Seventh-day Adventist Hymnal ‎#257

257. Come down, O Love divine, Seek Thou this soul of mine

1 Come down, O Love divine, seek thou this soul of mine
and visit it with thine own ardor glowing;
O Comforter, draw near, within my heart appear,
and kindle it, thy holy flame bestowing.

2 O let it freely burn, till earthly passions turn
to dust and ashes in its heat consuming;
and let thy glorious light shine ever on my sight,
and clothe me round, the while my path illuming.

3 Let holy charity Mine outward vesture be,
And lowliness become my inner clothing;
True lowliness of heart which takes the humbler part,
And o’er its own shortcomings weeps with loathing.

4 And so the yearning strong with which the soul will long
shall far outpass the power of human telling;
for none can guess its grace, till Love create a place
wherein the Holy Spirit makes a dwelling.

Text Information

• First Line: Come down, O Love divine, Seek Thou this soul of mine
• Author: Bianco da Siena (? -1434)
• Translator: richard F. Littledate(4833-1890) (1867)
• Publication Date: 1985
• Topic: Holy Spirit

Tune Information

• Name: DOWN AMPNEY
• Composer: Ralph Vaughan Williams (1872-1958) (1906)
• Meter: 6.6.11.6.6.11.
• Incipit: 12356 55657 16556
• Key: D Major

Tune Information:

Music from The English Hymnal by permission of Oxford University Press.