Wesley to Goodall to St. Paul’s: “Love Divine”

For Sunday, February 8, 2026
Love Divine, All Loves Excelling by Howard Goodall

By David Jolliffe

Howard Goodall’s sublime anthem, “Love Divine,” which the St. Paul’s choir will sing at the 11 am service on February 8, offers a clear example of a composer’s ability to breathe new life into extant texts in the hymnal.

When Goodall wrote the piece in 2000, he was following in the musical footsteps of the famous English author and composer, Charles Wesley, one of the founders of Methodism, who wrote over 6,000 hymns during his lifetime in the church.  One of his most famous hymns is “Love Divine, All Loves Excelling,” first published in 1747, initially included in his Hymns for Those that Seek and Find.  If quickly became a central hymn in both Methodist and wider Christian services.  Long-time aficionados of Anglican church music might recognize the lyrics in Hymn 657 in our hymnal, a robust setting using the traditional Welsh tune, “Hyfrydol.”

            Here are the lyrics:

Love divine, all loves excelling,

Joy of heaven to earth come down,

Fix in us thy humble dwelling,

All thy faithful mercies crown.

Jesu, thou art all compassion,

Pure, unbounded love thou art;

Visit us with thy salvation,

Enter every trembling heart.

Breathe, O breathe thy loving Spirit

Into every troubled breast,

Let us all in thee inherit,

Let us find that second rest.

Take away our power of sinning,

Alpha and Omega be;

End of faith, as its beginning,

Sets our hearts at liberty. Come almighty to deliver,

Let us all thy life receive;

Suddenly return and never,

Never more thy temples leave.

Thee we would be always blessing,

Serve thee as thy hosts above,

Pray, and praise thee without ceasing,

Glory in thy perfect love. Finish then thy new creation,

Pure and spotless let us be;

Let us see thy great salvation,

Perfectly restored in thee;

Changed from glory into glory,

Till in heaven we take our place,

Till we cast our crowns before thee,

Lost in wonder, love and Praise. Till we cast our crowns before thee,

Lost in wonder, love and Praise.

Here is a brief comment by Goodall himself about his version of “Love Divine”:

Love divine was commissioned by the Choir Schools’ Association to celebrate the new millennium. Although a seemingly odd choice of text (the original setting was first published in 1747), I realised on looking at this wonderful set of verses afresh that it was possible to hear them with a slightly different lilt and accent – to put them into a contemporary context. I was also drawn to use this beautiful poetic text as both the author Charles Wesley (co-founder of the Methodist Movement) and I were at one time undergraduates of Christ Church, Oxford; a fitting connection considering the first performance of this new setting.