Priest To The Temple Or The Country Parson

George Herbert, who died before he was forty, found his vocation as a poet in the last six years of his life and as a priest in the last three. It was a time of low standards for the Church and its ministry and from his parish at Bemerton near Salisbury he set about reflecting on what his role should be. The result was A Priest to the Temple, a text of deep devotion and beauty and a classic statement on the nature of priestly ministry that is unparalleled in its practical and timeless wisdom. Some thirty devotional poems, ranging across the poets life are also included here.