Friday, January 31, 2014

New Testament Inspired Words of James Nayler - Nayler Sonnet 22 by K. Boulding


New Testament Inspired:
Beautiful Quaker Words: James Nayler’s Deathbed Testimony

There is a spirit which I feel that delights to do no evil, nor to revenge any wrong, but delights to endure all things, in hope to enjoy its own in the end. Its hope is to outlive all wrath and contention, and to weary out all exaltation and cruelty, or whatever is of a nature contrary to itself. It sees to the end of all temptations. As it bears no evil in itself, so it conceives none in thought to any other. If it be betrayed, it bears it, for its ground and spring is the mercies and forgiveness of God. Its crown is meekness, its life is everlasting love unfeigned; it takes its kingdom with entreaty and not with contention, and keeps it by lowliness of mind. In God alone it can rejoice, though none else regard it, or can own its life. It is conceived in sorrow, and brought forth without any to pity it; nor doth it murmur at grief and oppression. It never rejoiceth but through sufferings; for with the world's joy it is murdered. I found it alone, being forsaken. I have fellowship therein with them who lived in dens and desolate places of the earth, who through death obtained this resurrection and eternal holy life.

Thou wast with me when I fled from the face of mine enemies: then didst Thou warn me in the night: Thou carriedst me in Thy power into the hiding-place Thou hadst prepared for me: there Thou coveredst me with Thy Hand that in time Thou mightst bring me forth a rock before all the world. When I was weak Thou stayedst me with Thy Hand, that in Thy time Thou mightst present me to the world in Thy strength in which I stand, and cannot be moved. Praise the Lord, O my soul. Let this be written for those that come after. Praise the Lord.

Kenneth Boulding’s Nayler Sonnets:
22. It never rejoiceth but through sufferings
Can grief be gift, love’s gift, Divine Love’s gift?
Not gentle grief over imagined loss,
But vital-tearing agonies, that toss
All bodily organs into a bottomless pit
Of choking pain? Ah, dare we, dare we sift
The abyss of suffering, truly take our cross
To the insane pit of pain, and there emboss
Love’s symbol on a door Hope cannot lift?
Thou sayest it—and yet the very tongue
That mouthed these words was bored with blackening flame,
Seared with twice-bitter tasting pain and shame.
No greater song than this the saints have sung:
That there is joy, greater than Joy can know,
Through suffering, on the far side of woe.

I think this is one of the few times, maybe the only time, Boulding makes reference to an actual experience of James Nayler. The words that inspire and "set off" this sonnet, were in fact uttered by a man who had his tongue bored through with a blazing piece of iron after having been beaten and branded with a "B" on his forehead for the blasphemy he was convicted of in "reenacting" Christ's glorious entry into Jerusalem.

Wednesday, January 29, 2014

New Testament Inspired Words of James Nayler - Nayler Sonnet 21 by K. Boulding


New Testament Inspired:
Beautiful Quaker Words: James Nayler’s Deathbed Testimony

There is a spirit which I feel that delights to do no evil, nor to revenge any wrong, but delights to endure all things, in hope to enjoy its own in the end. Its hope is to outlive all wrath and contention, and to weary out all exaltation and cruelty, or whatever is of a nature contrary to itself. It sees to the end of all temptations. As it bears no evil in itself, so it conceives none in thought to any other. If it be betrayed, it bears it, for its ground and spring is the mercies and forgiveness of God. Its crown is meekness, its life is everlasting love unfeigned; it takes its kingdom with entreaty and not with contention, and keeps it by lowliness of mind. In God alone it can rejoice, though none else regard it, or can own its life. It is conceived in sorrow, and brought forth without any to pity it; nor doth it murmur at grief and oppression. It never rejoiceth but through sufferings; for with the world's joy it is murdered. I found it alone, being forsaken. I have fellowship therein with them who lived in dens and desolate places of the earth, who through death obtained this resurrection and eternal holy life.

Thou wast with me when I fled from the face of mine enemies: then didst Thou warn me in the night: Thou carriedst me in Thy power into the hiding-place Thou hadst prepared for me: there Thou coveredst me with Thy Hand that in time Thou mightst bring me forth a rock before all the world. When I was weak Thou stayedst me with Thy Hand, that in Thy time Thou mightst present me to the world in Thy strength in which I stand, and cannot be moved. Praise the Lord, O my soul. Let this be written for those that come after. Praise the Lord.

Kenneth Boulding’s Nayler Sonnets:
21. Nor doth it murmer at grief and oppression
Must Christian Love move us to fat content
With the black dismal mass of man’s distress?
And wrapped in God, must we then blandly bless
Wretchedness, pain, disease, as Heaven-sent
To prove our virtue, channel our intent
Away from Earth, where power and lust oppress
The ancient-suffering seed of gentleness,
And wealth and health always for nought are spent?
Ah, never, never! If this thing were true,
That we are cattle, tortured, that God’s grace
May shine: I would deny Him to His face.
And yet—and yet—if God should suffer too,
And share, and love, and die: may we not see
The paradox . . . blaze into Mystery?

