee," frequently changed to "...
our whole salvation /
secured by Thee"), a formulation which also resolves some ambiguous referents. Wesley's original probably meant (in crude paraphrase) "let us experience the great salvation that you provide, so that we will be perfected by participation in you"; unease with the ambiguity, and probably also with the theology, led to revised language that if less striking was felt to be clearer and more
orthodox. Both of these changes were introduced by Augustus Toplady's collection of 1776, followed by the Countess of Huntingdon's collections (e.g. that of 1780 and 1800). "Pure and sinless let us be" (stanza 4) was toned down, or at least made less absolute, by alteration to "Pure and
holy," (Toplady 1776 again, followed again by the Countess of Huntingdon 1780 and 1800) and similar substitutes, especially the very common "Pure,
unspotted" (Madan, Conyers, and Whitefield) and "Pure and
spotless" (John Wesley's
Select Hymns for ... all denominations, 5th ed. (1774) through 9th ed. (1783), followed by his "Large Hymn Book" (1780), and the Methodist "Pocket Hymn Books.") The second stanza, when it was not omitted altogether, offered, and continues to offer, two stumbling-blocks for theologically sensitive Christians: line 4 asks "Let us find that Second Rest"; and line 5, "Take away our Power of sinning." The phrase "Second Rest," to those for whom it was not simply obscure, would seem an explicit reference to
Wesleyan "Second Blessing" theology; and the request to be stripped even of the ability to sin doubtless seemed to many unrealistic at best and blasphemous or immoral at worst, as appearing to "be a prayer to take away our free
moral agency." Upon the two doubtful lines in the centre of this stanza, that refined critic,
Mr. Fletcher, of Madeley, has remarked:-- 'Mr. Wesley says second rest, because an imperfect believer enjoys a first, inferior rest; if he did no, he would be no believer.' And of the line, 'Take away the power of sinning,' he asks, 'Is this expression not too strong? Would it not be better to soften it by saying, "Take away the love of sinning?" [or the bent of the mind towards sin.] Can God take away from us our power of sinning without taking away our power of free obedience?' "Second Rest" is very generally replaced, usually by "thy
promised rest"; or, later, by "''the promis'd rest
; and "the Power of Sinning" by "the love'' of sinning" (probably introduced by Maddan 1767, followed by other representatives of the evangelical hymnody); or "our
bent of (or 'to') sinning" (originally and still chiefly in Methodist collections). In gist, editors (particularly Calvinists) were disposed to perceive Wesleyan doctrine (freewill
Arminianism) lurking in the lyrics and to change them accordingly, thus eliciting John Wesley's statement against changes which would make him and his brother accountable for "the nonsense or the doggerel" of others. Several rephrasings of "Love Divine" continue in circulation.
Abridged versions Aside from the Wesleys' own abridgement, other abridged versions include one that combines the first half of the second stanza with the first half of the third (omitting the remainder of each); another that omits the third stanza, as well as introducing some aesthetic changes that tend toward the bland; another that combines the first half of stanza 1 with the first half of stanza 2 into a single new stanza 1 and retains a modified version of stanza 4 as a new stanza 2; and yet another that omits the fourth. Abbreviated
Unitarian and
Universalist versions of the hymn are typical of those traditions in the radical alterations they make, replacing most references to Christ and all references to
Trinitarian orthodoxy, as well as anything else they regarded as offensive to a universal and rational religion; typical too in that they therefore replace "Charles Wesley" as the author in favor of "anonymous." In one American Universalist version from 1841 (and similarly in the Unitarian hymnal of 1872) the four-stanza Trinitarian hymn to Christ and his Spirit is transformed into a two-stanza paean to God narrowly addressed as "Father...almighty"; in another, widely but mistakenly attributed to Yorkshire Baptist John Fawcett under the title "Praise to Thee, Thou Great Creator," "Love Divine" serves as a source for a cento, or pastiche, combined with the final stanza of Fawcett's genuine hymn, "Lo! the bright and rosy morning" (1782), this combination appearing apparently for the first time in the Exeter Unitarian
Collection of Psalms and Hymns for Social and Private Worship (1812). ::Father! Source of all compassion! ::Pure, unbounded grace is thine: ::Hail, the God of our salvation! ::Praise him for his love divine! :: . . . . ::Joyfully on earth adore him, ::Till in heaven our song we raise: ::There [var. Then] enraptur'd fall before him, ::Lost in wonder, love, and praise. More recent times have in general been more respectful of Wesley's original, with the exception of those collections that by policy eschew the second-person singular, replacing "thee" and "thou" with "you" and sometimes introducing other changes in order to maintain meter and rhyme. Another exception is the two-stanza adaptation by Carroll Thomas Andrews (1969) that has been reprinted in several Roman Catholic hymn books set to the tune 'Hyfrydol.' Of the sixteen lines in Andrews' version, only three come directly from Wesley's hymn, and another four or five perhaps owe something to the original, but the theme of the original is lost. ==Popularity==