"Thine for ever! God of love" is an English confirmation hymn. It was written by Mary Fawler Maude in 1847. The original is in seven stanza of four lines. It is usually abbreviated, and stanzas two and three transposed, as in the S.P.C.K. Church Hymns, 1871; the Hymnal Companion; Hymns Ancient and Modern, 1875; Thring's Collection, 1882, and other hymnbooks. As a hymn for Confirmation its use in its day was extensive. The hymn was altered by various editors.
Maude wrote the story of the hymn for the Rev. John Brownlie:âÂÂ
Maude's hymn was suited to a confirmation service in the Church of England. In the U.S., the hymn does not seem to have been used in the Episcopal Church until 1872. By that time, it was already becoming familiar in such Presbyterian and Congregational churches as were using Charles Seymour Robinson's Songs for the Sanctuary, published in 1865.
Nearly fifty years after it was written, it was sung at St Deiniol's Church, Hawarden, by Edward White Benson, Archbishop of Canterbury, two hours before his death, and was also sung at his funeral. It was the favourite hymn of William Plunket, 4th Baron Plunket, Archbishop of Dublin.
There were originally a sixth and a seventh verse which were not used in hymnals.