(part of) Leaflets issued to visitors at St Andrew's Church, Bemerton:
(a) Notes on the Life of George Herbert (anon., 6th edition 1939; includes some extracts from Izaak Walton's Life of George Herbert)(b) A few Facts about George Herbert's Church of St Andrew, Bemerton (anon. & undated; printed by Bennett Brothers, Salisbury
. . . George Herbert was the great-great-grandson of the brother of the first Lord Pembroke, formerly Sir William Herbert, on whom the Earldom was conferred by Edward IV, for his services in the cause of the White Rose. The father of George Herbert was Sir Richard Herbert, and he lived in Montgomery Castle, in Wales. He died when his son George was only four years old, leaving a wife and ten children -- three girls and seven boys -- our George Herbert being the fifth son. His mother was a Shropshire lady, daughter of Sir Richard Newport, and, thinking it best for her boys to leave Montgomery Castle for the more stirring life of a Seat of Learning, she took them to live in Oxford. After five years she moved to London.
When twelve years old, George Herbert, who had been taught at home by a tutor, was sent to Westminster School, and was the first of the twelve great Hymn writers that that ancient public school has already sent forth. Here the boy gave signs of his powers of mind, and his earliest chronicler, Isaak Walton, tells us, in the quaint language of the seventeenth century, that there "the beauties of his pretty behaviour and wit shined and became so eminent and lovely in this his innocent age, that he seemed to be marked out for piety, and to become the care of Heaven and of a particularly good Angel to guard and guide him. And thus he continued in that School, till he came to be perfect in the learned languages, and especially in the Greek tongue, in which he afterwards proved an excellent critic."
At the age of sixteen came two great changes in George Herbert's life. His mother married again, and, as a Westminster King's Scholar, he was elected to Trinity College, Cambridge. His stepfather was Sir John Danvers, brother and heir to Lord Danby, of Dauntsey, near Chippenham, and he was evidently a very kind stepfather, as is shown by letters that have been preserved. One of the chroniclers of those days says of Sir John Danvers that "his complexion was so exceedingly beautiful and fine that people would come after him in the street to admire. He had a very fine fancy, which lay chiefly for gardens and architecture."
George Herbert took his degree of Bachelor of Arts when he was eighteen years old, and Master of Arts about four years afterwards. After several appointments at his College, he received the great distinction of being made "Orator" if his University, a term that might be explained as a spokesman. Consequently, when King James I. presented a book he had written to the University, George Herbert had to write the letter of thanks for it. The title of the book was "Basilikon Doron" (Greek for the Gift of the King), and it seems to have contained wholesome precepts for the guidance of his son, and which no doubt the King thought would also benefit the young men of the University.
The Orator's letter so greatly pleased the King that he made enquiry as to the writer, and, asking Lord Pembroke if he knew him, heard "that he knew him very well, and that he was a kinsman; but he loved him more for his learning and virtue than for that he was of his name and family." The King, smiling, asked him "that he might love hime, too, for he took him to be the jewel of the University."
Thus began the court favour, and much attendance at Court, which brought our hero into contact with the great people of the day. Notably with Sir Francis Bacon, who set such high store by George Herbert's literary power that he submitted his books to him before having them printed, and having put some of the Psalms into English verse, he dedicated them to George Herbert "as the best judge of divine poetry." The saintly Bishop Andrewes was another friend, and a Greek letter on a theological subject written to him by George Herbert was so valued by the Bishop that, according to Walton, "after the reading it, the Bishop put it into his bosom, and did often show it to many scholars, both of this and foreign nations; but did always return it back to the place where he first lodged it, and continued it so near his heart till the last day of his life."
