COME DOWN O LOVE DIVINE

A PERFECT HYMN TO PREPARE FOR PENTECOST

The four verses that comprise this hymn were translated by a 19th C. Anglo-Catholic priest, Richard Littledale, who was vicar of St. Mary’s, Soho from a poem written by the 15thC mystic Bianco da Siena. His poem began with the words Discendi, Amor santo and ran to eight verses. Although he wrote a number of lyrics and hymns little is known about him, except that he lived in that inspirational city of Siena in beautiful Tuscany while the last part of his life was spent in enchanting Venezia. In his translation Fr. Littledale retained the spirit of Bianco’s poem, especially reflected in the third verse with its monastic appeal.

When a new hymnal was being compiled for the English Church, under the enthusiastic direction of Fr. Percy Dearmer, he employed Ralph Vaughan Williams as the musical editor of what became known as “The English Hymnal”. He rewrote a lot of the music for the hymns, and that is why in my opinion, it has been the best hymnal produced. Two of those tunes have made two hymns particularly popular, one is Sine Nomine for “For all thy saints who from their labour rest” and the other Down Ampney (named after the composer’s birthplace in Gloucestershire) for “Come down O Love divine”.

The combination of the sensitive translation and that most exacting music with its irregular metre in tune with the translation has made it a favourite hymn of devotion as it invites the Holy Spirit to take possession of our being.

The opening words of Bianco plead for that Spirit of love to descend upon us. Faithful Christians know that in the early morn when the alarm or sun in summer awakens us that our first thought is to pray in words as we have in the first verse of this hymn or similar:

Come down, O love divine

Seek Thou this soul of mine

And visit it with Thine own ardour glowing

O Comforter, draw near

Within my heart appear

And kindle it, Thy holy flame bestowing.

We implore the Spirit to seek our very inner being as that is the centre of our very thoughts and endeavours in order that these will glow with His Spirit and His fruits such as wisdom, understanding, and holy fear. These are so recognisably different from what ours would be without the Comforter. If that Spirit is really within, our actions will enflame us with a Love unlimited and full of compassion and graciousness.

In the second verse we seek that Holy Spirit for our own spiritual growth.

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.

We know left to ourselves we are sinful and we do as Paul’s puts it: “the good I should I do not, and the evil I should not, that I do.” But when we invite that Holy Spirit into our souls, it transforms everything. Like the flames of fire on Sinai, it will consume all that is not holy, leaving only ashes but the light from that fire will ever shine in us and illuminate our path.

The third verse reflects Bianco’s call to monasticism – but yet it is a call for all Christians as it reflects our Lord’s teaching on our duty to our neighbour, and even the Shema.

Let holy charity

Mine outward vesture be

And lowliness become mine inner clothing

True lowliness of heart

Which takes the humbler part

And o'er its own shortcomings weeps with loathing

When we perform deeds of compassion in the Lord’s  name, our clothing will always reflect that love that Jesus spoke about, as it reflect our own lowliness. The more humble we try to live with the Lord and imitate Him, the more we shall be aware of our own sins and shortcomings. These should make us lament and shed tears. “Let him not see my sins but through my tears,” as another very favourite English hymn of mine expresses it.

The fourth verse explains once we have known the Spirit in our lives we shall always yearn for His presence.

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 he become the place

Wherein the Holy Spirit makes His dwelling.

The presence of the living God in our very being can be so strong that it surpasses anything else we have ever known in our lives. Nothing can ever surpass this. But it is only those who wait upon the Lord, especially in the morn, who forsake television and other intrusion first thing know the sweetness of his presence to begin the day and know that the Holy Spirit dwells indeed in his/her being all day long. 

Marianne Dorman

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