Holy Ghost, Come Down upon Thy Children

Holy Ghost

come down upon Thy child­ren

Give us grace and make us Thine;

Thy ten­der fires with­in us kin­dle

Blessèd Spir­it

Dove di­vine.

For all with­in us good and ho­ly

Is from Thee

Thy pre­cious gift;

In all our joys

in all our sor­rows

Wistful hearts to Thee we lift.

For Thou to us art more than Fa­ther

More than sis­ter

in Thy love

So gen­tle

pa­tient

and for­bear­ing

Holy Spir­it

heav­en­ly Dove.

O we have grieved Thee

gra­cious Spir­it!

Wayward

wan­ton

cold are we;

And still our sins

new ev­ery morn­ing

Never yet have wea­ried Thee.

Ah! Sweet Con­sol­er

though we can­not

Love Thee as Thou lov­est us

Yet if Thou deign’st our hearts to kin­dle

They will not be al­ways thus.

With hearts so vile how dare we ven­ture

King of kings

to love Thee so?

And how canst Thou

with such com­pass­ion

Bear so long with things so low?