Sadder times came to George Herbert. The King died, and some influential friends, and with them his hopes of a position at Court died also; and, going off to a friend's house in Kent, he sought refuge in solitude. There a question that always seems to have been before him, now became acute. Was he to be a Priest or a Poet? Was he to serve at God's Altar, or was he to shine in the world? There had been everything to tempt him to the latter: his own abilities and powers, the patronage of the King, his own position as relative of the Earl of Pembroke, with one brother Ambassador at the French Court, while, in addition, there was his own love of Court life and Court dress (the latter at that date was bright in colour and rich in quality). All these interests were calling him to strive to attain worldly position; but, together with them, from early days at Cambridge the study of Divinity and thoughts of Priesthood had also been his, and it was his mother's wish that he should be a Priest. "These were such conflicts," says Walton, "as they only can know that have endured them." The conflict ended in a resolve to be a clergyman, and George Herbert was ordained Deacon about 1626, the Bishop of Lincoln giving him the Prebend of Leighton Ecclesia, near Huntingdon.
The Church of this Parish had for twenty years been unused for worship owing to its dilapidated condition. George Herbert set himself to work to repair it. This excellent decision aroused the anxieties of his mother, who thought it was "not for his weak body and empty purse to undertake to build Churches." After a day's consideration, however, he went to his mother, and after obtaining her blessing requested "that she would, at the age of thirty-three years, allow him to become an undutiful son; for he had made a vow to God that, if he were able, he would rebuild that Church." The interview ended not only in his mother's subscribing herself to the good work, but also in her being the means of getting further help for it. In the account of the carrying out of the work of restoration, it is interesting to read special mention made of the good wainscoting, knowing as we do, Canon Warre, in repairing George Herbert's Church, has enriched it with the wainscoting so ably carried out by the worthy craftsman, George Powell, whose good service is recorded on the west wall of St Andrew's.
George Herbert never lived at Leighton, and it is doubtful if he ever went there, but he took care that the place should be cared for and that the restoring of the Church should be in competent hands.
More trouble came to George Herbert in the death of his mother, who had been so much to him. She died in 1627, and was buried at Chelsea. About two years afterwards he became ill with ague and a threatening of consumption, and went to a brother in Essex, and later sought more strengthening air in our Wiltshire, coming to stay with Lord Danby of Dauntsey.
Here came another crisis in his life. He decided to become a Priest, and also to marry. The lady of his choice was a relation of his host, Jane, daughter of Mr Charles Danvers, of Baynton, and they were married on March 5th, 1629, in the beautiful old Church of Edington near Westbury, Wilts.
Before he was ordained Priest, the living of Foulston-cum-Bemerton-Capella was offered to him. The presentation to the living had lapsed to the King, as the late Rector had been made a Bishop; but Lord Pembroke, the Patron, asked the King to give it to his kinsman, and so it came to pass that Charles I. presented the living of what we now call "Fuggleston-cum-Bemerton" to George Herbert. He had many scruples as to accepting such a charge, but they were overcome, and he was inducted on April 26th, 1630, though only a deacon, and had to wait till September Embertide to be ordained Priest. The induction is described by Walton thus: -- "When, at his induction, he was shut into Bemerton Church, being left there alone to toll the bell (as the law required of him) he stayed so much longer than an ordinary time before he returned to those friends that staid expecting him at the Church door, that his friend, Mr Woodnot, looked in at the Church window, and saw him lie prostrate on the ground before the altar, at which time and place (as he after told Mr Woodnot) he set some rules to himself for the future manage of his life: and then and there made a vow to labour to keep them."
"Foulston", or Fugglestone, as it is now called, lies about two miles to the west of Bemerton, and is the parish church.
"Bemerton Capella" (little chapel) is dedicated to St Andrew, and is opposite to the Rectory at Bemerton. The massive door remains from old days, as does the bell in its ancient bell-cot. The bell is one known as an Alphabet bell, having on it capitals in black letter.
