text:
How Polypharmacy Led to 43 Prescription Pills at Once
by Dr. Joseph Mercola
STORY-AT-A-GLANCE
While 89% of people aged 65 and older take at least one prescription medication, 54% take four or more
A commentary by Dr. Mark E. Williams detailed the case of "Allison," who was taking 43 different medications and suffering multiple side effects as a result
Polypharmacy is a preventable risk factor for hospital admission in older adults, due to adverse drug events
The risks of polypharmacy include mortality, falls, adverse drug reactions, increased length of hospital stay and hospital readmission
A holistic approach, one that addresses the key tenets of good health and creates real wellness instead of attempting to cover up symptoms with more pills, is needed to achieve optimal health
Polypharmacy, or the use of multiple medications, is common in older adults. While 89% of people aged 65 and older take at least one prescription medication, 54% take four or more.1 Data from Merck similarly found that nearly 80% of older adults regularly take at least two prescription drugs while 36% regularly use five or more different drugs — and this doesn't include over-the-counter medications.2
Adverse effects from polypharmacy are common and may drive patients to seek out ever-more drugs to treat the side effects caused by their unsafe drug regimen. It's a vicious cycle, one that's perpetuated by a broken health care system that revolves around pharmaceutical-driven, fragmented care.
Not only do many patients see multiple doctors, each of whom may prescribe their own set of medications, but patients may pressure doctors to prescribe drugs they've seen on direct-to-consumer advertisements. Instead of looking at the big picture of how to get healthy, tending to essential factors like diet, stress and physical activity, "health care" for seniors often turns into "drug care," with potentially disastrous results.
One Patient — 43 Prescription Drugs
A commentary by Dr. Mark E. Williams published on Medscape highlights just how extreme polypharmacy can become. In some cases, it's not "just" four or five medications but dozens of them, and in the case of Williams' patient "Allison," it was 43. The woman had been transferred to a chronic care facility for long-term care due to bipolar illness.
Days earlier, she was treated at a hospital for mental health issues, which Williams said "was probably related to inappropriate polypharmacy."3
"Despite being admitted to the hospital for adverse drug reactions related to polypharmacy, Allison was discharged to my facility on 43 prescription medications and an almost equal number of over-the-counter (OTC) drugs. It took more than 10 minutes for the nurse to review the admission medications with me over the phone," he wrote.4
Allison's symptoms included fatigue, dizziness, muscle aches, headache, nausea, insomnia and more, and she requested additional medications to treat them. Not only was the woman taking duplicate medications meant to treat the same symptoms, but she was also taking medications intended to treat common adverse effects.
"The 'chemical soup' in her body is leading to mental and physical problems," Williams told the patient's daughter, but she, too, bought into the notion that more drugs equaled better care. After overcoming the patient's resistance to going off the drugs, over a three-month period Williams was able to reduce Allison's medications to about 15 — still a staggering number, but less so than 43.
"Allison improved, both mentally and physically," Williams wrote,5 but challenges still ensued, including the patient demanding a memory drug she had seen advertised on television, and an incident in which her daughter gave her an over-the-counter sleep aid, leading to lethargy, confusion and slurred speech.
Ultimately, Allison was transferred to another facility, where the dangerous polypharmacy undoubtedly continued. While Williams' commentary highlights an extreme case, it's not unique — polypharmacy is prevalent among seniors.
Polypharmacy Worsens Health
When medications are prescribed in excess, including to treat the side effects of other drugs, the patient's health suffers. "The use of numerous medications may result in medication-related problems such as inappropriate indications, therapeutic duplication, adverse effects, drug interactions, unnecessary medications, poor adherence and a strain on health care resources," according to a featured article in The Journal for Nurse Practitioners.6
It also noted that polypharmacy is a preventable risk factor for hospital admission in older adults, due to adverse drug events. The risks of polypharmacy, meanwhile, are well noted. In BMC Geriatrics, adverse outcomes including mortality, falls, adverse drug reactions, increased length of hospital stay and hospital readmission are listed, and the risk of harm increases with the number of medications.7 According to the systematic review:8
"Harm can result due to a multitude of factors including drug-drug interactions and drug-disease interactions. Older patients are at even greater risk of adverse effects due to decreased renal and hepatic function, lower lean body mass, reduced hearing, vision, cognition and mobility."
In 2007, Dr. Michael Stern, geriatric emergency medicine specialist at New York Presbyterian Hospital, even told a New York Times reporter that polypharmacy accounts for more than one-fourth of all admissions to the hospital and that it would be considered the fifth leading cause of death if it were categorized that way.9
Older People Are More Vulnerable to Drug Side Effects
The fact that older people are more likely to be taking more prescription drugs is a double-edged sword, as the elderly are already at increased risk of drug side effects. In fact, the elderly are estimated to be twice as susceptible to adverse drug events compared to younger people.
"Side effects are also likely to be more severe, affecting quality of life and resulting in visits to the doctor and in hospitalization," according to the Merck Manual, which also explains several reasons why older people are so vulnerable to drug side effects:10
Older people have less water and more fat tissue in the body; this allows higher concentrations of drugs that dissolve in water and increased accumulation of drugs that dissolve in fat
The kidneys are less effective at excreting drugs into urine
The liver is less able to metabolize drugs, so they're not removed as readily from the body
"Older people are more likely to have chronic medical disorders that may be worsened by drugs or that may affect how the drugs work"
Some common examples of how drugs may affect seniors differently include blood pressure drugs, which may lead to more dramatic drops in older people, leading to symptoms of dizziness and falls. Older adults may also become confused and sleepy when using antianxiety drugs, more so than typically seen in younger people. Such effects may only be compounded when multiple drugs are being taken at the same time.
In fact, due to changes that occur during biological aging, it's now recognized that medications should be clinically tested specifically with older adults in mind. However, older adults are often excluded from clinical trials, which means the safety and efficacy of drugs in this population is often unknown, with supportive evidence lacking.
"Inevitably, this lack of evidence has often led to inappropriate drug treatment and, consequently, to various adverse clinical outcomes," according to a review published in March 2021 in European Geriatric Medicine.11
Why Are so Many More Seniors Taking Antidepressants?
Overprescribing is rampant among the senior population, and antidepressants are one such example. There's been a major rise in the number of antidepressants being prescribed for older adults over the last two decades, without a similarly sharp increase in the number depressed, according to a study published in The British Journal of Psychiatry.12
The findings suggest seniors may be being overprescribed antidepressant drugs, which could have serious implications for their health, although the researchers weren't willing to state this, noting instead, "we can't infer that older patients are prescribed antidepressants unnecessarily."13
In the first study group, 4.2% of the adults were taking antidepressants, but this jumped to 10.7% in the later study. During this time, the prevalence of depression decreased, but only slightly, from 7.9% to 6.8%.14 Also noteworthy, among older adults living in care homes, the prevalence of depression was unchanged but the use of antidepressants rose from 7.4% to 29.2%.15
There were a few suggestions offered for why antidepressant prescribing rates increased so steeply without a similar increase in depression, including overdiagnosis or prescribing the drugs for conditions other than depression. However, most of those prescribed antidepressants had not been diagnosed with depression.
Further, antidepressants carry a risk of side effects that could easily spiral into more drug prescriptions. For instance, antidepressant users have an increased risk of developing Type 2 diabetes,16 and antidepressant use has been linked to thicker arteries, which could contribute to the risk of heart disease and stroke.17
Nearly Half of Over 75s Take Statins
Statin cholesterol-lowering drugs are another example of a wildly overprescribed drug class that's contributing to polypharmacy risks. In the U.S., close to 50% of U.S. adults over 75 years take a statin,18 even though their use may also harm brain health — more than doubling risk of dementia in some cases.19
A connection also exists between statins and diabetes, to the extent that people who take statins are more than twice as likely to be diagnosed with diabetes than those who do not, and those who take the drugs for longer than two years have more than triple the risk.20,21 With a diabetes diagnosis, of course, comes more drugs.
Often, statins are unnecessary in the first place. While they are effective at lowering cholesterol, whether this is the panacea for helping avoid heart disease and extend lifespan is a topic of heated debate. In 2018, a scientific review presented substantial evidence that high LDL and total cholesterol are not an indication of heart disease risk, and that statin treatment is of doubtful benefit as a form of primary prevention for this reason.22
Drugs Don't Equate to Good Health
Overprescribing pills is setting up seniors for a downward spiral of increasing side effects and worsening health. A holistic approach is needed, one that addresses the key tenets of good health and creates real wellness instead of attempting to cover up symptoms with more pills.
As just one example, in a study of older depressed adults, 80% experienced a significant reduction in depressive symptoms after taking up strength training for 10 weeks, such that researchers concluded that the exercise was "an effective antidepressant in depressed elders, while also improving strength, morale and quality of life."23
It's important to work with a health care provider who understands the risks of polypharmacy and the fact that good health doesn't come from a pill. Only by building a health plan that addresses diet, exercise, sleep, emotional wellness and toxic exposures, along with only targeted and truly necessary medications and/or supplements, can you reach optimal health.
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Health, MercolaAntidepressants, Drug Side Effects, Drugs, Mercola, Polypharmacy, Statins
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There is so much that I love about my career as a Research Scientist in BioTech. I love the creativity and intellectual stimulation, the teamwork and independence, the opportunity to apply expertise but always keep improving and learning, and I love the puzzle of it all. But sometimes I feel drained, and recently I've been in a bit of a funk. I think part of it is from our continued fertility struggles; but I start thinking that maybe I'm not in the right job or even the right line of work…. Maybe I want to run away and be an illustrator or a farmer. I should go live on a commune and teach kindergarten in a tree house. But when I really sit down and outline what I want out of a career/my life I realize (again) that I'm doing it, I have my perfect job. So why do I feel so blah?
I recently came across a blog post entitled "why a personal mission statement is key to career bliss." Based on this theory, maybe the question I need to be asking myself isn't what I want to be, but rather who do I want to be. I like this idea! I don't need go external and look for a new passion project or do anything drastic to find my happy place, I just need to be more mindful of my "core motivators" and make sure that I honor that thought in my daily life. Here is my first attempt at a personal mission statement, it's pretty broad, but I like that it applies to my work-life and my life-life.….
To be a compassionate and creative person who contributes to, and supports teams trying to make the world a better place.
I would love to hear from you, do you have a mission statement? Has it helped you?
This entry was posted in alternative career, biotech, confidence, dream job, early career scientist, female scientist, flexibility, happiness, industry, job search, no regrets, pause, resolution, strengths and weaknesses, women in science. Bookmark the permalink.


