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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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?

Daily Old Testament: Isaiah 58 and New Testament Inspired Words of James Nayler - Nayler Sonnet 7 by K. Boulding

Isaiah 58 – The prophet must tell of the people’s faults. If you do not respect the days of fasting, but do business all day, you cannot expect to please the Lord. If you do these things and only do them superficially, you cannot please the Lord.

What the Lord wants is for you “to break unjust fetters and undo the thongs of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free . . .share your bread with the hungry, and shelter the homeless poor . . .clothe the man you see to be naked and not turn from your own kin” (58:6-7). “Your integrity will go before you and the glory of Yahweh behind you” (58:8).

If you live this way, the Lord “will give strength to your bones and you shall be like a watered garden, like a spring of water whose waters never run dry” (58:11) The Sabbath is key here – the rules governing it must be respected. You must not pursue you own interests or feel your own desires on the Sabbath.

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.

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:

7. And to weary out all exaltation and cruelty

What patience must we cherish to outwear

The sleepless hosts of hell who lie in wait

Against our slightest weakness, early late

With perseverance more than we can bear.

How can we wait the many a weary year

Before the rock of pride, and cruel hat

Into a fruitful earth disintegrate

Under the tears of love and near despair?

Who then can blame us if we lose our trust

In love’s slow ways, and hastily rush to blast

The rock to pieces---but to find at last

When smoke has cleared, not earth, but barren dust.
Only by endless rain the soil is given,

And endless patience is the way of heaven.

Daily Old Testament: Isaiah 57 and New Testament Inspired Words of James Nayler - Nayler Sonnet 6 by K. Boulding

Isaiah 57 – The offspring of the adulterer and the whore jeer at the devout. They offer child sacrifice. “You have struck a pact with those whose bed you love, whoring with them often” (57:8). You put on oil for Molech.

Why have you disowned Yahweh? “When you cry, let your hateful idols save you! The wind will carry them all away, a breath will take them off. But whoever trusts in me shall inherit the land and own my holy mountain” (57:13). The Lord lives in a high and holy place but he lives close to the contrite and revived the hearts of those who are sorry. The Lord will comfort the contrite and will heal him.

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:

6. Its hope is to outlive all wrath and contention

Who weeps for Babylon, who mourns for Tyre,

Who worships proud imperious Caesar now?

The wreath, woven to fit a tyrant’s brow

So soon is trampled in oblivion’s mire.

Buried the ash of Moloch’s dreadful fire,

Withered and lost Astarte’s golden bough,

And turned beneath the lonely peasant’s plough

Lie splintered shards of heathen altars dire.

Victorious lava sears the mountain side,

And leaves a cicatrice among the green,

But sun and frost and rain, and roots unseen

Advance the slow, resistless verdant tide.

Through all events runs one repeating rule,

That life may grow, but wrath and hatred cool.

Daily Old Testament: Isaiah 56 and New Testament Inspired Words of James Nayler - Nayler Sonnet 5 by K. Boulding

Isaiah 56 – “Be just and fair to all. Do what is right and good, for I am coming soon to rescue you and to display my righteousness among you” (56:1).

The Lord will not reject foreigners or others rejected by you like Eunuchs. Those who will commit their lives to me will prosper. “I will bring them to my holy mountain of Jerusalem and will fill them with joy in my house of prayer. I will accept their burnt offerings and sacrifices, because my Temple will be called a house of prayer for all nations” (56:7).

The “leaders of my people—the Lord’s watchmen, his shepherds—are blind and ignorant. They are like silent watchdogs that give no warning when danger comes” (56:10). They are just watching after themselves.

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:

5. In hope to enjoy its own in the end

Small flowers there are beside the stoniest way,

And on the seeming-endless journeying

Some breaths of air are sweet, and some birds sing,

And some new goal is reached in every day;

Yet for the unknown end we wait and pray,

When the last knot of this world’s tangled string

Is straightened out, and every evil thing

Redeemed in heaven’s undisputed sway.

We know not how the day is to be born,

Whether in clouds of glory, tongues of flame,

As once at Pentecost the Spirit came,

Or whether imperceptibly as dawn;

But as the seed must grow into the tree,

So life is love, and love the end must be.

Daily Old Testament: Isaiah 55 and New Testament Inspired Words of James Nayler - Nayler Sonnet 4 by K. Boulding

Isaiah 55 – If you are thirsty, “Come and drink” (55:1). If you have nothing, come and “take your choice of wine or milk: (55:1). “Why spend your money on food that does not give you strength? Why pay for food that does you no good . . . Come to me with your ears wide open. Listen, and you will find life” (55:2-3).

I will give you the same undying love I gave to my servant David. “I made him a leader among the nations. You also will command nations you do not know, and peoples unknown to you will come running to obey” (55:4-5).

“See the Lord while you can find him. Call on him now while he is near” (55:6). His ways are not your ways, his thoughts beyond anything you can imagine. “For just as the heavens are higher than the earth, so my ways are higher than your ways and my thoughts higher than your thoughts” (55:9).

