"Ah, my dear loving Lord" is an eighteenth-century poem written by the English hymnwriter Charles Wesley, focusing on the inner spiritual life. Composed of fifteen double stanzas divided into two parts, it forms the final piece in a trilogy of poems titled "The Backslider," which appeared in Hymns and Sacred Poems (1742).
In 1780, an abridged adaptation beginning "My gracious, loving Lord" was compiled from the original poem. With slight alterations, this version was published in A Collection of Hymns for the Use of the People Called Methodists (the Wesleyan Hymn-Book). From this primary source, the hymn was subsequently adopted across numerous hymnals within various Methodist bodies. The complete original text was reprinted in The Poetical Works of John and Charles Wesley (1868 to 1872, Volume II, page 114).
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