Gratefulness

George Herbert, The Complete English Poems, pp. 115-116:

Gratefulness

You that have giv'n so much to me,

Give one thing more, a grateful heart.

See how your beggar works on thee

By art.

He makes your gifts occasion more,

And says, If he in this be crossed,

All you have giv'n him heretofore

Is lost.

But you did reckon, when at first

Your word our hearts and hands did crave,

What it would come to at the worst

To save.

Perpetual knockings at your door,

Tears sullying your transparent rooms,

Gift upon gift, much would have more,

And comes.

This notwithstanding, you still went on,

And did allow us all our noise:

Nay, you have made a sigh and groan

Your joys.

Not that you have not still above

Much better tunes, than groans can make;

But that these country-airs your love

Did take.

Wherefore I cry, and cry again;

And in no quiet can you be,

Till I a thankful heart obtain

Of thee:

Not thankful, when it pleases me;

As if your blessings had spare days:

But such a heart, whose pulse may be

Your praise.

Divine Sonnets

George Herbert, Sent to His Mother as a New Year's Gift From Cambridge (1610) in George Herbert, The Poems of George Herbert, p. 231:

My God...
...Doth Poetry
Wear Venus' livery? only serve her turn?
Why are not sonnets made of Thee, and layes
Upon Thine altar burnt?

Anne Locke (1530 - c. 1598) -- friend of John Knox and a fellow Marian exile in Geneva; husband of Henry Locke and, later, Edward Dering -- was the author of A Meditation of a Penitent Sinner (1560), the first sonnet sequence written in English, based on Psalm 51, which includes this extract:

For lo, in sinne, Lord, I begotten was,
With sede and shape my sinne I toke also,
Sinne is my nature and my kinde alas,
In sinne my mother me conceiued: Lo
I am but sinne, and sinfull ought to dye,
Dye in his wrath that hath forbydeen sinne.
Such bloome and frute loe sinne doth multiplie,
Such was my roote, such is my iuyse within.
I plead not this as to excuse my blame,
On kynde or parentes myne owne gilt to lay:
But by disclosing of my sinne, my shame,
And nede of helpe, the plainer to displaye
Thy mightie mercy, if with plenteous grace
My plenteous sinnes it please thee to deface.

Henry Locke (c. 1553 - c. 1608) -- Anne's son -- wrote Sundry Sonnets of Christian Passions, including one based on Psalm 130, as found in Alexander Grosart, ed., Poems by Henry Lok; Gentleman: (1593-1597), p. 75:

From pit of deepe perplexities to Thee for helpe I cry,
O Lord giue eare vnto my plaint, and aide me speedily.
If strictly Thou my sinnes behold, O Lord what flesh is iust?
But mercy proper is to Thee, and thereto do we trust.
Vpon Thy promise I attend, Thy word is alwayes true,
With morning and with euening watch, I will my sute renue.
Thy servant must depend on Thee, in Thee is mercie found,
Thou wilt redeeme their soules from death, Thy grace doth so abound.

MHCC 47: A Verse May Find Him Who A Sermon Flies

Matthew Henry on Psalm 49.4:

A verse may find him who a sermon flies. Herbert.

George Herbert, The Temple:

The Church-porch.

Perirrhanterium

I

Thou, whose sweet youth and early hopes inhance
Thy rate and price, and mark thee for a treasure;
Harken unto a Verser, who may chance
Ryme thee to good, and make a bait of pleasure.
A verse may finde him, who a sermon flies,
And turn delight into a sacrifice.

Jonathan Mitchell, "On the Following Work, and It's Author," in Michael Wigglesworth, The Day of Doom, p. 13:

A Verse may find him who a Sermon flies,
Saith Herbert well. Great Truths to dress in Meeter;
Becomes a Preacher; who mens Souls doth prize,
That Truth in Sugar roll'd may taste the sweeter.
No Cost too great, no Care too curious is
To set forth Truth, and win mens Souls to bliss.

John Bunyan, "Scriptural Poems," in The Works of John Bunyan, Vol. 2, p. 390:

Would but those men whose genius lead them to't,
And who have time and parts wherewith to do't,
Employ their pens in such a task as this,
'T'would be a most delightsome exercise
Of profit to themselves and others too:
If what the learned Herbert says, holds true,
A verse may find him, who a sermon flies,
And turn delight into a sacrifice;

William Wordsworth, "Ecclesiastical Sonnets" in The Complete Poetical Works of William Wordsworth, p. 675:

A verse may catch a wandering Soul, that flies
Profounder Tracts, and by a blest surprise
Convert delight into a Sacrifice.

