The H. Scriptures

Catrin Welz-Stein

The Holy Scriptures 

1.

OH Book! infinite sweetnesse! let my heart

Suck ev’ry letter, and a hony gain,

Precious for any grief in any part;

To cleare the breast, to mollifie all pain.

Thou art all health, health thriving till it make

A full eternitie: thou art a masse

Of strange delights, where we may wish & take.

Ladies, look here; this is the thankfull glasse,

That mends the lookers eyes: this is the well

That washes what it shows.  Who can indeare

Thy praise too much?  thou art heav’ns Lidger here,

Working against the states of death and hell.

Thou art joyes handsell: heav’n lies flat in thee,

Subject to ev’ry mounters bended knee.

2.  

OH that I knew how all thy lights combine,

And the configurations of their glorie!

Seeing not onely how each verse doth shine,

But all the constellations of the storie.

This verse marks that, and both do make a motion

Unto a third, that ten leaves off doth lie:

Then as dispersed herbs do watch a potion,

These three make up some Christians destinie:

Such are thy secrets, which my life makes good,

And comments on thee: for in ev’ry thing

Thy words do finde me out, & parallels bring,

And in another make me understood.

Starres are poore books, & oftentimes do misse:

This book of starres lights to eternall blisse.

George Herbert

“A masse of strange delights”. This has certainly been my experience. Especially lately. I was brought up reading and memorizing this book, and even now, after all these years, I am amazed at the new things that I find. There is no book like this. Someone once said how it is like a diamond, you look at it one way and see this, then another, and see that – only to find the facets are endless, the whole universe and all of life is within and shines out through it. I love George Herbert’s enthusiasm, “Let my heart suck every letter!” And that phrase, “This is the thankfull glasse, that mends the looker’s eyes.” Is Herbert saying that we find ourselves in this book, and that finding constitutes a transformation? How very beautiful to think! I am in this story, and in it I am changed, I become what I always longed to be but did not dare to hope for. And “joyous handsell’? From what I can gather, handsell, means first gift, or the first installment of a bargain – which is to say, the words in this book are but a small taste of the very real and physical renewal of the whole universe yet to come. “Oh that I knew how all thy lights combine!” I’m completely in agreement with Herbert. If only I could see how each facet works together! I’ve seen only a small portion of how the themes are woven throughout – the Feast, the Pillar of Fire, the Temple, the Garden, the Exile – the symbols of Water, Bread, the Body, Stones, the Vine – and this is only scratching the surface. These certainly are “the secrets which make my life good.” This book is the thread that has led me this far in my life journey. And it has not failed me. Who knew that a story, a poem no less, could be the stuff of Life itself.