text:
Kate Middleton shocks passengers on commercial flight
14 Oct, 2016 10:30 PM 7 minutes to read
The Duchess of Cambridge arrives at the Mauritshuis to view the exhibition 'At Home in Holland'. Photo / Getty Images
By: Siofra Brennan and Emma Glanfield for MailOnline
Her mother was a successful air hostess for British Airways and it seems the Duchess of Cambridge may have been inspired by Carole Middleton today as she boarded a commercial flight back to London from her first solo overseas tour.
Kate, 34, was sporting a bespoke 'vintage style' pale blue skirt suit by French-born fashion designer Catherine Walker as she stepped onto the 7.15pm British Airways flight from the Netherlands following her whirlwind trip.
With her brunette locks scraped back neatly into a chic bun, the Royal appeared to be channelling an air hostess look as she returned from her first foreign trip on official royal duties without her husband Prince William.
Photographs show her boarding the passenger plane in Rotterdam early this evening, with fellow flyers excitedly taking pictures of her on their mobile phones as she is shown to her seat on the front row of the aircraft.
The scheduled flight - the last of the day from Rotterdam to City Airport - was full of members of the public who were shocked to see the Duchess board at the last minute.
She was escorted onto the plane by bodyguards and her team ahead of the 50-minute flight. One source said he had "never seen so many iPhones pop up at once," as passengers scrambled to get a photograph of the Duchess.
Keeping a low-profile, Kate spoke with a member of her team for the duration of the quick flight before being the first to be escorted from the plane once it landed "a couple of minutes early". A car was said to be waiting on the tarmac at London City Airport and the Royal was whisked away before passengers were allowed to disembark.
Standing in front The Girl With The Pearl Earring, Kate looked like a perfect match for the enigmatic figure in Vermeer's masterpiece.
And given her knowledge of art, her choice of jewellery for today's visit - a pair of diamond and pearl earrings borrowed from the Queen - was clearly no coincidence.
The Duchess lingered in front of the Dutch masterpiece, made famous by the film of the same name starring Colin Firth and Scarlett Johansson, to ensure that photographers had ample time to take their pictures of the girls in pearls.
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She regarded the visit as 'a real treat' according to the Mauritshuis gallery director Emilie Gordenker who showed her around the permanent collection as well as the Queen's paintings.
She said: "She didn't mention the earrings she was wearing, but she was interested in the painting. She asked if it had become a lot more popular since the film came out, and I said it definitely had.
"The Duchess seemed to particularly enjoy seeing The Goldfinch, by Carel Fabritius.
"But she asked a lot of questions about the presentation of the paintings, because although she is familiar with a lot of the Queen's paintings she has never seen them in this setting before, which gives them a different context."
Kate was all smiles as she chatted with her royal counterpart, King Willem Alexander, at the start of her day of engagements in Holland. Photo / Getty Images
Kate was visiting the museum as part of a day of engagements in the Netherlands - her first solo foreign trip on official royal duties without William.
The mother-of-two looked elegant in a bespoke pale blue skirt suit by Catherine Walker and in a break from her usual style she wore her brunette locks swept back in a chic bun.
She teamed her outfit with her trusty Gianvito Rossi suede pumps, which she also wore yesterday for an engagement in London and carried a small nude box clutch from L.K. Bennett.
The chic ensemble gave the Duchess more than a hint of Jackie Kennedy style, and is in keeping with her new high end wardrobe.
Kate was given a personal tour of an exhibition featuring Dutch Old Masters loaned by the Royal Collection, with artwork, furniture and other objects accumulated over centuries by the British monarchy.
The highlight of the visiting exhibition is Johannes Vermeer's The Music Lesson, but the Duchess also toured the museum's permanent collection, which is where she encountered Vermeer's best-known work, as well as The Goldfinch by Carel Fabritius.
Before leaving, the Duchess met children taking part in the gallery's learning programme and attended a short reception with museum supporters.
Earlier today, Kate made a courtesy call to King Willem-Alexander at Villa Eikenhorst, the royal residence he shares with wife Queen Maxima and their three daughters, Princesses Amalia, Alexia and Ariane.
The family home is on the forested De Horsten estate in Wassenaar, near The Hague, and, despite being a private residence, the Dutch monarch sometimes hosts foreign guests.
"Welcome, welcome, very nice to see you," the king said, as he greeted his guest for the first visit by a British royal to the Dutch kingdom in three years.
Her one-day trip is a royal milestone for the Duchess as it's the first time she's travelled abroad by herself on official royal duties without William.
A tour of Malta in 2014 was scheduled to be Kate's first solo trip but she had to cancel as she was suffering from acute morning sickness while pregnant with Princess Charlotte.
Folowing her museum visit, Kate travelled to the official residence of Sir Geoffrey Adams, Britain's Ambassador to the Netherlands, to convene a round-table discussion on the themes of addiction, intervention, family and mental health.
Taking part were professionals from the Trimbos Institute, a non-profit research centre working on the issues of mental health and addiction.
Rutger Engels, President and Chief Executive officer of the Trimbos Institute said: 'Still too often children are overlooked when one of their parents has a mental disorder or addiction problem.
"We are very pleased that The Duchess will use her visit to the Netherlands to raise more awareness for the vulnerable position these children are in."
They were joined by counterparts from two of the Duchess's UK charities - the Anna Freud Centre for Children and Families, a leading charity in the research, teaching and the provision of care for children and young people with mental health issues, and Action on Addiction.
Kate Middleton is introduced to a robot by a local youngster at Bouwkeet for teenagers. Photo / Getty Images
Later Kate travelled to the neighbouring city of Rotterdam to learn about Bouwkeet, the social Makerspace of Bospolder-Tussendijken. This is a new community focused initiative in the centre of an economically deprived district which provides a creative design and technology workspace.
The Duchess met with youngsters in woodwork and bike-building classes, and even got the chance to meet a real-life robot, where she was pictured shaking hands with the machine.
Local residents can use the facilities, and 'pay' by sharing their skills with others, providing education, skills and positive role models within the community. The centre works with local schools to bring young people in the area into workshops, where they learn to design, create and build their own projects.
Residents pay by sharing their skills with others, providing education, skills and positive role models in the neighbourhood.
The visit comes a day after Prime Minister Theresa May was in the Netherlands for talks with her Dutch counterpart, Mark Rutte, to put forward her case for a fair deal for the UK with the European Union.
Mrs May also visited Denmark for talks with Prime Minister Lars-Lokke Rasmussen as part of her diplomatic offensive ahead of the formal beginning of the Brexit process.
Some commentators believe Kate will be an asset in helping to safeguard the UK's relations with its European neighbours as Brexit takes shape in the coming years.
One of the Queen's most senior aides, her private secretary Sir Christopher Geidt, joined Kate's small entourage - which may be interpreted by some as reflecting the importance of the trip.
But a Buckingham Palace spokesman said: "The Duchess' visit centred on an exhibition featuring works from the Royal Collection. Sir Christopher attended in his capacity as a trustee of the Royal Collection."
Royal sources dismissed the speculation that Sir Christopher's presence was Brexit related, and said his joining the Duchess also reflected the close ties between the British and Dutch royal families.
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Enjoying the final days of grooming at the Mt. Bachelor Nordic Center. The Mountain did a great job of prepping the trail each day and managing the snow through stockpiling and plowing to last as long as possible.
After a solid 10 days on snow I returned to the Methow to work on technique with Scott and enjoy a few recovery sessions. After years of hearing about it I finally got out to enjoy the Loomis Loop, a 52 mile ride in northern Okanogan county.
I am looking forward to heading home to Minnesota but not without one last run in the mountains. Chad and I ran and scrambled up the ridge near Mt Robinson. We had hoped to go to the peak but there was still quite a bit of snow and I figured it we made the trip more than 5 hours it wouldn't really be a recovery session.


