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H Number -~ ~~~~~~~~~~x~ ^fe — ~~ ~~~ Thirteen. 

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GEORGE HERBERT, 



BY 



V 

DANIEL WISE, 13. D. 



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NEW YORK : 
PHILL1PS& HUNT. 

CINCINNATI: 
WALDEN & S T O V 
l88 3 . 

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The "Home College Series" will contain one hundred short papers on 
a wide range of subjects — biographical, historical, scientific, literary, domes- 
tic, political, and religious. Indeed, the religious tone will characterize al 1 
of them. They are written for every body — for all whose leisure is limited, 
but who desire to use the minutes for the enrichment of life. 

These papers contain s^eds from the best gardens in all the world of 
human knowledge, and if dropped wisely into good soil, will bring forth 
harvests of beauty and value. 

They are for the young — especially for young people (and older people, 
too) who are out of the schools, who are full of " business " and "cares," 
who are in danger of reading nothing, or of reading a sensational literature 
that is worse than nothing. 

One of these papers a week read over and over, thought and talked about 
at "odd times," will give in one year a vast fund of information, an intel- 
lectual quickening, worth even more than the mere knowledge! acquired, a 
taste for solid read ng, many hours of simple and wholesome pleasure, ind 
ability to talk intelligently and helpfully to one's friends. 

Pastors may organize "Home College" classes, or "Lyceum Rea tig 
Unions," or "Chautauqua Literary and Scientific Circles," and help lie 
young people to read and think and talk ami live to worthier purpose. 

A young man may have his own little "college " all by himself, read i lis 
series of tracts one after the other, (there will soon he one hundred of tneia 
ready,) examine himself on thorn by the '-Thought-Outline to Help the M in - 
ory," and thus gain knowledge, and, what is better, a love of knowledge. 

And what a young man may do in this respect, a young woman, and 

old men and old women, may do. 

J. H. Vinc 
New York, Jan., 1SS3. 



Copyright, 1SS3, by Phillips & Hunt, New York. 



Jpom:f <gToIIjcge Sirus, ftumbcr &jnrtcett, 
GEORGE HERBERT. 



George Herbert was born in the ancient castle of Mont- 
gomery, England, April 3, 1593. This stately Norman fort- 
ress, which had been long owned by his ancestors, stood 
near the river Severn on a gentle ascent which overlooked 
a fertile and attractive vale. In earlier times it had been 
the object of many a fierce assault by the warriors of Wales, 
and the starting-point of many a foray by Norman knights 
and English men-at-arms into Welsh territory. But when 
George Herbert was born it was the abode of peace and 
love. His parents were both of noble descent, but far bet- 
ter than their aristocratic blood and their abundant wealth 
was the deep piety and Christian charity which dwelt in 
their hearts like a fountain of living water, and constantly 
flowed out to the needy in gentle words and liberal gifts. 

Ten children, of which seven were boys, made life in 

Montgomery Castle cheerful and happy. Lady Herbert, their 

mother, was a woman of rare character, who, instead of 

leaving her children, as too many wealthy mothers do, to 

the care of servants, trained them most lovingly in the fear 

of God. Her son George, who was the fifth of the seven 

brothers, spent the years of his childhood, until his twelfth 

year, under her personal instruction. His father died when 

f-eorge was four years old. After this sad event his mother 

ept him and his two younger brothers at home, where, aided 

y the castle chaplain and a tutor, she carefully watched 

v T er his early education. 

Those were happy years spent in " sweet content " by this 
I omising child in that princely castle. His noble mother's 



GEORGE HERBERT. 



wise training, and his improvement under it, were seen in 
his spirit and conduct when, being twelve years old, he was 
sent to Westminster School. There, says dear old Izaak 
Walton, his genial biographer, " the beauties of his pretty be- 
havior and wit shined and became so eminent and lovely in 
this his innocent age, that he seemed to be marked out for 
piety, and to become the care of heaven and of a particu- 
lar good angel to guard and guide him." 

