View source for Love Divine, All Loves Excelling

'''''Love divine, all loves excelling''''' is the incipit (opening words) of one of the best-known hymns written by [[Charles Wesley]]. Its theme is the praise of Jesus Christ as the embodiment of God's love, entreating him to raise us to full communion with God the Father. 

The text of this hymn has been set to at least a dozen tunes; in recent hymnals, the most common tunes are probably ''[[Blaenwern]]'' in British hymnals, and ''[[Hyfrydol]'' and ''[[Beecher]]'' in American ones. Other tunes found include ''[[Moriah]]'', ''[[Abbot's Leigh]]'', ''[[Airedale]]'', and ''[[Love Divine]]''. All of these except the last mentioned construe the text, metrically, as [[8 7 8 7 D]]; ''Love Divine'' (composed for the text by Sir [[John Stainer]]) treats it as [[8 7 8 7]], hence when so set the text has twice as many stanzas as otherwise.

==History==

==Lyrics==

==Tunes==

==Sheet Music==

==External Sound Files==

[[category:Jesus Christ]]
[[category:Love]]
[[category:Hymns by Charles Wesley]]
[[category:8 7 8 7 D]]