What shall I do my God to love, My loving God to praise
What shall I do my God to love, My loving God to praise. Charles Wesley* (1707-1788).
This hymn has the same opening line as ‘What shall I do my God to love, My Saviour, and the World's, to praise’. It consists of stanzas 11 to 15 and stanza 17 of an 18-stanza hymn from Volume I of Hymns and Sacred Poems (1749), published by Charles Wesley alone but with his brother’s approval, in order to further Charles’s marriage to Sarah Gwynne. It was Hymn V of a set entitled ‘After a Recovery’, from the context a recovery from backsliding. The first stanza of the full hymn begins ‘O what an evil Heart have I’. Taylor notes (1989, p. 211) that ‘the preceding section was headed ‘For One Fallen from...
If you have a valid subscription to Dictionary of Hymnology, please log inlog in to view this content. If you require a subscription, please click here.
MLA style (see MLA Style Manual and Guide to Scholarly Publishing, 3rd Ed.)
. "What shall I do my God to love, My loving God to praise."
The Canterbury Dictionary of Hymnology. Canterbury Press. Web. 16 Jan. 2026.<
http://www.hymnology.co.uk/w/what-shall-i-do-my-god-to-love,-my-loving-god-to-praise>.
Chicago style (see The Chicago Manual of Style, 16th Ed.)
. "What shall I do my God to love, My loving God to praise."
The Canterbury Dictionary of Hymnology. Canterbury Press, accessed January 16, 2026,
http://www.hymnology.co.uk/w/what-shall-i-do-my-god-to-love,-my-loving-god-to-praise.