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GHGeorge Herbert

185 collected words

George Herbert

Life dates: 1593 AD — 1632 AD

Listed in the author section of Bartlett’s ninth-edition anthology, in the linked 1905 printing. Dates reflect that historical edition and may differ from modern scholarship.

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Quotations and sayings

07c. 1612 AD
The Bible? That’s the Book, The Book indeed, The Book of Books; On which who looks, As he should do, aright, shall never need Wish for a better light To guide him in the night. Or, when he hungry is, for better food To feed upon, Than this alone, If he bring stomach and digestion good: And if he be amiss, This the best physic is. It is the looking-glass of souls, wherein All men may see, Whether they be Still, as by nature they are, deform’d with sin; Or in a better case, As new adorn’d with grace. ’Tis the great Magazine of spiritual arms, Wherein doth lie The Artillery Of heaven, ready charged against all harms, That might come by the blows Of our infernal foes. God’s cabinet of reveal’d counsel ’tis: Where weal and woe Are order’d so, That every man may know which shall be his; Unless his own mistake False application make. It is the index of Eternity. He cannot miss Of endless bliss, That takes this chart to steer his voyage by, Nor can he be mistook, That speaketh by this Book. A Book to which no other Book can be compared For excellence; Pre-eminence Is proper to it, and cannot be shared. Divinity alone Belongs to it, or none. It is the Book of God. What if I should Say, God of Books? Let him that looks Angry at this expression, as too bold His thoughts in silence smother, Till he find such another.
George Herbert / quote
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08c. 1612 AD
If bliss had lien in art or strength, None but the wise and strong had gained it; Where now, by faith, all arms are of a length; One size doth all conditions fit. A peasant may believe as much As a great clerk, and reach the highest stature; Thus dost thou make proud knowledge bend and crouch, While grace fills up uneven nature. Faith makes me any thing, or all That I believe is in the sacred story; And when sin placeth me in Adam’s fall, Faith sets me higher in his glory.
George Herbert / quote
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09c. 1612 AD
My stock lies dead, and no increase, Doth my dull husbandry improve; O let thy grace still without cease, Drop from above! The dew doth every morning fall, And shall the dew outstrip thy dove, The dew for which grass cannot call? Drop from above! Death is still working like a mole, And digs my grave at each remove; Let grace work too, and on my soul Drop from above! Sin is still hammering my heart Unto a hardness void of love; Let suppling grace, to cross his art, Drop from above! O come! for Thou dost know the way, Or if to me thou wilt not move, Remove me when I need, and say— Drop from above!
George Herbert / quote
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11c. 1612 AD
Up, and away, Thy Saviour’s gone before, Why dost thou stay, Dull soul? Behold the door Is open, and His precepts bid thee rise, Whose power hath vanquished all thine enemies. In vain thou say’st Thou art buried with thy Saviour, If thou delay’st To show by thy behaviour, That thou art risen with Him. Till thou shine Like Him, how canst thou say His light is thine. Open thine eyes Sin-seized soul, and see What cobweb ties They are that trammel thee; Not profit, pleasure, honours, as thou thinkest, But loss, pain, shame, at which thou vainly winkest. All that is good Thy Saviour dearly bought With His heart’s blood, And it must then be sought, Where he keeps residence, who rose this day; Linger no longer then, up and away.
George Herbert / quote
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