Tuesday, January 28, 2014

New Testament Inspired Words of James Nayler - Nayler Sonnet 20 by K. Boulding


New Testament Inspired:
Beautiful Quaker Words: James Nayler’s Deathbed Testimony

There is a spirit which I feel that delights to do no evil, nor to revenge any wrong, but delights to endure all things, in hope to enjoy its own in the end. Its hope is to outlive all wrath and contention, and to weary out all exaltation and cruelty, or whatever is of a nature contrary to itself. It sees to the end of all temptations. As it bears no evil in itself, so it conceives none in thought to any other. If it be betrayed, it bears it, for its ground and spring is the mercies and forgiveness of God. Its crown is meekness, its life is everlasting love unfeigned; it takes its kingdom with entreaty and not with contention, and keeps it by lowliness of mind. In God alone it can rejoice, though none else regard it, or can own its life. It is conceived in sorrow, and brought forth without any to pity it; nor doth it murmur at grief and oppression. It never rejoiceth but through sufferings; for with the world's joy it is murdered. I found it alone, being forsaken. I have fellowship therein with them who lived in dens and desolate places of the earth, who through death obtained this resurrection and eternal holy life.

Thou wast with me when I fled from the face of mine enemies: then didst Thou warn me in the night: Thou carriedst me in Thy power into the hiding-place Thou hadst prepared for me: there Thou coveredst me with Thy Hand that in time Thou mightst bring me forth a rock before all the world. When I was weak Thou stayedst me with Thy Hand, that in Thy time Thou mightst present me to the world in Thy strength in which I stand, and cannot be moved. Praise the Lord, O my soul. Let this be written for those that come after. Praise the Lord.

Kenneth Boulding’s Nayler Sonnets:
20. It’s conceived in sorrow, and brought forth without any to pity it
Must every flower reek of its mother dung,
And every joy spring rash from beds of pain?
Must every bliss be minted with a bane,
And songs of joy to mournful chants be sung?
What though the saints from misery’s mass have wrung
Their drops of living water—can the chain
Of golden love the pearl of price sustain
When all the weight of woe thereon is hung?
Lord, could’st Thou not have brought this life of Thine
That we inherit, as a cost less great?
Was there no way to Thee, no other gate
But sorrow’s gloomy cave, where no lights shine
But Thy small rush? Then did’st Thou give us night
For stars, and give us suffering for Thy light.

Saturday, January 25, 2014

New Testament Inspired Words of James Nayler - Nayler Sonnet 19 by K. Boulding


New Testament Inspired:
Beautiful Quaker Words: James Nayler’s Deathbed Testimony

There is a spirit which I feel that delights to do no evil, nor to revenge any wrong, but delights to endure all things, in hope to enjoy its own in the end. Its hope is to outlive all wrath and contention, and to weary out all exaltation and cruelty, or whatever is of a nature contrary to itself. It sees to the end of all temptations. As it bears no evil in itself, so it conceives none in thought to any other. If it be betrayed, it bears it, for its ground and spring is the mercies and forgiveness of God. Its crown is meekness, its life is everlasting love unfeigned; it takes its kingdom with entreaty and not with contention, and keeps it by lowliness of mind. In God alone it can rejoice, though none else regard it, or can own its life. It is conceived in sorrow, and brought forth without any to pity it; nor doth it murmur at grief and oppression. It never rejoiceth but through sufferings; for with the world's joy it is murdered. I found it alone, being forsaken. I have fellowship therein with them who lived in dens and desolate places of the earth, who through death obtained this resurrection and eternal holy life.

Thou wast with me when I fled from the face of mine enemies: then didst Thou warn me in the night: Thou carriedst me in Thy power into the hiding-place Thou hadst prepared for me: there Thou coveredst me with Thy Hand that in time Thou mightst bring me forth a rock before all the world. When I was weak Thou stayedst me with Thy Hand, that in Thy time Thou mightst present me to the world in Thy strength in which I stand, and cannot be moved. Praise the Lord, O my soul. Let this be written for those that come after. Praise the Lord.

Kenneth Boulding’s Nayler Sonnets:
19. Though none else regard it, or can own its life
Are not my friends built round me like a wall?
We stand together in a firm stockade
Around the cheerful fire our faith has made,
Its light reflected from the eyes of all.
Beyond the glow, in night’s unechoing hall
Slide shadows, hideous offspring of the shade
Of unacknowledged doubt—but who’s afraid
Of spectres, when there’s fire, and friends at call?
But ah!—let death, or faithlessness, or doubt
Pluck out the stakes of this protecting fence
And leave me shivering in the bleak, immense,
Dark Otherness—will not my fire go out?
Our gathered sticks are scattered: but the sun
Warms many no more certainly than one.

