Providence
The Call to Praise
The poet addresses Providence, declaring humanity's unique role as the secretary of praise and the world's high priest, and offers praise on behalf of all creation.
O sacred Providence, moving from end to end with such strength and sweetness! Shall I write, and not of you, through whom my fingers bend to hold my pen?1 Won't they do you justice?2 You have made known your ways only to man among all the creatures in sea and land, put the pen alone in his hand, and made him the secretary of your praise.✦ Beasts would gladly sing; birds would set songs to their notes; trees would be tuning on their native lute to your renown: but all their hands and throats are brought to Man, while they are lame and mute.3 Man is the world's high priest: he presents the sacrifice for all, while those below mutter an assent to the service—the kind falling springs and blowing winds make. Anyone who holds back from praising and honoring you doesn't hold back only for himself, but robs a thousand who would gladly praise you, and commits a world of sin in that one refusal. The beasts say, Eat me—but if beasts must teach, the tongue is yours for eating, and mine for praise. The trees say, Pull me—but the hand you stretch out is mine for writing, just as it is yours for lifting. So, most sacred Spirit, I offer praise to you here for myself and all my fellows; and it's only right that I should pay the rent, because the benefit comes to me.
The Sovereign Order
The poet acknowledges God's transcendent power and love, describing how command and permission govern all things, and how even storms obey God's hand.
We all acknowledge that both your power and your love are exact, transcendent, and divine—you who move so strongly and so sweetly, while all things have their will, yet none but yours. For either your command or your permission lays hands on everything: they are your right hand and your left. The first presses on with speed and haste; the other curbs sin's stealthy pace and theft.4 Nothing escapes them both; everything must appear and be ordered, prepared, and tuned by you, who sweetly temper all things. If we could hear your skill and art, what music it would be! You are great in small things, not small in any: your steady praise can neither rise nor fall.5 You are one in all things, many in each thing: for you are infinite in one and all. Storms are calm to you; they know your hand, and hold it tight, as children hold their fathers' hands—crying out and following.✦ You have made poor sand check the proud sea, even when it swells and gathers.✦6
Provision for Every Creature
The poet marvels at how God provides for every creature, from the food chain to the wisdom of pigeons and the work of bees, showing a harmonious economy.
Your cupboard serves the world: the food is set where everyone can reach it; no creature fails to find its feed.7 Birds teach us hawking; fish have their net: the great prey on the smaller, and the smaller on some weed.8 Nothing ever born arrives ahead of its food: flies have their table set before they even appear.✦9 Some creatures have food to eat in winter; others sleep, and don't envy their fare.10 How finely you spin times and seasons, and make a twist checkered with night and day! Which, as it lengthens, winds and winds us in, as bowls go on, but turning all the way.11 Each creature has a wisdom for its own good. Pigeons feed their tender chicks, who cry while they're still featherless; but once the chicks are fully feathered, they stop bringing food, so that need will teach them to fly.12 Bees work for people; and yet they never bruise their master's flower, but leave it, once they've finished, as fair as ever and still fit for use. So both the flower remains, and the honey runs. Sheep eat the grass and fertilize the ground for more to grow. Trees, after bearing fruit, drop their leaves for soil. Springs pour out their streams, and by spending they gain a store. Clouds cool by heat, and baths boil by cooling.
Hidden Virtues and Mysteries
The poet reflects on the hidden virtues of herbs and stones, the power of stars, and the presence of antidotes alongside poisons, revealing God's mysterious ordering.
Who can express the rare and intricate virtues of both herbs and stones?13 Is there an herb for that? Oh, that your care would show a root that gives the gift of expression!14 And if an herb has power, what power do the stars have? A rose, besides its beauty, is a cure. Doubtless our plagues and plenty, peace and wars, are much surer there than our skill is sure. You have hidden metals: man may take them from there, but at his own peril. When he digs the place, he makes a grave — as if the thing had sense, and threatened him that he would fill the space. Even poisons praise you. Should anything be lost? Should creatures go without what they need for lack of heed to what is due them?15 Since where there are poisons, antidotes are most plentiful: help stands close by and keeps the fear in view.
The Usefulness of Creation
The poet observes how creation serves human needs—the sea becomes a highway, winds serve trade, and man alone uses fire and clothing, showing his unique place.