Winthrop Mackworth Praed, "The Chaunt of the Brazen Head," in The Poems of Winthrop Mackworth Praed, p. 162:

I think, whatever mortals crave,
With impotent endeavour, --
A wreath, a rank, a throne, a grave, --
The world goes round for ever:
I think that life is not too long;
And therefore I determine
That many people read a song
Who will not read a sermon.

Into Thy Hands I Commend My Spirit

It is noteworthy how many saints of old (and sometimes their enemies) have died with the words of Christ upon their lips. The words of David ("Into thine hand I commit my spirit: thou hast redeemed me, O LORD God of truth," Ps. 31.5) were uttered by Christ on the cross ("And when Jesus had cried with a loud voice, he said, Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit: and having said thus, he gave up the ghost," Luke 23.46). Stephen, the first Christian martyr, likewise, when he was dying, said, "Lord Jesus, receive my spirit" (Acts 7.59). Others who emulated this example are listed below.

January 1, 379 -- Basil the Great's last words were "Into Thy hands I commend my spirit."
January 28, 814 -- Charlemagne's last words were "Into Thy hands I commend my spirit."
December 29, 1170 -- Thomas Becket's last words were "Into Thy hands, O Lord, I commend my spirit."
July 6, 1415 -- John Hus died repeating the words "Into Thy hands I commend my spirit."
May 30, 1416 -- Jerome of Prague died uttering the words "Into Thy hands I commend my spirit."
May 20, 1506 -- Christopher Columbus' last words were "Into Thy hands, Lord, I commend my spirit."
May 4, 1535 -- John Houghton died after reciting Psalm 31.
June 22, 1535 -- John Fisher died reciting "Into Thy hands I commend my spirit."
July 28, 1540 -- Thomas Cromwell's last words were "Lord into Thy hands I commend my Soul, Lord Jesus receive my spirit, Amen."
February 18, 1546 -- Martin Luther's last words were "Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit: thou hast redeemed me, Lord God of truth."
March 1, 1546 -- George Wishart's next-to-last words were "O Thou Saviour of the world, have mercy upon me! Father of Heaven, I commend my spirit into Thy holy hands."
February 12, 1554 -- Lady Jane Grey's last words were "Lorde, into Thy hands I commende my spirite!"
February 23, 1554 -- Henry Grey's (father of Lady Jane Grey) last words were "In manus tuas, Domine, commendo spiritum meum" ("Into Thy hands, Lord, I commend my spirit").
February 9, 1555 -- John Hooper's last words were "Into Thy handes I commend my spirite; Thou haste redeemed me, O God of truthe."
October 16, 1555 -- Nicholas Ridley's last words were "In manus tuas, Domine, commendo spiritum meum; Lord, Lord, receive my spirit."
July 11, 1556 -- Julian Palmer recited Psalm 31 as he died.
September 21, 1558 -- Charles V's last words were "Into Thy hands I commend my spirit: for Thou hast redeemed me, O Lord, Thou God of truth."
April 19, 1560 -- Philip Melancthon on his deathbed was attended by Veit Winsheim, who repeated the words "Into Thy hands I commend my spirit; O Lord, thou hast delivered me, thou righteous and faithful God!" He was asked if he heard those words. Melanchthon's last word on earth was "Yes!"
June 5, 1568 -- Lamoral, Count of Egmont's last words were "Lord, into Thy hands I commend my spirit."
June 5, 1568 -- Philip de Montmorency's last words were "Lord, into Thy hands I commend my spirit."
November 24, 1572 -- John Knox on his deathbed said "Come, Lord Jesus; sweet Jesus, into Thy hands I commend my spirit."
February 8, 1587 -- Among the last words of Mary, Queen of Scots' was "Into Thy hands I commend my spirit."
February 21, 1595 -- Robert Southwell's last words were "Into Thy hands, O Lord, I commend my spirit."
April 25, 1595 -- Torquato Tasso's last words were "Into Thy hands, O Lord, I commend my spirit."
March 1, 1633 -- George Herbert's last words were "Into Thy hands I commend my spirit."
December 22, 1666 -- Hugh M'Kail sang from the 1650 Scottish Metrical Psalter at his execution, "Into thine hands I do commit / My spirit; for thou art he, / O thou, Jehovah, God of truth, / Who has hast redeemed me."
July 27, 1681 -- Donald Cargill's last words were "Into thy hands I commend my spirit."
February 26, 1686 -- Francois Teissier's (first martyr of the 'Church of the Desert') last words were "My God, to Thee I commend my spirit."
February 17, 1688 -- James Renwick's last words were "Lord, into Thy hands I commend my spirit; for Thou hast redeemed me, O Lord, Thou God of truth."
July 22, 1794 -- Among the last words written by Louise de Duras (née Noailles)'s was "Accept, O Lord, the sacrifice of my life, Into Thy hands I commend my spirit. My God, haste Tee to help me. Forsake me not when my strength faileth me."
October 16, 1812 -- Among the last written words of Henry Martyn was "So closes the easy part of my life; enriched by every earthly comfort, and caressed by friends, I may scarcely be said to have experienced trouble; but now, farewell ease, if I might presume to conjecture. 'O Lord, into Thy hands I commit my spirit! Thou hast redeemed me, Thou God of truth!' may I be saved by Thy grace, and be sanctified to do Thy will, and to all eternity; through Jesus Christ."

