Selected quad for the lemma: duty_n
Text snippets containing the quad
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A47384
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Mid-night and daily thoughts in prose and verse / by Sir William Killigrew.
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Killigrew, William, Sir, 1606-1695.
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1694
(1694)
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Wing K462; ESTC R22780
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45,259
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108
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Mankind throughout the Universe And on his Issue did Contagion spread Till CHRIST appear'd to bruise the Serpent's Head Then Penitence and Piety began To be refin'd and call'd relapsed Man By Rules and Christ's Example to possess Heaven with his united happiness So that repenting sinners Heaven must fill Because there 's none on Earth but have done ill Though sighs and tears may a good Prologue be To introduce Repentance yet we see High Structures on such thin Foundations built Have tumbled with much noise and greatest guilt So that to pray and fervently desire To be enlightned by celestial Fire How to forsake our sins if not too late Denominates who is regenerate On Easter-Day HOw Christ triumph'd o'er the Grave and Hell Is joy to think tho' terrible to tell When Rods had made his sacred Body bleed And purple Robes did aggravate that Deed When Pilate to consummate all his Scorns Adorn'd his Temples with a Crown of Thorns Hard were their hearts who did endure to see Their Saviour bleeding bound to set them free Those then who did his Agonies deride When they had pierc'd his feet his hands and side Were of much harder metal made more fit For their descent into th' infernal Pit While dying Christ by a diviner fate Gave Heaven to the repenting Reprobate To shew whom Faith and Penitence sustain Will sure a place in Paradise obtain Bless'd then were those whose eyes were never dry After they saw their Lord and Saviour die Till searching in the Sepulchre they find That sacred Body could not be consin'd To Earth which was declar'd before must rise To chear their hearts and dry their blubber'd eyes When the dull mist of Nature was remov'd They saw and knew whom they ador'd and lov'd Surpriz'd with joy transported with delight They trembling do approach his awful sight Until enlightned they at last grow bold By recollecting what he had foretold Which fix'd their Faith and by a joy'd Converse He then his Resurrection did rehearse And by his Spirit made them understand And look for his Ascension then at hand Thus fill'd with heavenly Wisdom they retir'd Well satisfied with what they most desir'd And by their Records of these Truths do teach Us by a lively Faith how we may reach The same assurance and like Comforts find Unless we will be obstinately blind If we can sin subdue this world despise This day we may with Christ to Heaven rise On late Repentance VAin Men who do presume to live in sin Hoping to end as easie as begin When Custom and Time such habits do beget That easie Nature to our Wills submit And force our hardned hearts with them comply To glut our Senses till the hour we die As if one Moment were enough to gain That Mercy we for many years disdain With all our power thus blindly running on In high contests to our confusion Thus heedlesly our Youth does bear the sway And middle age too willingly obey Still thinking as our Bodies do decay We may repent But age will not give way To quit his feeble appetites grown bold By Custom then does scorn to be controul'd And when no active vigour does remain Delights to tell and think sins o'er again By such sad precedents we learn too late And march to Hell in a triumphant state A Rapture O Lord thou seest the Secrets of my heart Beyond what sighs or tears or words impart Yet I must daily worship and adore Thy Name too much neglected heretofore Now own thou art the mighty Lord of Host One God the Father Son and holy Ghost What Reason wants we must by Faith supply For finite ne'er can reach infinity Thou lov'st a zealous heart and dost require Our best endeavours then grant'st our desire When servent Prayers the greatest pleasure brings In our addresses to the King of Kings And makes our joy in carnal appetites Submit to higher and divine delights Which fire the heart and make Devotion warm That inward works like a Seraphick Charm Lord bless my age that I may end my days In a delightful Rapture of thy praise On the Felicity of constant Health THo' honour with renown and greatest wealth God's Blessings are they can't contest with health For happiness which is the root that brings More pleasure unto Beggars than to Kings When fits of Gout Strangury or the Stone Do all or any of them come alone Health makes us eat and drink and sleep at ease When wealth creates but cures not a Disease What would not a daily sick rich Man give To have a poor Man's health while he does live His Plate his Jewels with his Bags of Gold Will ease no pain tho' all he has were fold Which shews that all Mankind should daily pray For health and not by wealth be led astray For there 's no joy like a contented mind Tho' 't is with poverty and health confin'd On lost Innocence THo we cannot lost Innocence re-call Repentance will preserve from farther fall And Faith in Christ will then recover all So we by him shall Victory obtain And God by mercy will the Glory gain And thus by grace and savour of God's love We may with joy triumph all fears remove Which will our hearts revive new hopes create And raise our Souls to our first blessed state And thus from sin by Christ's great Merit freed We may as God's adopted Sons proceed With Duty and Obedience to his Will Till he in Heaven does all our hope fulfil To a young Man surpriz'd by Death THo' Death has many ways to be disguis'd We have as many not to be surpriz'd So that surprize is but a lame excuse Which rather doubly trebbles the abuse When we are plac'd by God upon the guard Who proffers life eternal for reward But thou young Man for pain may'st loudly groan Or is' st for grief to die thou mak'st such moan If by the first thou do'st find any ease 'T is well the second adds to thy disease And by a great mistake disturbs thy heart With a false fancy that thou dying art Now thy beloved Carcase does decay VVhich should unto thy Soul raise no dismay But chear thy heart and so enrich thy mind With joyful thoughts of a diviner kind For when God calls for thy last puff of Breath He 'll bring thee to eternal life not death For so 't will prove and be more truly said That thou begin'st to live when thou art dead The Dream of a reconciled Sinner SOmething I saw more glorious to behold Than can I now awake by tongue be told Such glitt'ring rays too glorious to impart When raptures flow in a Seraphick heart Which only can behold so bright a shine To testifie such Dreams must be divine That comforts sleeping Souls with such delights As are inessable to waking sights Tho' God some secret Counsels doth conceal He may a glimpse of Glory thus reveal To fix such hearts as mercy does afford When Penitents are unto Grace restor'd To show some