The sea, which seems to stop the traveler, is turned by a ship into the faster way across. The winds, who think they rule the sailor, are ruled by him and taught to serve his trade. And as your house is full, so I adore your skillful art in marshalling your goods.16 The hills are filled with health; the valleys with plenty; the South with marble; the North with furs and woods. Hard things are glorious; easy things come cheap.17 Everyone has what is common; what is rare, people therefore seek to get and take care to keep. Healthy frosts compare well with summer fruits.18 Light without wind is glass: warm without weight is wool and furs: cool without confinement, shade: speed without effort, a horse: tall without height, a trained hawk: low without loss, a spade.19 Every country already has enough to meet its needs. If people seek luxury goods, you make them run for their offense; and then you turn their speed into commerce and trade from sun to sun. Only man wears clothes; only he needs them to wear. Only man uses fire, to show his heavenly origin; and only he has fuel in his desire.2021
The Wisdom in Nature's Variety
The poet continues to catalogue the wonders of providence, from the water cycle and the harshness of thorns to the peculiarities of crocodiles and elephants, showing God's freedom and wisdom.
When the earth was dry, you made a sea of water; when that water was gathered, you opened the mountains; when some places still could get no moisture, the winds became gardeners, and the clouds good fountains.✦✦ Rain, don't hurt my flowers; but gently pour out your honey drops: don't press to smell them here. When they're ripe, their fragrance will rise, and appear at your lodging with their thanks.22 How harsh thorns are to pears! And yet they make a better hedge and need less repair.23 How smooth silks are compared to a stake or a stone! Yet they don't make a good foundation.24 Sometimes you divide your gifts among people; sometimes you unite them. The coconut alone is clothing, meat and plate, drink and cup, boat, cable, sail and needle—all in one.25 Most herbs that grow in brooks are hot and dry. Cold fruits and warm kernels help against gas.26 The lemon's juice and rind cure each other.27 The whey of milk loosens; the milk binds.28 Your creatures don't leap about, but they express a feast where all the guests sit close together, and nothing is lacking.29 Frogs unite fish and flesh; bats, bird and beast; sponges, the senseless and the sensing; mines, the earth and plants.30 To show you aren't bound, as if your lot were worse than ours, sometimes you switch hands.31 Most things move the lower jaw; the crocodile does not. Most things sleep lying down; the elephant leans or stands.
The Inexpressible Praise
The poet concludes that no one can fully express God's works, yet all things join to honor Him, and this hymn offers praise in a special way.
But who has enough praise? No—who has any? No one can express your works but the one who knows them; and no one can know your works, which are so many and so complete, but only the one who owns them.✦32 All things that exist, though they have different ways, still unite in their being with one purpose to honor you. So I give you praise in all my other hymns, but in this one, I give it twice.33 Everything that exists, though in use and name it counts as one, has many ways in store to honor you; and so each hymn extols your fame in many ways—yet this one more.
Read the original English
O Sacred Providence, who from end to end Strongly and sweetly movest! shall I write, And not of thee, through whom my fingers bend To hold my quill? shall they not do thee right?
Of all the creatures both in sea and land Onely to Man thou hast made known thy wayes, And put the pen alone into his hand, And made him Secretarie of thy praise.
Beasts fain would sing; birds dittie to their notes; Trees would be tuning on their native lute To thy renown: but all their hands and throats Are brought to Man, while they are lame and mute.
Man is the worlds high Priest: he doth present The sacrifice for all; while they below Unto the service mutter an assent, Such as springs use that fall, and windes that blow.
He that to praise and laud thee doth refrain, Doth not refrain unto himself alone, But robs a thousand who would praise thee fain, And doth commit a world of sinne in one.
The beasts say, Eat me: but, if beasts must teach, The tongue is yours to eat, but mine to praise. The trees say, Pull me: but the hand you stretch, Is mine to write, as it is yours to raise.
Wherefore, most sacred Spirit, I here present For me and all my fellows praise to thee: And just it is that I should pay the rent, Because the benefit accrues to me.
We all acknowledge both thy power and love To be exact, transcendent, and divine; Who dost so strongly and so sweetly move, While all things have their will, yet none but thine.