There are two elements of this receiving. First, Christ is received for his "excellency". Second, Christ is received as the only ground of salvation.
The fairest rose that grows in Paradise.
In sweats of glory on each leaf doth bed.
Acceptation. He will yield to any terms, so as the Lord will but grant his chief desires. Tell him, if he will have Christ, and follow him, he must forsake all; he embraces the motion, he says, This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation. He says with Mephibosheth, Nay, let him take all, if my Lord will return to my soul in peace. Tell him, if he will inherit the land of promise, he must come out of Egypt, he is content, he will not leave a hoof behind. All his lusts shall go, if Christ will but come, small and great, secret and open, pleasant and profitable; his Zoars, his little ones, shall be turned into ashes; his Herodias, his pleasant beloved sins shall be divorced. The best and fattest of the cattle, his profitable and gainful sins, shall be put to the sword, with the rest of the children of Amalek; his secret idols, those that are hid in the stuff, shall not only be buried, but, as Moses with the calf, ground to powder. Tell him, if he will be joined to Christ, he must forget his kindred and father's house, his former old acquaintance and conversation; he is satisfied, so as the King will delight in his beauty, so as Christ will but take pleasure in him. Tell him, if he will have Christ as an intercessor, he must submit to him as a king; Oh, says he, if the golden sceptre may be but holden forth, I will submit to it for ever. Tell him, if he will have the Spirit of Christ, he must have him as a Spirit of grace, as well as a Spirit of supplication: he yields with cheerfulness; he looks upon holiness as garments of wrought gold, that which will both enrich and beautify him; the sanctifying work of the Spirit is acceptable to him, as well as the sealing work. Tell him, he that will name the name of the Lord with acceptance, must depart from iniquity: he answers presently, 'What have I any more to do with idols?' This Accepting Christ, and the Spirit of Christ, upon gospel terms, is called faith, John 1:12.
2) Mutual, consequential, conjugal affections.
Upon this invitation, the spouse boldly concludes, Song of Solomon 7:10, that the desire of Christ is towards her; that he does indeed love her, and aim at taking her into this fellowship with himself. So, in carrying on this union, Christ freely bestoweth himself upon the soul. Precious and excellent as he is, he becometh ours. He makes himself to be so; and with him, all his graces.
This is the first thing on the part of Christ, — the free donation and bestowing of himself upon us to be our Christ, our Beloved, as to all the ends and purposes of love, mercy, grace, and glory; whereunto in his mediation he is designed, in a marriage covenant never to be broken. This is the sum of what is intended: — The Lord Jesus Christ, fitted and prepared, by the accomplishment and furniture of his person as mediator, and the large purchase of grace and glory which he has made, to be a husband to his saints, his church, tenders himself in the promises of the gospel to them in all his desirableness; convinces them of his goodwill towards them, and his all-sufficiency for a supply of their wants; and upon their consent to accept of him, — which is all he requires or expects at their hands, — he engageth himself in a marriage covenant to be theirs for ever.
And it is the main design of the ministry of the gospel, to prevail with men to give up themselves unto the Lord Christ, as he reveals his kindness in this engagement.
1. Honor. It is the day of his coronation, and his spouse is the crown wherewith he is crowned. For as Christ is a diadem of beauty and a crown of glory unto Zion, Isaiah 28:5; so Zion also is a diadem and a crown unto him, Isaiah 62:3. Christ makes this relation with his saints to be his glory and his honor.
It is the gladness of the heart of Christ, the joy of his soul, to take poor sinners into this relation with himself.
The last sentence bears emphasis: The Son is not reluctant to bring sinners – the broken, shamed and shameful, the ungodly may come to the throne of Grace and receive forgiveness. Romans 4:5 gloriously reminds us, God "justifies the ungodly". God does not justify the good or the whole, but the broken and lost – the sick who need a physician; the lost who need a Savior. The Son delights to save, "It is the gladness of the heart of Christ".
And not my trencher, nor my cup o'erflow?
Be n't I a bidden guest? Oh! sweat mine eye.
O'reflow with tears: Oh! draw thy fountains dry.
Shall I not smell thy sweet, Oh! Sharon's Rose?
Shall not mine eye salute thy beauty? Why?
Shall thy sweet leaves their beauteous sweet upclose?
As half ashamed my sight should on them lie?
Offer'd on Sorrow's alter for the same.
With mud, what ravishment would'st thou convey?
Of tears arise, and clear this filth away.
These pipes — my soul — do with thy sweetness fill.
Heav'n's upmost loft, and it in glory locked.
Unlocked the door, and made a golden day.
Like sunbeams through thee on the world to fall.
Saints' heaven-lost happiness restored by thee.
–Like sunbeams bundled in the sun — in thee?
Do sit, and carv'st no morsel sweet for me?
Thy rosie leaves and me their glee afford.
Shall not thy rose my garden fresh perfume?
Shall not thy beauty my dull heart assail?
Shall not thy golden gleams run through this gloom?
Shall my black velvet mask thy fair face veil?
Enthrone thy rosy-self within mine eyes.
trencher. Dictionary.com. Online Etymology Dictionary. Douglas Harper, Historian.http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/trencher (accessed: September 20, 2012).
trencher. Dictionary.com. © Encyclopedia Britannica, Inc.. Encyclopedia Britannica, Inc.. http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/trencher (accessed: September 20, 2012).
My Blessed Lord, art thou a lily flower?
Might of its seeds, that they therein might grow.
Be thou my flowers, I'll be thy flower pot.
Let me thy valley, thou my lily be.
Then nothing shall me of thyself bereave.
Thou must not me, or must thy valley leave.
All heaven's bright glory hangeth dangling.
Thou lily of the valleys, being mine.
To Court this Rose: and lodgeth in its leaves.
At this point, the poem moves to praise and prayer. Taylor moves back and forth between extolling the beauty of the Rose and praying for the gift and blessing of the Rose.
"'The Brazen Serpent Is a Doctor's Shop:' Edward Taylor's Medical Vision" by Catherine Rainwater; in American Literature and Science, Edited y Robert Scholnick, 1992 University Press of Kentucky; page 38, fn. 26. D'Orta's book is available in an English translation as Colloquies of the Simples and Drugs of India here: http://archive.org/details/colloquiesonsimp00orta The book discusses various natural medicines of India. Thus, this initial praise of the poem is that the Rose of Sharon exceeds all other medicines of the world.
22 Perfume me with the Odours it doth shed.
When seen in this light, the movement from perfume to medicinal imagery seems natural. Paul uses the imagery (if you will) of perfume of Christ as that which saves one from death – it brings life. Thus, Taylor, without question familiar with the text, would naturally move from perfume to saving and restoration to life.
Doth all Catholicons excell what ere.
Chase all thine Enemies out of my land.
52 To make a Physick sweet, sure, safe for mee.
54 And in its pristine glory, doth remain.
62 Lodg'd in a Rose, that out a sweet Breath breaths.
64 Strewd all along with Sharons Rosy Leaves.
66 And Sharons Rose shall be my Rose, and Crown.
The effect of the accents is to slow the reading: the combination of a single accented syllable, a pause for the time between words and another accented syllable makes it impossible to read the first portion of the line quickly. The speed of the line thus forces attention onto Love as an actor and Love's decision.
It is also interesting that Love has moved from a "sparke" the poet possesses in the first line to a personified actor in the second stanza.
By "clayey faces", Taylor emphasizes the "earthliness" of the world's offerings which contrast with the "pilgrim life" sought by Love. In referencing a "pilgrim's life", the focus turns from Vanity Faire (to use Bunyan's image) to the heavenly kingdom: the desire for the "heavenly" country – the "city" which God has prepared for his pilgrim's (Heb. 11:16).
The Rose of Sharon, which with Beauty shines.
From hence it may be surely inferred, wherein spiritual understanding consists. For if there be in the saints a kind of apprehension or perception, which is in its nature, perfectly diverse from all that natural men have, or that it is possible they should have, till they have a new nature; it must consist in their having a certain kind of ideas or sensations of mind, which are simply diverse from all that is or can be in the minds of natural men. And that is the same thing as to say, that it consists in the sensations of a new spiritual sense, which the souls of natural men have not; as is evident by what has been before, once and again observed. But I have already shown what that new spiritual sense is, which the saints have given them in regeneration, and what is the object of it. I have shown that the immediate object of it is the supreme beauty and excellency of the nature of divine things, as they are in themselves. And this is agreeable to the Scripture: the Apostle very plainly teaches that the great thing discovered by spiritual light, and understood by spiritual knowledge, is the glory of divine things, II Corinthians 4:3–4. "But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost; in whom the God of this world hath blinded the minds of them that believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them," together with v. 6, "For God who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ": and ch. 3:18 preceding, "But we all, with open face, beholding as in a glass, the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image, from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord." And it must needs be so, for as has been before observed, the Scripture often teaches that all true religion summarily consists in the love of divine things. And therefore that kind of understanding or knowledge, which is the proper foundation of true religion, must be the knowledge of the loveliness of divine things. For doubtless, that knowledge which is the proper foundation of love, is the knowledge of loveliness. What that beauty or loveliness of divine things is, which is the proper and immediate object of a spiritual sense of mind, was showed under the last head insisted on, viz. that it is the beauty of their moral perfection. Therefore it is in the view or sense of this, that Spiritual understanding does more immediately and primarily consist. And indeed it is plain it can be nothing else; for (as has been shown) there is nothing pertaining to divine things besides the beauty of their moral excellency, and those properties and qualities of divine things which this beauty is the foundation of, but what natural men and devils can see and know, and will know fully and clearly to all eternity.
From what has been said, therefore, we come necessarily to this conclusion, concerning that wherein spiritual understanding consists; viz. that it consists in a sense of the heart, of the supreme beauty and sweetness of the holiness or moral perfection of divine things, together with all that discerning and knowledge of things of religion, that depends upon, and flows from such a sense.
Religious Affections, Yale Edition (available online at edwards.yale.edu) on pages 271-272.
In short, Taylor's poem at this point coincides with the later systematic and philosophical treatment of Edwards on the matter of beauty and spiritual apprehension. Indeed, Taylor's description of the Rose in the remainder of the poem fits consistently with Edwards' understanding of beauty as a moral perfection.
This Fair is no new-erected business, but a thing of ancient standing. I will show you the original of it: Almost five thousand years ago, there were pilgrims walking to the Celestial City, as these two honest persons are; and Beelzebub, Apollyon, and Legion, with their companions, perceiving by the path that the Pilgrims made, that their way to the City lay through this Town of Vanity, they contrived here to set up a fair; a fair wherein should be sold all sorts of vanity, and that it should last all the year long.
Therefore, at this fair, are all such merchandise sold, as nouses, lands, trades, places, honours, preferments, titles, countries, kingdoms, lusts, pleasures, and delights of all sorts; as whores, bawds, wives, husbands, children, masters, servants, lives, blood, bodies, souls, silver, gold, pearls, precious stones, and what not. And, moreover, at this Fair, there is at all times to be seen, jugglings, cheats, games, plays, fools, apes, knaves, and rogues, and that of every kind.
Here are to be seen too, and that for nothing, thefts, murders, adulteries, false swearers, and that of a blood-red colour.
And as, in other fairs of less moment, there are several rows and streets, under their proper names, where such and such wares are vended, so here likewise you have the proper places, rows, streets (viz. countries and kingdoms,) where the wares of this fair are soonest to be found. Here is the Britain Row, the French Row, the Italian Row, the Spanish Row, the German Row, where several sorts of Vanities are to be sold. But as, in other fairs, some one commodity is the chief of all the fair, so the ware of Rome, and her merchandise, is greatly promoted in this fair; only our English nation, with some others, have taken a dislike thereat.
Now, as I said, the way to the Celestial City lies just through this town where this lusty fair is kept; and he that would go to the City, and yet not go through this town, must needs go out of the world.
The similarity between Taylor and Bunyan could lead one to think there is some dependence by Taylor on Bunyan. However, no such dependence need be found. It is quite likely that they both drew from the same common pool of pilgrimage imagery – not just from the Bible but as also developed among the Puritans.
John Owen, vol. 6, The Works of John Owen., ed. William H. Goold (Edinburg: T&T Clark), 321. While the concept of pilgrimage was an existent idea, the Puritans did not associate pilgrimage with a trek to any place upon earth. The pilgrimage did not possess any intrinsic value – except to avoid being trapped alone the way. When it came to the matter of pilgrimage, one's who desire was to avoid being trapped and seduced by the things along the way.
Thirdly, This resignation is made to the word. There is the promise of eternal life extant, and there the way to eternal life is chalked out, there is the promise of eternal life mapped out, a mercy above all the sphere of nature: hence the ancient believers were as pilgrims here, (Heb. 11:13); as if the world were too little for them, they were altogether for the heavenly country, which faith sees at a distance in the promise: there, also, the way to eternal life is chalked out, "The world passes away, but he that doth the will of God abideth for ever," (1 John 2:17). Riches and pleasures are but the way of time, but holiness and righteousness are the way everlasting, (Ps. 139:24); the good acts may pass, but their record is in heaven; the good men must die, but the holiness shall never see corruption; the repentant tears which fall to the earth are bottled with God: the charity which seems lost, as bread cast on the waters, will come to hand again. Polycrates, when he cast his ring into the sea, little thought to have met it again in his fish; but the believer doing good works, expects to meet them again in another world; a sowing to the Spirit, he looks for a crop in eternal life. Dorcas may leave her coats and garments behind her, but the charity will follow her into another world; The commandment is eternal life, saith our Saviour, (John 12:50); the very way to it. The believer obeying, may in some sense say, as dying Pollio, Jam ingredior in vitam æternam, now I am entering into eternal life, into that which will survive the world, and live in glory. Faith resigns to the word, not only as it is the charter of eternal life in the promise, but as it is the director to it in the command.
(1.) To labour after a holy contempt of this dirty, soul-polluting world.—O what an essential obligation do we all lie under, to contemn the grandeur and sun-burnt glory of this fading world! What is there in this world you can call yours? Can you be content to have your heaven made of such base metal as mire and clay? O what a transient thing is all the glory of this perishing world! Consider the argument which our apostle useth in the words following our text: (1 John 2:17:) And the world—That is, all the splendour, pomp, beauty, pleasures, and grandeur of the world. Passeth away, ῶαραγει—As a scene, whereon men acted their parts, and then passed away, as 1 Cor. 7:31. Alas! were the world guilty of no other defect but this, that it passeth away, what a strong argument is this for the contempt thereof! Again: remember, this world is but your prison, and place of pilgrimage. And, O how scornful and disdainful is the pilgrim's eye! With how much scorn doth he behold other countries! And ought not Christians, with a more generous disdain, [to] cry out?—"Fie, fie! This dirty world is not like my celestial Canaan!" Alas! what have we here to rejoice in but fetters and chains? How soon doth "the fashion of this world pass away!" (1 Cor. 7:31;) that is, the pageant or scene of worldly glory!
James Nichols, Puritan Sermons, Volume 1 (Wheaton, IL: Richard Owen Roberts, Publishers, 1981), 664.
1. In respect of their station, the place of their abode. While they are in the world, they are in a strange country; while they are present in the world, they are far from home. The world is a strange country, and their habitations in it, how much soever their own in civil respects, are but as inns in that journey homeward. The land of promise was but to Abraham a strange country; his dwelling there was but a sojourning, so far was he from thinking himself at home, ver. 9.
