Sepulchre Explained

O Blessed body! Whither art thou thrown?

No lodging for thee, but a cold hard stone?

So many hearts on earth, and yet not one

Receive thee?

Sure there is room within our hearts good store ;

For they can lodge transgressions by the score :

Thousands of toys dwell there, yet out of door

They leave thee.

But that which shows them large, shows them unfit.

What ever sin did this pure rock commit,

Which holds thee now ? Who hath indicted it

Of murder ?

Where our hard hearts have took up stones to brain thee,

And missing this, most falsely did arraign thee ;

Only these stones in quiet entertain thee,

And order.

And as of old, the law by heav’nly art,

Was writ in stone ; so thou, which also art

The letter of the word, find’st no fit heart

To hold thee.

Yet do we still persist as we began,

And so should perish, but that nothing can

Though it be cold, hard, foul, from loving man

Withhold thee.

I realize that I posted this poem yesterday, but I also realize that this poem may not be completely understood just upon reading it, and I would hate for someone to read it and disregard it, or not like it, because they don't understand it.

The poem plays on the idea of our hearts being like the tomb that held Jesus. The blessed body referenced is Jesus' body, and the poet wonders why His body must dwell in the cold stone of a tomb.

It is demonstrated that there is plenty of room in our hearts to lodge Him, but they are filled with thousands of toys. Toys refers to our sins, the things that we do and love more than Jesus. Then Herbert says that the very thing that shows them to be large, is also the thing that shows that they don't deserve to have Jesus.

We are then accused of picking up stones to kill Jesus, and putting him through a false and phony trial. Of course these things bring to mind the accounts of the Gospels. Then there is yet another idea introduced related to the stone, the tablets which the law was written on in Exodus. The law does not find a heart fit to hold Jesus. The law only shows that every heart is completely unfit to house the Lord Jesus.

The poem ends with the declaration that though our hearts are cold, hard and foul, He will not withhold Himself from us. What grace that displays! We, in no way deserve or even actually want to have Jesus dwell with us, but He comes and does so, for our good and His glory!