George Herbert--Dialogue-Anthem

CHRISTIAN, DEATH.

Christian: ALAS, poor Death ! where is thy glory ?
Where is thy famous force, thy ancient sting ?

Death: Alas, poor mortal, void of story !
Go spell and read how I have killed thy King.

Chr. Poor Death ! and who was hurt thereby ?
Thy curse being laid on Him makes thee accurst.

Dea. Let losers talk, yet thou shalt die ;
These arms shall crush thee.

Chr. Spare not, do thy worst.
I shall be one day better than before ;
Thou so much worse, that thou shalt be no more.

George Herbert--Good Friday

O my chief good,
How shall I measure out thy blood
How shall I count what thee befell,
And each grief tell?

Shall I thy woes
Number according to thy foes?
Or, since one star showed thy first breath,
Shall all thy death?

Or shall each leaf,
Which falls in Autumn, score a grief?
Or cannot leaves, but fruit, be sign
Of the true vine?

Then let each hour
Of my whole life one grief devour;
That thy distress through all may run,
And be my sun.

Or rather let
My several sins their sorrows get;
That as each beast his cure doth know,
Each sin may so.

Since blood is fittest, Lord, to write
Thy sorrows in, and bloody fight;
My heart hath store, write there, wherein
One box doth lie both ink and sin:

That when sin spies so many foes,
Thy whips, thy nails, thy wounds, thy woes,
All come to lodge there, sin may say,
No room for me, and fly away.

Sin being gone, O fill the place,
And keep possession with thy grace;
Lest sin take courage and return,
And all the writings blot or burn.

The Sepulchre of Jesus Christ

Jesus Christ was dead, but seen on the Cross. He was dead, and hidden in the sepulchre.
Jesus Christ was buried by the saints alone.
Jesus Christ worked no miracles at the sepulchre.
Only the saints entered it.
There, not on the Cross, Jesus Christ took a new life.
It is the last mystery of the passion and the redemption.
Jesus Christ had no where to rest on earth but in the sepulchre.
His enemies only ceased to persecute him at the sepulchre.

I consider Jesus Christ in all persons and in ourselves. Jesus Christ as a father in his father, Jesus Christ as a brother in his brethren, Jesus Christ as poor in the poor, Jesus Christ as rich in the rich, JEsus Christ as doctor and priest in priests, Jesus Christ as sovereign in princes, etc. For by his glory he is all that is great, since he is God; and he is by his mortal life all that is miserable and abject. Therefore he has taken this wretched state, to enable him to be in all persons, and the model of all conditions.

The false justice of Pilate only caused the suffering of Jesus Christ; for he caused him to be scourged by his false justice, and then slew him. It would have been better that he had slain him at first. Thus is it with those who are falsely just. They do good works or evil to please the world, and show that they are not altogether of Jesus Christ, for they are ashamed of him. Then at last in great temptations and on great occasions, they slay him.
It seems to me that Jesus Christ after his resurrection allowed his wounds only to be touched: Noli me tangere. We must unite ourselves to his sufferings only.

At the Last Supper he gave himself in communion as one about to die; to the disciples at Emmaus as one risen from the dead; to the whole Church as one ascended into heaven.

Compare not thyself with others, but with me. If thou findest me not in those with whom thou comparest thyself, thou comparest thyself with him that is abominable. If thou findest me there compare thyself to me. But who is it that thou dost compare? Thyself, or me in thee? If it be thyself it is one that is abominable; it it be me thou comparest me to myself. Now I am God in all.
I speak and often counsel thee because thy Guardian can not speak to thee, for I will not that thou shouldest lack a guide.
And perhaps I do so at his prayers, and thus he leads thee without thy seeing it.
Thou wouldest not seek me unless thou didst possess me.
Therefore be not troubled.

Be comforted; it is not from yourself that you must expect it; but on the contrary, expecting nothing from yourself, you must await it.
Pray that ye enter not into temptation. It is dangerous to be tempted, and those alone are tempted who do not pray.
Et tu conversus confirma fratres tuos. But before, conversus Jesus respexit Petrum.
Saint Peter asked permission to strike Malchus, and struck before having the answer; Jesus Christ answered afterwards.

I love poverty because he loved it. I love wealth because it gives the power of helping the miserable. I keep my troth to everyone; rendering not evil to those who do me wrong; but I wish them a lot like mine, in which I receive neither good nor evil from men. I try to be just, true, sincere, and faithful to all men; I have a tender heart for those to whom God has more closely bound me; and whether I am alone or seen of men I place all my actions in the sight of God, who shall judge them, and to whom I have consecrated them all.
Such are my opinions, and each day of my life I bless my Redeemer who has implanted them in me, who has transformed me, a man full of weakness, misery, and lust, of pride and ambition, into a man exempt from these evils, by the power of his grace, to which all the glory is due; since of myself I have only misery and sin.