To this pious disposition Master George joined rare dili- 
gence in study. His intellect was as quick and penetrating 
as his affections were tender and responsive to the voices of 
heavenly love. Hence three years at Westminster School 
sufficed to make him so well versed in Latin, and especially 
in Greek, as to enable him to enter Trinity College, Cam- 
bridge, when he was only fifteen years old. Knowing that 
fascinating temptations to idleness and vice abounded in 
that venerable seat of learning, the lad's prudent mother 
secured him a tutor fitted by his learning and piety to di- 
rect the studies and to form the habits of a sensitive boy of 
tender age. To the lad's credit he gave due heed both to 
his tutor, to his conscience, and to God's holy word. Instead 
of listening to the voice of delusive vices, he resolutely re- 
pelled their approaches. His loyalty to God found quaint 
but strong expression during his first year in college in his 
letters to his beloved mother, to whom he sent the first 
songs his poetic nature moved him to compose. In one of 
his sonnets, after lamenting that most of the poets of the 
times were writers of idle love songs, he declares his pur- 
pose in these decided words: " For my own part, dear moth- 
er, my meaning is in these sonnets to declare my resolution 
to be, that my poor abilities in poetry shall be all and ever 
consecrated to God's glory." O, noble resolve for a college 
student of sixteen, living in the midst of so many influences 
which tended to ungodliness ! 

In the sonnet sent in the above letter to his mother he 



GEORGE HERBERT. 



sings his intention to consecrate his muse to God in these 
fine lines: 

" Sure, Lord, there is enough in thee to dry 
Oceans of ink ; for as the deluge did 
Cover the earth, so doth thy majesty ; 
Each cloud distills thy praise, and doth forbid 
Poets to turn it to another use." 

He next pronounces that poetic fire " wild," and that " in- 
vention poor," which can find nothing in nature higher than 
emblems of woman's beauty, and he closes his sonnet with 
the following suggestive antithesis: 

" Open the bones, and you shall nothing find 
In the best face but filth ; when, Lord, in thee 
The beauty lies in the discovery." 

Young Herbert's resolutions were not like the evanescent 
morning cloud, but, arising as they did from his innermost 
nature, they were as granite pillars strong. They held him 
firm to his studies and to his duties to the end of his student 
life. So high was his scholarship that he took his bachelor's 
degree when he was eighteen years old. Four years later 
he was made Master of Arts, and was elected " Major Feb 
low " of the college the same year. These honors were not 
the gifts of unmerited favoritism, but flowers which were 
the natural bloom of a fine intellectual nature cultivated 
with unremitting diligence and in harmony with unswerving 
loyalty to conscience and to Gocl. 

But had our student no relaxations — no amusements ? 
For amusements such as young men generally practice he 
appears to have had little taste, and, therefore, little desire 
and little sense of need. But he did indulge in needfid re- 
laxation from his regular studies; and he found it, not in 
boating or hunting or playing ball or dancing or card-play- 
ing or frequenting theaters, as most of his fellow-students 



GEORGE HERBERT. 



did, but in the practice of music, in which, says Walton, 
" he became a great master." Of its effects he frequently 
said " that it did relieve his drooping spirits, compose his 
distracting thoughts, and raised his weary soul so far above 
earth that it gave him an earnest of the joys of heaven be- 
fore he possessed them." Did ever devotee to the boister- 
ous amusements so common in college life find such profit- 
able results as did the gentle Herbert in his innocent mu- 
sical recreations ? 

But was this sweet-souled young man faultless? By no 
means. To affirm that he was would be saying that he was 
more than human, and denying his many confessions of per- 
sonal transgressions written in his poems. It seems evident, 
however, that he was, to a very uncommon degree, free from 
open sins; but his private tutor, Dr. Nevil, who loved him 
well and conversed with him often and freely, speaks of two 
characteristic faults. After praising his pupil's native good- 
ness, he says that if he manifested any fault " it was that 
he kept himself too much retired and at too great a distance 
from all his inferiors; and his clothes seemed to prove that 
he put too great a value on his parts and parentage." Thus 
it appears that Herbert's weakness, not to say sin, was his 
aristocratic pride, which was as lofty as his blood, which 
bloomed into an exclusiveness that refused association ex- 
cept with scions of the nobility, and sought to display itself 
in very costly, if not in gay, apparel. Assuredly such pride, 
tho.igh a sin of the mind, is not a venial offense in the sight 
of God. Doubtless in Herbert it was the cause of many a 
fierce spiritual battle, of serious hinderance to his growth in 
piety, of many a pang of self-censure, of many a contrite 
tear, and, as we shall presently see, of his disappointed am- 
bitions. Happily for himself and for his influence over 
mankind, he subsequently found grace to replace this hateful 
human pride with a beautiful Christian humility. 

