1 Come down, O love divine! Seek out this soul of mine
and visit it with your own ardor glowing:
O Comforter, draw near, within my heart appear,
and kindle it, your holy flame bestowing.
2 O let it freely burn, till earthly passions turn
to dust and ashes in its heat consuming;
and let your glorious light shine ever on my sight,
and make my pathway clear, by your illuming.
3 Let holy charity my outward vesture be,
and lowliness become my inner clothing;
true lowliness of heart which takes the humbler part,
and for its own shortcomings weeps with loathing.
4 And so the yearning strong with which the soul will long
shall far surpass the power of human telling;
for none can guess its grace till we become the place
in which the Holy Spirit makes his dwelling.
| Text Information | |
|---|---|
| First Line: | Come down, O Love divine |
| Title: | Come Down, O Love Divine! |
| Author: | Richard F. Littledale (1867) |
| Publication Date: | 1990 |
| Meter: | 6.6.11.6.6.11. |
| Scripture: | Romans 5:5; 1 Corinthians 6:19; Ephesians 4:2; Acts 2:3; John 14:16-17; Psalm 119:105; Malachi 3:2-3; Colossians 3:14 |
| Topic: | Holy Spirit: Comforter; Holy Spirit: Indweller |
| Source: | After Bianco da Siena, 15th C.; rev. Hymns for Today's Church, 1982 |
| Language: | English |
| Copyright: | Words © 1982 Hope Publishing Company |
| Tune Information | |
|---|---|
| Name: | DOWN AMPNEY |
| Composer: | Ralph Vaughan Williams (1906) |
| Meter: | 6.6.11.6.6.11. |
| Key: | D Major |
| Copyright: | Music used by permission of Oxford University Press |