The world is a strange country to the people of God, and the men of the world are men of a strange language, strange customs, strange laws, far differing from that of their own country. A strange language, the language of Ashdod. To hear God's name profaned, his people reproached, holiness vilified, miscalled; to hear unclean, unsavoury, revengeful language; to hear men wholly taken up with discourse of the earth, and earthly things, oh this is, or should be, strange language to the people of God; there is no such word ever heard in their own country. While in the world, they are amongst a people of a strange tongue, strange customs and laws too, such as were never enacted, nor had place in their own country. To neglect the worship of God in public, in their families, to make provision for the flesh, &c., to lay up treasure on earth, to neglect God, their souls, eternity, these and such like are customs of the world; and they think it strange (so common is it) that God's people will not run with them, 1 Pet. 4:4, not swear, be drunk. A people of strange doctrines, Heb. 13:9; strange vanities, Jer. 8:19; of a strange God too, 2 Cor. 4:4. He is their lawgiver; the course of this world is according to his laws, Eph. 2:2. The laws of their own country have no place here: the law of faith, love, self-denial, loving enemies, &c. Such a country is the world to the people of God, a strange country; and in this respect they are strangers.
2. In respect of their design, their motion, it is still homewards. This strange country likes them not, nor they it; they are travelling towards another, that which is, that which they account, their home, that better country, that heavenly country, that city prepared for them, that city whose builder and maker is God. Thus these faithful worthies, ver. 14, they that say, i. e., that confess, &c., do plainly declare, ver. 16. That heavenly country is the place of the Lord's abode; and because he is their God, this is their country, their home. This they look for, ver. 10, this they seek, ver. 14, this they desire, ver. 16; their expectations, their affections, their endeavours are for heaven, when they are like themselves. While they are present in the world, they are absent from home. So their life here is in motion; they are in a journey; they are travelling homewards, and that is to heaven. This is their journey's end, the end of their pilgrimage; and till they come there, till they be at home in heaven, they are strangers.
3. In respect of their enjoyments. They are but accommodated here like strangers. Much would be a burden, a hindrance to them in their journey; they have more in hopes than hand. These worthies died, not having received the promises, i. e., all the good things promised: no, their richest enjoyments are at home; no matter for state and superfluities in a journey. They are not known in those strange places where they pass, no matter how they seem to strangers. Though they be princes, sons of God, heirs of a crown, their Father sees it best, safest for them, to travel in a disguise. No matter what strangers take them for, 1 John 3:2, what they now enjoy are but like the accommodations of an inn, enough for travellers. Their treasure, their crown, their glory is at home, their Father's house; till they come there they are strangers.
4. In respect of their usage. They are not known in the world, and so are often coarsely used. In this strange country they meet with few friends, but many injuries. See how the world used those of whom it was not worthy, ver. 36–38. Here is strangers indeed, and strangely used. No wonder if a stranger be jeered and derided; his habit, his manners, his language, is not conformed to the place where he is. Their habit, language, practices, must be after their own country fashion, such as become heaven: now this being contrary to the world, meets with opposition, scorn, reproaches, hatred. This was the portion of Christ, of his disciples, of his people in all ages; and this is the reason they are not of the world, they are strangers, John 17:14. If they have something that commands outward respect, it may be they will find some; but the hearts of worldly men are against them, John 15:18, 19.
5. In respect of their continuance. Their abode on earth is but short. A stranger, a traveller stays not long in one place. Upon this account does David call himself and the people of God strangers, 1 Chron. 29:15. They dwell but as Abraham in tabernacles, ver. 9, in tents, moveable dwellings, quickly, easily removed; no dwelling that has a foundation that is lasting, durable, till at home, ver. 10. Continuance on earth but a shadow, but a passage.
6. In respect of their relations. Their dearest relations are in another country. Their Father, their Husband, their Elder Brother, their dearest Friend, their Comforter, and the far greatest part of their brethren and fellow-members, are all in heaven. He that lives at a distance from his relations may well pass for a stranger.
David Clarkson, The Works of David Clarkson, Volume I (Edinburgh: James Nichol, 1864), 243-45.
A motion makes, where Love may pick and choose.
Of Wealth, Sports, Honours, Beauty, slickt up all.
Book of Sports, formally Declaration of Sports, order issued by King James I of England for use in Lancashire to resolve a conflict, on the subject of Sunday recreations, between the Puritans and the gentry, many of whom were Roman Catholics. Permission was given for dancing, archery, leaping and vaulting, and for "having of May games, Whitsun ales and morris dances, and the setting up of May-poles and other sports therewith used, so as the same may be had in due and convenient time without impediment or neglect of divine service, and that women shall have leave to carry rushes to church for the decorating of it." On the other hand, "bear and bull-baiting, interludes, and (at all times in the meane sort of people by law prohibited) bowling" were not to be permitted on Sunday. In 1618 James ordered all English clergy to read the declaration from the pulpit, but so strong was the Puritan opposition to Sunday amusements that he prudently withdrew his command. In 1633 Charles I not only directed the republication of his father's declaration but insisted upon the reading of it by the clergy. Many of the clergy were punished for refusing to obey the injunction. When Charles was overthrown during the English Civil Wars, Puritan prohibitions against sports and games on the Sabbath again prevailed until Charles II was restored in 1660.
There is an opening of the eyes of the mind to contemplation and joy, and there is an opening of the eyes of the body to shame and confusion. He promiseth them the former, but intends the latter, and so cheats them—giving them an apple in exchange for a paradise, as he deals by thousands now-a-days. Satan with ease puts fallacies upon us by his golden baits, and then he leads us and leaves us in a fool's paradise. He promises the soul honour, pleasure, profit, &c., but pays the soul with the greatest contempt, shame, and loss that can be. By a golden bait he laboured to catch Christ, Mat. 4:8, 9. He shews him the beauty and the bravery of a bewitching world, which doubtless would have taken many a carnal heart; but here the devil's fire fell upon wet tinder, and therefore took not. These tempting objects did not at all win upon his affections, nor dazzle his eyes, though many have eternally died of the wound of the eye, and fallen for ever by this vile strumpet the world, who, by laying forth her two fair breasts of profit and pleasure, hath wounded their souls, and cast them down into utter perdition. She hath, by the glistering of her pomp and preferment, slain millions; as the serpent Scytale, which, when she cannot overtake the fleeing passengers, doth, with her beautiful colours, astonish and amaze them, so that they have no power to pass away till she have stung them to death. Adversity hath slain her thousand, but prosperity her ten thousand.
Thomas Brooks, The Complete Works of Thomas Brooks, Volume 1, ed. Alexander Balloch Grosart (Edinburgh; London; Dublin: James Nichol; James Nisbet and Co.; G. Herbert, 1866), 12-13.
Ah, Christians! believing, believing is the ready way, the safest way, the sweetest way, the shortest way, the only way to a well-grounded assurance, and to that unspeakable joy and peace that flows from it, as the effect from the cause, the fruit from the root, the stream from the fountain. There is such assurance, and such joy that springs from the fresh and frequent actings of faith, that cannot be expressed, that cannot be painted. No man can paint the sweetness of the honeycomb, the sweetness of a cluster of Canaan, the sweetness of paradise, the fragrancy of the rose of Sharon. As the being of things cannot be painted, and as the sweetness of things cannot be painted, no more can that assurance and joy that flows from believing be painted or expressed; it is too great and too glorious for weak man to paint or set forth.
Such an object is our Lord Jesus Christ, and therefore the joy of the saints should still be exercised upon our Lord Jesus Christ. Shall the worldling rejoice in his barns, the rich man in his bags, the ambitious man in his honours, the voluptuous man in his pleasures, and the wanton in his Delilahs; and shall not a Christian rejoice in Christ Jesus, and in that robe of righteousness, and in those garments of salvation, with which Christ hath covered him? Isa. 61:10. The joy of that Christian that keeps a fixed eye upon Christ and his righteousness cannot be expressed, it cannot be painted. No man can paint the sweetness of the honeycomb, nor the sweetness of a cluster of Canaan, nor the fragrancy of the rose of Sharon. As the being of things cannot be painted, so the sweetness of things cannot be painted. The joy of the Holy Ghost cannot be painted, nor that joy that arises in a Christian's heart, who keeps up a daily converse with Christ and his righteousness, cannot be painted, it cannot be expressed. Who can look upon the glorious body of our Lord Jesus Christ, and seriously consider, that even every vein of that blessed body did bleed to bring him to heaven, and not rejoice in Christ Jesus? who can look upon the glorious righteousness of Christ, imputed to him, and not be filled with an exuberancy of spiritual joy in God his Saviour? There is not the pardon of the least sin, nor the least degree of grace, nor the least drop of mercy, but cost Christ dear, for he must die, and he must be made a sacrifice, and he must be accursed, that pardon may be thine, and grace thine, and mercy thine: and oh, how should this draw out thy heart to rejoice and triumph in Christ Jesus!
If Christ feast you, your souls will grow, thrive, and be well liking. This will be the fruit of these spiritual refreshments; they will make you more lively, strong, active, fruitful, in the ways and acts of holiness. You will grow in grace, &c.; go from strength to strength. Your souls will be as watered gardens, the fruits of the Spirit will flourish there. Your hearts, sometimes like a desert, will now be as Sharon; and that which was a wilderness, nothing but weeds, briars, and thorns—worldly, unclean lusts—will now be as the garden of God. The spices thereof will flow out: love, and zeal, and self-denial, and heavenly-mindedness, and contempt of the world. These will be on the growing hand, you will be outgrowing your distempers, prevailing more and more against corruption, and increasing with the increase of God. Oh, but where there is no spiritual life manifested in holy duties, no strength, no opposition, no effectual resolutions against prevailing and endeared sins, there is no sign that Christ is come in. Your souls would be in a better plight if Christ did feast them.
Observe yet further, that whereas there is no example in all the scripture of a sign being turned into the thing signified, yet it is very ordinary in scripture-similitudes to give a thing the name of that whereunto it is likened: "I am the rose of Sharon, and the lily of the valleys." (Canticles 2:1.) "I am the living bread." (John 6:51.) "I am the door." (John 10:7.) "I am the true vine." (John 15:1.) All these saith Christ of himself; but is he therefore turned into a rose, or lily, or bread, or door, or vine? No: the words taken literally and properly are blasphemy; but the meaning is, He is like these, as to the particular cases whereof he speaks.
With an invitation to a great and wonderful feast, the marriage feast of the Lamb. An admirable feast indeed ; wherein Jesus Christ, the eternal Son of God, is the bridegroom, where every believer that hath ' put on' the 'Lord Jesus, Rom. xiii. 14, 'the wedding garment,' Mat. xxii. 11, is not only the guest, but the spouse of Christ, and the bride at this wedding supper. Here Jesus Christ is the master of the feast, and the cheer and provision too. He is the "Lamb of God," John i. 29, the "ram caught in the thicket," Gen. xxii. 13. He is the "fatted calf," Luke. xv. 23. When he was sacrificed, "wisdom killed her beasts," Prov. ix. 2. At his death, "the oxen and fatlings were killed," Mat. xxii. 4. His "flesh is meat indeed, and his blood is drink indeed," John vi. 55. And that thou mayest be fully delighted at this feast, Christ is the rose of Sharon, "the lily of the valley," Cant. ii. 1. He is a "bundle of myrrh," Cant. i. 13, a "cluster of camphor," Cant. i. 14 ; his name is "anointment poured out," Cant. i. 3, and "his love is better than wine," Cant. i. 2. In Christ are ' all things ready,' Mat. xxii. 4, for ' Christ is all in all,' Col. iii. 11….
This second chapter contains the same scope, and runs in the same strain with the former. It hath two principal parts: in the first, Christ speaks in the first two verses. In the second, the Bride continues, to the end.
Again, in these two verses, Christ doth first commend himself, verses 1,2. He describes his Bride, verse 2. That it is he who speaks, appears thus; 1. It is clear, at first looking upon the words, that he speaks in the second verse, and who else can be thought to speak in the first? He is the 'I' in the first verse, who claims the Bride by this possessive particle 'my' in the second. 2. The words, 'I am the rose of Sharon,' &c. are stately, becoming him alone to speak them: like these, 'I am the true vine,' 'I am the bread of life,' &c. And so majestic is the commendation, that it can agree to none other, but to him. 3. The Bride's work is to commend him, and not herself, especially with a commendation, beyond what he giveth her, verse 2, and therefore the first verse must be Christ's words, not hers.
The scope is, (for her instruction and comfort now in affliction,) that he may make her know himself:, the very knowing of Christ is comfortable, and it is one of the most excellent, rare, and ravishing things he can show his Bride, to show her himself, or to make her know him: neither can he choose a subject more profitable in itself, or more welcome to her, to insist on, than to display his own beauty, whereby she may see her blessedness in such a match.
In the first verse then, Christ comes in commending himself, 'I am the rose of Sharon, and the lily of the valleys.' The rose is a sweet savouring flower, and so is the lily: Sharon and the valleys are added, because the roses and lilies that grew there, were the best that were to be found. He is said to be that 'rose,' or 'the rose' and 'the lily,' as if there were no other, to distinguish him, as excellent and singular from all others. He thus sets forth himself to show, 1. That Christ Jesus hath a most lovely savour, and a most delightful and refreshful smell, to them that have spiritual senses to discern what is in him. 2. That there is nothing refreshful in creatures, but is more eminently and infinitely in him; therefore he is called the rose and the lily. 3. That whatever excellency is in Christ, is singularly and incomparably in him; there is no other rose, or lily but he; and what excellency is to be found in others, doth not deserve the name, being compared with him. 4. That he is never suitably commended, till he be lifted up above all. 5. That none can commend Christ to purpose but himself; he takes it therefore on him, 'I am,' &c. He can indeed commend himself effectually and none but he can do it. 6. That he manifests more of his loveliness to those who have gotten a begun sight and esteem of it: for, she had been commending it formerly, and now he discovers more of it to her. 7. That it is one of Christ's greatest favours to his Bride, and one of the special effects of his love, to set out himself as lovely to her, and to bear in his loveliness upon her heart; and this is the scope here.
In the second verse, he describes his Bride. Here we have these things to consider, 1. What she is; a 'lily.' 2. What others of the world beside are called here; the 'daughters' (so men without the church are to the church, and corrupt men in the church are to believers) that is, daughters of their mother the world; no kindly daughters to her, they are thorns. 3. The posture of Christ's Spouse, she is 'as a lily among thorns,' a strange posture and soil, for our Lord's love and lily to grow in.
The lily is pleasant, savoury, and harmless; thorns are worthless, unpleasant and hurtful. The lily's being compared with them, and placed amongst them, sets out both her excellency above them, and her sufferings from them. In general, Observe. 1. Christ draws his own beauty and the Bride's together, thereby to show their kindred and sibness (so to speak) she is not rightly taken up, but when she is looked upon as standing by him; and he not fully set forth, nor known without her. 2. He took two titles to himself, and he gives one of them to the Bride, the 'lily;' but with this difference, that he is 'the lily,' she 'as' or 'like the lily:' setting forth, 1. Wherein her beauty consists, it is in likeness to him. 2. From whom it comes, it is from him, her being his love, makes her like the lily. 3. The nearness of the mystical union, that is between Christ and his Bride; it is such, that thereby they some way share names, Jer. 23:6, and chap. 33:16. 4. He intermixes her beauty and crosses together, drawing them on one table, to give her a view of both; and that for her humbling, and also for her comfort; it is not good for believers, to look only to the one without the other.
More particularly, Observe. 1. Christ's Bride is very lovely and beautiful. 2. The children of the world are natively hurtful to her. 3. In Christ's account the believer is exceedingly preferable to all others, of whatsoever place, or qualifications in the world. 4. Christ's relation and affection, doth not always keep off outward afflictions from his own Bride. 5. It is native to believers to have a crossed life in the world, their plantation here among thorns speaks it. 6. That the crosses are of more kinds than one, which believers are environed with, thorns grow on all hands beside Christ's lily. 7. Holiness and innocency will not always prevent wrongs and injuries from others, thorns will wrong even the lily. 8. Christ observes here, how she looks in her sufferings, and so he takes special notice, how his people carry in a suffering lot. 9. It is commendable to keep clean under sufferings, and to be lily-like, even amongst thorns.
Thus, in fixing upon this imagery, Taylor worked with an instantly understandable image of Christ as the Rose of Sharon. That image was mixed with the idea of surpassing beauty and good.