The Church was well repaired by the late Rector, Canon Warre, in 1895, with the assistance of Mr Ponting, the architect, and the excellent wainscoting and Altar rails were then added: a sold brass tablet on the west wall bears tribute to the village carpenter who carefully carried out this work. The Font is modern. The curious little opening in the south wall behing the Reading Desk puzzles the antiquarian: one suggestion is that it may have been for lepers, as there was an hospital for lepers a few miles on, near Fugglestone, founded by Adelicia, wife of Henry II. A precious link with the worship of George Herbert's day is a silver Chalice recovered by the late Canon Warre from a cottage shelf in Quidhampton. Descendants of a Parish Clerk were living in the cottage, and it is most likely that the Chalice being in old days in his custody, had (as time went on) got mixed in with the family property of his descendants, and so been lost sight of to the parish. The Cross on the Altar is of olive wood brought by the Rev. the Honble. Canon Meade from the Holy Land: and on it inscribed on silver is a suffrage from the Litany.
The Rectory had not been lived in by the previous rector owing to its uninhabitable condition, but George Herbert determined to make it habitable, and to inhabit it; in so doing he built a great part of the house. The house remains much as it was in George Herbert's day, except for the entrance part put on by the Rev. Wallesley Pigott, and the western piece added by the late Canon Warre. From the house on the south side the ground slopes down to the river, a conjunction of two rivers, the Wylie and the Nadder, which have joined some 2½ miles higher up in the Earl of Pembroke's Park, and flow on together into the Avon at Salisbury. The old medlar tree on the lawn by the river was skilfully preserved from decay by Canon Warre, who called in an expert in 1907 -- Mr Thomas Sharpe, County Instructor in Horticulture in Wilts, who it will be seen by "interarching" a white thorn imparted new life to it. This tree is, we may suppose, a remnant of an orchard; while we feel sure that the garden was largely a garden of medicinal herbs, for George Herbert, in his sketch of "The Country Parson", says: -- "In the knowledge of simples, wherein the manifold wisedome of God is wonderfully to be seen, one thing would be carefully observed: which is, to know what herbs may be used instead of drugs of the same nature, and to make the garden the shop"; and again, "for salves his wife seeks not the city, but prefers her garden and fields before all outlandish gums."
We may picture George Herbert sometimes going to serve his Parish Church at Fugglestone (though his Curate, Mr Nathaniel Bostock, lived there) by the old path, now enclosed within the Park wall, and sometimes going in the opposite direction to Salisbury, where twice a week he went to the Cathedral service. He also joined a Musical Society that we believe met at the High Street Close Gate, and there he played and sang his part.
George Herbert died in 1632, according to the reckoning of the year at that time, but in 1633 according to our reckoning, and was buried on the 3rd March on, as is believed, the north side of the Altar of St. Andrew: the little tablet on the north wall there now testifies to this.
There are two questions that are asked about the hero of our village.
1. Why do Americans make pilgrimage there?
2. What made George Herbert famous?
To answer the first, we may remember that it was in George Herbert's life that leading men in England established the colony of Virginia in America, and it was a decided part of the scheme to evangelise the colony. George Herbert's great friend, Mr Nicholas Ferrar, of Little Gidding, threw himself with great zeal into this work, and is it not more than probable that he thus introduced into America the volume of George Herbert's poems that the latter had entrusted to him from his death bed, and that it became a treasured book of devotion in the new country across the Atlantic, so that coming to England, Bemerton, the home of the saintly poet, is an object of pilgrimage for Americans?
As to "what made George Herbert famous?" we must first study the times in which he lived. Happily to-day, the daily ringing of his church bell for matins and evensong, his Sunday catechising, his care of the sick and poor, his devotion to priestly life and duty, does not seem to us anything extraordinary, but in those days such parochial solitude was evidently exceptional, and marked him out as a model priest. Then again, he was a poet of literary merit. But it was what forced his verses to be written that was the fount and origin of the fame of the fame of George Herbert's life and work. He himself gives us this clue in the message that he sent a friend who visited him on his death-bed. "Sir, I pray, deliver this little book to my dear brother Ferrar, 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." That "little book" was "The Temple", a collection of many different poems -- poems that have made the writer famous, and why? Because they are the true picture of a desperate spiritual conflict that appeals to man as man.