For either thy command, or thy permission Lay hands on all: they are thy right and left. The first puts on with speed and expedition; The other curbs sinnes stealing pace and theft.
Nothing escapes them both; all must appeare, And be dispos'd and dress'd, and tun'd by thee, Who sweetly temper'st all. If we could heare Thy skill and art, what musick would it be!
Thou art in small things great, not small in any: Thy even praise can neither rise, nor fall. Thou art in all things one, in each thing many: For thou art infinite in one and all.
Tempests are calm to thee; they know thy hand, And hold it fast, as children do their fathers, Which crie and follow. Thou hast made poore sand Check the proud sea, ev'n when it swells and gathers.
Thy cupboard serves the world: the meat is set, Where all may reach: no beast but knows his feed. Birds teach us hawking; fishes have their net: The great prey on the lesse, they on some weed.
Nothing ingendred doth prevent his meat: Flies have their table spread, ere they appeare. Some creatures have in winter what to eat; Others do sleep, and envie not their cheer.
How finely dost thou times and seasons spin, And make a twist checker’d with night and day! Which as it lengthens, windes, and windes us in, As bouls go on, but turning all the way.
Each creature hath a wisdome for his good. The pigeons feed their tender off-spring, crying, When they are callow; but withdraw their food When they are fledge, that need may teach thẽ flying.
Bees work for man; and yet they never bruise Their masters flow'r, but leave it, having done, As fair as ever, and as fit to use: So both the flow'r doth stay, and hony run.
Sheep eat the grasse, and dung the ground for more: Trees after bearing drop their leaves for soil: Springs vent their streams, and by expense get store: Clouds cool by heat, and baths by cooling boil.
Who hath the vertue to expresse the rare And curious vertues both of herbs and stones? Is there a herb for that? O that thy care Would show a root, that gives expressions!
And if an herb hath power, what have the starres? A rose, besides his beautie, is a cure. Doubtlesse our plagues and plentie, peace and warres Are there much surer then our art is sure.
Thou hast hid metals: man may take them thence; But at his perill: when he digs the place, He makes a grave; as if the thing had sense, And threatned man, that he should fill the space.
Ev'n poysons praise thee. Should a thing be lost? Should creatures want for want of heed their due? Since where are poysons, antidots are most, The help stands close, and keeps the fear in view.
The sea, which seems to stop the traveller, Is by a ship the speedier passage made. The windes, who think they rule the mariner, Are rul'd by him, and taught to serve his trade.
And as thy house is full, so I adore Thy curious art in marshalling thy goods. The hills with health abound; the vales with store; The South with marble; North with furres & woods.
Hard things are glorious; easie things good cheap. The common all men have: that which is rare, Men therefore seek to have, and care to keep. The healthy frosts with summer-fruits compare.
Light without winde is glasse: warm without weight Is wooll and furres: cool without closenesse, shade: Speed without pains, a horse: tall without height, A servile hawk: low without losse, a spade.
All countreys have enough to serve their need: If they seek fine things, thou dost make them run For their offence; and then dost turn their speed To be commerce and trade from sunne to sunne.
Nothing wears clothes but Man; nothing doth need But he to wear them. Nothing useth fire, But Man alone, to show his heav'nly breed: And onely he hath fuell in desire.
When th' earth was dry, thou mad'st a sea of wet: Whẽ that lay gather'd, thou didst broach the moũtains: When yet some places could no moisture get, The windes grew gard'ners, and the clouds good fountains.
Rain, do not hurt my flowers; but gently spend Your hony drops: presse not to smell them here: When they are ripe, their odour will ascend, And at your lodging with their thanks appeare.
How harsh are thorns to pears! and yet they make A better hedge, and need lesse reparation. How smooth are silks compared with a stake, Or with a stone! yet make no good foundation.
Sometimes thou dost divide thy gifts to man, Sometimes unite. The Indian nut alone Is clothing, meat and trencher, drink and kan, Boat, cable, sail and needle, all in one.
Most herbs that grow in brooks, are hot and dry. Cold fruits warm kernels help against the winde. The lemmons juice and rinde cure mutually. The whey of milk doth loose, the milk doth binde.
