life, my all.

To match the height and depth of these words with fitting glory of sound
might well have been an ambition of devout composers. Rev. G.C. Wells'
tune in the _Revivalist_, with its emotional chorus, I.B. Woodbury's
"Eucharist" in the _Methodist Hymnal_, Henry Smart's effective choral in
Barnby's _Hymnary_ (No. 170), and a score of others, have woven the
feeling lines into melody with varying success. Worshippers in spiritual
sympathy with the words may question if, after all, old "Hamburg," the
best of Mason's loved Gregorians, does not, alone, in tone and
elocution, rise to the level of the hymn.

"LOVE DIVINE, ALL LOVES EXCELLING."

This evergreen song-wreath to the Crucified, was contributed by Charles
Wesley, in 1746. It is found in his collection of 1756, _Hymns for Those
That Seek and Those That Have Redemption in the Blood of Jesus Christ_.

Love Divine all loves excelling,
Joy of Heaven to earth come down,
Fix in us Thy humble dwelling,
All Thy faithful mercies crown.

* * * * *

Come Almighty to deliver,
Let us all Thy life receive,
Suddenly return, and never,
Nevermore Thy temples leave.

* * * * *

Finish then Thy new creation;
Pure and spotless let us be;
Let us see our whole salvation
Perfectly secured by 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!

The hymn has been set to H. Isaac's ancient tune (1490), to Wyeth's
"Nettleton" (1810), to Thos. H. Bailey's (1777-1839) "Isle of Beauty,
fare thee well" (named from Thomas Moore's song), to Edward Hopkins'
"St. Joseph," and to a multitude of others more or less familiar.

Most familiar of all perhaps, (as in the instance of "Far from mortal
cares retreating,") is its association with "Greenville," the production
of that brilliant but erratic genius and freethinker, Jean Jacques
Rousseau. It was originally a love serenade, ("Days of absence, sad and
dreary") from the opera of _Le Devin du Village_, written about 1752.
The song was commonly known years afterwards as "Rousseau's Dream." But
the unbelieving philosopher, musician, and misguided moralist builded
better than he knew, and probably better than he meant when he wrote his
immortal choral. Whatever he heard in his "dream" (and one legend s