The thing my God doth hate. C. Wesley. [Holiness Desired.] This cento was given in the Wesleyan Hymn Book, 1780, No. 331, in 3 stanzas of 8 lines, and is composed of No. 1240 as stanza i., and 1232 as stanzas ii., iii. of his Short Hymns on Selected Passages of Holy Scripture, 1762, vol. ii. (Poetical Works, 1868-72, vol. x., Nos. 1362, and 1354). Several times it has been pointed out that the line (stanza iii., line 5) "Soul of my soul, remain!" is evidently taken from Sir Richard Blackmore's "Ode to the Divine Being," where we have the same expression thus:—
"Blest object of my love intense,
I Thee my Joy, my Treasure call,
My Portion, my Reward immense,
Soul of my soul, my Life, my All."
One can hardly think that this is accidental. This hymn is in several collections in Great Britain and America.
--John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology (1907)