Truly George Herbert's was a life of holy thoughts and devoted saintli- ness, but the power of this saintliness lies in the fact that it was the result of a desperate spiritual fight, and that he was a victor in a hard-won conflict.
One of his quaint and beautiful poems is on the word JESU.
- JESU is in my heart. His sacred name
- Is deeply carved there; but th' other week
- A great affliction broke the little frame,
- Ev'n all to pieces; which I went to seek:
- And first I found the corner where was J,
- After, where ES, and next where U was graved.
- When I had got these parcels, instantly
- I sat me down to spell them, and perceived
- That to my broken heart I was I ease you **
- And to my whole is JESU.
Sixth Edition, 1939.
** line 9 appears to be misprinted in the booklet seen; the line should read
That to my broken heart he was I ease you
[Fact sheet, St Andrew's, Bemerton]
The Church of St. Andrew, Bemerton -- George Herbert's Church - is in the parish of "Fugglestone-cum-Bemerton-Capella".
Fugglestone lies about a mile to the West of Bemerton. The exact date of the building of the Church is not known, or, at any rate, easy to arrive at, nor by whom it was built, nor for what purpose; but some facts make it probable that it was built by the Abbey of Wilton in 1408.
Fugglestone was part of the large property in the Wylye Valley possessed by the Abbey of Wilton; but Bemerton was in other hands. Bemerton is mentioned in the Doomsday Book (1080-86) as having "2 Plough lands, with 1 Villain (?farm) and 3 Borderers, together with 4 acres of Meadow land." The Church and Rectory were most likely built on one of the plough lands, and the dividend the Living now receives from "God's Acre" comes, no doubt, from some at least of the meadow land, which was sold by the Charity Commissioners in 1897. This part of Bemerton must somehow have been acquired by the Abbey of Wilton. We know that Sir Richard Grobham, who shared the Treasurership of the Armada with Sir THomas Gorges, possessed, with his Manor of Wishford, where he lived, the Manors also of Quidhampton and Bemerton. Sir Richard died in 1628, and left his property to his nephew, whose great grandson was the first Lord Chedworth. After four Lord Chedworths possessing it, it came into the possession of Richard Wilson, Esq., of Lincoln's Inn, and was sold with Mr Wilson's property in other counties at a sale at the White Hart in Salisbury, May 1838. At this sale the Hon. Sidney Herbert was the chief purchaser; thus adding the greatest part of Bemerton and Quidhampton to the Pembroke Estates; the above-mentioned portion of Bemerton having devolved to the family of Pembroke in the sequestration of the Abbey of Wilton in 1535.
But though the Abbey of Wilton did not possess Bemerton, it did possess the patronage of the Living of Fugglestone, and subsequently of Fugglestone-cum-Bemerton Capella, the Capella or Chapel being the Church of which we are speaking.
The dates of the different parts of the Church as we now see it are considered to be, for the earliest, the two-light South window of the Chancel, while the window below the Font is a little later, and the two-light window on the south above the Font, as well as the West window, are considered to be later still. The grand old oak door is considered to be of George Herbert's time (1630-2).
It is thought that a stone archway once divided the Nave from the Chancel, and that it fell, or was taken down to prevent its falling, because of the walls leaning outwards. The North wall was at one time re-built.
We know of three repairs of the Church -- one in George Herbert's day, one about 1860, and the last in 1894-6. Before 1860 the Church had a gallery, a pulpit and pews. The letter of an old parishioner describes how, when you looked Eastward, there were pews on the right- and left-hand side of a pale drab colour -- old oak or painted; that between each pew door there were arrangements for a holly bough at Christmas; that the pulpit had a sounding board, and that it was "in the left-hand corner". The school children sat on forms partly in the Nave and partly in the Chancel; there were never more than three forms. There was a fixed bench on the sides of the Chancel. In the gallery were the instrumentalists -- bass, 'cello, violins, two flutes, and women singers. The writer first went to Church when she was seven years old in 1849, and was a constant worshipper there till her marriage in 1867.