Four years after his election to a fellowship he was chosen 



GEORGE HERBERT. 



to the important office of orator for the university. His 
great learning, " high fancy, civil and sharp wit, natural ele- 
gance in his behavior, his tongue, and his pen," enabled him 
to discharge the duties of this office with distinguished suc- 
cess. The pedantic King James I., having sent a copy of a 
book of which he was the author to the library of the uni- 
versity, it became Mr. Herbert's duty to acknowledge his 
majesty's condescension. He did so in a letter so elegant and 
so pleasing to the king, that he asked the Earl of Pembroke 
if he knew its author. To which inquiry the earl replied: 

" I know him very well, sire. He is my kinsman. But 
I love him more for his learning and virtue than because he 
is of my name and family." 

The king smiled and rejoined: "You must permit me to 
love him also, my lord, for I take him to be the jewel of 
that university." 

His majesty's high opinion of Herbert grew into a decided 
friendship when, on visiting Cambridge, he listened to the 
orator's gratulatory address. " I find," said the gratified 
monarch to Pembroke, " the orator's learning and wisdom 
much above his age or wit," 

During a later visit to Cambridge King James had in his 
royal suite the celebrated Lord Bacon. This learned and 
great man was so delighted with Herbert's accomplishments, ' 
and formed so high an opinion of his judgment, that he not 
only cultivated his friendship, but also submitted many of his 
subsequent writings to his criticism before putting them in 
print, He also dedicated his translation of some of David's 
psalms to Herbert, saying that he regarded him as the best 
living judge of divine poetry. Sir Henry Wotton and Dr. 
Donne, both distinguished men, also conceived a life-long 
friendship for him at this time. And when Donne, who 
was both a great wit and a poet of considerable ability, was 
in declining health he caused several seals to be engraved with 
the figure of Christ crucified on an anchor, the emblem of 



6 GEORGE HERBERT. 



hope. These seals he sent to his frinds. Herbert received 
one of them, which was found, subsequent to his death, 
wrapped in a paper on which these epigrammatic lines were 
written: 

" When my dear friend could write no more 
He gave his seal, and so gave o'er. 
When winds and waves rise highest, I am sure, 
'This anchor keeps my faith ; that me secure." 

The king's friendship led to Herbert's admission to the 
court circle and to intimate association with the highest no- 
bles in the realm. These distinctions awakened his earthly 
ambitions, and fed his aristocratic pride and his passion for 
rich costume. Some of his predecessors in office had attained 
to the dignified office of Secretary of State. Why may not 
I attain it too ? his heart asked, and that, too, not without 
good reason. Indulging this anticipation, he mastered the 
Italian, Spanish, and French languages. He ceased to keep 
close residence at Cambridge, and would have resigned both 
his fellowship and his orator's office but for the protests of 
his good mother, who very much desired him to become a 
clergyman. Perhaps his growing symptoms of incipient 
consumption and his infirmities caused by frequent attacks 
of malarial fever, inclined him to abandon a life of study 
for the freer and more active life of a royal court, since he 
often said at this time: 

" I have too thoughtful a wit; a wit like a penknife in too 
narrow a sheath, too sharp for my body." 

This was, without doubt, the critical period in his life. 
Whether he would become a clergyman and a saintly poet 
or a worldly statesman was the question. Would he follow 
the impulses of his aspiring earthly ambition, or of his still 
active conscience? The king's favor, shown in various 
ways, especially by his gift of a sinecure of moderate value, 
but honorable in that it had once been enjoyed by the noble 



GEORGE HERBERT. 