Friendship never more to be afraid Of his most sick alarms in disguise Nor of his quickest Summons by surprize And thus the greatest Cowards in the Land For Valour may in competition stand With any Hero's of the former age Or those who now in a just cause engage When Courage is a Vertue to be brave And sets a Crown on such a Soldier 's grave On Relapsed Man in Paradise WHen Youth with strength wealth and beauty flourish Some short joys our wanton hearts may nourish But when old age is much decrepid grown We ought with sighs and tears great Sorrows own For idle hours that we have vainly spent Without the sense of shame or punishment And if we die in that unhappy state All hopes of mercy then will come too late So that if age revive and propagate Past sins till they do greater Crimes create 'T will turn old Age's Blessings into hate Then let no mortal man presume to think He cannot see when he is pleas'd to wink For no Man yet was ever such a Sot That Age his former Crimes had so forgot That on his Crutches thinks 't is boldly brave Loaden with Crimes to creep into the Grave Much worse than Youth when cross'd in his desire In a mad fit dares leap into the fire Which shows that all our Ages here ne'er can Retrieve the Curses of relapsed Man Till faith in Christ create a brighter flame Impow'ring men to have a surer claim To Heaven at our blessed Saviour's cost Than that which Adam's disobedience loft By which we the intrinsick Treasure find Of future joys in a Seraphick mind On the Power of Faith IF all Men did our Christian Graces understand That like good Heraulds we might rank them according to their antiquity and merit Faith may claim the highest dignity and place as of just right to be the most fixed foundation on the blessed Rock of our Salvation which will unmov'd with stand the greatest Storms when lofty Structures built on Sand are with Wind and Rain soon tumbled down And if we mind those mighty Miracles of the first Ages they all relate unto Faith Our blessed Saviour also used to say Whosoever believeth in me shall never die Do you believe that I can do this and then Be it done according to your Faith Thy Faith has made thee whole The Woman with the bloody Issue had no other application for her Cure but Faith Without Faith what signifies our Creed And to what purpose did our Saviour bleed If we all Doubting could from Faith divide Pure Faith would then in greatest triumph ride God grant all those the Power of Faith that die In joyful Hopes of bless'd eternity When their departing Souls will gladly own By faith they rise from Dunghills to a Throne How to delight in GOD. THe Text says Delight in the Lord and he will give thee thy hearts desire And no doubt but if we delight in him with the highest faculty of our Souls above all carnal appetites with contemplation of his glorious Essence and Attributes in frequent servent Prayers with continual Gratitude for his daily Mercies To adore him as we might we should find such a rejoycing in God to be the most voluptuous felicity that the heart of Man is capable ofâ— But we mock our selves too often with a belief of this Felicity by a careless searching short in our own Hearts for a clear proof of the divine Perfection of this delighting in God which every Man must find in himself for no Man can correct the unseen Errours of his Neighbour's heart So that it must be every Man's concern to examine his own Conscience how much he rejoyces in God more than in all worldly Fruitions and according to his proportion in excelling therein his peace of Conscience will prove the more exalted joyful Feast and will create in him the greatest hope of his heart 's promised desire and is the furest way to remove our natural Fear of Death who only can lead us to glory which all Men ought to think on more than all other affairs in this World For if we delight in God as we ought We should the clear intrinsick value find When Grace enriches a delighted Mind That trusts in God and by such bless'd converse Excells all pleasures of the Universe Which no Man's Faith nor Fancy can conceive Till that delightful practice gives him leave Then Souls enlightned by that holy fire Will pass to Paradise when they expire An higher Bliss can no Man's heart desire Though worldly joys may all our Senses please The Soul's joy makes them all but a disease But when God's glory in our Souls doth shine It shews those holy Raptures are divine Yet we ought not to think that every petty pleasing Object that assaults our Senses doth deserve the Name of a Delight more than little Children have for every new Baby they do see But when the Soul 's supreme delight is so fixed on God that every address brings men as near to him as Souls can come while they are involved in Clay yet by a flaming Zeal and such high mounting Faith as doth believe that God is every-where and Heaven with him and them are altogether at that time there Where such joys may grow up to such a divine Delight in God as will come nearest unto his beatick sight tho' few Men seek it by such practice as we might and therefore cannot fansie such transcending Bliss on Earth as those hermetick Livers have who daily do converse in Heaven with great delight in expectation of a quick Summons thither and such Piety may be truly called Delighting in God 'T is said my Book does need apology To beg a Pardon for tautology Which is a Crime I never understood If the repeated matter be all good David's Example as my Pattern may Excuse that Errour and for pardon pray On the Power of Divine Meditation DAvid says God requires no Sacrifice But Penitence and Faith he does despise The Blood of Beasts We are to thank and praise His holy Name and honour him always And if we trust him as we ought Mankind Will be by frequent Comforts so refin'd That we on Earth shall have a daily taste Of his eternal Peace and joys at last If David's Rules authentick be That God Had rather use his Mercy than his Rod And proffers Heaven at so cheap a rate T' invite us to become regenerate What labour less can mortal Men invent To gain God's favour and 'scape his punishment If thus our Duty may his Favour claim All Men will trust and honour his great Name Such Ecstasies in Meditation will Men's heads with glorious heavenly Visions fill And by degrees our Souls with joys advance To think that we are there in such a trance And find that such enlightning Zeal as this Is emanation for our future Bliss A Dream of Heaven THough Sleep Death's Image be I have been now I know not where convey'd I know not how Where something