What are the main themes of George Herberts poem The Pulley?

The poem
presents God as a benevolent, loving and caring father. When He created man, He bestowed upon
him all the blessings and the worlds riches He could think of. Strength, honor, wisdom and
pleasureHe gave him all He could.

However, man is essentially mortal by
nature and these gifts cant provide him eternal happiness. If he gets too indulgent in these
gifts, he might forget his Creator. Instead of following Gods path and seeking salvation, he
might fritter away his invaluable life merely in self-gratification.

He would adore my gifts instead of me,

And rest
in Nature, not the God of Nature...

To avoid his doom,
God didn't grant him rest. The insatiable human heart would always desire for more, whereas the
fleeting nature of these worldly pleasures would always keep him discontented. His pursuit of
joy and delight would make him restless, finally making him weary.

If not out
of gratitude or goodness, he would certainly turn to God out of weariness and
restlessness.

If goodness lead him not, yet
weariness

 May toss him to my breast.

In this way, Herbert's highly spiritual poem directs a person towards their Creator. It
does so by revealing to man the transient nature of worldly pleasures and showing the way that
would lead him to attain perfect happiness by turning to God. 

So, we see
that the main themes of this poem include God's love and benevolence for mankind, man's mortal
existence, the ephemeral nature of worldly joys, and the main goal of man's
life.