The Mystery of Jesus (Pt 3)

I see the depths which are in me of pride, curiosity and lust. There is no relation between me and God, nor Jesus the Christ the Just One. But he has been made sin for me, all thy scourges are fallen upon him. He is more abominable than I, and far from abhorring me he holds himself honoured that I go to him and succour him.
But he has healed himself, and still more will he heal me.
I must add my wounds to his, and join me to him, and he will save me in saving himself.
But this must not be put off to a future day.
Do little things as though they were great, because of the majesty of Jesus Christ who does them in us, and who lives our life; do great things as though they were small and easy, because of his omnipotence.

The Mystery of Jesus (Pt 2)

Console thyself, thou wouldst not seek me hadst thou not found me.
I thought of thee in mine agony, such drops of blood I shed for thee.
It is tempting me rather than proving thyself, to think if thou wouldest act well in a case which has not occurred, I will act in thee if it occur.
Let my rules guide thy conduct; see how I have led the Virgin and the saints who have let me act in them.
The Father loves all that I do.
Must I ever shed the blood of my humanity and thou give no tears?
Thy conversion is my affair; fear not and pray with confidence as for me.
I am present with thee by my word in the Scriptures, by my Spirit in the Church and by inspiration, by my power in the priest, by my prayer in the faithful.
Physicians will not heal thee, for tho wilt die at last. But it is I who heal thee and make the body immortal.
Suffer chains and bodily servitude, I deliver thee now only from what is spiritual.
I am to thee more a friend than such or such an one, for I have done for thee more than they; they have not borne what I have borne from thee, they have not died for thee as I have done in the time of thine infidelities and thy cruelties, and as I am ready to do and do in my elect and at the Holy Sacrament.
If thou knewest thy sins thou wouldest lose heart.--I shall lose it then O Lord, for on y word I believe their malice.--No, for I by whom thou learnest it can heal thee of them, and what I tell thee is a sign that I will heal thee. As thou dost expiate them, thou wilt know them, and it will be said to thee: "Behold, thy sins are forgiven thee!"
Repent then for thy secret sins, and for the hidden malice of those which thou knowest.
Lord, I give thee all.--
I love thee more ardently than thou hast loved thine uncleanness, ut immundus pro luto.
To me be the glory, not to thee, thou worm of earth.
Ask thy director, when my own words are to thee occasion of evil, or vanity, or curiosity.

The Mystery of Jesus (Pt 1)

Jesus suffered in his passion the torments which men inflicted on him, but in his agony he suffered torments which he inflicted on himself; turbare semetipsum. This is a suffering from no human, but an almighty hand, and he who bears it must also be almighty.
Jesus sought some comfort at least in his three dearest friends, and they were asleep. he prayed them to watch with him awhile, and they left him with utter carelessness, having so little compassion that it could not hinder their sleeping even for a moment. And thus Jesus was left alone to the wrath of God.
Jesus was without one on the earth not merely to feel and share his suffering, but even to know of it; he and heaven were alone in that knowledge.
Jesus was in a garden, not of delight as the first Adam, in which he destroyed himself and the whole human race; but in one of agony, in which he saved himself and the whole human race.
He suffered this sorrow and this desertion in the horror of night.
I believe that Jesus never complained but on this single occasion, but then he complained as if he could no longer restrain his extreme sorrow. "My soul is sorrowful, even unto death."
Jesus sought companionship and consolation from men. This was the only time in his life, as it seems to me; but he received it not, for his disciples were asleep.
Jesus will be in agony even to the end of the world. We must not sleep during that time.
Jesus in the midst of this universal desertion, even that of his own friends chosen to watch with him, finding them asleep, was vexed because of the danger to which they exposed, not him, but themselves; he warned them of their own safety and of their good, with a heartfelt tenderness for them during their ingratitude, and warned them that the spirit is willing and the flesh weak.
Jesus, finding them still sleeping, unrestrained by any consideration for themselves or for him, had the tenderness not to wake them but to let them sleep on.
Jesus prayed, uncertain of the will of his Father, and feared death; but so soon as he knew it he went forward to offer himself to death: Eamus. Processit. John.
Jesus asked of men, and was not heard.
Jesus, while his disciples slept, wrought their salvation. He has wrought that of each of the just while they slept both in their nothingness before their birth, and in their sins after their birth. He prayed only once that the cup should pass away, and then with submission; but twice that it should come if need were.

Jesus was weary.
Jesus, seeing all his friends asleep and all his enemies wakeful, gave himself over entirely to his Father.
Jesus did not regard in Judas his enmity, but God's order, which he loves and admits, since he calls him friend.
Jesus tore himself away from his disciples to enter into his agony; we must tear ourselves from our nearest and dearest to imitate him.
Jesus being in agony and in the greatest sorrow, let us pray longer...