Sir Philip Sidney and other distinguished men, encouraged 
Herbert to expect appointment to the higher office to which 
he aspired. In all probability his ambition would have tri- 
umphed had not the hand of Death caused his courtly pros- 
pects to fall to the dust like a work of enchantment. Two 
of his most powerful court friends died, and shortly after the 
king himself was summoned to stand at the bar of the King 
ot'kings. 

Stricken with disappointment, and threatened with con- 
sumption through overmuch study, Herbert now retired into 
a solitary country retreat. Here he underwent a twofold 
conflict — a battle with disease and with conscience. The 
mental question was, Shall I return to court life, or shall I 
enter the ministry ? The strife was long and severe, " but 
at last God inclined him to put on a resolution to serve at 
his altar.'" To a friend who urged that preaching was " too 
mean an employment" for one of his high birth, he wrote: 

" It hath been formerly judged that the domestic servants 
of the King of Heaven should be of the noblest families on 
earth. And though the iniquity of the late times have made 
clergymen meanly valued, and the sacred name of priest 
contemptible, yet I will labor to make it honorable by con- 
secrating all my learning and all my poor abilities to advance 
the glory of God that gave them; knowing that I can never 
do too much for him that hath done so much for me as to 
make me a Christian." 

This resolution was soon followed by his ordination as a 
deacon, and his being made Prebend of Layton Ecclesia. 
Here he showed his energy and liberality by rebuilding the 
parish church, partly with his own means and partly with 
contributions from his friends. This generous task finished, 
he was stricken Avith fever and ague, and became an invalid 
for twelve months. When convalescent, he went to the 
mansion of his friend, the Earl of Danby, and while there 
he resolved to marry. 



GEORGE HERBERT. 



His marriage was sudden and quite romantic. It grew 
out of his friendship with a wealthy gentleman named Dan- 
vers, a kinsman of the Earl of Danby, and the father of 
nine daughters. Danvers was strongly attached to the 
courtly Herbert. He had often said to him: 

" I wish you would marry one of my daughters. I should 
like you to marry J.me, because she is my favorite. If you 
could like her for a wife, and she you for a husband, Jane 
shall have a double blessing." 

So enthusiastic and so frequent was this father's praise of 
Mr. Herbert to his pet daughter Jane, that the maiden, 
though she had never seen him, accepted him as her ideal 
of all that is good and noble in a man. She had, indeed, 
become, "so Platonic as to fall in love with Mr. Herbert 
unseen." 

Before she met her ideal lover her father died. In all 
probability Jane's hopes would have died also if Mr. Herbert 
had not sought complete restoration to health by residing 
awhile in the neighborhood of her home with his friend, the 
Earl, some time after the death of Mr. Danvers. While 
there Mr. Herbert was induced to visit the maiden whose 
praises had been so often sounded in his ears by her fond 
father. His appearance was certainly in his favor. " He 
was of a stature inclining toward tallness; his body was 
very straight, and so far from being cumbered with too much 
flesh, that he was lean to an extremity. His aspect was 
cheerful, and his speech and motion did both declare him a 
gentleman, for they were all so meek and obliging that they 
purchased love and respect from all that knew him." 

Of the maiden we have no description. No doubt she 
was of more than ordinary comeliness, or she would not have 
captivated a man of such fastidious and courtly tastes as our 
poet. Good old Izaak describes the result of their meeting 
with his usual quaint simplicity. He says that when they 
first met, " A mutual affection entered into both their hearts, 



GEORGE HERBERT. 



as a conqueror enters into a surprised city, and love, having 
got such a possession, governed and made there such laws 
and resolutions as neither party was able to resist ; inasmuch, 
that she changed her name into Herbert the third day after 
this first interview." 

This haste to consummate a love so suddenly born strikes 
us as being somewhat indelicate, especially as there was 
nothing in the circumstances of either requiring it. His 
biographer apologizes for it by saying: 

" This haste in others might be thought a love-frenzy or 
worse. But it was not, for they had wooed so like princes 
as to have select proxies, such as were true friends to both 
parties. . . . And the suddenness was justifiable by the 
strictest rules of prudence; and the more because it proved 
so happy to both parties; for the eternal Lover of mankind 
made them happy in each other's mutual and equal affections 
and compliance; indeed, so happy that there never was any 
opposition between them, unless it were a contest which 
should most incline to a compliance with the other's 
desires." 

