Selected quad for the lemma: death_n
Text snippets containing the quad
|
ID |
Title |
Author |
Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication) |
STC |
Words |
Pages |
|
A00927
|
Hierothelamium. Or, The heauenly nuptialls of our blessed Sauiour vvith a pious soule. Written by Richard Flecknoe.
|
Flecknoe, Richard, d. 1678?
|
1626
(1626)
|
STC 11033; ESTC S120850
|
11,305
|
78
|
See it neuer takes her eare Angells though you play and sing Till the Ayre with Eccho ring Though t' is sweet and rare yet she Is so farre from thanking yee As sh' admirs how you can do Any thing but hearken to Those his hony-flowing Words Which into her Eare affoards Sounds more sweet more pleasing farre Then your Quiers or Consorts are 5. Why d' ye lauish and consume So much rich and choyce perfume She alone might well suffice For to sweeten all the skyes With those sighs which she doth spend Without measure without end Griefe before I euer knew Ioy could weepe as well as you Swoune and suffer all speach bar'd But such sigh's I neuer heard Soft I see therin doth lye Yet some deeper mystery 6. Marke her she doth vse to frame Of her breath her Louers Name Tasting which her mouth receaues All the gust that hony leaues Oh Repast deuine and rare By that Food we nourisht ' are Which we take and in receaue She by that which she doth leaue Yet th' effect is far more strange Foode in vs to Earth doth change Hers in Him to Heauen so breath Wisely hath beguiled death 7. But some Epicure will say She consumes herselfe this way Not supplying Natures needs But doth languish as she feeds Peace thou Earthly mynd thy food Changeth first to flesh and bloud Sicknes doth thereon awayt That brings death her dyet straight Turnes to life and better spirit Fills her full with glorious Merit Doth her soule at last commend Vnto Life can neuer end 8. Now when she doth list to drinke Oh what humane thought can thinke On the sweetnes which she tasts Whilst her draught delicious lasts Yet deare soule how ere you fayne I do see it brings you payne Whilst you drinke out of a wound Not alone for Loue you sound Bee 't in feet in hands or side In conceipt it opens wide Euen as deepe a wound in you As those pretious ones you view 9. Drinke not thirsty soule so deepe Temp'rance bids a measure keepe Scandall doth arise from such Who vnwary drinke too much She all counsayle doth despise Stops her Eares and firmes her Eyes Euery daught begets a thirst Hoat and fiercer then the first O how great the daunger is Least some harme do follow this And now see She leanes her head In her Louers armes as dead 10. Angells beare her forth I feare Much the cause she 's stifled here Ther 's no doubt her health's impayre May be help't with better ayre But himselfe alone sustaynes All the burthen all the paynes Thinking nothing throughly done ' Lesse his Blessed selfe be one Rubbe her Temples bow her head Beare her to the Mariage Bed Feare not she 'le reuiue anone When her Extasy is gone The Allegory IN all this Feast is nothing els to be vnderstood then only the tender and pious affections which are incited and stired vp in high Contemplatiue Soules by the receauing of the B. Sacrament as namely their Deuout Colloquies seasoned in tears mixt with sighes to giue the more delicate tast relish to theyr high-fed Soules and also the strict watch they keep on theyr Attentions to barre the entrance of any thoughts may bring distraction with them By her swoning is signifyed the sweet force of the Diuine Loue which as if it had changed dartes with Death doth oftentimes leaue the Bodies vnto the Graue by enticing from them the Soules vnto the loyes of Heauen Lastly by the Angells Care and Bridgroomes diligence in bearing of her forth out of that close Chamber where she was the world into Heauen her Bridall Chamber is shewen that God is neuer wanting to assist them at theyr Deaths whose Vertues whilst they liue on Earth do labour a sure and perfect Friendship betwixt them and Heauen The fifth Canto ARGVMENT The Chamber of the Bride Her ' maze it's stayres Theyr Ioy the rest the Angells song declares 1. NOW they vp a wondrous stayre Farre aboue all noysome ayre T'wards her chamber beare the Bride When not able to abide Such a brightnesse such a height Leaden Death with his owne weight Fell to ground from of her eyes In a graue where now he lyes Then they straight vnclos'd and gaz'd At her being so amaz'd As t w'as long ere she could giue Her selfe credit she did liue 2. And who could refuse to wonder For to see Earth lye vnder Such vnmeasur'd way below As t' was almost lost to shew For to see the waters stand Like a wall about the Land And without so surely fenc't With the moyster ayre condens't For to see the humble fyer Neyther burne nor mount vp higher None of these but might amaze One who far more bouldnes ha's 3. Yet this wonder did not last For her eye aside she cast And in it lost all her feare When she saw her Bridgroome there That which made her wonder cease May perhaps make ours increase She of