George Herbert--The Sacrifice (Pt 3)

Weep not, dear friends, since I for both have wept,
When all My tears were blood, the while you slept:
Your tears for your own fortunes should be kept:
Was ever grief like mine?

The soldiers lead Me to the common hall;
There they deride Me, they abuse Me all:
Yet for twelve heavenly legions I could call:
Was ever grief like mine?

Then with a scarlet robe they Me array;
Which shews My blood to be the only way,
And cordial left to repair man's decay:
Was ever grief like mine?

Then on My head a crown of thorns I wear;
For these are all the grapes Sion doth bear,
Though I My vine planted and watered there:
Was ever grief like mine?

So sits the earth's great curse in Adam's fall
Upon My head: so I remove it all
From the earth unto My brows, and bear the thrall:
Was ever grief like mine?

Then with the reed they gave to Me before,
They strike My head, the Rock from whence all store
Of heavenly blessings issue evermore:
Was ever grief like mine?

They bow their knees to Me, and cry, Hail, King :
Whatever scoffs or scornfulness can bring,
I am the floor, the sink, where they it fling:
Was ever grief like mine?

Yet since man's sceptres are as frail as reeds,
And thorny all their crowns, bloody their weeds;
I, who am Truth, turn into truth their deeds:
Was ever grief like mine?

The soldiers also spit upon that face
Which angels did desire to have the grace,
And prophets once to see, but found no place:
Was ever grief like mine?

Thus trimmed forth they bring Me to the rout,
Who Crucify Him, cry with one strong shout.
God holds His peace at man, and man cries out:
Was ever grief like mine?

They lead Me in once more, and putting then
My own clothes on, they lead Me out again.
Whom devils fly, thus is He tossed of men:
Was ever grief like mine?

And now weary of sport, glad to engross
All spite in one, counting My life their loss,
They carry me to My most bitter cross:
Was ever grief like mine?

My cross I bear Myself, until I faint:
Then Simon bears it for Me by constraint,
The decreed burden of each mortal Saint:
Was ever grief like mine?

O all ye who pass by, behold and see:
Man stole the fruit, but I must climb the tree;
The tree of life to all, but only Me:
Was ever grief like mine?

Lo, here I hang, charged with a world of sin,
The greater world o' the two; for that came in
By words, but this by sorrow I must win:
Was ever grief like mine?

Such sorrow, as if sinful man could feel,
Or feel his part, he would not cease to kneel,
Till all were melted, though he were all steel.
Was ever grief like mine?

But O My God, My God! why leav'st Thou Me,
The Son, in Whom Thou dost delight to be?
My God, My God---------
Never was grief like mine.

Shame tears My soul, My body many a wound;
Sharp nails pierce this, but sharper that confound;
Reproaches, which are free, while I am bound:
Was ever grief like mine?

Now heal Thyself, Physician; now come down.
Alas! I did so, when I left My crown
And Father's smile for you, to feel His frown:
Was ever grief like mine?

In healing not Myself, there doth consist
All that salvation, which ye now resist;
Your safety in My sickness doth subsist:
Was ever grief like mine?

Betwixt two thieves I spend My utmost breath,
As he that for some robbery suffereth.
Alas! what have I stolen from you? death:
Was ever grief like mine?

A King my title is, prefixed on high;
Yet by My subjects I'm condemned to die
A servile death in servile company:
Was ever grief like mine?

They give Me vinegar mingled with gall,
But more with malice: yet, when they did call,
With manna, Angel's food, I fed them all:
Was ever grief like mine?

They part My garments, and by lot dispose
My coat, the type of love, which once cured those
Who sought for help, never malicious foes:
Was ever grief like mine?

Nay, after death their spite shall further go;
For they will pierce My side, I full well know;
That as sin came, so Sacraments might flow:
Was ever grief like mine?

But now I die; now all is finished.
My woe, man's weal: and now I bow My head:
Only let others say, when I am dead,
Never was grief like Mine!

George Herbert--The Sacrifice (Pt 2)

Then from one ruler to another bound
They lead Me: urging, that it was not sound
What I taught: comments would the text confound.
Was ever grief like mine?

The priests and rulers all false witness seek
'Gainst Him, who seeks not life, but is the meek
And ready Paschal Lamb of this great week:
Was ever grief like mine?

Then they accuse Me of great blasphemy,
That I did thrust into the Deity,
Who never thought that any robbery:
Was ever grief like mine?

Some said, that I the temple to the floor
In three days razed, and raised as before.
Why, He that built the world can do much more:
Was ever grief like mine?

Then they condemn Me all with that same breath,
Which I do give them daily, unto death.
Thus Adam My first breathing rendereth:
Was ever grief like mine?

They bind, and lead Me unto Herod: he
Sends Me to Pilate. This makes them agree;
But yet their friendship is My enmity.
Was ever grief like mine?