At some time the East window was put in, with three lights and plaster mullions (replacing very likely a square-headed Perpendicular one). It is thought that the window on the North of the Chancel was put in about the same time, and also that the recess in the North Wall opposite the entrance was then made, though for what reason it is difficult to imagine. The little opening with a shutter in the South wall of the Chancel baffles conjecture, though some have made the amusing, though perhaps practical, suggestion that it was to enable the officiating priest to keep an eye on his front door. The interesting feature appears in a drawing in a terrier of the manorial Estates of the Pembroke family about 1570. It could scarcely have been for lepers, as there was a Leper Hospital near by with a Chapel of its own.
There was an unfortunate repair (sic) at one time, when a deal roof was placed over the Chancel. The worst of the old rafters of the Nave were taken out, and deal ones and iron ties substituted, and the whole ceiled with plaster. As the South wall had leant outwards, a lath-and-plaster perpendicular one had been put up to screen it. In the 1894-6 repairs this screen was taken down, when a large quantity of rubbish was found to have got in between the protruding wall and the upright screen; the wall was then strengthened. The deal roof of the Chancel was also taken away in these 1894-6 repairs, and the present oak roof made. The plaster mullions of the East window were also replaced by stone ones. The plaster ceiling of the roof of the Nave, which was continuous with the plaster of the wall, was also removed, and new oak rafters replaced the deal ones. The iron ties were substituted by oak beams. A concrete basement was given to the Nave, with floor of geometrically arranged oak bricks above.
The Sanctuary pavement was given by Canon Warre and his brother, Dr Warre, of Eton, in memory of their mother, who had lately died. The designs of the foot-pace in front of the Altar, as also that of the carpet, were by Miss Eleanor Warre. The carpet is of lambs' wool, and was made at the Wilton Factory. Beneath the floor in the Sanctuary was found in these last repairs a brick grave 7 ft. long, but narrow and shallow, full of a soft light brown earth. There were two skulls and bones in it; no coffin, no inscription of any kind; the bricks were small and thin, probably of the 16th or 17th Century. The remains of a similar grave were found on the North side beneath the Sanctuary. This had been cut into and emptied to make room for a vault for the first wife of the Rector, the Rev. W.P.Pigott, who wished to be buried under the Rectory pew. This grave is now supposed to have been that of George Herbert, but no certainty can be arrived at as to this. However, to mark the spot where George Herbert is supposed to be buried Canon Warre put into the wall above a small slab. It will be seen on that slab that the date of George Herbert's death is given as 1632, whereas biographies give the date as 1633. The entry in the register is: "Mr George Herbert, Esqr., Parson of Ffughelston and Bemerton, was buried 3rd day of March, 1632." So 1632 is the right date *, but the mistake has doubtless arisen from this entry in the register being under some other notices of burials which are headed 1633.
[ *The writer of this booklet appears to have overlooked the source of confusion in year-dating of events during January-March, namely the introduction of the present calendar (with January as the first month) instead of the old-style calendar with New Year's Day on March 25th. The change was adopted in England in 1752, but had been in use in Scotland since 1600. The correct (new-style) date of George Herbert's death (and burial) is therefore 1633. ]
Another little slab was placed in the floor with A.M.P. to mark the spot of burial below of the first wife of the Rev. P.Pigott; and all the graves were thus marked with initials and dates. On the South side of the Altar a small cross was put in the floor indicating where the Southern brick grave was found. At the time of these repairs a small stone Altar slab was found face downwards placed as a paving stone, but on which the five crosses were visible; Canon Warre had it placed under the Altar.
