Sweet feast of Love Divine

The context makes clear that the first line is an exclamation rather than an address to the service, ordinance, or sacramental elements as such—as in some ‘catholic’ devotion. As a member of the ‘Plymouth’ Brethren, however, Edward Denny held an exalted view of the Breaking of Bread, the normal form of worship and fellowship on the morning of each Lord’s Day in the assembly. That is reflected in this hymn which concludes the ‘Communion’ section. Concentrating as it does on the cross (an emphasis strengthened in this version) and on meeting the Lord in heaven, it has been valued alike by other nonconformist traditions as by evangelical Anglicans. See the comment on 648; in stzs 5 and 6 here Denny rightly contrasts this ‘glimpse of love’ with the ‘face to face’ experience to come. Its 6 stzs were first published in his 1839 Selection of Hymns. Stz 1, which some books change to ‘Blest feast …’, ended ‘… in memory, Lord, of thee’; 2.3 was ‘the secrets of thy Father’s breast’, and 4.4, ‘that we are loved of thee’. In the current (1976) Brethren collection Christian Worship this hymn is followed by the (probably) later one by John Withy, Sweet feast of love, in Jesu’s name now meeting, which unlike Denny’s has not reached wider circles.

The hymn has been set to SWABIA (named as an alternative, 765), to J G Nägeli’s ZURICH, but more often, as here, to GILDAS. Also known as ABELARD, (ST) AUGUSTINE and BEVERLEY among other names, this tune is described as ‘a remnant’. It began as a plainchant sequence for celebrations of the Annunciation for which Peter Abelard wrote the words c1125, possibly also the music. In 1531 Michael Weisse’s Gesangbüchlein published a longer form, ‘in the earlier parts of which the germ of our melody can be discerned’ (Wesley Milgate). A further version appeared in J S Bach’s posthumous Vierstimmige Choralgesange of 1769 in the metre 66 676; omitting 1 2, ‘our undistinguished adaptation’ (WM) is 1 in the 1863 Bristol Tune Book, named AUGUSTINE, credited to J S Bach, but with no words attached. Eric Thiman’s arrangement was made for Congregational Praise (1951) where the tune appears with hymns by Watts, Wesley and Montgomery. Erik Routley has also named a tune AUGUSTINE. Abelard was for a time Abbot of St Gildas de Rhuys in Brittany, Gildas himself being a much-travelled 6th-c monk and reputedly the first British historian.

b Dublin (not Tralee), Ireland 1796, d Brompton, W London 1889. A member of the Christian (Plymouth) Brethren, he lived at Tralee Castle. While reputedly a shy man, he was known as a considerate landlord and as a frequent contributor to local needs and wider Christian work. In 1831 he succeeded his father as 4 th baronet, but spent much of his adult life at Islington, in what was then semi-rural N London. Like many of his generation and persuasion, he was a keen student of biblical prophecy. While his hymns are characteristically better known within the ‘Gospel Hall’ Brethren movement, the best-known of them is in wider use among Baptist and evangelical Anglicans. It also reflects the value placed by every assembly on the Breaking of Bread and the saving truths conveyed by this Gospel ordinance. In addition to this one, 4 other hymns feature in CH, as in Christian Worship (1976). Sir Edward died in London in his 93rd year. No.662.