Friday, January 24, 2014

New Testament Inspired Words of James Nayler - Nayler Sonnet 18 by K. Boulding


New Testament Inspired:
Beautiful Quaker Words: James Nayler’s Deathbed Testimony

There is a spirit which I feel that delights to do no evil, nor to revenge any wrong, but delights to endure all things, in hope to enjoy its own in the end. Its hope is to outlive all wrath and contention, and to weary out all exaltation and cruelty, or whatever is of a nature contrary to itself. It sees to the end of all temptations. As it bears no evil in itself, so it conceives none in thought to any other. If it be betrayed, it bears it, for its ground and spring is the mercies and forgiveness of God. Its crown is meekness, its life is everlasting love unfeigned; it takes its kingdom with entreaty and not with contention, and keeps it by lowliness of mind. In God alone it can rejoice, though none else regard it, or can own its life. It is conceived in sorrow, and brought forth without any to pity it; nor doth it murmur at grief and oppression. It never rejoiceth but through sufferings; for with the world's joy it is murdered. I found it alone, being forsaken. I have fellowship therein with them who lived in dens and desolate places of the earth, who through death obtained this resurrection and eternal holy life.

Thou wast with me when I fled from the face of mine enemies: then didst Thou warn me in the night: Thou carriedst me in Thy power into the hiding-place Thou hadst prepared for me: there Thou coveredst me with Thy Hand that in time Thou mightst bring me forth a rock before all the world. When I was weak Thou stayedst me with Thy Hand, that in Thy time Thou mightst present me to the world in Thy strength in which I stand, and cannot be moved. Praise the Lord, O my soul. Let this be written for those that come after. Praise the Lord.

Kenneth Boulding’s Nayler Sonnets:
18. In God alone it can rejoice
I plunge me, shouting, in the fecund tide
Of vast creation; lave myself in light,
Dwell with imperial clouds, cloak with the night,
And woo the earth as lover woos a bride;
Through intricate kingdoms of pure sound I ride
On music, and on laughter, and invite
My joyful body-spirit to unite
With scent, taste, touch: all senses sanctified.
What then! In God alone I must rejoice?
Not in His creatures, His abounding gifts?
The veil of sensual goodness lightly lifts
And through the inward seam there drops a voice:
“Could any gift its giver’s loss atone,
or joy be sure, except its source be known?”

Thursday, January 23, 2014

New Testament Inspired Words of James Nayler - Nayler Sonnet 17 by K. Boulding


New Testament Inspired:
Beautiful Quaker Words: James Nayler’s Deathbed Testimony

There is a spirit which I feel that delights to do no evil, nor to revenge any wrong, but delights to endure all things, in hope to enjoy its own in the end. Its hope is to outlive all wrath and contention, and to weary out all exaltation and cruelty, or whatever is of a nature contrary to itself. It sees to the end of all temptations. As it bears no evil in itself, so it conceives none in thought to any other. If it be betrayed, it bears it, for its ground and spring is the mercies and forgiveness of God. Its crown is meekness, its life is everlasting love unfeigned; it takes its kingdom with entreaty and not with contention, and keeps it by lowliness of mind. In God alone it can rejoice, though none else regard it, or can own its life. It is conceived in sorrow, and brought forth without any to pity it; nor doth it murmur at grief and oppression. It never rejoiceth but through sufferings; for with the world's joy it is murdered. I found it alone, being forsaken. I have fellowship therein with them who lived in dens and desolate places of the earth, who through death obtained this resurrection and eternal holy life.

Thou wast with me when I fled from the face of mine enemies: then didst Thou warn me in the night: Thou carriedst me in Thy power into the hiding-place Thou hadst prepared for me: there Thou coveredst me with Thy Hand that in time Thou mightst bring me forth a rock before all the world. When I was weak Thou stayedst me with Thy Hand, that in Thy time Thou mightst present me to the world in Thy strength in which I stand, and cannot be moved. Praise the Lord, O my soul. Let this be written for those that come after. Praise the Lord.

Kenneth Boulding’s Nayler Sonnets:
17. And keeps it by lowliness of mind
No kingdom falls before it is betrayed
By inward enemies—no outward foe
Can deal the last, and only fatal blow
That turns defeat to death. So am I preyed
Upon by subtle fears, lest I have laid
Thy kingdom in me open to a slow
Unseen decay that yet may bring it low,
And desolate the joy that Thou has made.
For see—the stony citadel of pride,
My inmost stronghold, is rebellious still
Against the peaceful envoys of Thy will.
Ah, Lord, run through me with Thy sudden tide,
For this proud heart can never be Thy throne
Unless its pride be pride of Thee alone.

