When I was in England last year someone said to me a building had been in the town "since Adam was a lad".
What does this mean? How do they know Adam?
What does this mean? How do they know Adam?
Since Adam was a lad
The phrase "since Adam was a lad" is fairly commonly used here. It simply means "an extremely long time ago". The Adam referred to has nothing to do with the Bolton Sassenach.....more the First Man....the bloke in the Garden of Eden who saw a spare rib turned into the First Woman...Eve.
No doubt Adam from Bolton will claim that biblical Adam was English and then he will post "proof" stolen/borrowed form some other site.
The Biblical Adam wasn't English, although Jesus visited England and was educated for a time in Glastonbury.
A poor, illiterate Middle Easterner had the time and the means to go gallivanting across to the far side of Europe two thousand years ago? Now I've heard it all!
"The Biblical Adam wasn't English, although Jesus visited England and was educated for a time in Glastonbury."
Or maybe "Waltham Cross University College." Did you get this information from the friendly folks at the "Alfred Rosenberg Institute" too?
Oh brother.
Or maybe "Waltham Cross University College." Did you get this information from the friendly folks at the "Alfred Rosenberg Institute" too?
Oh brother.
Much as I hate seeming to defend Adam, the tradition that Jesus Christ visited Glastonbury goes back many hundreds of years. The poem 'Jerusalem' by William Blake, written in 1804, begins with a reference to it:
"And did those feet in ancient time
Walk upon England's mountains green?
And was the holy Lamb of God
On England's pleasant pastures seen?
And did the Countenance Divine
Shine forth upon our clouded hills?
And was Jerusalem builded here
Among these dark Satanic mills?"
"And did those feet in ancient time
Walk upon England's mountains green?
And was the holy Lamb of God
On England's pleasant pastures seen?
And did the Countenance Divine
Shine forth upon our clouded hills?
And was Jerusalem builded here
Among these dark Satanic mills?"
Did he look like this? http://kingofpeace.org/images/resurrection-chinese.jpg
Candy's quote was from a song/hymn titled Jerusalem.
Jerusalem is featured every year in the Last Night of the Proms on TV from London's Albert Hall along with Land of Hope and Glory. Both of those are very much more likely to be sung or heardin England than in Scotland and that's for sure, especially in the case of Jerusalem. No mention of the Countenance Divine shining forth upon Scotland's clouded hills or of Scots demanding their bows of burning gold or arrows of desire.
My cousin married an English girl, from Wallingford near Oxford, and in the wedding service in the church one of the hymns was Jerusalem. Standing there in my kilt I sang the words for the first and only time ever in my life......literally "in England's green and pleasant land".
Apparently Jerusalem is a popular hymn in wedding services in England. I can't really understand why when you look at the whole wording....."arrows of desire and spears unfold"? At a wedding? I know weddings in England are in sharp decline but that's just weird.
"Love Divine All Loves Excelling" yes, but not arrows and spears...mixed emotions I reckon.
Much as I love my English mates I don't think I'll ever fully understand them.
Jerusalem is featured every year in the Last Night of the Proms on TV from London's Albert Hall along with Land of Hope and Glory. Both of those are very much more likely to be sung or heardin England than in Scotland and that's for sure, especially in the case of Jerusalem. No mention of the Countenance Divine shining forth upon Scotland's clouded hills or of Scots demanding their bows of burning gold or arrows of desire.
My cousin married an English girl, from Wallingford near Oxford, and in the wedding service in the church one of the hymns was Jerusalem. Standing there in my kilt I sang the words for the first and only time ever in my life......literally "in England's green and pleasant land".
Apparently Jerusalem is a popular hymn in wedding services in England. I can't really understand why when you look at the whole wording....."arrows of desire and spears unfold"? At a wedding? I know weddings in England are in sharp decline but that's just weird.
"Love Divine All Loves Excelling" yes, but not arrows and spears...mixed emotions I reckon.
Much as I love my English mates I don't think I'll ever fully understand them.
I forgot the chariots of fire along with the burning bows and desired arrows. Maybe someone will tell me why this hymn is often sung at weddings in England. To me it does not seem appropriate but there you go...I'm not English. Maybe Adam will fill us in with this one.
http://www.newi.ac.uk/rdover/blake/jersalem.htm
http://www.newi.ac.uk/rdover/blake/jersalem.htm
To quote myself from my earlier posting: "Oh brother."
The "Jesus-visited-England"* theme is about as "factual" as the Da Vinci Code tosh. You might want to google up some reading on the "British Israelites" who gave the spur of encouragement to this legend. I warn you: it's pretty flaky reasoning designed to show the Anglo-Saxons as - wait for it - the true Israel. A very handy way of demonstrating divine approbation for England and ultimately, the British Empire.
It's a familiar theme (Virgil created the Trojan hero Aeneas to show how the Romans were the descendants of Troy).
On the plus side, it did inspire that magnificent Blake poem which makes for an equally magnificent hymn (it always chokes me up).
* And of course, even if Jesus had walked "upon England's mountains green" it would not have been England at all; England did not exist in the First Century AD.
The "Jesus-visited-England"* theme is about as "factual" as the Da Vinci Code tosh. You might want to google up some reading on the "British Israelites" who gave the spur of encouragement to this legend. I warn you: it's pretty flaky reasoning designed to show the Anglo-Saxons as - wait for it - the true Israel. A very handy way of demonstrating divine approbation for England and ultimately, the British Empire.
It's a familiar theme (Virgil created the Trojan hero Aeneas to show how the Romans were the descendants of Troy).
On the plus side, it did inspire that magnificent Blake poem which makes for an equally magnificent hymn (it always chokes me up).
* And of course, even if Jesus had walked "upon England's mountains green" it would not have been England at all; England did not exist in the First Century AD.