Standing Tiptoe

Some of George Herbert's most famous lines from The Temple (in The Church Militant) were the subject of controversy even before they made it into print. They almost failed the censorship test.

Izaac Walton, The Life of Mr. George Herbert, p. 110:

And this ought to be noted, that when Mr. [Nicholas] Farrer sent this book to Cambridge to be licensed for the press, the Vice-Chancellor would by no means allow the two so much noted verses,

Religion stands a tiptoe in our land,

Ready to pass to the American strand,

to be printed; and Mr. Farrer would by no means allow the book to be printed and want them. But after some time, and some arguments for and against their being made public, the Vice-chancellor said, "I knew Mr. Herbert well, and know that he had many heavenly speculations, and was a divine poet: but I hope the world will not take him to be an inspired prophet, and therefore I licence the whole book." So that it came to be printed without the diminution or addition of a syllable, since it was delivered into the hands of Mr. Duncon, save only that Mr. Farrer hath added that excellent Preface that is printed before it.

When those lines were quoted by Puritan minister Samuel Ward, they actually led to his imprisonment, thus proving Herbert right.

The charges leveled against Ward in November 1635 by none other than Archbishop William Laud included (William Prynne, Canterburies Doome, p. 361):

...preaching...against Bowing at the name of Jesus, the Booke of sports on the Lords day, and saying, that the Church of England was ready to ring the Changes, and insinuating unto his Auditory, that there was cause to fear an Alteration of Religion; saying, that Religion and the Gospel stood on tiptoes ready to be gone.

For these offenses, Ward was put in ward for "a long time" (according to Prynne). J.C. Ryle states that he removed to Holland after his release, and returned to his home parish of Ipswich in 1638, where he died the following year, having suffered in his homeland for the name of Jesus, while his brother Nathaniel Ward, who had gone to America in 1634, went on to author the famous Massachusetts Body of Liberties.

The Wine of God

George Herbert, (an extract from) "The Bunch of Grapes," in The Temple:

But can he want the grape, who hath the wine?
I have their fruit and more.
Blessed be God, who prosper’d Noahs vine,
And made it bring forth grapes good store.
But much more him I must adore,
Who of the Laws sowre juice sweet wine did make,
Ev’n God himself being pressed for my sake.

Jacula Prudentum

George Herbert -- who died on this date, March 1, 1633 -- is a favorite poet of mine. But his works are not limited to poetry. If you enjoy reading proverbs, take the opportunity to read his remarkable collection of "outlandish proverbs" entitled Jacula Prudentum. Originally compiled in 1632, it was first published posthumously in 1640, and then in expanded form in 1651. Although the credit assigned to him as the compiler of these proverbs has been challenged (in 1857 by James Yeowell), I think the historical attribution of Herbert as the editor has withstood the challenge.

Herbert was not the author then, of these proverbs, but the compiler, and the credit assigned to him is that of an editor whose collected proverbs have lived on even to our own day. If you recognize the following aphorisms or variations thereof, we owe much to Herbert's recording labors.

