The music behind the words of last Sunday’s sermon was a hymn attributed to Hugh Bourne, the founder of the Primitive Methodist Movement. (It was also used in a production at the National Theatre some time ago). The idea of Jesus walking through Britain is the same basic stuff that is in Blake’s Jerusalem.
At Jacob’s well, a stranger sought
His drooping frame to cheer
Samaria’s daughter little thought
That Jacob’s God was near
This had she known, her fainting mind
For richer draughts had sighed
Nor had Messiah ever kind
Those richer draughts denied.
This ancient well, no glass so true
Britannia’s image show
Now Jesus travels Britain through
But who the stranger knows?
Yet Britain must the stranger know
Or else her loss deplore
Behold! The living waters flow
Come drink and thirst no more.
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