Selected quad for the lemma: water_n
Text snippets containing the quad
|
ID |
Title |
Author |
Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication) |
STC |
Words |
Pages |
|
A65777
|
A contemplation of heaven with an exercise of love, and a descant on the prayer in the garden. By a Catholick gent.
|
White, Thomas, 1543-1676.
|
1654
(1654)
|
Wing W1814A; ESTC R220997
|
65,739
|
200
|
enjoy eternally all that can be desired a Strength irresistable an Agility so swift and active that the Soul cannot sooner command then the Body obey a Health firm and constant which nothing can either diminish or endanger lastly a Beauty now no beauty but pure Light and Glory Light You are in the right and I am very glad to observe your affection to that happy state from the kindnesse of your expressions concerning it only as for beauty of which some are particularly curious I shall propose this speculation It may be so comprised in a generall symmetrie of the body that neverthelesse every individuall person may enjoy such a singular and speciall temperament as shall be a degree of best the joyes of the soul darting their beams and diffusing their influences throughout the very body and rendering it the most lovely and desireable sight that can be imagined And now having driven our discourse up to this height that we are come within the view of heaven it self what remaines but burning desires perpetuall thoughts of and a dwelling even whilst we are here in our conceived happinesse above which only to understand and desire is to gain and for ever possesse But if neither eâ—ternall Felicities can allure us nor everlasting Miseries fright us into our evident duty what shall we answer at that Great Day if we find our selves upon the wrong hand What pretence can we offer to be placed on the right What excuse can we alledge against the dreadfull Nescio Vos Wherefore to avoid that unhappy separation to prevent that irrevocable banishment from our dear JESUS let us make our selves familiar with him here who by a thousand favours solicites our love and by a thousand titles deserves our service having spent His age and shed His precious bloud to redeem us from sin and draw us to himself to deliver us from the bondage of Satan and bring us to His own Kingdome rewarding us with the Crowns and Sceptres of Eternity To whom be given all possible honour and glory from all things for all things and in all things Amen FINIS AN EXERCISE OF LOVE WITH A DESCANT ON THE Prayer in the GARDEN By the same Authour S. Ign. ad Rom. Amor meus Crucifixus est AT PARIS Printed in the YEARE 1654. TO THE Right HONOURABLE THE Lady SOMMERSET MADAM AS your Commands have been able to strain all the Sinews of my Soul into a quick and faithfull Obedience So had they the power to imbue it with that gentle softnesse and tender Devotion whence themselves proceeded this my Pen had bled out the sweetest pangs that ever swelld the Breast of any Seraphin But finding my Heart-strings too cough and restiff for pliance to such delicious charmes they leave a necessity on me to beseech your cautious perusall of these Lines wherein the jarring discords of my confus'd apprehensions and rugged expressions may otherwise prove too offensive to the harmony of so equall so well tun'd a Soul in which I can complain of this only fault Your imposing so strong and weighty a task upon so slight so weak though MADAM Your Honours most perfectly subjected Servant Tho White Paris 9. Sept. 1653. AN EXERCISE OF LOVE PErmit me my Lord my God to confesse to thee thy Mercies and repeat in thy presence thy infinite Bounties that I may love and honour and praise Thee with my whole heart and forces Let me remember how from all Eternity I was nothing till by thy order I sprung up a tender Imp and bud testifying my Origin by my weaknesse and inability to help my self Nor did my Father or Mother those kind instruments to whom thou would'st have me beholding for my Being know or intend me when they serv'd thee to make me but thou before all time hadst among millions rejected named me and sign'd my happy lot whilest I lay sleeping in my nothingnesse and unbeing What could'st thou see in me dread Lord that might move thy will to select me from that Masse of non-Entity Peradventure did I love Thee Alas I who was not what could I love yet if I could have lov'd surely nothing lesse then Thee who wast most contrary to my Nullity But though I was not to love Thee Thou wast who could'st love me and love me as I was not able to love Thee nor yet any thing else for I cannot love but what is and by its amiablenesse produces a liking in me How miserable then were I if Thou lov'dst not me till I could afford something that might please Thee But thou didst love me when I could not love Thee and sealedst Thy love stamping Thine Own Image on my face on the face of my Soul first giving me a power to love Thee and consequently on my Body as 't is fitted to such a Soul The Marks of thy bounty are no lesse then all I am and have Ah wretched I that continually weare about me all those Tokens of thy kindnesse and yet not love Thee and yet fear that perhaps Thou lov'st not me Dear Lord make me love Thee that I may not fear Thou lov'st not me for True love knowes not what it is to fear But Thou art not content to have made me of Nothing if thou hadst not surrounded me with innumerable Helps and created as it were the whole World for me If the Aire and Fire did not afford me breath and warmth the Land and Sea with their infinite Issue variety of food and cloathing and these not what confines with my place of residence but even from their utmost bounds If I look upon my Table I see Fish from the Frozen Zone Sugar from the Torrid and Spices from the East and the West If on my Attire the Profundities of the Earth and Water the Longitude and Latitude of Mans Habitation meet all in me as in a Centre to bestow their Rarities upon me O Great God! who set the multitudes of unhappy Creatures buried in the bowels of Metallick Hills and consumed in the Marishes of Brasil to labour for me Who commands the Sea-men to burn under the Equator and freeze by the Poles to replenish me with Dainties Who ordained Kings and Potentates Counsellers and Souldiers to beat their braines forget their sleep and hazard their lives to produce me Quiet and Abundance Not they themselves who for the most part are carried with vile and wretched appetites to pursue unworthy ends neither knowing nor dreaming of me but only Thou my Lord and God who marshallest Heaven and Earth for those thou art pleased to blesse who heapest thy favours on a generation of dull stupid Creatures that can receive all thy gifts without returning the least love to the Giver that live and move and have their being from Thee never so much as acknowledge thy Bounty Why permittest Thou so unsufferable ingratitude Why dost Thou not either suspend thy mercies or make us more sensible of our duties From this houre Dear Lord let not my hand touch a bit