Sinne
Surrounded by Care
The poet marvels at the many ways God encircles believers with protections against sin, from family and laws to church and conscience.
Lord, with what care you have surrounded us on every side! Parents first train us; then teachers hand us over to laws; the laws send us bound to the rules of reason, holy messengers,12 Pulpits and Sundays, sorrow that dogs sin, afflictions sorted out, anguish of every size, fine nets and schemes to trap us, Bibles opened wide, millions of surprises, Blessings given in advance, ties of gratitude, the sound of glory ringing in our ears: outside, our shame; inside, our consciences; angels and grace, eternal hopes and fears.3
The One Bosom-Sin
Yet a single cherished sin can overwhelm every divine safeguard, sweeping away the entire array of protections.
Yet one cunning bosom-sin blows all these fences and their whole array clean away.4
Read the original English
LOrd, with what care hast thou begirt us round! Parents first season us: then schoolmasters Deliver us to laws; they send us bound To rules of reason, holy messengers,
Pulpits and sundayes, sorrow dogging sinne, Afflictions sorted, anguish of all sizes, Fine nets and stratagems to catch us in, Bibles laid open, millions of surprises,
Blessings beforehand, tyes of gratefulnesse, The sound of glorie ringing in our eares: Without, our shame; within, our consciences; Angels and grace, eternall hopes and fears.
Yet all these fences and their whole aray One cunning bosome-sinne blows quite away.
Notes
- 1 ↩Source 'season' means early training/habituation (as one seasons wood or a recruit), not culinary flavoring; rendered 'train' for plain contemporary sense.
- 2 ↩'holy messengers' is left in apposition as in the source; it may name the rules of reason themselves or open the following catalog of protective means (pulpits, Sundays, etc.).
- 3 ↩Without is rendered Outside (external exposure to shame), not the modern sense lacking, to keep the clear contrast with within.
- 4 ↩Herbert's 'bosome-sinne' is the cherished pet sin kept close to the heart; kept as 'bosom-sin' to preserve that interior force rather than flattening it to a generic 'secret fault.'
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