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Waihonghopes australiensis är en svampart som beskrevs av Yanna & K.D. Hyde 2002. Waihonghopes australiensis ingår i släktet Waihonghopes, divisionen sporsäcksvampar och riket svampar.   Inga underarter finns listade i Catalogue of Life.

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Robert Doyle
Eastern Ecological Science Center
rcdoyle@usgs.gov
USGS Eastern Ecological Science Center
12100 Beech Forest Road
Robert is an Animal Care Technician at the Eastern Ecological Science Center in Laurel, MD.
Worked at the Baltimore Zoo for 13 years as a animal keeper . I completed and passed Keeper 2 and 3 exams. I then became a Lead Keeper. I worked with a vast array of waterfowl and 9 species of cranes. Also storks, Pelicans, vultures , Lesser and Greater Flamingos. Two years with African Penguins. Joined the Patuxent Endangered Species program 18th April 2004. Am Involved in the A.I program, Parent rearing project, Chick rearing. Assisted on Ultra light project at Necedah wildlife refuge and 3 ultra light migrations.
Whooping Crane Restoration
At more than five feet tall with brilliant white plumage, black primary feathers, a red cap, and yellow eyes, the highly endangered Whooping Crane (Grus americana) is one of the most spectacular birds native to North America. In 1942 there were fewer than 20 birds in the flock that migrates from Wood Buffalo National Park in Canada to Aransas National Wildlife Refuge in Texas. An additional six...