On October 20th, 1896, the Church was re-opened after the repairs. The Services that day were: -- In St Andrew's: Holy Communion 8 a.m., Mattins 10.30 a.m., Plain Evensong 6 p.m. In St John's there was a Choral Evensong at 3.30 p.m., at which Canon Kingsbury, a great scholar of the Diocese, preached. In the evening there was a meeting in the School-room, when Chancellor Swayne, of Salisbury, gave a lecture on the "Sacred Poems of George Herbert".
At the Early Communion the Bishop (John Wordsworth) was the Celebrant, assisted by his Chaplain, the Rev. Cosmo Lang, since Archbishop of York and later Archbishop of Canterbury.
The repairs of 1894-6 were carried out under the Diocesan Architect, Mr Charles Ponting, F.S.A., with the Rector, Canon Warre, superintending under him. The principal workmen were old Mr George Powell as carpenter and Mr Barratt as stonemason, both old parishioners. Mr Barratt was the master mason of the Cathedral, lent by the Dean for the repair of George Herbert's Church. Mr Powell did the panelling, which was a new introduction and a very pleasing one, and it is a curious coincidence that in repairing his Church of Leighton Ecclesia, George Herbert had also done something of the kind. Mr Powell's son helped with the Altar rails, the styles of which were made from old oak; the panels from a tree purchased by Canon Warre.
The workmen have their memorial in the little Church in the West wall. The one to George Powell, put up by Canon Warre, is of brass beaten out; the other to William Barratt is of carved wood.
The present Altar Cross was brought from the Holy Land by the late Rev. the Hon. Sidney Meade, of Frankleigh, Bradford-on-Avon. It is of very old olive wood from Gethsemane. Canon Meade had it mounted in silver. The colour of the wood is most unusual. The Altar vases are each hand-beaten out of one piece of copper. They were given by Canon Warre, and designed by his daughter, Miss Eleanor Warre. The candlesticks were given by the son of the Rev. W.P.Pigott many years ago. The Font is modern, given by Mrs Osmond in memory of her daughter, Lucy. The original St. Andrew's Font had been taken many years previously to form a basin in the Font of St John's Church.
St. Andrew's possesses three Chalices. The largest and somewhat damaged one is old Elizabethan; it was recovered by Canon Warre from a cottage in Quidhampton. It had somehow come into the old Clerk's possession, having been carried by him in a green baize bag to Fugglestone three times a year. The other Elizabethan Chalice, with cover, was given to Canon Warre by the late Mrs Alexander Mackay, of the Grange, Trowbridge. The small Chalice is of foreign workmanship, and was bought abroad by Canon Warre as a thankoffering.
The Altar frontals were all worked from Miss Eleanor Warre's designs. The white one represents the Burning Bush; the red one, with the Four Evangelists, was worked by the Diocesan Guild of Church Needlework, as was also the blue one (Sarum colour for Penitence), with St Andrew's Crosses. The dust cloth was designed from Egyptian woven work found in the Cemetary of Echmim in Lower Egypt.
The Leper Hospital, before alluded to, was built by a wife of Henry I., and dedicated to St. Giles as usual; he being lame himself was a friend of the maimed. This St. Giles' Hospital stood about midway between Quidhampton and Fugglestone, bordering on the Church path that till 1826 passed direct through what is now part of Lord Pembroke's Park enclosed by a wall. Services were held in its Chapel till 1736. In 1826 the Hospital was removed to the part of Fugglestone north of Wilton House, and lives on as new Almshouses there, caring for the same number of inmates as in the Hospital, and provided for by the proceeds of the same lands which were given to the Hospital in the 12th Century.
The little Church of St. Andrew has long been too small for the population that has come near it, and in 1860 a larger Church was built a few yards to the West as a memorial to George Herbert, and dedicated to St. John. Many Americans contributed to it, and the Lectern wa given by Mr Gladstone (Prime Minister).