Thy creatures leap not, but expresse a feast, Where all the guests sit close, and nothing wants. Frogs marry fish and flesh; bats, bird and beast; Sponges, non-sense and sense; mines, th'earth & plants.
To show thou art not bound, as if thy lot Were worse then ours; sometimes thou shiftest hands. Most things move th' under-jaw; the Crocodile not. Most things sleep lying; th' Elephant leans or stands.
But who hath praise enough? nay who hath any? None can expresse thy works, but he that knows them: And none can know thy works, which are so many, And so complete, but onely he that owes them.
All things that are, though they have sev'rall wayes, Yet in their being joyn with one advise To honour thee: and so I give thee praise In all my other hymnes, but in this twice.
Each thing that is, although in use and name It go for one, hath many wayes in store To honour thee; and so each hymne thy fame Extolleth many wayes, yet this one more.
Scripture echoes
- ↩Ps.103.7;Ps.25.4 — He made known his ways to Moses, his deeds to the people of Israel. Ps.25.4 — Your ways, O LORD, make known to me; your paths, teach me.
- ↩Ps.107.29;Job.38.8-Job.38.11 — He turned the storm into a calm, and their waves were still. Job.38.8 — and he shut up the sea with doors, when it burst forth, issuing from the womb; Job.38.9 — when I made cloud its garment, and thick darkness its swaddling band Job.38.10 — and I shattered upon it my decree, and I set a bar and doors; Job.38.11 — And I said, 'Thus far you shall come, and no farther; here your proud waves will be stayed.'
- ↩Jer.5.22;Job.38.8-Job.38.11;Prov.8.29;Ps.104.9 — Do you not fear me? declares the LORD. Do you not tremble before me? I placed the sand as a boundary for the sea, a perpetual decree that it cannot pass. Though its waves toss, they cannot prevail; though they roar, they cannot pass it. Job.38.8 — and he shut up the sea with doors, when it burst forth, issuing from the womb; Job.38.9 — when I made cloud its garment, and thick darkness its swaddling band Job.38.10 — and I shattered upon it my decree, and I set a bar and doors; Job.38.11 — And I said, 'Thus far you shall come, and no farther; here your proud waves will be stayed.' Prov.8.29 — When he set the sea its boundary, so that the waters would not pass his command, when he marked out the foundations of the earth, Ps.104.9 — You set a boundary they shall not cross, nor shall they return to cover the earth.
- ↩Matt.6.26;Ps.104.27-Ps.104.28;Ps.147.9 — Look at the birds of the air: they do not reap, nor gather into barns, nor store away grain — and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not worth far more than they? Ps.104.27 — All of them look to you, to give them their food in its proper time. Ps.104.28 — When you give to them, they gather; when you open your hand, they are filled with good. Ps.147.9 — He gives food to the beasts, and to the young ravens when they cry.
- ↩Gen.1.9-Gen.1.10 — And God said, "Let the waters under the heavens be gathered to one place, and let the dry land appear." And it was so. Gen.1.10 — And God called the dry land Earth, and the gathering of the waters He called Seas. And God saw that it was good.
- ↩Ps.104.10-Ps.104.13 — You send springs into the valleys; they flow between the mountains. Ps.104.11 — They give drink to every beast of the field; the wild donkeys quench their thirst. Ps.104.12 — By them the birds of the sky dwell; from among the branches they give voice. Ps.104.13 — He waters the mountains from his upper chambers; the earth is satisfied with the fruit of your works.
- ↩Job.5.9;Ps.145.3;Rom.11.33 — He does great things beyond searching out, wonders without number. Ps.145.3 — Great is the LORD, and greatly to be praised; and his greatness is unsearchable. Rom.11.33 — Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments, and how inscrutable his ways!
Notes
- 1 ↩Source 'quill' rendered as 'pen' for contemporary readability; the image is still the writing instrument bent by Providence.
- 2 ↩'Do thee right' means give what is due / treat fairly; rendered as 'do you justice' to keep the claim of owed praise without archaism.
- 3 ↩Early modern verb 'dittie' means to set or make a song; rendered as 'set songs to their notes' to keep Herbert's sense that birds would turn raw sound into song-praise.
- 4 ↩puts on with speed and expedition: Early Modern sense of pressing forward / setting to work promptly, not clothing. expedition = promptness, not a journey.
