Love of the Father, love of God the Son

Love of the Father, love of God the Son. Latin, translated by Robert Bridges* (1844-1930). First published in Part II of the Yattendon Hymnal* (1897), with the words ‘From the Latin, adapted by R.B.’ He translated the Latin text (beginning ‘Amor patris et filii’*) as found in a 12th-century manuscript from Thame Abbey, Oxfordshire, now in the British Library (MS. Burney 357). Bridges used it to make a hymn to fit the dignified tune by Orlando Gibbons*, SONG 22, which was first printed in George Wither*’s Hymnes and Songs of the Church (1623). When sung to this tune the stately verses beautifully convey the attributes of love and beauty, and speak of the many facets of the goodness of God,...