Like the rain that falls and nourishes the soil, the word of the Lord will always produce fruit. “You will live in joy and peace. The mountains and hills will burst into song, and the trees of the field will clap their hands!” (55:12).

The government will be fair and stable. Enemies will not come near; if anyone does attack you, it will not be because the Lord sent them. “[I]n that coming day no weapon turned against you will succeed. Your will silence every voice raised up to accuse you” (54:17).

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:

4. But delights to endure all things

How to endure, when all around us die

Nations and gracious cities, homes and men,

And the sweet earth is made a filthy den

Beneath whose roof black, belching vultures fly:

How to endure the darkness, when the sky

Is totally eclipsed by evil, when

Foul grinning Chaos spreads its reign again

And all good things in senseless ruin lie.

Must we be hard as stone? It wears to dust.

As stiff as oaks? But they untimely break.

As pitiless as still? It turns to rust,

And Time from Pyramids will ruins make.

In violence, decay, starvation need,

What can endure? Only the living Seed.

Daily Old Testament: Isaiah 54 and New Testament Inspired Words of James Nayler - Nayler Sonnet 3 by K. Boulding

Isaiah 54 – A time of growth and prosperity is coming, “Enlarge your house; build an addition. Spread out your home, and spare no expense! For you will soon be bursting at the seams. Your descendants will occupy other nations and resettle the ruined cities” (54:2-3).

You will no longer live in shame or dwell on the “sorrows of widowhood. For your Creator will be your husband” (54:4-5). “For a brief moment I abandoned you, but with great compassion I will take you back. In a burst of anger I turned my face away for a little while. But with everlasting love I will have compassion on you” (54:7-8).

As the Lord promised with Noah, He will no longer be angry with you, “For the mountains may move and the hills disappear, but even then my faithful love for you will remain. My covenant of blessing will never be broken” (54:10).

 The Lord will rebuild Jerusalem and decorate the “storm-battered city” with jewels and sparkling gems. He will “teach all your children, and they will enjoy great peace” (54:13).

The government will be fair and stable. Enemies will not come near; if anyone does attack you, it will not be because the Lord sent them. “[I]n that coming day no weapon turned against you will succeed. Your will silence every voice raised up to accuse you” (54:17).

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:

3. Nor to revenge any wrong

Now am I veined by an eroding doubt,

Insidious as decay, with poison rife.

Is love indeed the end and law of life,

When lush, grimacing hates so quickly sprout?

I thought in ignorance I had cast out

The sneaking devils of continuing strife,

But as the cancer thwarts the surgeon’s knife,

So does revenge my sword of reason flout.

But though hate rises in enfolding flame

At each renewed oppression, soon it dies;

It sinks as quickly as we saw it rise,

While love’s small constant light burns still the same.

Know this: though love is weak and hate is strong,

Yet hate is short, and love is very long.

Daily Old Testament: Isaiah 53 and New Testament Inspired Words of James Nayler - Nayler Sonnet 2 by K. Boulding

Isaiah 53 – Continuing the prophecy begun in the previous chapter, again in the past tense, but “past” in God’s eyes only.

“My servant grew up in the Lord’s presence like a tender green shoot, like a root in dry ground. There was noting beautiful or majestic about his appearance, nothing to attract us to him. He was despised and rejected—a man of sorrows, acquainted with deepest grief” (53:2-3).

We despised him and did not care about his sufferings. “Yet it was our weaknesses he carried; it was our sorrows that weighed him down” (53:4). We thought he was being punished by God for his wrong-doing, but NO, “he was pierced for OUR rebellion, crushed for OUR sins. He was beaten so we could be whole” (53:5).

WE are the sheep who have strayed, not HIM. “We have left God’s paths to follow our own” (53:6).

Like a lamb, he “was led to the slaughter . . . Unjustly condemned, he was led away. No one cared that he died without descendants” (53:8).

He had done nothing wrong, yet “he was buried like a criminal; he was put in a rich man’s grave” (53:9). Yet ALL of this was part of a larger plan the Lord had. “When he [the suffering servant] sees all that is accomplished by his anguish, he will be satisfied . . . my righteous servant will make it possible for many to be counted righteous, for he will bear all their sins” (53:11).

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:

2. That delights to do no evil

Shall I be good because of some reward,

Because the virtuous act pays dividends

In candy bars, the approving nods of friends,

In many tongues to praise, and hands to applaud,

In riches, honors, lavishly outpoured?

Or, since to ruin all things earthly tend,

Shall I be good to gain the greatest end,

The crown of bliss that Heaven may afford?

Ask the sweet spring upon the mountain top

What makes his sinless water flow so free:

Is it the call of some far-distant sea,

Or the deep pressure that no crust can stop?

No conscious end can drag us out of sin,

Unless clear goodness wells up from within.