when Friday is a day of grace
I'm looking
for a
day of
grace
a moment
of zen
the big
end of
the wishbone
a ray
of sun
breaking through
dark clouds
and hitting
me in
the face
as I
win the
lottery earn
the bonus
get her
number
for a
day of
grace
a moment
of zen
the big
end of
the wishbone
a ray
of sun
breaking through
dark clouds
and hitting
me in
the face
as I
win the
lottery earn
the bonus
get her
number
when every
song on
the radio
is a
favorite
and blessings
fall
like warm
rain on
starving fields
song on
the radio
is a
favorite
and blessings
fall
like warm
rain on
starving fields
and the
war is
just a
documentary
I watched
on TV
back when
I was
young enough
to wonder
what could
possibly
be worth
fighting over.
war is
just a
documentary
I watched
on TV
back when
I was
young enough
to wonder
what could
possibly
be worth
fighting over.
-- Warren K. Leffler
In old English practice, due to the far distances that had to be traveled, people were allowed 3 “days of grace” beyond the date specified in a writ summoning them before a court without being subject to punishment for failure to appear. In business terms “days of grace” are an extension of the time originally scheduled for the performance of an act, such as payment for a debt. This practice was begun as a favor to those who regularly engaged in business with each other, but it soon became a custom between merchants. Eventually, the courts recognized this right, often as a result of statute; in some cases, it has become a right that must be demanded. The phrase “days of grace” is sometimes used interchangeably with “grace period,” a term used in insurance law to denote an extension of time within which to pay a premium due on a policy, but the terms do not have identical meanings. Later the phrase “sinning away one’s day of grace” became a common expression among preachers to describe the inability of individuals to accept conversion and are therefore doomed to damnation; for some it was regarded as the only unpardonable sin. The phrase originated in “The Almost Christian” [sermon XIX] by William Jessup Armstrong, from 1835 the domestic secretary of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions, created in 1810 as one of the 1st American Christian missionary organizations and the largest and most important of them throughout the 19th century. The sermon dealt with Herod Agrippa II, (officially named Marcus Julius Agrippa in deference to his status as the client king of Batanea, Trachonitis and Gaulonitis, and Lysanias in Abila since 53); to celebrate his accession to the throne he married his sister Drusilla, who died in the 79 eruption of Mt. Vesuvius, to Marcus Antonius Felix, the Roman procurator of Iudaea, whose cruelty and licentiousness led to much unrest. In 57 St. Paul went to Jerusalem, but a week after his arrival he was accused of defiling the Temple by taking gentiles into it and was mobbed but escaped being killed by surrendering to Roman centurions who arrested him. Transferred to Caesarea Maritima, he stood trial before Felix. Although Felix and Drusilla heard Paul discourse at least once, and was often summoned for advice, Paul was detained as a favor to the Jews for 2 years. Accused of using a dispute between the Jews and Syrians of Caesarea as a pretext to slay and plunder the inhabitants, Felix was recalled to Roma in 59 and replaced by Porcius Festus, who reopened the case against Paul and retried in Jerusalem; Festus asked Agrippa and his sister Berenice to assist. Berenice had been married to her uncle Herod, the tetrarch of Chalcis until his death in 48 (when he was replaced by Agrippa) and then began an incestuous relationship with her brother that lasted for many decades. At the trial Paul related the circumstances of his conversion and extolled the demonstrated truth of the doctrines of Jesus. According to the “Acts of the Apostles” [26: 28] Agrippa told Paul, “Almost thou persuades me to be a Christian.” According to Armstrong, “For the moment, Agrippa was convinced. His understanding assented to the truth; he received the truth, but he believed not in the love of it, he believed not with his heart unto salvation…. We are not informed that he ever heard the gospel, or had the offer of mercy extended to him again…. We have every reason to believe that his serious impressions were speedily and effectually erased; that he became more thoughtless and world minded than before; that he sinned away his day of grace, and died at last impenitent, unpardonable, unfit for Heaven….” Paul, as a Roman citizen, demanded that he be sent to the capital for trial. He arrived there in 60 and spent another 2 years under house arrest and was beheaded at the same time St. Peter, the 1st pope, was crucified upside down late in the reign of Nero.
ReplyDeleteWar is just a documentary I watched on TV---excellent line among many in a fine poem.
ReplyDeleteThe essay on legal and ecclesiastical history of day of grace was interesting
War is just a documentary I watched on TV---excellent line among many in a fine poem.
ReplyDeleteThe essay on legal and ecclesiastical history of day of grace was interesting