St. Andrew's Church, Bemerton
As you enter the Church your eye is caught by a medieval arch in the opposite north wall, which proclaims that the Church's origins go back to the XIVth. century. The building has been restored several times, but still retains much of its original character. Much of the north wall may well be largely a rebuild of less than a century back. On the other hand, if you turn and look at the south wall, nobody would have built that in recent centuries: and the door through which you entered is almost certainly that which George Herbert used three and a half centuries ago. For the placid flow of village life here was suddenly illuminated by his arrival as Rector in 1630.
George Herbert was a distinguished scholar who spent the largest part of his life in Cambridge, but who completed his days here as Rector of this small village. He was born on 3rd April, 1593, the younger son of a Welsh border family, in Montgomery. He was educated at Westminster and at the age of sixteen won a scholarship at Trinity College, Cambridge, which he entered in 1609, with the intention of offering himself for the priesthood. He had already started to write poetry, and in a letter to his mother in 1610 declares that "my poor abilities in poetry shall be all, and ever consecrated to God's glory." He was elected a Fellow of the College in 1614: but further, his ability was such that he was appointed Public Orator of the University in 1620. Which senior post was often the prelude to some high office of state; and as he had attained this at the age of twenty seven his gifts were such that one would confidently predict a brilliant future. It was: but not in the way that anyone would have expected.
Although life must have been full of interest and the world was at his feet, not all was well. In the midst of the gaiety, drama and diversions of Court life and the heights of intellectual exchange at Cambridge, he began to suffer considerable disturbance. What about his earlier intentions of ordination? How did they fit into his pattern of life among the high lights of Court society with dreams of further advancement? Self-questioning appears in 'Frailty':
Lord, in my silence how do I despise
What upon trust
Is styled honour, riches or fair eyes :
But is fair dust!
I surnamed them gilded clay,
Dear earth, fine grass or hay:
In all, I think my foot doth ever tread
Upon their head.
We know that he suffered ill-health: but that does not seem sufficient to have caused a reorientation of his life. Perhaps he was asking himself the questions which beset so many of us. Had he a really worth while purpose in life? What was he doing? Had God a better use for him? There seems a yearning for some other role, to be someone or something else. From 'Employment' :
Oh that I were an orange tree,
That busy plant!
Then should I ever laden be,
And never want
Some fruit for him that dressed me.
But we are still too young or old;
The man is gone,
Before we do our wares unfold :
So we freeze on,
Until the grave increase our cold.
In 1626 his friend Bishop Williams of Lincoln offered him the Prebend of Leighton Ecclesia, near Huntingdon. He accepted it, and was made deacon at some point. But he wasn't required to live in the parish and there is no record of his ever having visited it. His responsibility was to rebuild the Church, which he did, and there stands today the magnificent memorial to him, and it still retains the furnishings which he gave.
What was it that changed this elegant academic gentleman into a country parson, this aristocratic courtier into a saint? It was partly that he was never free to choose for himself: there was always another voice which spoke to him. This voice shows the futility of much of his life and purpose. In the "Collar" he tells of a mood in which he decides to abandon the Christian life, with its sighs and tears, its cold dispute of which is fit, and follow a life of earthly pleasure. But in the last two lines we hear precisely how the mood ended - he was checked by the voice of Christ.
But as I raved and grew more fierce and wild
At every word,
Methoughts I heard one calling, Child !
And I replied, My Lord.
A strong influence in his life was his mother. After her death in 1627 he wrote a series of poems, some in Latin, some in Greek, as a memorial to her, showing the depth of his grief. It was shortly after this that he resigned his office of Public Orator. His subsequent movements are obscure, but while staying at Dauntsey House, near Chippenham he met his step-father's cousin, Jane Danvers, and they were married in the magnificent Collegiate Church at Eddington on 5 March 1629. It is thought that they lived at Bainton House nearby while George was considering the future.
In 1630 the parish of Fuggleston-cum-Bemerton became vacant; and the Earl of Pembroke put forward the name of his cousin as a candidate. The proposition brought much mental turmoil to Herbert who endured "such spiritual conflicts as none can think, but only those that have endured them". It would be an unusual post for one with his abilities and social background : but in this countryside he might find the peace of mind which he had lacked among the world's affairs.
On 26th April he was instituted in this Church by Dr. Davenant, Bishop of Salisbury. The Church needed much restoration, so did the Rectory. Of the latter, the south front looks today much as Herbert left it, but the north front has been rebuilt. He and his wife had no children, but he adopted three nieces who were to be brought up in his home. It sounds a happy place. "Men usually think that servants for their money are as other things they buy, even as a piece of wood, which they may cut', or hack, or throw into the fire, so that they pay them their wages, all is well".
He was still only a deacon on his arrival, and was ordained priest in the Cathedral on 19th September. He was soon committed to his role as parish priest, and became the ideal country parson. His care of the people, his ordering of public worship, which he saw as of the greatest importance in its influence on the spiritual life of the people, is clearly portrayed in his book 'The Country Parson'. But his life here was not to be long. As the years passed the fatal stages of consumption gradually took their toll, and he died here on 1st March 1633. His body was buried under the chancel floor, and some of the Cathedral choir, whose music had meant so much to him, came to sing at the funeral.
He lived barely forty years; and here for less than three. Why does he still appeal to the world, which today is so different from the world in which he lived? Human nature is still the same, and human problems are still the same: and he can speak to us with real religious devotion as well as with a profound knowledge of human feelings: and all conveyed in poetry which is timeless. He can speak to the human condition at any time: and in our brash and materialistic society we can take courage from a scholar, aristocrat and saint who spurned the world's honours and found happiness and fulfillment in his humble role here.
Lastly, what has he to say to us today?
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To the individual:
Teach me, my God and King,
In all things thee to see,
And what I do in anything,
To do it as for thee:
Not rudely, as a beast,
To run into an action:
But still to make thee
prepossessed,
And give it his perfection.
A man that looks on glass,
On it may stay his eye;
Of if he pleaseth,
through it pass,
And then the heaven spy.
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All may of thee partake:
Nothing can be so mean,
Which with this tincture
(for thy sake)
Will not grow bright and clean
A servant with this clause
Makes drudgery divine:
Who sweeps a room, as for thy laws,
Makes that and the action fine.
This is the famous stone
That turneth all to gold.
For that which God doth
touch and own
Cannot for less be told.
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To the nation : 0 England, full of sin, but most of sloth :
Spit out thy phlegm, and fill thy breast with glory. |
P C Magee
Rector 1975-84.
O everlasting Lord, King of Glory, King of Peace, grant that after the good example of your servant George Herbert, we may daily speak your praise, do all as in your sight, and strive to set the peace of heaven within the hearts of men; through Jesus Christ our Lord. AMEN |
