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].
171. Jesus, Thou Joy of loving hearts
Latin 11th Century
Tr. Ray Palmer
A hymn of devotional meditation especially appropriate for the Communion Service.
From the same Latin hymn, “Jesu dulcis memoria,” as [Hymn 155] (which see) but using a different set of quatrains, Nos. 4, 3, 20, 28, and 10, which appear in the Latin as follows: