The Guest

Love

Love bade me welcome: yet my soul drew back,

Guilty of dust and sin.

But quick-ey'd Love, observing me grow slack

From my first entrance in,

Drew nearer to me, sweetly questioning,

If I lack'd anything.

A guest, I answer'd, worthy to be here:

Love said, You shall be he.

I the unkind, ungrateful? Ah, my dear,

I cannot look on thee.

Love took my hand, and smiling did reply,

Who made the eyes but I?

Truth, Lord, but I have marr'd them: let my shame

Go where it doth deserve.

And know you not, says Love, who bore the blame?

My dear, then I will serve.

You must sit down, says Love, and taste my meat:

So I did sit and eat.

George Herbert 1593-1633

The Visitor

"I will come in to him".     Revelation 3:20

Come in, O come! The door stands open now;

I knew Thy voice; Lord Jesus, it was Thou;

The sun has set long since; the storms begin;

'Tis time for Thee, my Saviour; O come in!

Come, even now. But think not here to find

A lodging, Lord, and converse, to Thy mind:

The lamp burns low; the hearth is chill and pale;

Wet through the broken casement pours the gale.

Alas, ill-order'd shews the dreary room;

The household-stuff lies heap'd amidst the gloom;

The table empty stands, the couch undress'd;

Ah, what a welcome for the Eternal Guest!

Yet welcome, and to-night; this doeful scene

Is e'en itself my cause to hail Thee in;

This dark confusion e'en at once demands

Thine one bright presence, Lord, and ordering hands.

I seek no more to alter things, or mend,

Before the coming of so great a Friend:

All were at best unseemly; and 't were ill

Beyond all else to keep Thee waiting still.

Then, as Thou art, all holiness and bliss,

Come in, and see my chamber as it is;

I bid Thee welcome boldly, in the name

Of Thy great glory and my want and shame.

Come, not to find, but make, this troubled heart

A dwelling worthy of Thee as Thou art;

To chase the gloom, the terror, and the sin,

Come, all Thyself, yea come, Lord Jesus, in!

Handley Carr Glyn Moule (born Fordington, Dorchester, 23 December 1841; died 8 May 1920, Cambridge) was a

theologian, writer, poet, and Bishop of Durham from 1901-1920.

Another hymn from the Little Flock collection, with scripture annotations. These annotations are intended to show the poet's adherence to scripture thought.

Hymn number 33. Included in the following editions, 1951, 1962, 1973, 2001.	Edward Lawrence Bevir, 1847-1922, d. Valence-sur-Rhone, see also 'Poems' ed. G. H. S Price, 1953 & 'Poems of E L Bevir', 6.4.6.4.6.4.6.4.
1
Come, Prince of Peace, for now	Isa 9.6 The Prince of Peace
The sands are run!	Rom 13.12 The night is far spent, the day is at hand
The root of David thou,	Rev 5.5 the Lion of the tribe of Juda, the Root of David
Yet David's Son;	Mt 1.1 Jesus Christ, the son of David
Man of the Father's choice,	Mt 12.18 Behold my servant, whom I have chosen; my beloved, in whom my soul is well pleased
Faithful and tried.	Rev 3.14 the Amen, the faithful and true witness
Come saith the Spirit's voice,	Rev 22.17 the Spirit and the bride say, Come
Come saith the bride.	Re 22:20 Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus.
2
To Him who sits above,	Ps 68.18 Thou hast ascended on high, thou hast led captivity captive
Far over all,	Isa 40:22 It is he that sitteth upon the circle of the earth, and the inhabitants thereof are as grasshoppers; that stretcheth out the heavens as a gauze curtain, and spreadeth them out as a tent to dwell in;
Rises the voice of love,	So 1:7 Tell me, O thou whom my soul loveth, where thou feedest, where thou makest [thy flock] to rest at noon: for why should I be as one that turneth aside by the flocks of thy companions?
That eager call	Song 2.14 let me see thy countenance, let me hear thy voice; for sweet is thy voice, and thy countenance is comely
From the vast desert dry,	Deut 32.10 a desert land, and the waste howling wilderness
Here where He died:	Rev 11.8 the great city, which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt, where also our Lord was crucified
Come 'tis the Spirit's cry,	Rev 22.17 the Spirit and the bride say, Come
Come saith the bride.	Re 22:20 Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus.
3
Darkness is o'er in part,	1John 2.8 the darkness is passing and the true light already shines
Clouds pass away.	2Sam 23.4 he shall be as the light of the morning, when the sun riseth, even a morning without clouds
Shine on the longing heart,	Eph 5:14 Wherefore he says, Wake up, [thou] that sleepest, and arise up from among the dead, and the Christ shall shine upon thee.
Bright Star of Day,	2Peter 1.19 until the day dawn, and the day star arise in your hearts
Calling Thy spouse on high	Rev 21.2 as a bride adorned for her husband
Close to Thy side!	Song 2.6 His left hand is under my head, and his right hand doth embrace me
Come! 'tis the Spirit's cry,	Rev 22.17 the Spirit and the bride say, Come
Come! saith the bride.	Re 22:20 Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus.

“the whole earth was of one language” Genesis 11.1. 

We now have important historical evidence as to exactly what was meant 

by the sentence, “The entire land had one language and a common 

speech.” This may not refer to primal humanity before the division of 

languages. In fact in the previous chapter the Torah has already stated, 

“From these the maritime peoples spread out into their lands in their clans within

their nations, each with its own language” Genesis 10:5. 

{The Talmud Yerushalmi, Megillah 1: 11, 71b, records a dispute between R. Eliezer and R. Johanan, 

one of whom holds that the division of humanity into seventy languages occurred before the Flood}. 

The reference seems to be to the imperial practice of the neo-Assyrians, of

imposing their own language on the peoples they conquered. One  

inscription of the time records that Ashurbanipal II “made the totality 

of all peoples speak one speech.” A cylinder inscription of Sargon II says,

“Populations of the four quarters of the world with strange tongues

and incompatible speech… whom I had taken as booty at the command

of Ashur my lord by the might of my sceptre, I caused to accept a

single voice.” The neo-Assyrians asserted their supremacy by

insisting that their language was the only one to be used by the

nations and populations they had defeated. On this reading, Babel is

a critique of imperialism.

Jonathan Sacks, Covenant and Conversation