Hymns: Come Down O Love Divine

I’ve been exploring some of the very modern worship songs as an old guy 😀. But now, I’ve decided to alternate between very modern hymns, old hymns, and in-between hymns, namely the worship songs from the 60s to the 90s that feature in hymnbooks such as Mission Praise. Today it’s the turn of the old hymns.

Today’s song is Come Down O Love Divine.

The hymn started as an Italian poem titled “Discendi amor santo” written by Bianco da Siena, a medieval mystic poet active in the late 14th century. The English text was translated by Richard Frederick Littledale, and Irish-born Anglican clergyman, in 1867.

I first heard it in Waterford, here in Ireland, in 1982. Back then, I saw myself as a charismatic Baptist. I was more interested in all the new music and the radical house churches. We weren’t really into cathedrals and the like 😀. Yet, there was a little part of me that enjoyed the high church music. I remember buying a few tapes of Anglican hymns at the time. Myself and a friend, out of curiosity, went along to the Church of Ireland cathedral in Waterford, and they sang that hymn. It might well be the only time that I ever heard or sang it live. You wouldn’t generally find it sung in my circles.

It’s all about the Holy Spirit. It’s quite poetic, and very different from all the charismatic choruses of the time. Yet, the sentiment is the same. God sends his Holy Spirit to manifest His presence and power in our lives. And do we welcome him? So, in this hymn, we are calling him down, to come into our lives and transform us.

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 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.

We don’t need beautiful music and beautiful lyrics. Many hymns have simple lyrics and tunes. But that hymn certainly touched me deeply that day in Waterford.

Here are some other versions of the hymn: