Sunday's Hymn: Come Down, O Love Divine

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.

O let it free­ly burn,
Til 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.

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.

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.

—Bi­an­co of Si­ena (?–1434)

Sunday Hymn: All People That on Earth Do Dwell

All peo­ple that on earth do dwell,
Sing to the Lord with cheer­ful voice.
Him serve with fear, His praise forth tell;
Come ye be­fore Him and re­joice.

The Lord, ye know, is God in­deed;
Without our aid He did us make;
We are His folk, He doth us feed,
And for His sheep He doth us take.

O en­ter then His gates with praise;
Approach with joy His courts un­to;
Praise, laud, and bless His name al­ways,
For it is seem­ly so to do.

For why? the Lord our God is good;
His mer­cy is for ev­er sure;
His truth at all times firm­ly stood,
And shall from age to age en­dure.

To Fa­ther, Son and Ho­ly Ghost,
The God whom Heav­en and earth ad­ore,
From men and from the an­gel host
Be praise and glo­ry ev­er­more.

—Willi­am Kethe, 16th century

Sunday Hymn: Christ Is Made the Sure Foundation

Christ is made the sure foun­da­tion,
Christ the head and cor­ner­stone;
Chosen of the Lord, and pre­cious,
Binding all the Church in one,
Holy Zi­on’s help for­ev­er,
And her con­fi­dence alone.

All that de­di­cat­ed ci­ty,
Dearly loved of God on high,
In ex­ult­ant ju­bi­la­tion,
Pours per­pe­tu­al me­lo­dy,
God the One in Three ador­ing
In glad hymns eter­na­lly.

To this tem­ple, where we call Thee,
Come, O Lord of Hosts, to­day;
With Thy wont­ed lov­ing­kind­ness
Hear Thy serv­ants as they pray.
And Thy full­est be­ne­dict­ion
Shed with­in its walls al­way.

Here vouch­safe to all Thy se­rvants
What they ask of Thee to gain;
What they gain from Thee for­ev­er
With the bless­èd to re­tain,
And here­af­ter in Thy glo­ry
Evermore with Thee to reign.

Laud and hon­or to the Fa­ther,
Laud and hon­or to the Son,
Laud and hon­or to the Spir­it,
Ever Three and ev­er One;
Consubstantial, co-eter­nal,
While un­end­ing ag­es run.

—Unknown author, 7th century