Perhaps the best apology for this haste is found in Her- 
bert's only prose work, the " Country Parson," where he says 
of the married parson: "The choice of his wife was made 
rather by his ear than by his eye ; his judgment, not his af- 
fection, found out a wife fit for him, whose humble and lib- 
eral disposition he preferred before beauty and honor." If 
in these words he described his own case, as is more than 
probable, it follows that it Avas not the haste of passion 
which precipitated his marriage, but a conviction that hav- 
ing long loved each other ideally, and having found on com- 
ing together that they were what each had believed the 
other to be, there was not only no impropriety, but a natural 
fitness in their immediate union. It may have been so. 
The reader must decide. We confess we cannot. 

Shortly after his marriage Herbert, then nearly thirty-six 



10 GEORGE HERBERT. 

years old, was made rector of Bemerton, where he spent the 
brief remainder of his life— a life, says Walton, " so full of 
charity, humility, and all Christian virtues, that it deserves 
the eloquence of St. Chrysostom to commend and declare it. 1 ' 
Doubtless its contrast with the prevailing clerical lives of 
his times made Herbert's sanctified life appear like an " in- 
credible story " to his contemporaries. It was, however, 
very remarkable in itself for spirituality, charity, and com- 
plete devotion to ministerial duties. His " Country Parson " 
is, without question, a faithful transcript of his own habits 
and character, just as his principal poetical work, " The Tem- 
ple," is of his religious experience. The former work, de- 
spite its thoroughly Church character, is full of pregnant 
hints — real golden grains — and quaint sayings on almost 
every question connected with ministerial life. The latter 
is a collection of brief poems, mainly descriptive of Christian 
experience and ethics. Like the poems of Dr. Donne and 
Francis Quarles, they abound in quaint, strong, and terse 
expressions, fanciful analogies, strange conceits, striking an- 
titheses, with occasional passages of rare sublimity. They 
abound, also, in religious sentiment; not the mere spray of 
evanescent feeling, but the bud of deep conviction, ready to 
burst into the bloom of self-sacrificing action. Herbert is 
far less coarse than either Donne or Quarles. His versifica- 
tion is neither as smooth nor in as good taste as that of Ke- 
ble, author of the " Christian Year," with whom he is often 
not unjustly compared. The chief value of his poetry con- 
sists rather in its profoundly religious tone, its occasionally 
deep pathos, its spiritual earnestness, and its power to re- 
vive the devotional feelings, than in its high literary excel- 
lence; albeit it is not by any means despicable in this re- 
spect. It was not written to charm the imagination, to give 
aesthetic delight, but to move the affections of men toward 
the Saviour. This was Herbert's aim, and his arrow hit the 
mark. 



GEORGE HERBERT. 11 

Herbert was not a little aided, both in his ministerial work 
and in his deep personal devotion to the Christ, by the cheer- 
ful co-operation of his devout wife. Directly after his in- 
duction as rector of Bemerton, having laid aside his sword 
and silk clothes and put on a clerical coat, he said to Mrs. 
Herbert: 

" You are now a minister's wife, and must so far forget 
your father's house as not to claim a precedence of any of 
your parishioners, for you are to know that a priest's wife can 
challenge no precedence or place but that which she pur- 
chases by her obliging humility." 

To this grave utterance the good lady meekly replied: 
" This is no vexing news to me. You shall see me observe 
it with cheerful willingness." 

To her honor it is said she did most faithfully unite with 
her husband in his efforts to serve his parish. Her conduct 
was admirable, and she so won the affections of his people 
that, says Walton, " their love followed her in all places as 
inseparably as shadows folloAV substances in sunshine." O 
wise wife ! O fortunate husband ! 

Herbert's charities were only limited by his income. He 
repaired his church, beautified his chapel, and rebuilt his 
rectory at his "own great charge." That his liberality 
might be repaid, not to himself but to the poor, he had these 
lines engraven on the mantel of the chimney in the hall of 
his rectory: 

" To my Successor. 