"Man proposeth, God disposeth." ["For man proposes, but God disposes." -- Thomas à Kempis]
"He loseth nothing, that loseth not God."
"Love, and a Cough, cannot be hid."
"He that will learn to pray, let him go to Sea."
"Love your neighbour, yet pull not down your hedge." ["Good fences make good neighbors." -- Robert Frost]
"Buy at a fair, but sell at home."
"God heals, and the Physician hath the thanks."
"Hell is full of good meanings and wishings." ["Hell is full of good desires." -- Bernard of Clairvaux]
"Sometimes the best gain is to lose."
"Knowledge is folly except grace guide it."
"Fear nothing but sin." ["Therefore, let us fear nothing so much as sin and transgression." -- John Chrysostom]
"All is not gold that glitters." ["But all thing which that schyneth as the gold / Ne is no gold, as I have herd it told." -- Geoffrey Chaucer]
"Be not a Baker, if your head be of butter."
"Good finds good."
"The greatest step is that out of doors." ["It's a dangerous business, Frodo, going out of your door," he used to say. "You step into the Road, and if you don't keep your feet, there is no knowing where you might be swept off to. -- J.R.R. Tolkien]
"Hope is the poor man's bread."
"On a good bargain think twice."
"Help thyself, and God will help thee." ["God helps those who help themselves." -- Benjamin Franklin]
"You may bring a horse to the river, but he will drink when and what he pleaseth."
"More have repented speech than silence."
"God's Mill grinds slow, but sure."
"Give not Saint Peter so much, to leave Saint Paul nothing."
"For want of a nail the shoe is lost, for want of a shoe the horse is lost, for want of a horse the rider is lost." [“The want of a nail loseth the shoe, the loss of a shoe troubles the horse, the horse endangereth the rider, the rider breaking his rank molests the company so far as to hazard the whole army.” -- Thomas Adams, 1629]
"A penny spared is twice got."
"Bear with evil, and expect good." ["I am ready for favourable events in every case, but I am prepared for evil." -- Seneca]
"Living well is the best revenge."
"Life is half spent before we know what it is."

MHCC 9: Less Than The Least of All God's Mercies

Matthew Henry certainly appreciated the divine poetry of George Herbert and quotes him often in his Commentary. Writing on the prayer of Jacob in Genesis 32, Henry makes reference to Herbert's personal posie (motto, often engraved on a ring), which epitomized his life and his work. The posie is one which Herbert repeated during his life, and even on his deathbed, having completed his masterpiece, The Temple, he sent it to Nicholas Ferrar to be considered for publication with these words:

Sir, I pray deliver this little book to my dear brother Farrer, and tell him, he shall find in it a picture of the many spiritual conflicts that have passed betwixt God and my soul, before I could subject mine to the will of Jesus my Master: in whose service I have now found perfect freedom. Desire him to read it; and then, if he can think it may turn to the advantage of any dejected poor soul: let it be made public; if not let him burn it; for I and it are less than the least of God’s mercies.

And indeed The Temple was published with this summary at the conclusion of the preface from the printers to the reader:

We conclude all with his own Motto, with which he used to conclude all things that might seem to tend any way to his own honour;

Lesse then the least of Gods mercies.

George Herbert, The Temple:

The Posie.

Let wits contest,
And with their words and posies windows fill:
Lesse then the least
Of all thy mercies, is my posie still.

This on my ring,
This by my picture, in my book I write:
Whether I sing,
Or say, or dictate, this is my delight.

Invention rest,
Comparisons go play, wit use thy will:
Lesse then the least
Of all Gods mercies, is my posie still.

Matthew Henry on Gen. 32.10:

How meanly and humbly he speaks of himself, disclaiming all thought of his own merit: "I am not worthy of the least of all thy mercies, much less am I worthy of so great a favour as this I am now suing for." Jacob was a considerable man, and, upon many accounts, very deserving, and, in treating with Laban, had justly insisted on his merits, but not before God. I am less than all thy mercies; so the word is. Note, The best and greatest of men are utterly unworthy of the least favour from God, and just be ready to own it upon all occasions. It was the excellent Mr. Herbert's motto, Less than the least of all God's mercies. Those are best prepared for the greatest mercies that see themselves unworthy of the least.

Sands of Time

The hour-glass was not only used in Puritan pulpits to measure sermon-time, but also placed on tombstones to remind passers-by of the brevity of life. It is a common motif in classic poetry which in the age of digital clocks may perhaps seem obsolete or irrelevant to modern man, but even so, the sands of time, representing our days as they are measured out by the hand of God, are finite, and the consideration of them is meant to stir us to apply our hearts to wisdom (Ps. 90.12). So if you see an hour-glass in an antique shop or read the following lines, take a moment to consider. It is time well-spent.

