The Discharge
The Restless Heart
The soul is called to stop its restless inquiry and surrender all accounts to God.
Busy inquiring heart, what do you want to know? Why do you pry, and turn, and leer, and with a greedy eye look high and low, and in your looking stretch and grow?1 Haven't you done your accounts and totaled everything up? Didn't your heart give up the whole, and leave with the whole?2 Let whatever will fall, fall: who can call back what's past?
Your Life Is God's
Acknowledging that life belongs to God and that the present moment is our only portion.
Your life belongs to God; the time still ahead of you is already gone, and it's rightfully his.✦ He is your night at noon; at night, he alone is your noon.3 The crop is his, for he has sown it.✦ And it was good for you, when this happened, that God made your business his and took part in your life: for you can tell—once it's his, all is well.
Live in the Present
Warnings against anxiety about the future, urging us to drink the clear present and not borrow trouble.
Only the present is your share and your due.4 And you'd be happy if, even without worrying about the future, you could clearly see what the present required of you.5 They ask enough; why go any further?✦ Don't stir up the mud of future depths, but drink the clear and good.✦6 Don't dig for woe in times to come, for it will grow.✦ Fit yourself to the present: if you provide beyond it, you break the proper measure.✦7 This hour is mine: if I care about the next, I grow too wide, and I encroach on death's side.✦
Trust in God's Providence
Reflections on mortality and the folly of anticipatory grief, ending with trust in God's promise.
For death surrounds and encloses every hour. Anyone who wants to know and care about future chances can't reach those grounds except through a churchyard that bounds them.8 Present things shrink and die. But those who spend their thoughts and feelings on future grief don't take that grief away from the future—they only stretch it further, and empty it out completely. God keeps the dog chained until night—will you undo the chain and awaken your sorrow?9 Will you bring it on early, grieve now for tomorrow, and then grieve over all your pain again as if it were fresh?10 Either grief won't come—or if it must, don't forecast it: and while it's coming, it's almost past. Away with distrust: my God has promised; he is just.
Read the original English
Busie enquiring heart, what wouldst thou know? Why dost thou prie, And turn, and leer, and with a licorous eye Look high and low, And in thy lookings stretch and grow?
Hast thou not made thy counts, and summ'd up all? Did not thy heart Give up the whole, and with the whole depart? Let what will fall: That which is past who can recall?
Thy life is Gods, thy time to come is gone, And is his right. He is thy night at noon: he is at night Thy noon alone. The crop is his, for he hath sown.
And well it was for thee, when this befell, That God did make Thy businesse his, and in thy life partake: For thou canst tell, If it be his once, all is well.
Onely the present is thy part and fee. And happy thou, If, though thou didst not beat thy future brow, Thou couldst well see What present things requir'd of thee.
They ask enough; why shouldst thou further go? Raise not the mudde Of future depths, but drink the cleare and good. Dig not for wo In times to come; for it will grow.
Man the present fit: if he provide, He breaks the square. This houre is mine: if for the next I care, I grow too wide, And do encroach upon deaths side.
For death each hour environs and surrounds. He that would know And care for future chances, cannot go Unto those grounds, But through a Churchyard which thē bounds.
Things present shrink and die: but they that spend Their thoughts and sense On future grief, do not remove it thence, But it extend, And draw the bottome out an end.
God chains the dog till night: wilt loose the chain, And wake thy sorrow? Wilt thou forestall it, and now grieve to morrow, And then again Grieve over freshly all thy pain?
Either grief will not come: or if it must, Do not forecast: And while it cometh, it is almost past. Away distrust: My God hath promis’d; he is just.
Scripture echoes
- ↩1Cor.6.19-1Cor.6.20 — Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God? And you are not your own, 1Cor.6.20 — For you were bought with a price; therefore glorify God in your body.
- ↩1Cor.3.6-1Cor.3.7;Gal.6.7-Gal.6.8 — I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth. 1Cor.3.7 — So neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but God, who makes it grow. Gal.6.7 — Do not be deceived: God is not mocked. For whatever a man sows, that he will also reap. Gal.6.8 — For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life.
- ↩Matt.6.34 — Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.
- ↩Matt.6.34 — Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.
- ↩Matt.6.34 — Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.
- ↩Matt.6.34 — Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.
- ↩Matt.6.34;Jas.4.13-Jas.4.14 — Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own. Jas.4.13 — Come now, you who say, "Today or tomorrow we will go into this city and spend a year there and conduct business and make a profit." Jas.4.14 — You who do not know what tomorrow will bring — what your life will be! For you are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes.
Notes
- 1 ↩Early modern 'licorous' (lickerish/liquorish): greedy, craving, keenly desirous—not primarily 'lecherous' here; rendered 'greedy' for the heart's restless appetite to know.
- 2 ↩Herbert's 'give up the whole... with the whole depart' is the discharge of self-surrender: the heart has already handed everything over and gone out having committed it all.
- 3 ↩Herbert's noon/night paradox: God both darkens the soul's bright hour and alone lights its darkness—kept in plain parallel rather than paraphrased away.
- 4 ↩Early modern 'fee' here means allotted portion or due, not a payment charge; rendered as 'due' to keep the sense of your rightful present allotment.
- 5 ↩'Beat thy future brow' is an Early Modern image of anxious fretting—striking or wrinkling the forehead over what is to come—not literal self-harm.
- 6 ↩Herbert's image is a well or deep water: fretting about the future churns sediment from the bottom; the present yields clear drink. 'Raise' here means stir up / bring to the surface, not elevate in praise.
- 7 ↩Herbert's 'square' is the true measure or right order of life (as of a carpenter's square). 'If he provide' is elliptical for provision beyond the present, given the poem's counsel not to dig into future trouble.
- 8 ↩Source 'thē' is early-modern 'them' (the future grounds); 'but through' is exceptive ('except by way of'), not adversative.
- 9 ↩Herbert's 'dog' is the image of grief or future trouble kept on a leash: God holds it chained until its proper hour ('night'); to 'loose the chain' is to let that sorrow loose early.
- 10 ↩'Forestall' here means seize or suffer the grief ahead of its time (not merely prevent it). 'To morrow' is tomorrow; 'over freshly' means over again as if new.
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