Wednesday, January 22, 2014

New Testament Inspired Words of James Nayler - Nayler Sonnet 16 by K. Boulding


New Testament Inspired:
Beautiful Quaker Words: James Nayler’s Deathbed Testimony
There is a spirit which I feel that delights to do no evil, nor to revenge any wrong, but delights to endure all things, in hope to enjoy its own in the end. Its hope is to outlive all wrath and contention, and to weary out all exaltation and cruelty, or whatever is of a nature contrary to itself. It sees to the end of all temptations. As it bears no evil in itself, so it conceives none in thought to any other. If it be betrayed, it bears it, for its ground and spring is the mercies and forgiveness of God. Its crown is meekness, its life is everlasting love unfeigned; it takes its kingdom with entreaty and not with contention, and keeps it by lowliness of mind. In God alone it can rejoice, though none else regard it, or can own its life. It is conceived in sorrow, and brought forth without any to pity it; nor doth it murmur at grief and oppression. It never rejoiceth but through sufferings; for with the world's joy it is murdered. I found it alone, being forsaken. I have fellowship therein with them who lived in dens and desolate places of the earth, who through death obtained this resurrection and eternal holy life.

Thou wast with me when I fled from the face of mine enemies: then didst Thou warn me in the night: Thou carriedst me in Thy power into the hiding-place Thou hadst prepared for me: there Thou coveredst me with Thy Hand that in time Thou mightst bring me forth a rock before all the world. When I was weak Thou stayedst me with Thy Hand, that in Thy time Thou mightst present me to the world in Thy strength in which I stand, and cannot be moved. Praise the Lord, O my soul. Let this be written for those that come after. Praise the Lord.

Kenneth Boulding’s Nayler Sonnets:
16. And takes its kingdom with entreaty and not with contention
Are there no armies, no angelic hosts,
Invincibly arrayed in awful might,
To battle with the shapeless forms of night,
The slimy writing ranks that Satan boasts?
Has Heaven no navies to assault the coasts
Of Hell’s hard Kingdom, cliffed with vulcanite?
Can Hell be taken with thin wisps of light,
Handwringing, cooing, pale, entreating ghosts?
What Kingdom yet has been by wooing won?
What King for words has willed his crown away?
Then with what right of reason dost thou say
Thou has a Kingdom where there can be none?
Ah!—but what know ye, ye blind lords of strife,
About the secret Kingdom of Man’s life!

Tuesday, January 21, 2014

Daily Old Testament: Isaiah 66 and New Testament Inspired Words of James Nayler - Nayler Sonnet 15 by K. Boulding


Isaiah 66 – “With heaven my throne and earth my footstool, what house could you build me, what place could you make for my rest? All of this was made by my hand” (66:2). Still God’s eyes are “drawn to the man of humbled and contrite spirit” (66:2). People sacrifice all kinds of things to their idols rather than respond to God’s love. Jerusalem should rejoice, for now “towards her I send flowing peace, like a river” (66:12). She shall be comforted.

There is a constant tension in these lines between the fury God will show towards those who do not attend to his voice and the peace that will come to those who do.  This dichotomy continues to the very end of the chapter as seen here.

“I am coming to gather the nations of every language” (66:18). “From the New Moon to New Moon, from Sabbath to Sabbath, all mankind will come to bow down in my presence, says Yahweh. And on their way out they will see the corpses of men who have rebelled against me. Their worm will not die nor their fire go out; they will be loathsome to all mankind” (66:23-24).

This is kind of sad to say, but the two year bible-reading schedule is DONE. How cold it have gone by so quickly? Not sure where the Catholic-Quaker Blog is going – resting for a while, I think. I will finish up the Nayler Sonnets by Kenneth Boulding. They are so amazing.

New Testament Inspired:
Beautiful Quaker Words: James Nayler’s Deathbed Testimony

There is a spirit which I feel that delights to do no evil, nor to revenge any wrong, but delights to endure all things, in hope to enjoy its own in the end. Its hope is to outlive all wrath and contention, and to weary out all exaltation and cruelty, or whatever is of a nature contrary to itself. It sees to the end of all temptations. As it bears no evil in itself, so it conceives none in thought to any other. If it be betrayed, it bears it, for its ground and spring is the mercies and forgiveness of God. Its crown is meekness, its life is everlasting love unfeigned; it takes its kingdom with entreaty and not with contention, and keeps it by lowliness of mind. In God alone it can rejoice, though none else regard it, or can own its life. It is conceived in sorrow, and brought forth without any to pity it; nor doth it murmur at grief and oppression. It never rejoiceth but through sufferings; for with the world's joy it is murdered. I found it alone, being forsaken. I have fellowship therein with them who lived in dens and desolate places of the earth, who through death obtained this resurrection and eternal holy life.

Thou wast with me when I fled from the face of mine enemies: then didst Thou warn me in the night: Thou carriedst me in Thy power into the hiding-place Thou hadst prepared for me: there Thou coveredst me with Thy Hand that in time Thou mightst bring me forth a rock before all the world. When I was weak Thou stayedst me with Thy Hand, that in Thy time Thou mightst present me to the world in Thy strength in which I stand, and cannot be moved. Praise the Lord, O my soul. Let this be written for those that come after. Praise the Lord.

Kenneth Boulding’s Nayler Sonnets:
15. Its life is everlasting love unfeigned
Caught in a mirrored maze of bright deceit,
Peopled with images, that but reflect
The groping movements of the intellect,
Till bounds are smudged where fact and shows meet,
The mind is lost, until with quickened beat
Love scents a wind, blowing from God, unchecked,
And senses, deeper laid than sight, direct
To the free air our once-bewildered feet.
But love must be made pure to be our guide;
Not trader’s love, that seeks more in return,
But love that with clear, slender flame will burn
Through it be spent for nought, spurned, crucified,
Until to one vast song our spirit lifts:
To love for Love alone, not for His gifts.


Monday, January 20, 2014

Daily Old Testament: Isaiah 65 and New Testament Inspired Words of James Nayler - Nayler Sonnet 14 by K. Boulding


Isaiah 65 – The last chapters are an apocalyptic vision – post-exilic or even later in time. The Lord has been ready to help those who went astray, but no one ever asked for help. “I was ready to be found, but no one was looking for me” (65:1). All day long the people threw dirt into God’s “face” – burning incense of pagan altars, breaking the laws God gave to their ancestors. They will suffer punishment at God’s hands “both for their own sins and for those of their ancestors” (65:7).

“But I will not destroy them all . . . For just as good grapes are found among a cluster of bad ones . . . I will not destroy all Israel” (65:8). “I will preserve a remnant of the people of Israel and of Judah . . . The plain of Sharon will again be filled with flocks for my people who have searched for me” (65:9-10). But the rest - “I commit you to the sword, all of you to fall in the slaughter For I called and you would not answer, I spoke and you would not listen” (65:12).

“For now I create new heavens and a new earth, and the past will not be remembered, and will come no more to men’s minds” (65:17). No longer will there be weeping, no longer infants dying or men not living long lives. Life will be what it should be. “They will not toil in vain or beget children to their own ruin, for they will be a race blessed by Yahweh, and their children with them. Long before they call I shall answer; before they stop speaking I hall have heard. The wolf and the young lamb will feed together, the lion eat straw like the ox, and dust will be the serpent’s food. They will do no hurt, no harm on all my holy mountain, says Yahweh” (65:23-25).


New Testament Inspired:
Beautiful Quaker Words: James Nayler’s Deathbed Testimony

There is a spirit which I feel that delights to do no evil, nor to revenge any wrong, but delights to endure all things, in hope to enjoy its own in the end. Its hope is to outlive all wrath and contention, and to weary out all exaltation and cruelty, or whatever is of a nature contrary to itself. It sees to the end of all temptations. As it bears no evil in itself, so it conceives none in thought to any other. If it be betrayed, it bears it, for its ground and spring is the mercies and forgiveness of God. Its crown is meekness, its life is everlasting love unfeigned; it takes its kingdom with entreaty and not with contention, and keeps it by lowliness of mind. In God alone it can rejoice, though none else regard it, or can own its life. It is conceived in sorrow, and brought forth without any to pity it; nor doth it murmur at grief and oppression. It never rejoiceth but through sufferings; for with the world's joy it is murdered. I found it alone, being forsaken. I have fellowship therein with them who lived in dens and desolate places of the earth, who through death obtained this resurrection and eternal holy life.

Thou wast with me when I fled from the face of mine enemies: then didst Thou warn me in the night: Thou carriedst me in Thy power into the hiding-place Thou hadst prepared for me: there Thou coveredst me with Thy Hand that in time Thou mightst bring me forth a rock before all the world. When I was weak Thou stayedst me with Thy Hand, that in Thy time Thou mightst present me to the world in Thy strength in which I stand, and cannot be moved. Praise the Lord, O my soul. Let this be written for those that come after. Praise the Lord.

Kenneth Boulding’s Nayler Sonnets:
14. Its crown is meekness
How every virtue casts a mimic shade
Of subtle vice, so like in form and face
That shadow oft usurps the royal place
Of substance, in unholy masquerade.
So rotten pride, in pity’s garb arrayed,
Drops hidden poison in the springs of grace,
And selfishness transmutes to metal base
The gold of love, by lesser love betrayed.
But most of all, the very crown of good,
Unconquerable Meekness, is pursued
By the grey ghost compliance, bland and lewd,
And cowardice seeks to stand where courage stood.
Yet no deceit of words can hide for long
The seed of life, the meekness of the strong.

Saturday, January 18, 2014

Daily Old Testament: Isaiah 64 and New Testament Inspired Words of James Nayler - Nayler Sonnet 13 by K. Boulding



Isaiah 64 - “Oh, that you would tear the heavens open and come down—at your Presence the mountains would melt” (64:1).

“No ear has heard, no eye has seen any god but you act like this for those who trust him. You guide those who act with integrity and keep your ways in mind” (64:4-5). “And yet, Yahweh, you are our Father; we the clay, you the potter, we are all the work of your hand” (64:7-8).

All we ever had from you is destroyed – Zion, Jerusalem, the Temple. “Will you continue to be silent and punish us?” (64:12)

New Testament Inspired:
Beautiful Quaker Words: James Nayler’s Deathbed Testimony

There is a spirit which I feel that delights to do no evil, nor to revenge any wrong, but delights to endure all things, in hope to enjoy its own in the end. Its hope is to outlive all wrath and contention, and to weary out all exaltation and cruelty, or whatever is of a nature contrary to itself. It sees to the end of all temptations. As it bears no evil in itself, so it conceives none in thought to any other. If it be betrayed, it bears it, for its ground and spring is the mercies and forgiveness of God. Its crown is meekness, its life is everlasting love unfeigned; it takes its kingdom with entreaty and not with contention, and keeps it by lowliness of mind. In God alone it can rejoice, though none else regard it, or can own its life. It is conceived in sorrow, and brought forth without any to pity it; nor doth it murmur at grief and oppression. It never rejoiceth but through sufferings; for with the world's joy it is murdered. I found it alone, being forsaken. I have fellowship therein with them who lived in dens and desolate places of the earth, who through death obtained this resurrection and eternal holy life.

Thou wast with me when I fled from the face of mine enemies: then didst Thou warn me in the night: Thou carriedst me in Thy power into the hiding-place Thou hadst prepared for me: there Thou coveredst me with Thy Hand that in time Thou mightst bring me forth a rock before all the world. When I was weak Thou stayedst me with Thy Hand, that in Thy time Thou mightst present me to the world in Thy strength in which I stand, and cannot be moved. Praise the Lord, O my soul. Let this be written for those that come after. Praise the Lord.

Kenneth Boulding’s Nayler Sonnets:
13. For its ground and spring is the mercies and forgiveness of God
My Lord, Thou are in every breath I take,
And every bite and sup taste firm of Thee.
With buoyant mercy Thou enfoldest me,
And holdest up my foot each step I make.
Thy touch is all around me when I wake,
Thy sound I hear, and by Thy light I see
The world is fresh with Thy divinity
And all Thy creatures flourish for Thy sake.
For I have looked upon a little child
And seen Forgiveness, and have seen the day
With eastern fire cleanse the foul night away;
So cleansest Thou this House I have defiled.
And if I should be merciful, I know
It is Thy mercy, Lord, in overflow.

Thursday, January 16, 2014

Daily Old Testament: Isaiah 62 and New Testament Inspired Words of James Nayler - Nayler Sonnet 11 by K. Boulding


Isaiah 62 – I, the prophet, will not grow weary of Jerusalem until her “integrity shines out like the dawn” (62:1).

“The nations will see your righteousness. World leaders will be blinded by your glory. . . The Lord will hold you in his hand for all to see—a splendid crown in the hand of God” (62:2-3).

She will be like a crown in God’s hand. No longer “forsaken” or “abandoned”, she will be the Lord’s delight, wedded to Him like a bride. “[O]n your walls, Jerusalem, I set watchmen. Day or night they must never by silent” (62:16). She must be the “boast of the earth” (62:7), the “city not forsaken” (62:12).

New Testament Inspired:
Beautiful Quaker Words: James Nayler’s Deathbed Testimony

There is a spirit which I feel that delights to do no evil, nor to revenge any wrong, but delights to endure all things, in hope to enjoy its own in the end. Its hope is to outlive all wrath and contention, and to weary out all exaltation and cruelty, or whatever is of a nature contrary to itself. It sees to the end of all temptations. As it bears no evil in itself, so it conceives none in thought to any other. If it be betrayed, it bears it, for its ground and spring is the mercies and forgiveness of God. Its crown is meekness, its life is everlasting love unfeigned; it takes its kingdom with entreaty and not with contention, and keeps it by lowliness of mind. In God alone it can rejoice, though none else regard it, or can own its life. It is conceived in sorrow, and brought forth without any to pity it; nor doth it murmur at grief and oppression. It never rejoiceth but through sufferings; for with the world's joy it is murdered. I found it alone, being forsaken. I have fellowship therein with them who lived in dens and desolate places of the earth, who through death obtained this resurrection and eternal holy life.

Thou wast with me when I fled from the face of mine enemies: then didst Thou warn me in the night: Thou carriedst me in Thy power into the hiding-place Thou hadst prepared for me: there Thou coveredst me with Thy Hand that in time Thou mightst bring me forth a rock before all the world. When I was weak Thou stayedst me with Thy Hand, that in Thy time Thou mightst present me to the world in Thy strength in which I stand, and cannot be moved. Praise the Lord, O my soul. Let this be written for those that come after. Praise the Lord.

Kenneth Boulding’s Nayler Sonnets:
11. So it conceives none in thought to any other
Is there indeed a river that can clean
The stable of my thought? Can I not hide,
Behind the glittering wall of outward pride
In virtuous act, the dismal inward scene?
Not what we think, but what we do has been
The standard of the world: so have I tried
To wall out God with deeds. And yet inside
My soul blazes His light despite my screen.
Ah! Blinding Union! Now falls away
The shelly life of outward righteousness.
Torrential seas of brightness round me press,
Turning my secret night to open day,
Till in the fullness of Thy light no room
Is left for any cherished walled gloom.

Wednesday, January 15, 2014

Daily Old Testament: Isaiah 61 and New Testament Inspired Words of James Nayler - Nayler Sonnet 10 by K. Boulding


Isaiah 61 – The spirit of the Lord has been poured out on the prophet to “bring good news to the poor, to bind up hearts that are broken; to proclaim liberty to captives, freedom to those in prison” (61:1).

I exult in Yahweh “for he has clothed me in the garments of salvation, he has wrapped me in the cloak of integrity . . . .as the earth makes fresh things grow, as a garden makes seeds spring up, so will the Lord Yahweh make both integrity and praise spring up in the sight of the nations” (61:11).

New Testament Inspired:
Beautiful Quaker Words: James Nayler’s Deathbed Testimony

There is a spirit which I feel that delights to do no evil, nor to revenge any wrong, but delights to endure all things, in hope to enjoy its own in the end. Its hope is to outlive all wrath and contention, and to weary out all exaltation and cruelty, or whatever is of a nature contrary to itself. It sees to the end of all temptations. As it bears no evil in itself, so it conceives none in thought to any other. If it be betrayed, it bears it, for its ground and spring is the mercies and forgiveness of God. Its crown is meekness, its life is everlasting love unfeigned; it takes its kingdom with entreaty and not with contention, and keeps it by lowliness of mind. In God alone it can rejoice, though none else regard it, or can own its life. It is conceived in sorrow, and brought forth without any to pity it; nor doth it murmur at grief and oppression. It never rejoiceth but through sufferings; for with the world's joy it is murdered. I found it alone, being forsaken. I have fellowship therein with them who lived in dens and desolate places of the earth, who through death obtained this resurrection and eternal holy life.

Thou wast with me when I fled from the face of mine enemies: then didst Thou warn me in the night: Thou carriedst me in Thy power into the hiding-place Thou hadst prepared for me: there Thou coveredst me with Thy Hand that in time Thou mightst bring me forth a rock before all the world. When I was weak Thou stayedst me with Thy Hand, that in Thy time Thou mightst present me to the world in Thy strength in which I stand, and cannot be moved. Praise the Lord, O my soul. Let this be written for those that come after. Praise the Lord.

Kenneth Boulding’s Nayler Sonnets:
10. As it bears no evil in itself

If SOUL be soil what may not grow therein?
The indifferent ground cares not what plant it feed;
Both the good grain and the lean poisoned weed
Out of its fecund womb their life may win.
Can there then be a soil that grows no sin,
That nourishes no thought of pride or greed,
And bears no plant no fruiting for the need
Of the good gardener and his humble kin?
Not in man’s world, where saviors do not save;
Where painless, glib goodwill for humankind
Serves but to rub the sores it cannot bind,
And Liberators leave man more a slave;
But out of harrowed heart and broken will
Ground is prepared at last that grows no ill.

Tuesday, January 14, 2014

Daily Old Testament: Isaiah 60 and New Testament Inspired Words of James Nayler - Nayler Sonnet 9 by K. Boulding


Isaiah 60 – A poem meant to be read with 62 as well, probably composed by the author of the Book of Consolation [40-55 according to Jerusalem Bible note]. “[T]hough night still covers the earth and darkness the peoples . . . the glory of Yahweh is rising. . .” (60:1-2).

Kings will come to you and people from everywhere. A note says that these words were seen as applying to the Magi coming to Jesus’ birthplace. The wealth of the nations shall flow into the city dedicated to the worship of Yahweh. “Violence will no longer be heard of in your country, nor devastation and ruin within your frontiers. You will call your walls ‘Salvation’ and your gates ‘Praise’” (60:18). “Yahweh will be your everlasting light” (60:19).

New Testament Inspired:
Beautiful Quaker Words: James Nayler’s Deathbed Testimony
There is a spirit which I feel that delights to do no evil, nor to revenge any wrong, but delights to endure all things, in hope to enjoy its own in the end. Its hope is to outlive all wrath and contention, and to weary out all exaltation and cruelty, or whatever is of a nature contrary to itself. It sees to the end of all temptations. As it bears no evil in itself, so it conceives none in thought to any other. If it be betrayed, it bears it, for its ground and spring is the mercies and forgiveness of God. Its crown is meekness, its life is everlasting love unfeigned; it takes its kingdom with entreaty and not with contention, and keeps it by lowliness of mind. In God alone it can rejoice, though none else regard it, or can own its life. It is conceived in sorrow, and brought forth without any to pity it; nor doth it murmur at grief and oppression. It never rejoiceth but through sufferings; for with the world's joy it is murdered. I found it alone, being forsaken. I have fellowship therein with them who lived in dens and desolate places of the earth, who through death obtained this resurrection and eternal holy life.