When children learned the alphabet from The New England Primer they would read:

G As runs the Glass,
Our Life doth pass.

The hour-glass motif appears in George Herbert's The Temple more than once, including these lines from Church Monuments which are reminiscent of Isa. 40.6:

That flesh is but the glasse, which holds the dust
That measures all our time; which also shall
Be crumbled into dust.

and visually it is evident in Easter-Wings.

The first stanza of a hymn inspired by the words and letters of Samuel Rutherford by Annie Ross Cousin, Last Words, or, The Sands of Time Are Sinking:

The sands of time are sinking,
The dawn of Heaven breaks,
The summer morn I've sighed for,
The fair sweet morn awakes:
Dark, dark hath been the midnight,
But dayspring is at hand,
And glory -- glory dwelleth,
In Immanuel's land.

An extract from Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, A Psalm of Life:

Lives of great men all remind us
We can make our lives sublime.
And, departing, leave behind us
Footprints on the sands of time.

A meditation by John Bunyan who spiritualized temporal things in A Book for Boys and Girls, later renamed, Divine Emblems, in The Works of John Bunyan, Vol. 3, p. 760:

Upon an Hour-Glass

This glass, when made, was, by the workman's skill,
The sum of sixty minutes to fulfil.
Time, more nor less, by it will out be spun,
But just an hour, and then the glass is run.
Man's life we will compare unto this glass,
The number of his months he cannot pass;
But when he has accomplished his day,
He, like a vapour, vanisheth away.

Preacher, Preach to Thyself

The Apostle Paul, Romans 2.21:

Thou therefore which teachest another, teachest thou not thyself? thou that preachest a man should not steal, dost thou steal?

Richard Baxter, The Reformed Pastor (1830 ed.), p. 223:

My second particular exhortation is this: Content not yourselves to have the main work of grace, but be also very careful that your graces be kept in life and action, and that you preach to yourselves the sermons that you study, before you preach them to others.

Arthur Stephen Hoyt, The Work of Preaching (1905), p. 97:

You must preach to yourself before you can preach to others.

Charles H. Spurgeon, "Sermon X: Declension From First Love," in Sermons Preached and Revised by the Rev. C.H. Spurgeon, p. 174:

Now preacher, preach honestly, and preach at thyself.

Iain Murray, Dr. Lloyd-Jones and Authority in Preaching:

The preacher must know the power of the message he is bringing to others. When DMLJ was 25 and at the cross-roads of his life, he became engaged to Bethan Philips, and she became conscious that her future husband was considering becoming a preacher. She was very concerned because she had never heard him preach. At that point a letter came from a missionary society inviting them to become medical missionaries in India. She was challenged by this invitation but DMLJ had no interest at all. Bethan said to him, "But how do you know that you can preach?" "I know I can preach to myself" he replied. He knew the power of the truth in his own heart.

George Herbert, A Priest to the Temple, or, A Country Parson:

CHAP. XXXIII. The Parson's Library.