These leadership principles have been honed (a) for Engineers and (b) in the context of startups, typically with fewer than 150 employees. No claim is being made outside of these parameters.
The vast majority of Engineers are highly motivated (see my previous blog on "(Boosting) Morale in Engineering). They are motivated by their career, naturally, yet they are primarily driven by a need to accomplish and an intense desire to learn.
Another way of articulating this commitment is: "I am going to challenge you, and let you work as hard as you want, and exercise as many of your skills as possible". Engineers hate being bored. On the contrary, they work extra hard when challenged. So my job is to continuously provide new challenges to each engineer in my team, and remove any impediments to their desire to fulfill these challenges.
I work hard to ensure that everyone knows where we, as a company and as an Engineering team, are going, what our objectives are (strategic), and how we plan to get there (tactical).
In practice, I make sure, during our periodic 1on1 that each engineer understands how his/her own project and role align with the company mission, and Engineering's product roadmap.
Included in this commitment is a promise to each member of the Engineering team that on any given day, his/her #1 priority is clear. As logical consequence, this implies that each engineer only has one #1 priority (I have seen a lot of companies where this logic is violated). Their manager, or I as last resort, will handle situations where, for example, 3 VPs are breathing down an engineer's neck, each with their own "top priority".
Having everyone in the team understand and share the same strategic context empowers developers to make correct micro-decisions every day. As a side benefit, this frees me and their managers to work on bigger problem.
Taking a step back, if I've communicated correctly my commitments 1 and 2, then everyone in the team is working at the maximum of their ability – and – all are working in the same direction. This is a good foundation for solid productivity.
Having made two commitments to everyone in the team, I ask for two in return.
I put teamwork and communications in the same sentence because one is meaningless without the other. Teamwork can't exist without meaningful communications, and if we communicate but don't work together, we don't go very far.
No interview question will ever suss out whether a candidate is a team player or not. Instead, I explicitly declare that they should not join my team if they are not a team player.
Team work is important because product development is a team effort. Every engineer interacts with product managers, UX designers, front-end engineers, middle-tier, backend, data, QA, tech support, etc. Poor interactions with other team members results in poor individual efficiency.
Teamwork means that "together, we succeed". Teamwork is not merely about helping out a teammate who needs help. More importantly, being a team player means asking for help when we need it, so as not to delay the whole team.
3-D communications simply expands the definition of "team" beyond one's daily scrum. We are all inter-dependent, and we each must ensure that information gets to the people who need it, no matter where their name sits in the org chart. Making sure information is received in a timely fashion, rather than waiting for questions to be asked, is incumbent upon each of us.
In particular, this means that everyone on my team has the responsibility to inform me if I am not meeting commitments #1 and #2 stated above. I don't read minds, and I can only take corrective actions if someone lets me know that they are bored, confused, pulled in too many directions, or under-utilized, etc.
I added this fourth principle, a few years later. I had been working at a company for about a year, had delivered a handful of successful releases, yet sensed burn-out and loss of creativity in the team.
A startup demands almost contradictory qualities from its Engineering team: speed and creativity (quality is a given). Because the demand on speed is often explicit, while the demand on creativity is often implicit, it is easy to fall into the trap of focusing only on execution at the detriment of innovation, or even the beauty of the code.
Yet, if we continuously succumb to the mantra of "ship, ship, ship", and give up trying to build something cool, then we start on a slippery downward slope towards creating "blah" products. There are always pressures to ship more features faster, but if each of us is not proud of the product we are releasing to our customers then our customers won't be excited about the product, and we won't be having fun at work. Life is too short for us to accept either of these issues.
There is nothing new, or magic, about these four leadership practices. The magic is in their daily practice. They work for me because I force myself to apply them on a daily basis, and I remind my teammates of their existence, their rationale and their own commitments, whether when welcoming a new member, during a 1on1, during my weekly staff meetings, at exec staff, or monthly Engineering updates, or even at the water cooler.


