Christian Art | George Herbert | The Temple | The Church | The Temper (2)
George Herbert | The Temple | The Church | The Temper (2)
It cannot be. Where is that mightie joy,
Which just now took up all my heart?
Lord, if thou must needs use thy dart,
Save that, and me; or sin for both destroy.
The grosser world stands to thy word and art;
But thy diviner world of grace
Thou suddenly dost raise and race,
And ev’ry day a new Creatour art.
O fix thy chair of grace, that all my powers
May also fix their reverence:
For when thou dost depart from hence,
They grow unruly, and sit in thy bowers.
Scatter, or binde them all to bend to thee:
Though elements change, and heaven move,
Let not thy higher Court remove,
But keep a standing Majestie in me
George Herbert | The Temple | The Church | The Temper (2)
The poem explores themes of divine presence, spiritual longing, and human instability. The poem opens with a stark reflection on the transient nature of spiritual joy and the sudden void that follows when such joy is absent. Herbert questions the disappearance of an overwhelming sense of divine joy that had recently consumed his heart, seeking an explanation or resolution from God. This inquiry sets the stage for a meditation on the balance between divine grace and human imperfection.
Herbert acknowledges the constancy of the material world, which aligns with God’s creative word and art. In contrast, the ‘diviner world of grace’ is described as subject to sudden change, as God continually renews and reconstructs it, portraying God as an active, daily Creator. This duality highlights tension between the enduring, visible world and a more fluid, spiritual realm, suggesting that while physical existence remains steady, spiritual experiences fluctuate.
The poem shifts to a plea for stability, Herbert asking God to ‘fix [His] chair of grace’, a metaphor for establishing a constant divine presence. The poet desires his faculties—emotions, thoughts, and actions—to be anchored in reverence for God. An absence of divine stability leads to disorder, where these faculties become unruly, indulging in their own pursuits without divine guidance. The metaphor of these powers ‘sitting in [God’s] bowers’ suggests complacency or distraction, emphasizing need for divine authority to keep Herbert’s inner world ordered and devoted.
The final stanza calls for a divine intervention to unify Herbert’s scattered energies and align them with God’s will. The use of the words ‘scatter’ and ‘bind’ reflects the push and pull between chaos and discipline. The poet notes that while natural elements and even the heavens may change or move, they implore God’s ‘higher Court’—a symbol of divine judgment and grace—not to shift or withdraw. The desire is for God’s majesty to remain constant within, ensuring a stable source of spiritual grounding.
The poem’s structure underscores a progression of themes from a question of lost spiritual joy to a petition for divine steadiness. Juxtaposition of divine permanence and human variability is reinforced throughout, suggesting that only God’s enduring presence can mitigate the unpredictability of human experience. Imagery of God as Creator and sustainer reflects the theological idea of continual divine involvement in both the physical and spiritual realms.
The poem is a meditation on the speaker’s dependence on divine grace for spiritual stability and fulfilment. It underscores the human experience of fluctuating spiritual states and longing for constant divine presence that binds and unifies the self. Herbert’s appeal for God to maintain an unchanging presence within him points to an understanding of faith as needing continual divine reinforcement to counteract human frailty and inconsistency.