Herod and all his bands so set Me light,
Who teach all hands to war, fingers to fight,
And only am the Lord of hosts and might.
Was ever grief like mine?

Herod in judgment sits, while I do stand;
Examines me with a censorious hand:
I him obey, who all things else command:
Was ever grief like mine?

The Jews accuse Me with despitefulness;
And vying malice with My gentleness,
Pick quarrels with their only happiness:
Was ever grief like mine?

I answer nothing, but with patience prove
If stony hearts will melt with gentle love.
But who does hawk at eagles with a dove?
Was ever grief like mine?

My silence rather doth augment their cry;
My Dove doth back into My bosom fly,
Because the raging waters still are high:
Was ever grief like mine?

Hark how they cry aloud still, Crucify.
It is not fit He live a day, they cry,
Who cannot live less than eternally:
Was ever grief like mine?

Pilate, a stranger, holdeth off; but they,
Mine own dear people, cry, Away, away,
With noises confused frighting the day.
Was ever grief like mine?

Yet still they shout, and cry, and stop their ears,
Putting My life among their sins and fears,
And therefore wish My blood on them and theirs.
Was ever grief like mine?

See how spite cankers things. These words aright
Used, and wished, are the whole world's delight:
But honey is their gall, brightness their night:
Was ever grief like mine?

They choose a murderer, and all agree
In him to do themselves a courtesy;
For it was their own cause who killed Me:
Was ever grief like mine?

And a seditious murderer he was:
But I the Prince of peace; peace that doth pass
All understanding, more than heaven doth glass:
Was ever grief like mine?

Why, Caesar is their only King, not I:
He clave the stony rock, when they were dry;
But surely not their hearts, as I well try.
Was ever grief like mine?

Ah, how they scourge Me! yet My tenderness
Doubles each lash, and yet their bitterness
Winds up My grief to a mysteriousness.
Was ever grief like mine?

They buffet Me, and box Me as they list,
Who grasp the earth and heaven with My fist,
And never yet, whom I would punish, missed:
Was ever grief like mine?

Behold, they spit on Me in scornful wise;
Who by My spittle gave the blind man eyes,
Leaving his blindness to Mine enemies:
Was ever grief like mine?

My face they cover, though it be divine.
As Moses' face was veiled, so is Mine,
Lest on their double-dark souls either shine:
Was ever grief like mine?

Servants and abjects flout Me; they are witty:
Now prophesy who strikes Thee! is their ditty.
So they, in Me, deny themselves all pity:
Was ever grief like mine?

And now I am delivered unto death,
Which each one calls for so with utmost breath,
That he before Me well-nigh suffereth:
Was ever grief like mine?

George Herbert--The Sacrifice (Pt 1)

O all ye, who pass by, whose eyes and mind
To worldly things are sharp, but to Me blind;
To me, who took eyes that I might you find:
Was ever grief like Mine?

The princes of My people make a head
Against their Maker: they do wish Me dead,
Who cannot wish, except I give them bread:
Was ever grief like Mine?

Without Me each one, who doth now Me brave,
Had to this day been an Egyptian slave.
They use that power against Me, which I gave:
Was ever grief like Mine?

Mine own apostle, who the bag did bear,
Though he had all I had, did not forbear
To sell Me also, and to put Me there:
Was ever grief like Mine?

For thirty pence he did My death devise,
Who at three hundred did the ointment prize,
Not half so sweet as My sweet sacrifice:
Was ever grief like Mine?

Therefore My soul melts, and My heart's dear treasure
Drops blood (the only beads) my words to measure:
O let this cup pass, if it be Thy pleasure:
Was ever grief like Mine?

These drops being tempered with a sinner's tears,
A balsam are for both the hemispheres,
Curing all wounds, but Mine; all, but My fears.
Was ever grief like Mine?

Yet My disciples sleep: I cannot gain
One hour of watching; but their drowsy brain
Comforts not Me, and doth My doctrine stain;
Was ever grief like Mine?

Arise, arise, they come. Look how they run!
Alas! what haste they make to be undone!
How with their lanterns do they seek the Sun!
Was ever grief like Mine?

With clubs and staves they seek Me, as a thief,
Who am the way of truth, the true relief,
Most true to those who are My greatest grief:
Was ever grief like Mine?

Judas, dost thou betray Me with a kiss?
Canst thou find hell about My lips? and miss
Of life, just at the gates of life and bliss?
Was ever grief like Mine?

See, they lay hold on Me, not with the hands
Of faith, but fury; yet at their commands
I suffer binding, Who have loosed their bands:
Was ever grief like Mine?

All My disciples fly; fear puts a bar
Betwixt My friends and Me. They leave the star
That brought the wise men of the East from far:
Was ever grief like Mine?

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