Sourcing 'The Valley of Vision' 44: "Christian Calling"

"Let me not overlook…"

Well, I’m bored (for the umpteenth time) of playing Diablo IV, but I need something to do while I listen to the new Coheed and Cambria album on endless, euphoric repeat, so… might as well do some more of this thing.

We’re back in Thomas Shepard again for “Christian Calling,” though, as with “Union with Christ,” there’s a bit of a twist…

From the opening line to “strength to persevere” is adapted from the entry for November 10 in Shepard’s Meditations and Spiritual Experiences:

From “It is thy pleasure” to “sense of unworthiness” is adapted from the entry for Nov. 16:

From “Let me lament” to “appealed to reason” is adapted from the entry for Oct. 16:

Then the twist: For the final lines of the poem, Bennett draws not from Meditations and Spiritual Experiences but (more loosely) from content that, as far as I can tell, is only found in Alexander Whyte’s Thomas Shepard, Pilgrim Father and Founder of Harvard (in this case, from the fifteenth chapter, “I Was Salted with Suffering”):

I think that covers it, assuming that some aspects of the final lines exhibit more inventiveness on Bennett’s part than the rest. (E.g., the bit about “every rod” being “excellently fitted to my back”—a vivid image!—doesn’t have a direct analogue in Shepard, though it communicates the idea that our sufferings are “best suited for each individual soul.”)

Findings so far. More to follow.