Saint Gregory of Nyssa’s reflection on Christian formation explores the transformation of the believer through the grace of the Holy Spirit. His theme ‘Fight the good fight of faith’ is taken from Saint Paul’s exhortation in the First Letter to Timothy (1 Tim 6:12). Gregory interprets this not as a call to conflict with others, but as a lifelong struggle against sin and the disorder of self-will [ … ]
-
Christian Art | Our Lord Jesus On The Cross | God The Father | God The Son Office Of Readings | Advent December 23rd | A Reading From The Treatise Of Saint Hippolytus Against The Heresy Of Noetus | The Hidden Sacrament Is Revealed ‘The hidden sacrament is revealed.’ In this reading, Saint Hippolytus writes against the Noetic heresy, which denied the real distinction between the Father and the Son by treating them as the same person acting under different names. The purpose of Saint Hippolytus is to defend the Church’s confession of one God who is not solitary, but who exists with his Word and Spirit. Hippolytus begins by setting a principle: knowledge of God comes from the Holy Scriptures, not from speculation or private reasoning. Faith is not shaped by human preference but by what God has chosen to reveal. The Father determines how He is believed, the Son how He is glorified, and the Spirit how He is received. This establishes Scripture as the rule of faith and guards against theological invention. Hippolytus then affirms that God existed alone before creation, with nothing co-eternal alongside Him. At the same time, God was not without reason, wisdom, or power. Hippolytus insists that plurality within God does not compromise divine unity. God contains within himself Word, wisdom, and counsel. Creation begins when God wills and manifests His Word. The Word is not created from nothing but proceeds from God and acts as the agent of creation. The Word is first invisible to the created world, though known to God. When God chooses, He makes the Word visible, described as ‘Light of Light’. This language safeguards both distinction and unity: the Word comes from God and reveals God, without being separate from Him. The manifestation of the Word is ordered towards salvation, so that the world may see and be saved. Hippolytus identifies this Word clearly with the Son of God. Through him all things were made, and he alone comes forth from the Father. The Law and the prophets belong to the same saving plan. God speaks through them by the Holy Spirit, so that they proclaim not their own ideas but the Father’s will. Revelation is therefore coherent: creation, prophecy, and incarnation belong to one divine purpose. Hippolytus appeals to the Gospel of John to show continuity between prophecy and fulfilment. The Word spoken of by the prophets is the Word made flesh. Though the world was made through him, it failed to recognise him. This failure does not negate God’s plan but reveals the depth of the mystery now disclosed. A Reading From The Treatise Of Saint Hippolytus Against The Heresy Of Noetus | The Hidden Sacrament Is Revealed There is, brethren, one God, the knowledge of whom we gain from the Holy Scriptures and from no other source. Whatever things the Holy Scriptures declare, at these let us look; and whatever they teach, let us learn it; and as the Father wills our belief to be, let us believe; and as he wills the Son to be glorified, let us glorify him; and as he wills the Holy Spirit to be bestowed, let us receive him. Not according to our own will, nor according to our own mind, nor yet storming by force the things which are given by God, but even as he has chosen to teach them by the Holy Scriptures, so let us discern them. God, subsisting alone, and having nothing coeval with himself, chose to create the world. And conceiving the world in mind, and willing and uttering the Word, he made it; and at once it appeared, formed it in the way he desired. For us it is sufficient simply to know that nothing was coeval with God. Outside him there was nothing; but he, while existing alone, yet existed in plurality. For he did not lack reason, or wisdom, or power, or counsel. All things were in him, and he was the All. At a time and in a manner chosen by him he made his Word manifest, and through his Word he made all things. He bears this Word in himself, as yet invisible to the created world. He makes him visible, uttering the voice first, and begetting him as Light of Light. He presents him to the world as its Lord; and whereas the Word was visible formerly to God alone, and invisible to the world which is made, God makes the Word visible in order that the world might see him and be able to be saved. This is the mind which came forth into the world and was manifested as the Son of God. All things came into being through him, and he alone comes from the Father. He gave us the Law and the prophets; and in giving them, he made them speak by the Holy Ghost, in order that, receiving the inspiration of the Father’s power, they might declare the Father’s counsel and will. Thus, then, was the Word made manifest, even as the blessed John says. For he sums up the things that were said by the prophets, and shows that this is the Word, by whom all things were made. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. All things were made by him, and without him nothing was made. And later, The world was made by him, and the world did not know him; he came to his own, and his own did not receive him. Christian Prayer With Jesus Lord God,You are one, and from You come the Word and the Spirit.You have chosen to make Yourself known, not by human effort,but by what You have revealed in the scriptures. You spoke Your Word, and all things were made.You made that Word visible, so that the world might see and be saved.Grant that we may receive what You give,believe what You teach,and worship You as You have shown Yourself to be. Keep us […]
George Herbert’s ‘Virtue’ explores themes of mortality, impermanence, and spiritual endurance through a sequence of images drawn from the natural world. The poem juxtaposes transient beauty of nature with the enduring nature of a virtuous soul, reflecting a theological worldview centred on the Christian understanding of eternal life [ … ]
