Fifth Stanza

Grace shuffled is away; patience oft sticks              25

Too soon, or draws itself out, and’s out put.

Faith over trumped, and oft does lose her tricks.

Repentance’s chalked up noddy, and out shut

They post, and pare off grace, and its shine.

Alas! Alas! Was ever heart like mine?                                 30

Notes:

Something remarkable happens here. In the previous stanza, Taylor has spoken of his heart as a ground for games of all the devils. His heart is in full Hexensabatt with all the sports of debauchery in view. But here, those games are played with graces!

Grace shuffled is away;  At first this is ambiguous. Something could be merely moved out of the way, but as the stanza goes on we will see that Grace has been shuffled in a deck of cards.

To skip ahead to line 27, “Faith over trumped, and oft does lose her tricks.” A trump in cards is a higher hand. A trick is the individual play. Faith is being set to play at cards against the sinful desires of his heart. Thus, to lose the trick must mean that the call of faith falls to the counter play of sin. 

So, when Grace is shuffled away, it is played into the deck and does not play against the opposing side. Grace is simply inoperative because it is put away.

Patience is a key Christian virtue. It means something far more than merely tolerating a boring event. It contains within it the concept of endurance.

A key allusion here would be

James 1:2–3 “My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations; ³ Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience.” More modern translation render the word translated “patience” (as it would have been in Taylor’s Bible) as “endurance.” Endurance being then the ability to withstand a trial without falling into sin. You should understand that the sin could be the result of a temptation, that is luring into a sinful project, or trial being forced and pressed and sinning in response. Patience would be the virtue to be neither pushed or pulled in sin.

Repentance’s chalked up noddy, and out shut

They post, and pare off grace, and its shine.

Repentance has no place in the response, it is a fool (noddy). It is just considered unnecessary.

The “They” that shuts out grace is not clearly identified in this stanza, so it must refer back to the devils given such free reign in the previous stanza. The line “They post, and pare off grace” is excellent. Note the movement of the sound on the accented syllables p, then pr, then gr.  This returns to the refrain again, “Was ever a heart like mine.”

His heart seems utterly turned over to his enemy.

Sixth Stanza

Sometimes me thinks the Serpent’s head I maul

Now all is still: my spirits do recruit

But ere my harp can tune sweet praise, they fall

On me afresh, and tear me at my root.

They bite like badgers now, nay worse, although   35

I took them toothless skulls not long ago.

Notes

 He sometimes thinks he has some success.

Sometimes me thinks the Serpent’s head I maul

The Serpent’s head is an allusion to the protoevangelium. When God passes sentence upon the original sin, a strange promise is made to the Serpent (the Devil who led them into sin):

Genesis 3:15

¹⁵ And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.

There will be a conflict the “seed” of the serpent and the “seed” of the woman.  The Serpent will cause him an injury, but he will deal a death blow to the Serpent.  And so, there are moments when it seems that he has been successful suppressing his sin. He has “mauled” the Serpent’s dead. This brings about a reprieve from his sorrow, “Now all is still: my spirits do recruit.” He has peace, but before his peace can ripen into praise, trouble comes:

But ere my harp can tune sweet praise, they fall

On me afresh, and tear me at my root.

He no longer has some “victory” but sin returns and tears him at the very heart of his being.

The couplet gives voice to the strange movement of the Christian life. When freed from sin, when repentance has its place and there is rest, sin seems utter madness; something which could not possibly disturb a sane man. It looks over, temptations are not ravenous lions, but rather toothless skulls. And yet, somehow, those toothless skulls arise and attack:

They bite like badgers now, nay worse, although   35

I took them toothless skulls not long ago.