[The Temple, Jerusalem, Model]from The Temple (1633), by George Herbert:

 

¶   The Invitation.

COme ye hither all, whose taste
                             Is your waste;
Save your cost, and mend your fare.
God is here prepar’d and drest,
                             And the feast,
God, in whom all dainties are.

Come ye hither all, whom wine
                             Doth define,
Naming you not to your good:
Weep what ye have drunk amisse,
                             And drink this,
Which before ye drink1 is bloud.

Come ye hither all, whom pain
                             Doth arraigne,
Bringing all your sinnes to sight:
Taste and fear not: God is here
                             In this cheer,
And on sinne doth cast the fright.

Come ye hither all, whom joy
                             Doth destroy,
While ye graze without your bounds:
Here is joy that drowneth quite
                             Your delight,
As a floud the lower grounds.

Come ye hither all, whose love
                             Is your dove,
And exalts you to the skie:
Here is love, which having breath
                             Ev’n in death,
After death can never die.

Lord I have invited all,
                             And I shall
Still invite, still call to thee:
For it seems but just and right
                             In my sight,
Where is all, there all should be.


1 Theology Note on the Eucharist: This explanation in the poem excludes the Lutheran interpretation of consubstantiation, the wine and bread become the body and blood of Christ inside the faithful believer. Communion as a remembrance seems excluded by the later phrase "God is here in this cheer." Except for these it can include transubstantiation, the bread and wine become the body and blood of Christ by the priest during the service, or symbolic, the bread and wine represent the body and blood of Christ. (This is true if the words are understood literally and not metaphorically.) [Return] The theology of the Eucharist/Lord's Supper is based on Mark 14
21 The Son of man indeed goeth, as it is written of him: but woe to that man by whom the Son of man is betrayed! good were it for that man if he had never been born. 22 And as they did eat, Jesus took bread, and blessed, and brake it, and gave to them, and said, Take, eat: this is my body. 23 And he took the cup, and when he had given thanks, he gave it to them: and they all drank of it. - King James/Authorized Version, 1611.
[It is interesting and ironic that Roman Catholics and High Church Anglicans, who interpret the Scriptures more symbolically, interpret "This is my body" literally. On the other hand, Fundamentalist Protestants, who interpret other Scriptures literally, interpret "This is my body" metaphorically.]


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