George Herbert Week (iii) Trust, the Fusion of Humility and Confidence

(George Herbert's Church, Bemerton)

 

George Herbert's hymns are so old fashioned they are almost forgotten, not just out of favour but out of sync with current taste and preference. His poem King of Glory, King of Peace recalls a spiritual atmosphere and intensity of devotion requiring more of us than our usual contemporary attempts at dumbed down intimacy and informal conversation with One who is Holy Love, both transcendent and immediate.

It's a hymn best sung in a cathedral, a place where beauty and light, architecture and acoustics, give visual and aural expression to the same sentiments of devotion. And it should be sung with that restrained politeness that in Anglican spirituality comes near to the spiritual quality of courtesy and quiet gratefulness, not spiritually greedy or emotionally ambitious, but showing that quality of balance that makes Herbert's poetry such a fine example of what he himself called "my utmost art".

The structure of the poem is both simple and flawless; the rhythm is as easy as breathing; the only word of more than two syllables is 'eternity's', and it's always reckless to assume such conceits are unintended in Herbert - the longest word for the vastest concept; Praise, thankgiving, petition, confession and dedication are forms of prayer represented in lines that are brief arrows of devotion; and the encounter is intimate without being familiar, the personal pronouns of address showing the fusion of humility and confidence, which together make up trust. It is a beautiful hymn, a technically brilliant poem, and one of my favourite personal prayers:

King of glory, King of peace,
I will love thee;
and that love may never cease,
I will move thee.
Thou hast granted my request,
thou hast heard me;
thou didst note my working breast,
thou hast spared me.

Wherefore with my utmost art
I will sing thee,
and the cream of all my heart
I will bring thee.
Though my sins against me cried,
thou didst clear me;
and alone, when they replied,
thou didst hear me.

Seven whole days, not one in seven,
I will praise thee;
in my heart, though not in heaven,
I can raise thee.
Small it is, in this poor sort
to enroll thee:
e'en eternity's too short
to extol thee.

Comments

[Mark Forsyth]

I'm struggling with the phrase "thou didst note my working breast" - what does it mean? It's difficult for modern ears to sing without feeling a little awkward!

Other archaic phrases are "I will move thee" and "to enroll thee".

Any comments on these?

[Jim Gordon]

Hello Mark - thanks for your question, and I fully understand the dissonance with 17th C language and a 21st C reading. "Working breast" I take to mean both quickened heartbeat, and the raised emotions of someone anxious for acceptance and reassurance. There's quite a lot of that in Herbert, writing a t a time when devotional feelings and affections were much more explicitly stated. "I will move Thee..." is the stated intent of the supplicant to persuade, influence and move the emotions of God to accept the praise and enable the one who praises. Likewise 'enroll' is to seek commitment and support for the supplicant's goal and intention, that is, that God will enable and accept the praise and gratitude of the worshipper. There is always a sense of unworthiness in Herbert, and likewise a feeling of the inadequacy of his 'utmost art'. Hope that helps.