Hound of Heaven and Determinism

Hound of Heaven  of 1893

I fled Him down the nights and down the days
I fled Him down the arches of the years
I fled Him down the labyrinthine ways
Of my own mind, and in the midst of tears
I hid from him, and under running laughter.
Up visited hopes I sped and shot precipitated
And down titanic glooms of chasmed hears
From those strong feet that followed, followed after
But with unhurrying chase and unperturbed pace,
Deliberate speed, majestic instancy,
They beat, and a Voice beat . . .
More instant than the feet:
All things betray thee who betrayest me… 

'Ah, fondest, blindest, weakest,

I am He Whom thou seekest!

Thou drawest love from thee, who drawest Me.

Francis Thompson’s poem “Hound of Heaven” uniquely and rightly expresses the effectual workings of God in salvation. The sequence of salvific events in the deterministic chain is 

uniquely portrayed.

God’s (Hound) sovereignty in election is observed as He alone has purposed in His free will to choose who is hunted. He ordains the hunt. He sets the rules. He distributes grace.

It is not the hunted’s desire to seek the hound. As a matter of fact, he tries for years to run away from the hound; “I fled Him down the nights and down the days, I fled Him down the arches of years.”

 

Love initiated the hunt and decree insured its outcome. Love is observed in the choosing by the Hound of a man who describes himself as “ of clotted clay the dingiest clot”. God describes the man as “fondest, blindest and weakest”. To this man God gave grace.

“. . . and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty.” I Corinthians 1:26

Decree is observed in the confidence we have that the Hound is going to triumph. The “strong feet that follows” and the “beat and voice beating more instant than the feet”. The Hound is faithful and is willing to continue the chase for whatever time, “the arches of the years” and wherever necessary, “down labyrinthine ways”.

 “ The LORD of hosts hath sworn, saying, surely as I have thought, so shall it come to pass; and as I have purposed, so shall it stand”  Isaiah 14:24   God’s purposes are never thrwarted.

Great men of faith are often those who were running from God including spiritual giants such as C.S. Lewis, Charles Spurgeon and John Newton.“. . . there is none that seeketh after God.” Romans 3:11

I must confess, says Charles Spurgeon, "that I never would have been saved if I could have helped it. As long as ever I could, I rebelled, and revolted, and struggled against God. When He would have me pray, I would not pray, and when He would have me listen to the sound of the ministry, I would not. And when I heard, and the tear rolled down my cheek, I wiped it away and defied Him to melt my soul. But long before I began with Christ, He began with me."

The author of “Hound of Heaven”, Francis Thompson,  believed he could disannul God’s purposes in the hunt, not realizing that a decree had been made.

 “There is no escape from God. But then I bewitched myself to believe in escape and nearly destroyed myself by self-delusion.” [Francis Thompson].

Synergists reject Thompson’s metaphor altogether. God’s sovereignty must be diminished to accommodate an autonomous free will. Man determines his own destiny. There is no salvific decrees, no predestination or efficacious calling.

Thompson’s entering the labyrinth in life is understandable. Man creates vast webs of intrigue and deceit. What is interesting is man’s creation of a salvific labyrinth. Once the elective purposes of God are rejected, a vast complex of human imaginations begin to devise different paths than that of grace. 

The hunted determines the rules. Mutable counsels replace decree. Salvation becomes man centered rather than God centered. Salvation terms such as grace and faith are re-defined. New concepts appear such as an indifferent mind, island of righteousness, synergism and prevenient grace. Foreknowledge of God becomes  causative, grace becomes cooperative. Faith is universal rather than a gift of God and breaks through spiritual death itself.  The labyrinth becomes a “titanic gloom” that no one can understand.

The truths in Thompson’s poem “Hound of Heaven” disarms the synergist position as he presents a beautiful picture of amazing grace –unmerited favor. God’s salvific decrees will end with God receiving glory. The hunt is real and those predestinated for salvation are assured justification without compulsion. Once marked by decree for justification we praise God for the “unhurried, unperturbed, deliberate and majestic chase by voice and feet”.