Thou God of truth and love

Thou God of truth and love. Charles Wesley* (1707-1788). First published in Hymns and Sacred Poems (1749), Volume II, in seven 6-line stanzas, where it was No XIII of a series of ‘Hymns for Christian Friends’. It was originally written as a love poem for Sarah Gwynne, shortly before her marriage to Charles Wesley. It was altered by John Wesley* to make it suitable for general use, the word ‘both’ being replaced by ‘we’ or ‘all’ in a number of places. With these and a few other minor textual amendments, and the sensible omission of the last stanza, the hymn appeared in A Collection of Hymns for the Use of the People called Methodists (1780) and in its 19th-century editions. It was included...

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