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.
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.
Saint Bruno reflects on the longing expressed in Psalm 84[83]: ‘How lovely are your tabernacles, O Lord of hosts.’ He interprets this not only as a reference to the Temple of Jerusalem but as pointing beyond it to the heavenly Jerusalem, the eternal dwelling place of God. For Bruno, the psalmist’s desire is ultimately for the courts of heaven, where blessedness consists in unending praise of God [ … ]
John’s teaching of the journeys Jesus makes is more complete than the other Gospels. According to the other Gospels, Jesus travels only once to Jerusalem, when he goes to be crucified. According to John, Jesus travels at least two or three times to Jerusalem for the Feast of the Passover. This gives us the approximation of the duration of Jesus’ public life as being three years [ … ]
