Spirit of faith, come down

Spirit of faith, come down. Charles Wesley* (1707-1788). First published in Hymns of Petition and Thanksgiving for the Promise of the Father (1746), in five 8-line stanzas. It was included by John Wesley* in A Collection of Hymns for the Use of the People called Methodists (1780), in the ‘Praying for a Blessing’ section which concludes the Introductory Hymns. John Wesley omitted stanza 3, and the substituted ‘the all-atoning Lamb’ for ‘My dear Atoning Lamb’ in the original stanza 4. In this form, though normally without the brackets in stanza 4, it has been included in all subsequent British Methodist hymnbooks until omitted by Singing the Faith (2011). It also appeared in the Song Book of...

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