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Everyone knows angels are messengers. But did you know they can serve as matchmakers too?
Q: I yearn for a loving relationship with someone who truly understands me. Is it possible for my guardian angel to connect me with my soulmate?
A: We have received a number of such queries after individuals have read in our book, "Love Is a Miracle," which explores how angels brought together men and women who were meant to be life partners, including us.
Years ago, Brad was sitting in a lecture audience when a woman sat down beside him, introduced herself, and, after a few moments, told him that she had been asked to bring him greetings from a mutual friend, Sherry Hansen, with whom she was attending a class.
Brad had met Sherry some years before but didn't have any idea where she was living. The stranger informed him that Sherry lived in the same city. Because Brad was so pleased that Sherry would remember him, the whole illogic of the situation didn't occur to him: How could either Sherry or this woman know that he would be attending the lecture that night so that greetings could be extended to him? Additionally, he had decided at the very last minute to attend the lecture; no one knew for certain that he would be there.
Later that night, Brad checked the telephone book and saw Reverend Sherry Hansen was listed. Many days later, he summoned the courage to call her and a warm friendship grew into a working relationship that led to a very happy marriage between true soul mates.
As time passed, Brad learned that Sherry and the stranger did not know each other, and certainly had never attended a class together. The woman, who has since become a dear friend, is a very spiritual individual, who apparently served as a conduit for angelic intelligence to bring two people together who may never have found each other without such intervention.
The concept of finding one's soul mate can easily become a kind of romantic conceit and lead the hasty heart down the path of self-deceit, disillusionment, and a rationale for moving from one relationship to another in desperate search for the perfect mate.A cautious approach that allows romance to grow to true friendship and progress to deep love seems more likely to receive angelic blessings than a transitory attraction to a likely soul mate. But while we issue cautions against the manner in which some people play the "searching for their soul mate" game, it does appear that when two people are supposed to come together to complete their earthly mission, the angels will intervene to see that the relationship does happen.
Click here for Question #2: Is Eros an Angel?
There are a number of such accounts in biblical and apocryphal literature of angels serving as matchmakers, such as the fascinating story of the angel Raphael posing as one of Tobit's kinsman in order to make certain that the marriage between his son Tobias and Sarah, the woman chosen to be his bride, was not interrupted by demonic interference.
It was Raphael's earthly assignment to see to it that these two children of "holy ancestors" should be brought together as one flesh to fulfill a heavenly decree beyond the understanding of mortals. As humans, we may not always understand the motives or the long-range goals of this higher intelligence, but once Raphael revealed his true identity, he urged them all to pray for guidance so that their union might continue to be blessed. If you believe such a destined love is to be yours, test your emotions with prayer for guidance and a sincere, meaningful contemplation of the sacred.
Q: I've seen representations of Eros with wings and arrows of love. Is he an angel?
A: In our opinion, Eros originates in a cosmology quite removed from the angelic realm. In the ancient world, he is first depicted as either the consort or the son of Aphrodite, Greek goddess of love. While he may have been considered a minor member of the Olympian pantheon of gods and goddesses, the Greeks never placed any great esteem on Eros, regarding him as the epitome of unbridled sexual passion and therefore a danger to manners and morals in the social order.
Later poets delighted in his trickery, passion, and infidelity, portraying him as handsome youth and a good lover, but irresponsible and superficial.
When the Romans transmuted Eros into Cupid, he stilll did not become the chubby winged cherub with his arrows of love as he has been depicted in modern times. The Romans portrayed him as charming, but sadistic, gracious, but malicious, tormenting whomever he chose with his love darts, regardless of the pain or awkwardness that such random shooting might create. That doesn't sound like an angel to us.
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text:
Q: Access SQLite database from non-android environment Here is my situation: I have two sets of tests for my android application. One set that uses "normal" non-android libraries (JUnit4, JMock2, etc.), to unit-test my business logic, and one set that uses the Android framework (ActivityInstrumentationTestCase2 and soon Robotium), to test my UI.
I'd like to add integration tests for my SQLite database (CRUD tests, etc.) in my  non-android set of tests. Is there a way to do that? Is there a SQLite driver that works in a normal environment?

A: Yes, check out SqliteJDBC. More discussion of this here:
How to connect SQLite with Java?

A: In case somebody stumbles on this question, currently two other SQLite JDBC drivers are more popular: Xerial and SQLDroid.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


The California Diaries deliver a crushing blow with Sunny: Diary Three, and Christy, joined by BFF of the show Frankie Thomas, is not ready for it. Content warning: this episode contains explicit language and prolonged discussion of death. Christy is on Twitter @AdmiralChristy. The show is on Twitter @CaliDiarists and Facebook @CaliforniaDiarists. Frankie's writing lives at http://about.me/frankiethomas.


After sending more than a million emails to scammers Re:scam will be powering down for some R&R and R&D from 18 December 2017.
Re:scam is an initiative aimed at helping people from becoming fraud victims by occupying the time and resources of scammers through deploying a well-educated artificially intelligent chat bot. Re:scam is an artificially intelligent email bot made to reply to scam emails. Re:scam wastes scammers time with a never-ending series of questions and anecdotes so that scammers have less time to pursue real people.
Re:scam can take on multiple personas, imitating real human tendencies with humour and grammatical errors, and can engage with infinite scammers at once, meaning it can continue an email conversation for as long as possible. Re:scam will turn the table on scammers by wasting their time, and ultimately damage the profits for scammers.
Want to learn more? Visit the Re:scam website.
Want to learn more about scams? See the scam section of our website.
Next post What's the State of Play?