- 5 ↩Source 'even praise' means level, uniform praise—unchanged whether the occasion looks small or great—not 'even' as 'fair' or 'just.'
- 6 ↩poor sand keeps Herbert's paradox of lowly, meager sand restraining the arrogant sea; not merely barren sand.
- 7 ↩Early modern meat means food in general, not flesh only; rendered as food.
- 8 ↩lesse modernized as smaller; hawking kept for falconry / bird-of-prey hunting, which the food-chain lines then generalize.
- 9 ↩Early modern 'prevent' means 'go before / precede' (not stop); 'meat' means food in general; 'ingendred' = brought into being / born.
- 10 ↩'Cheer' here is food/fare/provisions (as in 'good cheer'), not mood.
- 11 ↩Source bouls is the early modern spelling of bowls (the game of bowls): the image is of a bowl that keeps rolling forward while spinning the whole way.
- 12 ↩callow: unfledged, still without flight feathers; fledge/fledged: ready for flight. Source thẽ = them.
- 13 ↩First 'vertue' = power/skill to articulate; second 'vertues' = efficacious properties. 'Curious' is Early Modern for intricate/exquisite, not inquisitive.
- 14 ↩'Expressions' plays on verbal expression and the herbal sense of juices pressed out; rendered as the gift/power of expression to match the rhetorical wish of s1–s2.
- 15 ↩Herbert's double 'want...for want of' pairs 'go without' with 'for lack of'; 'heed their due' is taken as heed paid to what is due them (care/attention), not as creatures themselves heeding.
- 16 ↩Early modern 'curious' means carefully wrought / ingenious, not odd or merely inquisitive.
- 17 ↩Early modern 'good cheap' intensifies cheapness (very cheap / of little cost), not moral 'good'.
- 18 ↩'Compare' here means rank as comparable goods of providence, not merely contrast.
- 19 ↩Source 'closenesse' means enclosure/being shut in (not nearness); rendered 'confinement' for modern clarity. 'servile hawk' is a falconer's trained hawk, kept obedient while it flies high—hence the paradox 'tall without height.'
- 20 ↩heav'nly breed: lineage/origin from heaven; kept as breed to preserve Herbert's stock/kind sense rather than flattening to nature or destiny.
- 21 ↩fuell in desire: desire itself is the fuel that feeds man's use of fire; not merely that man desires fuel.
- 22 ↩Source 'hony drops' is Herbert's image for sweet rain; kept as 'honey drops' to preserve the metaphor rather than flattening to 'raindrops'.
- 23 ↩Source 'reparation' here means physical mending/repair of a hedge, not moral reparation; rendered 'repair' to avoid modern misreading.
- 24 ↩Subject is elided in the source (silks from the previous sentence); 'they' is supplied for modern readability without changing sense.
- 25 ↩Source 'Indian nut' is the early modern name for the coconut; rendered as coconut for modern clarity. 'Trencher' = serving plate; 'kan' = can/cup (drinking vessel).
- 26 ↩Early modern 'winde' means flatulence/intestinal gas, not outdoor wind; rendered as 'gas' for contemporary American readability.
- 27 ↩'lemmons'/'rinde' modernized to lemon/rind; 'cure mutually' means the juice and the rind remedy or counterbalance one another.
- 28 ↩'loose'/'binde' are medical opposites: whey has a loosening (laxative) effect; milk has a binding (constipating) effect.
- 29 ↩Early modern 'wants' = lacks; 'nothing wants' means nothing is missing, not that nothing desires.
- 30 ↩Source 'marry' means join or unite categories, not literal marriage. 'Non-sense' is the insensate (not 'nonsense' as absurdity); sponges were taken as midway between senseless and sensing life. 'Mines' are mineral veins/ores, thought to bridge earth and plant growth.
- 31 ↩Early modern 'shiftest hands' means you change method or reverse the usual pattern—not literal hand-switching only.
- 32 ↩Early modern 'owes' here means 'owns' (possesses/is author of), not modern 'is indebted for'; only God, as owner of the works, fully knows them.
- 33 ↩Early Modern noun 'advise' means counsel/deliberate purpose, not modern 'advice' alone; rendered as 'counsel' to keep the shared intent of creation.
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