Re: Puritans

["John S. Quarterman" <jsq@quarterman.org>]

>For you experts on Puritans, what is "precise walking?"  
>
>In describing Puritans, on p. 20, the Quarterman book talks about "'precise wa
>lking,' hymn singing in the home....." etc.

The book I drew that information from didn't say much about what precise
walking meant.  I guessed it to refer to something like what I've heard
of as a monastic practice, of walking at a slow regular pace and observing
what can be seen at each step.  If so, it would be a sort of concentration
meditation.


Perhaps William Cowper was alluding to it:

 http://www.puritansermons.com/poetry/cowper4.htm

Walking With God

by William Cowper

(Gen. v, 24)

Oh! for a closer walk with GOD,
     A calm and heav'nly frame;
A light to shine upon the road
     That leads me to the Lamb!

Where is the blessedness I knew
     When first I saw the LORD?
Where is the soul-refreshing view
     Of JESUS, and his word?

What peaceful hours I once enjoy'd
     How sweet their mem'ry still!
But they have left an aching void,
     The world can never fill.

Return, O holy Dove, return,
     Sweet messenger of rest;
I hate the sins that made thee mourn,
     And drove thee from my breast.

The dearest idol I have known,
     Whate'er that idol be;
Help me to tear it from thy throne,
     And worship only thee.

So shall my walk be close with GOD,
     Calm and serene my frame;
So purer light shall mark the road
     That leads me to the Lamb.


Jonathan Edwards seems to be talking about it:

 http://www.graceonlinelibrary.org/christian-living/full.asp?ID=116

``Not long after I first began to experience these things, I gave an
account to my father of some things that had passed in my mind. I was
pretty much affected by the discourse we had together; and when the
discourse was ended, I walked abroad alone, in a solitary place in my
father's pasture, for contemplation.  And as I was walking there, and
looking up on the sky and clouds, there came into my mind so sweet a
sense of the glorious majesty and grace of God, that I know not how to
express. I seemed to see them both in a sweet conjunction; majesty and
meekness joined together; it was a sweet, and gentle, and holy majesty;
and also a majestic meekness; an awful sweetness; a high, and great,
and holy gentleness.

``After this my sense of divine things gradually increased, and became
more and more lively, and had more of that inward sweetness. The
appearance of every thing was altered; there seemed to be, as it were,
a calm sweet cast, or appearance of divine glory, in almost every
thing. God's excellency, his wisdom, his purity and love, seemed to
appear in every thing; in the sun, moon, and stars; in the clouds, and
blue sky; in the grass, flowers, trees; in the water, and all nature;
which used greatly to fix my mind. I often used to sit and view the moon
for continuance; and in the day, spent much time in viewing the clouds
and sky, to behold the sweet glory of God in these things; in the mean
time, singing forth, with a low voice my contemplations of the Creator
and Redeemer. And scarce any thing, among all the works of nature, was
so sweet to me as thunder and lightning; formerly, nothing had been so
terrible to me. Before, I used to be uncommonly terrified with thunder,
and to be struck with terror when I saw a thunder storm rising; but
now, on the contrary, it rejoiced me. I felt God, so to speak, at the
first appearance of a thunder storm; and used to take the opportunity,
at such times, to fix myself in order to view the clouds, and see
the lightnings play, and hear the majestic and awful voice of God's
thunder, which oftentimes was exceedingly entertaining, leading me to
sweet contemplations of my great and glorious God. While thus engaged,
it always seemed natural to me to sing, or chant for my mediations; or,
to speak my thoughts in soliloquies with a singing voice.

``I felt then great satisfaction, as to my good state; but that did not
content me. I had vehement longings of soul after God and Christ, and
after more holiness, wherewith my heart seemed to be full, and ready
to break; which often brought to my mind the words of the Psalmist,
Psal. 119:28. My soul breaketh for the longing it hath. I often felt a
mourning and lamenting in my heart, that I had not turned to God sooner,
that I might have had more time to grow in grace. My mind was greatly
fixed on divine things; almost perpetually in the contemplation of them. I
spent most of my time in thinking of divine things, year after year;
often walking alone in the woods, and solitary places, for meditation,
soliloquy, and prayer, and converse with God; and it was always my manner,
at such times, to sing forth my contemplations. I was almost constantly
in ejaculatory prayer, wherever I was. Prayer seemed to be natural to me,
as the breath by which the inward burnings of my heart had vent.''


It's a short distance from Edwards' realization to Thoreau's point of
view, in ``Walking, or the Wild''

 http://www.nhc.rtp.nc.us:8080/tserve/nattrans/ntwilderness/essays/puritanb.htm

that ``In Wildness is the preservation of the World.''


I wonder how recently H.K. Hine had read the above passage from
Edwards when he wrote How Great Thou Art:

 http://schfrs.crosswinds.net/hymns/how.htm

 O Lord my God, when I in awesome wonder
 Consider all the worlds Thy hands have made,
 I see the stars, I hear the rolling thunder,
 Thy pow'r thro'out the universe displayed.

 When through the woods and forest glades I wander
 And hear the birds sing sweetly in the trees,
 When I look down from lofty montain grandeur,
 And hear the brook and feel the gentle breeze.

 ...


So, I don't know if I've answered your question, but I'd speculate that
the Puritans' practice of walking was something that is still familiar
to us.

>Thanks.
>-Connie

John S. Quarterman <jsq@quarterman.org>
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