" If thou chance for to find 
A new house to thy mind, 
And built without thy cost, 

Be good to the poor. 

As God gives thee store, 
And then my labor's not lost." 

As when he was a college student, Herbert's chief, if not 
only, relaxation now was music, " in which heavenly art," 



12 GEORGE HERBERT. 

says Walton, " he was a most excellent master." But even 
in this recreation, as in all other things, he was careful to 
make it subservient to his growth in piety. It was not to 
light and impure airs, but to the loftier strains of hymns 
and anthems, that he turned his lute and violin. Twice a 
week he went to a musical assembly in Salisbury, where he 
sung and played his part in cathedral anthems and other 
music, saying, by way of excuse, " Religion does not banish 
mirth, but only moderates and sets rules to it." Yet his 
?nirth was not the froth of a giddy mind, but the gladness of 
a heart consecrated to spiritual affections. 

His exceptional humility and practical charity were curi- 
ously illustrated one day when he was on his way to one of 
the musical meetings. A poor man, whose poorer horse had 
fallen beneath its load, stood sorrowfully gazing on his help, 
less beast. Herbert, without hesitation, put off his coat, 
helped him unload the fallen beast, and, after it had regained 
its feet, to replace its load. The poor man blessed him and 
he blessed the man, gave him money, and told him that, as 
he loved himself, he should show mercy to his beast. He 
then hastened to meet his musical friends. 

On entering the nssembly room he was greeted with looks 
of surprise. Why was their usually neat, trim parson so 
soiled, and his dress so ruffled ? He answered by relating 
his adventure. To his explanation one gentleman sharply, 
even rudely, rejoined: 

" You disparaged yourself, sir, by so dirty an em- 
ployment ! " 

" Sir," said Herbert meekly, " the thought of what I have 
done will prove music to me at midnight. Its omission 
would have made discord in my conscience whensoever I 
should pass that place; for, if I am bound to pray for all 
that be in distress, I am sure that I am bound, so far as it is 
in my power, to practice what I pray for. And though I 
do not wish for the like occasion every day, yet let me tell 



GEORGE HERBERT. 13 

you I would not willingly pass one day of my life without 
comforting a sad soul or showing mercy; and I praise God 
for this occasion. And now let's tune our instruments." 

The retort was not empty sentimentality, but the expres- 
sion of principles which regulated these last years of his 
life. The key-note of his inner and outward life was entire, 
conscientious devotion to the recpairements of Christian 
charity and ministerial duty. 

When about thirty-nine years old his consumptive tend- 
encies issued in death. But death to him was, as he said, 
only " going to dwell where these eyes shall see my Master 
ami Saviour." As Walton puts his case, he had " the en- 
joyment of heaven before he entered it," The Sunday be- 
fore his death he rose suddenly from his couch, called for 
one of his instruments, took it, and exclaimed: 

" My God, my God, 
My music shall find thee, 
And every string 
Shall have his attribute to sing." 

Then, after tuning his instrument, he played and sang: 

" The Sundays of man's life, 

Threaded together on time's string, 
Make bracelets to adorn the wife 

Of the eternal glorious king ; 
On Sundays heaven's doors stand ope ; 
Blessings are plentiful and rife; 

More plentiful than hope." 

On the day of his death he said to a watching friend: 
" My friend, I am sorry I have nothing to present to my 
merciful God but sin and misery; but the first is pardoned, 
and a few hours will put an end to the latter." 

His friend reminded him of his many good works. " Yes," 
said he, " they be good works if they be sprinkled with the 
blood of Christ, and not otherwise." 



14 GEORGE HERBERT. 

Presently a cloud seemed to rest on his departing spirit. 
He became uneasy, restless, and wore such a pained expres- 
sion on his pale face that his wife, his three nieces, and his 
watchful friend, Mr. Wood not, bent anxiously over his bed, 
eager to assist him, but not knowing M T hat to do. As they 
stood gazing upon him, his breath grew faint, and his ex- 
hausted frame quivered with agony. His deeply affected 
wife then said, 

" Tell me, my dear, how you do." 