THe Countrey Parson's Library is a holy Life: for besides the blessing that that brings upon it, there being a promise, that if the Kingdome of God be first sought, all other things shall be added, even it selfe is a Sermon. For the temptations with which a good man is beset, and the ways which he used to overcome them, being told to another, whether in private conference, or in the Church, are a Sermon. Hee that hath considered how to carry himself at table about his appetite, if he tell this to another, preacheth; and much more feelingly, and judiciously, then he writes his rules of temperance out of bookes. So that the Parson having studied, and mastered all his lusts and affections within, and the whole Army of Temptations without, hath ever so many sermons ready penn'd, as he hath victories. And it fares in this as it doth in Physick: He that hath been sick of a Consumption, and knows what recovered him, is a Physitian so far as he meetes with the same disease, and temper; and can much better, and particularly do it, then he that is generally learned, and was never sick. And if the same person had been sick of all diseases, and were recovered of all by things that he knew; there were no such Physician as he, both for skill and tendernesse. Just so it is in Divinity, and that not without manifest reason: for though the temptations may be diverse in divers Christians, yet the victory is alike in all, being by the self-same Spirit. Neither is this true onely in the military state of a Christian life, but even in the peaceable also; when the servant of God, freed for a while from temptation, in a quiet sweetnesse seeks how to please his God. Thus the Parson considering that repentance is the great vertue of the Gospel, and one of the first steps of pleasing God, having for his owne use examined the nature of it, is able to explaine it after to others. And particularly, having doubted sometimes, whether his repentance were true, or at least in that degree it ought to be, since he found himselfe sometimes to weepe more for the losse of some temporall things, then for offending God, he came at length to this resolution, that repentance is an act of the mind, not of the Body, even as the Originall signifies; and that the chiefe thing, which God in Scriptures requires, is the heart, and the spirit, and to worship him in truth, and spirit. Wherefore in case a Christian endeavour to weep, and cannot, since we are not Masters of our bodies, this sufficeth. And consequently he found, that the essence of repentance, that it may be alike in all Gods children (which as concerning weeping it cannot be, some being of a more melting temper then others) consisteth in a true detestation of the soul, abhorring, and renouncing sin, and turning unto God in truth of heart, and newnesse of life: Which acts of repentance are and must be found in all Gods servants: Not that weeping is not usefull, where it can be, that so the body may joyn in the grief, as it did in the sin; but that, so the other acts be, that is not necessary: so that he as truly repents, who performes the other acts of repentance, when he cannot more, as he that weeps a floud of tears. This Instruction and comfort the Parson getting for himself, when he tels it to others, becomes a Sermon. The like he doth in other Christian vertues, as of Faith, and Love, and the Cases of Conscience belonging thereto, wherein (as Saint Paul implyes that he ought, Romans 2.[21]) hee first preacheth to himselfe, and then to others.

Edward Taylor: 20th Century Puritan

Edward Taylor (1642-1729), was a notable English-American Puritan minister and physician. In his own time, he was well known as a Harvard scholar, theologian and statesman (he helped defend his community against Indian attacks during King Philip's War). His literary skills found an outlet in his paraphrases of the Psalms, but much of what we know about him, especially as a writer, came to light only in the twentieth century.

When pressures to conform to the Anglican Church became too much, he crossed the Atlantic and immigrated to Massachusetts in 1668. During this time, like many Puritans, he kept a diary, which was published finally in 1964. It is brief but shows his reflective mind as he recorded his observations from the sea voyage. His Christographia, fourteen sermons on the two natures of Christ, was published in 1962. These and other works became part of a veritable flood of Edward Taylor publications that were released in the twentieth century. But two of his works deserve special mention for the circumstances surrounding their publication.

Before his death, Taylor took the two great collections of his poems, God's Determination Touching His Elect: and The Elect's Combat in their Conversion, and Coming up to God in Christ together with the Comfortable Effects thereof and Preparatory Meditations before my Approach to the Lords Supper. Chiefly upon the Doctrin preached upon the Day of administration and bound them together, instructing his family not to publish them (it is not entirely clear why he wished to keep them private, although they were very personal and some of his poems, like Meditation 96 on Song of Songs 1.2 are part of the sensual metaphysical poetic tradition). Later, his grandson Ezra Stiles, president of Yale College, adhered to his wishes and deposited them in the Library at Yale. However, in 1937, they were re-discovered by Professor Thomas H. Johnson, who edited and published portions of his poetry, with the full text being finally published in 1960. The publication of these poems, showing the influence of Anne Bradstreet, George Herbert and John Donne, revolutionized academic appreciation for early colonial American poetry, and Taylor's place in that field.

Then, in 1977, in the library of one of Taylor's descendants in Nebraska, a bound manuscript containing sermons by Edward Taylor on typology was discovered and over the next decade edited by Charles Mignon, finally published in 1989 as Upon the Types of the Old Testament. These sermons draw heavily on the Puritan scholarship of Matthew Poole and Henry Ainsworth, among others, and unfold Taylor's insights into how to see Christ in the Old Testament.

These twentieth-century discoveries and publications have enriched our understanding of a leading New England Puritan and his works. And, it seems, there is always more to learn.

Redemption

Redemption by George Herbert

Having been tenant long to a rich Lord,
Not thriving, I resolvèd to be bold,
And make a suit unto him to afford
A new small-rented lease and cancel th'old.
In Heaven at his manor I him sought.
They told me there that he was lately gone
About some land which he had dearly bought
Long since on earth, to take possession,
I straight returned, and knowing his great birth,
Sought him accordingly in great resorts,
In cities, theaters, gardens, parks, and courts.
At length I heard a ragged noise and mirth
Of thieves and murderers; there I him espied,
Who straight "Your suit is granted," said, and died.