Mr. Lilly teaches Introduction to Business, Business Law I, and Business and Society at De Anza College. Mr. Lilly has been at De Anza College since 2000. Prior to working at De Anza College, Mr. Lilly worked for 15 years at various high tech companies in the Bay Area, including Tandem Computers, Ungermann-Bass, Stratacom, KPMG, and LSI Logic. Mr. Lilly held various positions in Finance, Accounting, and Information Technologies at these companies.


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redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


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CIP: 3rd round of the idea contest started – get information and participate here!
Work & Society 2040
Employee Data Protection
Power and Cooperation
Civic Innovation Platform
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Work 4.0 Agenda
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Where will we be in five, ten, or even twenty years? The future appears more open than ever before. In order to address potential paths of development early on, the Policy Lab Digital, Work & Society is, within the framework of a new focus area, turning its attention to what work and society might be like in the digital context in the year 2040.
Continue reading: Work & Society 2040
Focus on digital skills in innovative technologies
Insights into digital skills and their incidence. What LinkedIn career network data reveals about the changes in skill supply.
How we look into the future
Strategic foresight methodology employs a broad range of tools to facilitate development of various scenarios and thereby enable forward-looking policymaking.
An expedition to the future of work and society
A new focus area is dealing with what work and society might be like in 2040 through strategic foresight.
Coronavirus, climate change, new technologies such as Artificial Intelligence (AI) or quantum computing, biotechnology, neurotechnology, the rise of platforms, Brexit, the New Silk Road – no one can say with certainty where all these many changes will lead and what the responses of society and the working world will be like. That makes it even more important to look at possible development paths in a systematic manner.
Using methods of strategic foresight, the Policy Lab is exploring the developments and factors that could shape work and society in the digital context in 2040. It is beginning a process that will allow it and the Federal Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs (BMAS) to identify immediate or long-term policymaking needs on the basis of various possible future scenarios. As always, the Policy Lab will take a participatory approach to this project: in order to form an impression that is as broad as possible, the perspectives of a wide range of stakeholders from the areas of science, politics, and society will be included in various ways. With this as the basis, scientific methods can be applied so as to address the topic comprehensively and establish various plausible futures. These future scenarios will help BMAS and all those involved to recognise relevant developments at an early stage and thereby enable the future of work and society to be shaped with foresight.
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Q: How can I run a method every day in rails 4? I want change my database everyday automatically without sending a request.

A: I recommend you to use gem whenever, it is very easy to use.
For example:
every 1.day, :at => '12pm' do
  rake "change_database_task"
end

A: This is normally the realm of cron jobs.
You can set up a job to run a certain script on your server and it will work. Alternatively, many of the cloud environment providers (EG Heroku) have plugins such as the Heroku Scheduler to handle the functionality.
An important factor to note about Delayed Job is that it uses external functionality to interface with the OS -- Running Jobs
Thus, before you run to Delayed Job or Whenever, you need to be clear on what your hosting environment can handle. A great resource is the RailsCast about DelayedJob:


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Q: Field Not Updated in Apex Class - Trigger I Have Apex class that will fill value of field Eksternal ID, there is no error i got, when i tried to update data that have same mobilephone with different account, the Eksternal ID will not be changed, even though,in System.debug('FinalList2 :' +finalList) the value is correct (Changed). But, when i klik button save there is no changes in Eksternal ID.
If i update data that have different mobile phone and account, it will be okay, the eksternal ID will changed perfectly.
what should i do? or where is my fault? thank you guys
Here is APex Manager
public class UT_MDM_EksternalKey_Manager {

final Integer MAX_TEXT_LENGTH = 255;
Set<Id> S_ContactIds = new Set<Id>();
public List <String> S_Lastname = new List<String>();
public List <String> S_Phone = new List<String>();
public List <String> S_Account = new List<String>();
public List <String> S_Title = new List<String>();
public List <String> S_Email = new List<String>();

public void preProcessingForInsert(List<Contact> newContact){
    for(Contact cont : newContact){
        if(cont.MobilePhone != null && cont.LastName != null && cont.AccountId != null && cont.Title != null ){
            S_ContactIds.add(cont.Id);
            S_Lastname.add(cont.LastName);
            S_Phone.add(cont.MobilePhone);
            S_Account.add(cont.AccountId);
            S_Title.add(cont.Title);
            S_Email.add(cont.Email);
        }else{
            cont.adderror('Please Check Your MobilePhone, LastName, Account and Title Data First!! ');
        }
    }

   if(S_ContactIds.size() > 0){
        UT_MDM_CreateEksternalKey ck = new UT_MDM_CreateEksternalKey();
        ck.validateDuplicate(S_ContactIds,S_Phone,newContact);
    }

}

public void preProcessingForUpdate(List<Contact> newContact){
    for(Contact cont : newContact){
        if(cont.MobilePhone != null && cont.LastName != null && cont.AccountId != null && cont.Title != null ){
            S_ContactIds.add(cont.Id);
            S_Phone.add(cont.MobilePhone);
            S_Account.add(cont.AccountId);
        }else{
            cont.adderror('Please Check Your MobilePhone, LastName, Account and Title Data First!! ');
        }
    }
    if(S_ContactIds.size() > 0){
        UT_MDM_CreateEksternalKey ck = new UT_MDM_CreateEksternalKey();
        ck.validateDuplicate(S_ContactIds,S_Phone,newContact);
    }
}

public void postProcessingForUpdate(List<Contact> newContact){
}

}
And Here is UT_MDM_CreateEksternalkey Class
public class UT_MDM_CreateEksternalKey {
final Integer MAX_TEXT_LENGTH = 255;

public void validateDuplicate(Set<Id> S_ContactIds,List <String> S_Phone,List<Contact> newContact){
    List<Contact> contractorList = [SELECT Id,AccountId, MobilePhone FROM Contact WHERE MobilePhone =:S_Phone AND ID NOT IN :S_ContactIds]; //duplicate
    List<Id> contIds = new List<Id>();
    List<Contact> finalList = new List<Contact>();

    if(S_ContactIds.size() > 0){
       if(contractorList.size() > 0 ){
            for(Contact contactVal : newContact){
                for(Contact contList: contractorList){
                    if (contactVal.MobilePhone == contList.MobilePhone && contactVal.AccountId == contList.AccountId){
                        contactVal.adderror('Duplicate Contact: Already Exist in '+contactVal.AccountId );
                    }
                    else{
                        contIds.add(contactVal.Id);
                        Contact FinalContact = new Contact();
                        FinalContact.Id= contactVal.Id;
                        FinalContact.AccountId= contactVal.AccountId;
                        FinalContact.MobilePhone = contactVal.MobilePhone;
                        FinalContact.LastName = contactVal.LastName;
                        FinalContact.Title = contactVal.Title;
                        finalList.add(FinalContact);
                    }
                }
            }
        }
        //List<Contact> finalList = new List<Contact> ([SELECT Id, Account.SAP_Account_Id__c, LastName, Title, MobilePhone FROM Contact WHERE Id IN :contIds]); //
        if (contIds.size() > 0){
            System.debug('FinalList2 :' +finalList);
            UT_MDM_CreateEksternalKey ck = new UT_MDM_CreateEksternalKey();
            ck.CreateContactEksternalID(finalList);
        }
        else if (contractorList.size() == 0 ){
            UT_MDM_CreateEksternalKey ck = new UT_MDM_CreateEksternalKey();
            ck.CreateContactEksternalID(newContact);
        }
    }
}

public void CreateContactEksternalID(List<Contact> listContact){
    List<Id> accountIds = new List<ID>();
    for(Contact cont : listContact){
        accountIds.add(cont.AccountId);
    }
    Map<Id,Account> accountMap = new Map<Id,Account>([SELECT ID,SAP_Account_Id__c FROM ACCOUNT
                                                      WHERE ID IN:accountIds]);
    Account tempAccount = null;
    for(Contact cont : listContact){
        if(accountMap.containsKey(cont.AccountId)){
            String mobile = cont.MobilePhone.replaceAll('\\D','');
            tempAccount = accountMap.get(cont.AccountId);
            if(tempAccount.SAP_Account_Id__c != null){
               cont.Eksternal_ID__c =  cont.LastName + '_' + tempAccount.SAP_Account_Id__c + '_'+ cont.Title + '_'   + mobile  ;
                // Ensure that the search text does not exceed max length:
               cont.Eksternal_ID__c = cont.Eksternal_ID__c.left(MAX_TEXT_LENGTH);
            }
            else{
                cont.adderror('There is no SAP ID in Account selected ');
            }
        }
    }
}

}