George Herbert's College of Trinity, Cambridge, fired by a speech one Commemoration day by Mr W.E.Benson, afterwards Archbishop of Canterbury, put up a memorial to George Herbert in the Ante-Chapel of the College. It is in the lower half of the second window from the East on the South side. The subject is the Bethany Home; the standing figure behind the seated figure of Our Lord represents George Herbert. There is a verse from St. Luke x. 12 as to "the one thing needful" and six lines from George Herbert's "Temple" --
- Whereas my birth and spirit rather took
- The way that takes the town;
- Thou didst betray me to a lingering book,
- And wrap me in a gown.
- I was entangled in the world of strife,
- Before I had the power to change my life.
In 1933 the Tercentenary of George Herbert's death was celebrated in the Parish. On March 3rd the Bishop of Blackburn (Dr Percy Herbert, a descendant of the Poet) came and preached to his memory in St John's Church. On June 6th, in the Rectory Garden, a meeting was held at which Dr John Masefield (the Poet Laureate) gave an address on his life; Sir Henry Newbolt, C.H., offered homage to his memory, and the Marquis of Salisbury, K.G., and the Rector (the Rev. M.F.Alderson, M.A., Mus.Bac.) spoke words of appreciation. On the following two days a Pageant of 17th Century Life was held in the gardens of Wilton House, in which the Earl and Countess of Pembroke and Montgomery and the parishioners of Fugglestone, Quidhampton and Bemerton took part. A final day of Pilgrimage was made by the parishioners in 17th Century costumes on foot, led by the clergy and choirs singing hymns, from Fugglestone Church through Quidhampton to St John's Church, where a service was held, and then on to St. Andrew's Church, where they placed flowers on George Herbert's grave and sang some of his hymns.
On June 14th, 1934, the stained glass in the West window, which had been given by admirers of the Poet-Parson of Bemerton from all over the world, was unveiled by the Earl of Pembroke and Montgomery and dedicated by the Bishop of Salisbury (Dr St. Clair Donaldson). It represents the Poet and his great friend, Nicholas Ferrar.
Miss Caroline Townsend and Miss Joan Howson were responsible for its design and execution.
Such are a few facts about St. Andrew's, Bemerton. May the little Church standing by the raodside help the Christian pilgrim in his journey through life, as do the devout poems that have made the Church famous!
Some words on Churchgoing in George Herbert's poem, "The Temple", may fitly close this small account.
- Though private prayer be a brave designe,
- Yet public hath more promises, more love:
- And love's a weight to heart, to eies a signe,
- We all are but cold suitours: let us move
- Where it is warmest. Leave thy six and seven;
- Pray with the most: for where most pray, is heaven.
- When once thy foot enters the church, be bare.
- God is more there, than thou; for thou art there
- Onely by His permission. Then beware,
- And make thyself all reverence and fear,
- Kneeling ne'er spoilt silk stocking: quit thy state.
- All equal are within the church's gate.
- Resort to sermons, but to prayers most:
- Praying's the end of preaching. O be drest;
- Stay not for th' other pin: why hast thou lost
- A joy for it worth worlds. Thus hell doth jest
- Away thy blessings, and extreamly flout thee,
- Thy clothes being fast, but thy soul loose about thee.
- In time of servise seal up both thine eies,
- And send them to thine heart; that spying sinne,
- They may weep out the stains by them did rise:
- Those doores being shut, all by the care comes in.
- Who marks in church-time others symmetrie,
- Makes all their beautie his deformetie.
- Let vain or busie thoughts have there no part:
- Bring not thy plough, thy plots, thy pleasures thither.
- Christ purg'd His temple: so must thou thy heart.
- All worldly thoughts are but thieves met together
- To couzin thee. Look to thy actions well;
- For churches are either our heav'n or hell.
- Judge not the preacher; for he is thy Judge.
- If thou mislike him, thou conceiv'st him not.
- God calleth preaching folly. Do not grudge
- To pick out treasures from an earthen pot.
- The worst speak something good; if all want sense,
- God takes a text, and preacheth patience.
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(The Rejoice & Sing Enchiridion:edited by David Goodall; last amended 16/6/02)