LOVE AND GRATITUDE 170. Jesus, Thy boundless love to me _Paul Gerhardt_, 1607-76 _Tr. John Wesley_ A hymn of the love of Christ, suited especially well for the Communion Service. This great hymn by Paul Gerhardt first appeared in Crüger’s _Praxis Pietatis Melica_, Berlin, 1653, in sixteen stanzas. John Wesley, great revivalist and eminent translator of German hymns, rendered the entire hymn into English, in a different meter, and published it in _Hymns and Sacred Poems_, 1739. Our hymn consists of the first three stanzas, the original of which are as follows: O Jesu Christ, mein schönstes Licht, Der du in deiner Seelen So hoch mich liebst, dass ich es nicht Aussprechen kann noch zählen: Gib, dass mein Herz dich wiederum Mit Lieben und Verlangen Mög’ umfangen Und als dein Eigentum Nur einzig an dir hangen! Gib, dass sonst nichts in meiner Seel’ Als deine Liebe wohne; Gib, dass ich deine Lieb’ erwähl’ Als meinen Schatz und Krone! Stoss alles aus, nimm alles hin, Was dich und mich will trennen Und nicht gönnen, Dass all mein Mut und Sinn In deiner Liebe brennen! Wie freundlich, selig, süss und schön Ist, Jesu, deine Liebe! Wo diese steht, kann nichts bestehn, Das meinen Geist betrübe; Drum lass nichts andres denken mich, Nichts sehen, fühlen, hören, Lieben, ehren Als deine Lieb’ und dich, Der du sie kannst vermehren! The prayer for the realization of the love of Christ was answered abundantly in Wesley’s own life. In his _Plain Account of Christian Perfection_, he wrote: In the beginning of the year 1738, as I was returning from Savannah, the cry of my heart was “O grant that nothing in my soul May dwell but Thy pure love alone.” On May 24 of the same year, in the Society Meeting in Aldersgate Street, about a quarter before nine, during the reading of Luther’s Preface to the Epistle to the Romans, I felt my heart strangely warmed. I felt I did trust in Christ, Christ alone, for Salvation; and an assurance was given me that He had taken away my sins, even _mine_, and saved _me_ from the law of sin and death. Wesley became interested in the German chorales through his contact with the Moravians. In 1735, he and his brother Charles Wesley set sail for Georgia. Among their fellow passengers on the boat were 26 Moravians who made much of the singing of hymns and seemed to meet every storm and trial with unfaltering faith. Wesley was so impressed that on the third day out he began the study of German and soon joined in the daily worship of the Moravians. The fervor and spontaneity of their singing made an indelible impression on his mind. He later translated a number of chorales into English. (See 246, 508, 558.) For comments on Paul Gerhardt see Hymn 134. _MUSIC._ STELLA. For comments on this tune see Hymn 94.