Bring me my bow, of burning gold...

2ndRateMind · Post by **2ndRateMind** » Mon May 27, 2019 6:24 am

...Bring me my arrows of desire,
Bring me my spear; Oh clouds unfold!
Bring me my chariot of fire!

So, I'm interested in how the forum expects the Second Coming of the Lord (JC#2) to be manifested.

Will it be in glory untramelled, with no doubt as to His identity, or will He return 'like a thief in the night*', unexpected and unforecasted and relatively anonymous?

Perhaps unusually for me, I am undecided on this matter, and have no particular axe I want to grind.

Best wishes, 2RM

*1 Thessalonians 5:2

2ndRateMind · Post by **2ndRateMind** » Fri May 31, 2019 1:02 pm

marco wrote:
Likewise Blake, in his flight of speculation about Christ's feet treading on England's green and pleasant pastures, may well have seen his verse as divinely inspired. Who knows?

Who knows, indeed? But I think the poem, whatever the truth of Blake's attribution, a worthy ambition for patriotic English Christians to subscribe to. And I would not resent it of any other nationality or faith, either. If every city was a spiritual Jerusalem, and every land green and pleasant, no one would be happier than me.

Best wishes, 2RM.

marco · Post by **marco** » Fri May 31, 2019 5:47 pm

2ndRateMind wrote:
marco wrote:
Likewise Blake, in his flight of speculation about Christ's feet treading on England's green and pleasant pastures, may well have seen his verse as divinely inspired. Who knows?
Who knows, indeed? But I think the poem, whatever the truth of Blake's attribution, a worthy ambition for patriotic English Christians to subscribe to. And I would not resent it of any other nationality or faith, either. If every city was a spiritual Jerusalem, and every land green and pleasant, no one would be happier than me.

It might seem nice if God was planted, like bulbs for resurrection in spring, in every country of the globe but then the partial planatation we already have has led to wars and rumours of wars and the occasional destroyed aeroplane. Perhaps English pastures should content themselves with Wordworth's daffodils, not Blake's divine dreaming, however good the intention behind the lyrics. We know where good intentions lead.

But I like the hymn, especially when sung by boyish Gabriels.