PRIERE A DIEU by Esther Kello

Seigneur a ton honeur

et par ton grâce aussi

J'ae pafait ce LIVRET

ainsi Seigneur ainsi

Pour ne fair oncques rien

au monde qui duise

Ton Sanct Esprit toujours

en ce sentier humain.

Assuere, ouvre, redresse,

illumine, conduise,

Mon coeur, mon oeuil, mon pied,

mon esprit et ma main,

Ainsi, soit il.

Esther Kello (nee Inglis) 1571-1624

I've put an Esther Kello page here: Esther Kello

My version of this, helped by our friend Mr. Google, is below.  I'm very happy to receive any improvements.

Lord, to your glory,

and by your graciousness,

I made the booklet well;

oh yes, our Lord, oh yes.

Oh, may I not engage

With what won't understand

Thy Spirit ever

Throughout my pilgrimage.

Stabilise, open, right,

enlighten, take my hand,

My heart, my eye, my foot,

My spirit, stage by stage.

Amen; so be it.

Views of Fife from the Lomond Hill 

(which are unrelated to Loch Lomond or Ben Lomond)

The Author’s Belief concerning the dealings of God towards the Sons and Daughters of Men, in order to the Compleating their Salvation by Amey Hayward

A soul cannot eternal life inherit
Unless the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit
Do work together in a near relation
In order to complete poor man’s salvation:
The Father gives unto His Son the soul;
There’s nothing can His boundless love control.
The Son e’er He’ll impart with it again
Would give His body freely to be slain.
The Holy Spirit workers too also
Teaching each soul God’s blessed will to know.
This God for our good doth freely do,
Yet for the same He will be sought unto.
God’s chiefest end in making of mankind,
Was to fulfil the pleasure of His mind;
And He by all will glorified be,
Whether saved, or lost, to all eternity:
And seeing God His pleasure will fulfil,
Then what is now become of man’s free will?
Surely, free will was lost in Adam’s fall;
And now to good, man’s will is very small:
But God out of His matchless love, and treasure,
Makes man to will and do of His good pleasure.

1699

I've put an Amey Hayward page here: Amey Hayward

Pentland Hill Views

 

THE AUTHOR'S REQUEST by Amey Hayward

Lord give me oil of thy free grace 

My vessel for to fill,

And help me to run out my race,

In doing of thy will.

Help me to cleanse my lamp about 

From all the stinking snuffs,

So that I may not wiffer out 

With any windy puffs.

But that my lamp it may burn clear,

To light me on the way,

That I may meet my Bridegroom dear,

Him to adore for aye.

Lord give me talents, two or five,

Which seemeth good to thee,

Them to improve, then I will strive,

Lord give them unto me.

But if it be thy pleasure, Lord,

To give to me but one,

And I should in the earth it hoard,

Then I shall be undone.

Therefore my God, for Jesus sake,

Give me a bigger portion,

And grant I may it double make,

Unto my great promotion.

Oh grant I may not be like him,

Which in his heart shall say,

My Lord delayeth for to come,

He will yet longer stay.

But that I may both watch and pray,

And waiting be also,

That when my Lord shall come, I may 

Be ready for to go.

(This follows a meditation on Matthew 25.)

More from south of Peebles, Scottish Borders

A few meditations on the glorious attributes of God, by Amey Hayward

God’s attribute of goodness is most great,

And He in goodness is a God complete;

There is no man nor angel doth it know,

It is a fountain that doth overflow.

God’s attribute of love, it hath no end,

It doth above all other love transcend;

There is no man nor angel doth it know,

It is a fountain which doth overflow.

God’s attribute of mercy is so pure,

That now, and ever still it will endure:

No man or angel never can it know,

It is a fountain which doth overflow.

God’s attribute of glory is so bright,

That it doth dazzle all beholder’s sight;

It is a glory which doth so prevail,

The very angels doth their faces veil.

God’s attribute of knowledge is so high,

That He did know, from all eternity,

Adam would fall, with his posterity,

And so involve themselves in misery.

God’s attribute of wisdom, as we read,

By it the heavens and the earth was made;

It is a mystery which is so high,

The angels they desire therein to pry.

God’s attribute of justice none can let,

When He upon His judgment-seat shall sit,

To execute His judgments righteously,

‘Twill make the guilty sinners loud to cry.

To speak of all God’s attributes,

It is for me too high 

Which am an empty barren soul,

Both withered and dry.

I empty am, Lord, fill me with thy grace,

And barren too here in my spiritual race:

Withered and dry, Thou know’st I am, O Lord,

Therefore to me Thy saving grace afford.

1699

MARY OF MAGDALA

 *MARY OF MAGDALA

Excruciated by light,
Their stronghold untenable,
They went out.

Lust, overwhelmed, expelled:
See now that love’s power
Drove her to walk in love.

Gluttony excluded by fulfilment
See the awaked desire
To become a giver.

Envy, that poison, purged
By grace, she displays
Fresh graciousness.

Wrath, arising within,
Quelled by the gentleness
And meekness of the Christ.

Sloth, now unslothful, fled;
So, see her energy
On resurrection morning.

Pride – difficultly thrust out –
See her take her place
As servant of all.

Avarice, tuber of evil,
Uprooted; see the substance
Her new heart ministers.                        21/07/2018

Scottish Borders - south of Peebles

SONSHIP RUNES

i

God portrayed to me
His ideal in sonship:
The Son of His love.

ii

The Son displayed to me
What it was like to be
An only-begotten with a father.

iii

The Holy Spirit
- Within my heart -
Cried, “Abba Father”.

iv

God has worked that we
Should in sonship be
Associated with the Son of God.

v

In Gethsemane’s agonising
He breathed, “Abba Father”;
“Abba Father” is the cry of sons,
Inbreathed by the Holy Spirit.

vi

The sons glory in
The Father; while the Father

Glories in sonship.

vii

Every believer
Who has the Spirit is one
Of the sons of God.                                                    19-22/07/2018

South of Peebles, Scottish Borders

SAINT

 

Psalm-chanter amid the arrow-storm,
Should a saint, God-tempter,
Bare his neck and breast?

Should a saint be land-splitter,
King-supplicant, in a world
Of Christ-rejection?

If he will desire sea-chilled
Monkishness, should a saint
Become wife-bonded?

Sleek dragon-heads affright
Plough-followers: does
A Christ-follower contend thus?

Dove-simple, is the saint
Also serpent-wise? Yet
He is accepter of God’s will.

Christ dies a robber-death;
Should His saint die requesting
A chieftain-death?

Christ-sleeper in your earth-bed,
Prayer-deaf, among the blood-redeemed,
Do you lie, Magnus, God-called,
The only saint you will be?                                                    15/07/2018

This needs an explanation; it refers to Magnus Erlendsson, Earl of Orkney, in due course recognised as a saint.  See here: Magnus Erlendsson.  He is the great hero of the writings of the Orkney poet, George Mackay Brown.  Much that I have learned about putting a poem together comes from GMB; but that doesn't mean I always agree with him.

For another view of GMB see Ships.  And more of the rather magical islands of Orkney are here: Scottish Stones.

Since I'm in the mood for links, try:

Dawyck Botanic Garden

And the carving is:

David Douglas, botanist and collector