Thou wast with me when I fled from the face of mine enemies: then didst Thou warn me in the night: Thou carriedst me in Thy power into the hiding-place Thou hadst prepared for me: there Thou coveredst me with Thy Hand that in time Thou mightst bring me forth a rock before all the world. When I was weak Thou stayedst me with Thy Hand, that in Thy time Thou mightst present me to the world in Thy strength in which I stand, and cannot be moved. Praise the Lord, O my soul. Let this be written for those that come after. Praise the Lord.

Kenneth Boulding’s Nayler Sonnets:
9. It sees to the end of all temptations

What is the end of greed but emptiness,
And what the end of a determined lust
But staleness, unfulfillment, sick disgust,
A debt of pride unpaid, and no redress?
Always we give the more, and gain the less
In bargaining with the ambassadors of dust:
Who, knowingly, would rate their contract just—
Ten future “No’s” for one sweet present “Yes”!
Need we but sight to run from every shame,
The sight that sees the future opened bare?
Or does a doom, writ with a darker name,
Condemn us to a tunnel of despair?
Not sight alone, but Will, by love made free
Can make us walk the pilgrim way we see.

Monday, January 13, 2014

Daily Old Testament: Isaiah 59 and New Testament Inspired Words of James Nayler - Nayler Sonnet 8 by K. Boulding


Isaiah 59 – The iniquities of man create a gulf between man and God. When we sin, God veils his face from us.

Relying on idols is relying on “nothingness” (59:4). “We looked for light and all is darkness, for brightness and we walk in the dark” (59:9). Our “faults are present to our minds, and we know our iniquities: rebellion and denial of Yahweh” (59:12).

The following translation is different from what I remember – “He put integrity on like a breastplate, and on his head the helmet of salvation” (59:17). “My spirit with which I endowed you, and my words that I have put in your mouth, will not disappear from your mouth, nor from the mouths of your children, nor from the mouths of your children’s children for ever and ever, says Yahweh” (59:21).

These words amaze me and I can say I know they are true, for if the words of this ancient prophet resonate for me – child of modernism, child of political radicalism, believer in science – they will always resonate. Our creator, whoever, wherever, whatever sort of being He/She/It is, will not let us depart from a vision of deep meaning, purposefulness, morality. It is so deep in us is this nature that we can never “outgrow” it – you hear Mr. Dawkins!

New Testament Inspired:
Beautiful Quaker Words: James Nayler’s Deathbed Testimony

There is a spirit which I feel that delights to do no evil, nor to revenge any wrong, but delights to endure all things, in hope to enjoy its own in the end. Its hope is to outlive all wrath and contention, and to weary out all exaltation and cruelty, or whatever is of a nature contrary to itself. It sees to the end of all temptations. As it bears no evil in itself, so it conceives none in thought to any other. If it be betrayed, it bears it, for its ground and spring is the mercies and forgiveness of God. Its crown is meekness, its life is everlasting love unfeigned; it takes its kingdom with entreaty and not with contention, and keeps it by lowliness of mind. In God alone it can rejoice, though none else regard it, or can own its life. It is conceived in sorrow, and brought forth without any to pity it; nor doth it murmur at grief and oppression. It never rejoiceth but through sufferings; for with the world's joy it is murdered. I found it alone, being forsaken. I have fellowship therein with them who lived in dens and desolate places of the earth, who through death obtained this resurrection and eternal holy life.

Thou wast with me when I fled from the face of mine enemies: then didst Thou warn me in the night: Thou carriedst me in Thy power into the hiding-place Thou hadst prepared for me: there Thou coveredst me with Thy Hand that in time Thou mightst bring me forth a rock before all the world. When I was weak Thou stayedst me with Thy Hand, that in Thy time Thou mightst present me to the world in Thy strength in which I stand, and cannot be moved. Praise the Lord, O my soul. Let this be written for those that come after. Praise the Lord.

Kenneth Boulding’s Nayler Sonnets:

8. Or whatever is of a nature contrary to itself

If GOD be All in ALL, must all be good?
What then of evil?—of the shriek in the night,
The slavering jaw, the glinting eye, the plight
Of mouse, fawn, coney? If this mystery could
By some veil-tending flash be understood,
Would Darkness shine with its own holy light,
Wrong but reflect the under-side of Right,
And Life exult beneath Death’s sheltering hood?
Are there no contraries at the heart of things?
The double thread winds deep, beyond the reach
Even of faith’s white beam: and whether breach
Or union comes at last, no prophet sings.
Yet—if in this life love can weary out
The staunchest evil: does God lie in doubt?