The Sinner
The Soul's Arrearage
The soul acknowledges that its feverish search through memory reveals a debt of praise due to God each week.
Lord, I get completely feverish when I search for what I've stored away in my memory!1 Since if my soul balances accounts with the week, each seventh note is owed to you by right.2
The Vanity Within
Upon examination, the soul finds heaps of vanities and only shreds of holiness, revealing a world turned upside down.
I find quarries of piled vanities there, but only shreds of holiness that dare not show their face, since they run counter to your decrees: there, earth is the circumference, and heaven the center.
The Cry for Restoration
Acknowledging the soul's meager essence, the speaker pleads for God to restore His image, appealing to the miracle of grace upon stone.
In so much dregs the pure essence is small: the spirit and good extract of my heart comes to only about one part in many hundreds.3 Yet, Lord, restore your image; hear my call. And though my hard heart can barely groan to you, remember that you once wrote in stone.
Read the original English
LOrd, how I am all ague, when I seek What I have treasur'd in my memorie! Since, if my soul make even with the week, Each seventh note by right is due to thee.
I finde there quarries of pil'd vanities, But shreds of holinesse, that dare not venture To shew their face, since crosse to thy decrees: There the circumference earth is, heav'n the centre.
In so much dregs the quintessence is small: The spirit and good extract of my heart Comes to about the many hundredth part. Yet Lord restore thine image, heare my call: And though my hard heart scarce to thee can grone, Remember that thou once didst write in stone.
Notes
- 1 ↩Source 'all ague' means seized with fever and chills; rendered as 'completely feverish' to keep the bodily intensity of the self-search without archaic medical diction.
- 2 ↩'Make even with the week' is an accounting metaphor (settle/balance the week's books). 'Seventh note' carries a dual musical and calendrical force: the seventh unit of the week (the Lord's day) is due to God as by right.
- 3 ↩Herbert's alchemical pair 'dregs' / 'quintessence' is kept in plain modern terms as sediment vs. pure essence; 'quintessence' is rendered 'pure essence' for accessibility while the distillation metaphor is preserved in 'spirit and good extract.'
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