" I have passed through a conflict with my last enemy, 
and have overcome him by the merits of his master, Jesus," 
was his triumphant reply. 

Then opening his eyes and looking into the faces of his 
wife and nieces, who were weeping passionately, he added, 

"I charge you, if you love me, to withdraw into the next 
room, and there pray each one alone for me. Nothing but 
your lamentations can now make my death uncomfortable." 

To this request the ladies were too much overwhelmed 
with grief to make any verbal response, but with slow steps 
and bowed heads silently left the room. 

As soon as the door closed our dying poet said to a Mr. 
Bostock, who was the only other person left in the room 
besides his friend Woodnot, mentioned above, 

" Pray, sir, look into that cabinet. You will find my last 
will. Give it into my hand." 

Mr. Bostock placed the document in his trembling hand. 
Herbert passed it to Mr. Woodnot, saying, " My old friend, 
I here deliver you my last will. I have made you my sole 
executor for the good of my wife and nieces. I do not de- 
sire you to be just, for I know you will be so for your own 
sake; but I charge you, by the religion of our friendship, to 
be careful of them." 

After Mr. Woodnot had promised to fulfill this his dying 
wish, he calmly said, " Now 1 am ready to die." 

The supreme moment was now reached and he said, " Now ? 



GEORGE HERBERT. 15 



Lord — Lord, now receive my soul ! " and then he ascended to 
take his appointed place in that holy choir which unceasingly 
chants the praises of the Lord he loved. 

Of Herbert's success in bringing men to Christ his biogra- 
pher sajs nothing. Of his usefulness to the godly there 
can be no doubt. That he roused the consciences of the un- 
godly is equally certain; but, judging by what he says of 
preaching in his " Country Parson," one may doubt whether 
he so urged men to immediate faith in Christ as to make 
many converts. His own experience was assuredly evangel- 
ical, but in his preaching there was too near an approach to 
the doctrine of salvation by works, and too feeble a presen- 
tation of the doctrine of salvation by faith only, to make it 
successful in winning souls. His usefulness as well as his 
fame came chiefly from his sweet poems, known as " The 
Temple," which from the first have been widely read. By 
these divine strains he has helped and continues to help un- 
numbered thousands on their way to the city which hath 
foundations. Most emphatically it may be said of " holy 
George Herbert " that, " he being dead yet speaketh." 

" All must to their cold graves ; 
But the religious actions of the just 
Smell sweet iu death, and blossom in the dust." 



16 GEORGE HERBERT. 



MUSIC, POETRY, AND SANCTITY. 

Praise ye the Lord. . . . Praise him with stringed instru- 
ments and organs. Praise him upon the loud cymbals. Let 
every thing that hath breath praise the Lord. 

Not marble nor the gilded monuments 

Of princes shall outlive this powerful rhyme. 

— Shaksj^eare. 

I will incline mine ear to a parable; I will open my dark 
saying upon the harp. 

To breathe upon the heart of man, secularized by worldly 
business, the atmosphere of holy beauty; to recommend the 
charms of truth and goodness; to win thereby the affections 
of men from vice and error, and fan those lofty aspirations 
which are kindred to devotion, is the noble moral of art," — 
James C. Moffat. 

Give thanks unto the Lord. . . . Sing unto him, sing 
psalms unto him, talk ye of all his wondrous works. 

O happy heart ! where piety affecteth, where humility sub- 
jecteth, where repentance correcteth, where obedience di- 
recteth, where perseverance perfect eth, where power protect- 
eth, where devotion projecteth, where charity connecteth. — 

Augustine. 

And I heard a voice from heaven as the voice of many 
waters; and I heard the voice of harpers harping with their 
harps, and they sung as it were a new song before the 
throne. 

The power of a man's virtue should not be measured by 
his special efforts, but by his ordinary doing. — Pascal. 



G-EORG-E HERBERT. 
[thought outline to help the memory.] 

