Christian Art | George Herbert | Prayer (I)| The Church | Repentance
George Herbert | The Temple | The Church | Prayer (I)
Prayer the Churches banquet, Angels age,
Gods breath in man returning to his birth,
The soul in paraphrase, heart in pilgrimage,
The Christian plummet sounding heav’n and earth;
Engine against th’ Almightie, sinners towre,
Reversed thunder, Christ-side-piercing spear,
The six-daies world-transposing in an houre,
A kinde of tune, which all things heare and fear;
Softnesse, and peace, and joy, and love, and blisse,
Exalted Manna, gladnesse of the best,
Heaven in ordinarie, man well drest,
The milkie way, the bird of Paradise,
Church-bels beyond the starres heard, the souls bloud,
The land of spices; something understood
George Herbert | The Temple | The Church | Prayer (I)
The poem is a meditation on the nature of prayer. It is a sonnet with no narrative or direct progression, composed of sixteen images, each evoking different dimensions of prayer. There is no main verb in the poem; it flows as a series of phrases that describe prayer without explicitly saying what it does. A list of metaphors feels simultaneously boundless and encompassing, as Herbert seeks to communicate prayer’s role, impact, and place within the human and divine realms.
Herbert opens with ‘Prayer the Church’s banquet’, which characterizes prayer as both sustenance and celebration, suggesting it as a source of communal spiritual nourishment. Moving to ‘Angels’ age’ and ‘God’s breath in man returning to his birth’, he links prayer to timelessness and divine origin, seeing it as a moment where human and divine natures connect. The line ‘The soul in paraphrase, heart in pilgrimage’ then emphasizes the personal nature of prayer, portraying it as the soul’s distillation of its essence and as a spiritual journey seeking closeness with God.
Herbert invokes a complex range of metaphor to describe prayer’s power. ‘Engine against th’ Almighty, sinner’s tower’ and ‘Reversed thunder’ suggest prayer’s dual nature as both a vulnerable request and an intense, potentially subversive act, highlighting complex relationship between the praying individual and God. ‘The six-days’ world-transposing in an hour’ shows prayer as capable of condensing vast experiences and emotions into brief, potent exchanges, reflecting the Biblical creation compressed into moments of communion with the divine. Herbert then shifts to metaphors of peace and beauty—’A kind of tune, which all things hear and fear’ and ‘Softness, and peace, and joy, and love, and bliss’—suggesting prayer as a universal harmony that elicits quiet reverence across existence.
In the latter part of the poem, Herbert references religious imagery associated with joy and transcendence, such as ‘Exalted manna, gladness of the best’ and ‘Heaven in ordinary, man well dressed’. These phrases imply that prayer makes heavenly qualities accessible in daily life, revealing divine presence even in simplicity. ‘The milky way, the bird of paradise’ suggests celestial and exotic imagery, evoking the wonder and mystery surrounding prayer, while ‘Church-bells beyond the stars heard, the soul’s blood’ blends the cosmic and personal. Here, prayer is as far-reaching as the stars and as intimate as one’s own lifeblood.
The closing line, ‘The land of spices; something understood,’ encapsulates the poem’s exploration of prayer as both mysterious and accessible. ‘The land of spices’ recalls both the exotic East and the sacred gifts of the Magi, implying that prayer leads to a place of rare and valued experiences. ‘Something understood’ suggests that, despite its vast range, prayer ultimately offers a unique, intimate understanding between the individual and God.
This reading reflects the vision of the Second Vatican Council concerning the Church’s relationship with the modern world. It presents human history as the meeting place of divine purpose and human freedom. The ‘earthly’ and ‘heavenly’ cities – terms drawn from Augustine – are not separate realities but interwoven. Their relationship can only be discerned through faith, because human progress remains marked by sin and imperfection until the final revelation of God’s glory [ … ]
Christian Art | George Herbert | The Temple | The Church | The Sinner George Herbert | The Temple | The Church | The Sinner Lord, how I am all ague, when I seek What I have treasur’d in my memorie! Since, if my soul make even with the week, Each seventh note by right is due to thee. I finde there quarries of pil’d vanities, But shreds of holinesse, that dare not venture To shew their face, since crosse to thy decrees. There the circumference earth is, heav’n the centre. In so much dregs the quintessence is small: The spirit and good extract of my heart Comes to about the many hundredth part. Yet Lord restore thine image, heare my call: And though my hard heart scarce to thee can grone, Remember that thou once didst write in stone. George Herbert | The Temple | The Church | The Sinner The poet reflects on his spiritual state, describing a struggle with weakness, sin, and the desire for divine alignment. The poem opens with the poet addressing God, expressing discomfort, likened to an ‘ague’ (fever or chill), when he searches his memory for spiritual treasures. This ‘ague’ suggests both a physical and spiritual unease, revealing the tension the poet feels in self-examination. The second line conveys a sense of regret as the poet searches for ‘treasur’d’ holiness in his memory. He recognizes that, although he might strive to keep his soul ‘even with the week’, dedicating every seventh day to God, he falls short. This phrase reflects the expectation to honour the Sabbath, but the poet’s efforts are met with disappointment in their perceived spiritual emptiness. The poet goes on to examine his inner self, describing ‘quarries of pil’d vanities’ that dominate his mind. Here, ‘quarries’ implies an overwhelming quantity of earthly or superficial concerns, while ‘vanities’ suggests that these concerns are meaningless in the context of divine expectation. In contrast, he finds only ‘shreds of holinesse’, fragmented attempts at righteousness, which he hesitates to bring forward as these elements are ‘crosse to thy decrees’, or in opposition to God’s laws. This imagery underscores the poet’s internal conflict and recognition of shortcomings. Further, the poet contrasts earth and heaven, saying that ‘the circumference earth is, heav’n the centre.’ This phrase symbolizes the poet’s focus on worldly concerns (the circumference) that orbit around a neglected spiritual core (the heavenly center). The poet reflects that his life is filled with ‘dregs’, the lesser, unrefined aspects of his being, while ‘quintessence’, or the purest part of himself, is scarce. This ‘quintessence’ is described as the ‘spirit and good extract’ of the poet’s heart, amounting to a ‘many hundredth part’ — a small fraction of life’s essence. The poet realizes that, despite attempts to cultivate holiness, his internal state largely lacks spiritual substance. The final lines shift to a plea for restoration. The poet calls on God to ‘restore thine image’, asking for renewal and transformation. This restoration request implies a yearning to reflect God’s nature more fully, as humanity is believed to be made in God’s image. The poet acknowledges that his heart ‘scarce… can grone’ to God, reflecting the difficulty he feels in truly connecting with or petitioning the divine. The poem ends with reference to the biblical account of the Ten Commandments, when God ‘didst write in stone’. This allusion serves as both a reminder of God’s past willingness to communicate directly and a plea for a similar intervention to etch divine law into the poet’s heart. The poem examines themes of introspection, human fallibility, and a longing for divine transformation. The poet’s self-examination reveals struggle to balance earthly concerns with spiritual commitments, culminating in a plea for God’s direct action to restore spiritual integrity.
The words of Jesus to the paralytic man on his bed might have seemed strange and even, at first, insensitive: the paralytic has been brought to Jesus seeking to be healed, and Jesus says to him: ‘Son, thy sins be forgiven thee.’ This could hardly be what the paralysed man might have been expecting [ … ]
