But the one who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and perseveres, being no hearer who forgets but a doer who acts, he will be blessed in his doing.
(James 1:25 ESV)
God’s Word: The Mirror That Mends the Looker’s Eyes
Many of us begin a Bible reading plan in January or renew our intention of spending time in God’s Word at the start of a year. In “The Holy Scriptures I,” George Herbert describes the Bible as “the thankful glass that mends the looker’s eyes” and “the well that washes what it shows.”
Reading God’s Word reveals to us our own heart and mind in the same way that a mirror reflects our face, however it does more than just reflect or reveal. God’s Word has the power to mend and to cleanse. Imagine a mirror that could fix imperfections! This is just one of Herbert’s surprising metaphors in a poem that draws us to God’s Word and celebrates the rich gift that we have in the Bible.
Who Was George Herbert?
George Herbert was born into a wealthy and influential Welsh family in 1593. During Herbert’s lifetime, King James sponsored a new translation of the English Bible, Shakespeare saw his plays performed in London, and Galileo gathered evidence that the earth revolved around the sun. Herbert famously left a career in academia and politics to become the pastor of a rural church where he served until his death in 1633.
Herbert’s poetry can be challenging for readers today partly because the language is unfamiliar to us, but also because Herbert loves to play with images and metaphors. He holds images up to the light and turns them so that, like prisms, they reflect meaning in different ways. His poems are packed with these “word-prisms” and can leave us feeling a bit dazzled.
“The Holy Scripture I”
In this poem about the Word of God, Herbert borrows images from the Bible (honey, a mirror, cleansing water), but he combines these familiar biblical images with metaphors from politics (“Lidger” which could mean “ledger” or possibly “ambassador”), accounting (a “handsel” or down-payment), and mountain climbing (“mounters”). Psalm 19 provides helpful biblical background as you navigate Herbert’s poem.
Oh Book! infinite sweetness! let my heart
Suck ev’ry letter, (1 Peter 2:2) and a honey gain, (Psalm 119:103, Proverbs 16:24)
Precious for any grief in any part
To clear the breast, to mollify all pain.(Psalm 119:49-51)
Thou art all health, health thriving till it make
A full eternity[1] (Psalm 19:7, 107:20): thou art a mass
Of strange delights,[2] where we may wish and take.
Ladies, look here; this is the thankful glass,
That mends the looker’s eyes (James 1:22-25): this is the well[3]
That washes what it shows (Ephesians 5:26). Who can endear[4]
Thy praise too much? Thou art heav’n’s Lidger[5] here,
Working against the states of death and hell.
Thou art joy’s handsel:[6] heav’n lies flat[7] in thee,
Subject to ev’ry mounter’s bended knee.[8](George Herbert, 1593-1633)
Prayer: Father, in your Word we find a cure for our troubled souls. We discover new sources of delight in your goodness, and we see your mercy clearly in Jesus Christ. Looking into your Word reveals our own frailty and fickleness and sin, yet at the same time, your Word mends these things and washes what it shows. Your Word reveals to us how to be cleansed of our sin (1 John 1:9), and what you have done to remove our sin from us (Romans 1-3). Your Word promises us eternal life through Jesus (Romans 6:23). Thank you for the written Word which is the mirror through which we can see how we need to grow, and thank you for your Living Word, Jesus, our sin bearer who cleanses us of our sin.
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Sources
[1] Even as our bodies age and our health deteriorates, the word of God cures our souls and enables us to flourish and grow stronger into eternity.
[2] Strange: foreign or not of this world.
[3] The water in the well is another mirror, but it also washes or sanctifies those looking into it.
[4] Endear: love
[5] This could be an earlier spelling of “ledger” indicating that the Bible is a heavenly record kept on earth. However, it can also be a version of “lieger” which meant “ambassador.” “Ambassador” seems to connect more naturally to the following line as one who resists the states of death and hell. Jesus Christ, the Word of God (John 1:1), is the heavenly ambassador who ultimately destroys the power of death and hell. Given Herbert’s love of wordplay, it is possible that he intended both meanings.
[6] Handsel: a downpayment or the first of several payments.
[7] Lies flat: open like a book.
[8] We climb or “mount” to heaven when we bend our knees in prayer.