1. Born? Parents? Brothers and sisters ? Father's death? 

2. Westminster school? College? Eesolutions? Scholarship and honors? 

Recreations? Two faults? Orator? James I? 
8. Lord Bacon? Danger, from court and the king's friendship? 

4. The twofold struggle in his " country retreat ?" Resolution? 

5. Marriage \ His appearance ? Walton's tribute to him as Rector of Bemerton » 

Herbert's poetic gifts ? 

6. To his wife on dress? His charities ? Death? Usefulness? 



No. 1. Biblical Exploration. A Con- 
densed Manual on How to Study me 
Bible. By J. H. Vincent,, D.D. ' Full 
and l'icli 10 

No. 2. Studies of the Stars. A Pocket 
Guide 10 the Science of Astronomy. 
By H. W. Warren, D.D .' ] o 

No. 3. Bible Studies for Little People 
By Iter. B. T. Vincent !,, 

No. 4. English History. By J. H. Vin- 
cent, D.D ' . 

No. o Grs: k History Ey I H. vm 
cent, D.D 1 

No. 6. Greek Literature. ' By A.' D. 
Vail, D.D 

No. 7. Memorial Davs of tne"niiant:iu- 
qua Literari and Scientific Circle 

No. S. What Noted Men Think of the 
Bible. IJy L. T. I'ownseml DD 

No. 9 William CuHen Bryan'- 



TEXT-BOOKS. 

No. 19. The Book of Books. By J m""™' 

Freeman, D.D iq 

No, 20. The Chautauqua Hand-Book 

By J. H. Vincent, D.D 

Xo. 21. American History. By J L 

Hurlbut, A.M ' 

No. 22. Biblical Biology. By Rev' J 

H. Wythe, A.M., M.I)' 



No. 10. What is I'ducation? By Wm 

F. Phelps, A.M ; 

N6. 11. Socrates. By Pro!. \V. F. Phelps 

A.M 

X; 12 P. s u jzi 1 Fi-jf. W F 

Phelps, A.M. _ _' 

X; 1- Ang ; 3 Saxon EvFr:f ; .i; :frt 

S. Cook 

No. 14. Horace Mann. By Prof Wm 

F. Phelps. A.M. " 

No IV Fr.ebe'. Bv Prof Wra."p 

■ helps A.M 

No. 16. Roman History." By J n' Vin- 
cent, D.D ' 

N: I" Uc^sr A«cham and John Sturm 
Glimpses of Education in the Six- 
teen ih Centura By Prof Wm f 
Phelps, A.M. 



Xo. 23. English Literature. By Prof. 

•1. H. Gilmore 

No. 21. Canadian History. By James 

L. Hughes 

No. 2.5. Self-Education. By Joseph Al- 

den. D.D., LI..D 

Xo 26. The Tabernacle. By Rev! John 

C.Hill 

Xo. 27. Readings from Ancient Classics 
Xo. 28. Manners and C'uMom-- of Bible 

'limes. By J. M. Freeman. D D 
V". 29. Man's Antiquity and Language 

Bv M. S. Terrv, D.D.. 
Xo. 30. The World of Missions' " B v 

Henry K Carroll . 
Xo. 31. What Noted Men think "of 

Christ. By L. T. Townsend, D.D 
No. 32. A Brief Outline of the Histoiy 

of Art. By Miss Julia B. De Forest 
Xo. 33. Elihu Burritt: "The Learned 

Blacksmith." By Charle" Northern! 
Xo. 34. Asiatic History: China, Corea, 

Japan. By Rev. Wm*. Elliot Griffls 
Xo. 35. Outlines oi General History 

By J. H. Vincent. D.D '. 

Xo. 36. Assembly Bible Outlines. By 

J. H. Vincent. D.D 

Xo. 37. Assemb y Normal Outlines'. "By 

J. H. Vincent. D.D 
No. 38. The Life of Christ." By Rev' 
10 J. L. Hurlbut, M.A. 



Vincent DD''' 611063 ' *' V ' J ' H ' 10 \*% 39 ' ™ e T Snndav-SehoolNormki 
l°l Class. By J. H. Vincent, D.D 

Published by PHILLIPS & HUNT, 805 Broadway, New York. 



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