all strange things that were By one glaunce on him more cleere Did the hidden Causes see Then within a Mirrour we Our owne faces when we looke Studying most that flat'ring booke 4. So all Wonder turn'd to Loue Loue in her a Heauen did proue Heauen as they did go was there Heauen they came to eu'ry where Heauen within her and without Heauen aboue and round about Heauen is in her Eyes and Eares Nothing now but Heauen appeares In ech sense in euery part In her mouth her louing heart And these Heauens are all alone In her Bridgroome ioyn'd in one 5. She without all payne doth goe That vn'wares she left below On the vnder floore of clay Whilst in deadly trance she lay For some faynt and worldly mind Dares not higher go to find And they now arriued are On the highest Christall stayre Ioyning to a porche of gould Eyes did ne're the like behould That directly in doth guide To the Chamber of the Bride 6. See the dores do open stand And the Bridgroome by the hand Whilst the Saints his prayses sing His fayre crowned Spouse leads in All the Soules that heauen had euer There stand ready to receaue her For her glory euery one Far more glad then for theyr owne Yet ther 's none hath more exprest Of a glad and ioyfull breast Nor of Loue more pledges giuen Then the sacred Queene of Heauen 7. Those whose Ioyes are at the height Thinke th' are happyer in her sight And who know th' are loued most Such a Riuall soonest boast They so hast her in to beare As our Night begins I feare And those Glory 's which we see Too to soone will vanish't be Darknesse winnes vpon the skies Now they lessen in our eyes To a Starre which was a Sunne Now a sparke and now th' are gone 8. What a darke and vgly sight After so much Glorious Light This blacke Clod of Earth Appeares But what Musicke strikes our Eares Sure t' is that the Angells make For the Bride and Bridgroomes sake Which whilst Eccho
brings to ground Trauayle doth enrich the sound Let vs hearken what they say Somewhat may be learn't this way Hearing that we cannot see Is of Ioy the next degree HIEROTHALAMIVM I. SING Io Hymen chastest Hymen all And with loude voyce the Brides great Ioyes repeate So Eccho tost as not a word let fall May make them seem lesse soūding then th' are great But in this heyght th' are at May they for euer be That euen the Saints when as they see And haue her Blessings knowne May thinke ther 's somwhat wāting of theyr owne Yet Ioy with her and wish her more beside And ioyne with vs in hon'ring of the Bride II. Now world farwell she thinks on thee no more Or if she doth it is but to compare With much disdayne thy wants with her great store Thy course◠feeding with her daynty fare Thy mynds perpetuall care With her Soules lasting peace Thy Barrennes with her Increase Thy want of sense to choose Such things for wealth which her doth them refuse Make only rich Thy thousand woes beside With the perpetuall blessings of the Bride III. You need not boast your Issue nor be glad T' is but a wreched shift that Nature finds For to repayre the Spoyles that Death hath made The Sower of all Cares in Parēts mynds Which she who well declines Doth soone find what a blest And happy change sh 'as made by rest She feels with in her soule When no vnquiet thought doth there controule Or vrge those Cares which Ease doth not abide Happy are such thrice happy is the Bride IIII. It is theyr Ioy who grieue that they are old To haue some Issue they may leaue behind And in theyr sight theyr passed youths behold Ioy is but Ease of Griefe in humane kind Who want's doth seeke to find Who hunger's food doth loue But happy soules who are aboue The need and lacke of these Heere are delights which neuer know decrease Heere youth is lasting life doth euer bide Ioy wayt's on it They all vpon the Bride V. No Ielou'sy her quiet heart molest's No feare of too vntimely losse of life No heauy care that presseth maryed breasts No cause of grudging or contentious strife The woe of man wife No Lothing but the same Fyer which now burnes with holy flame To light theyr Loues to day Will euer last neuer can decay For he hath chose who cānot chāge abide To haue her euer for his Spouse and Bride The Allegory or Conclusion TOVCHING the Allegory in this last Canto little is to be sayd The Stayres by which the Bride was borne vp vnto her Bridall Chamber do allude vnto the Elements and Planets which according to the Astrologers do fill vp by their orderly distances the space betwixt Heauen and Earth wherin I make the Caeum Cristallinum following the Generall opinion the highest steppe of this stayre and next adioyning to the Caelum Empyreum or habitation of the Blessed ¶ It may to some perhaps seeme some want of good manners in Art to bring the Bride only to the Entrance of her Bridall Chamber and there abruptly to leaue her follow her no further But if the Paynter Timant was thought worthy of prayse for paynting Agamemnon present when his daughter Iphigenia was to be sacrificed with his face couered signifying that his Griefe was greater then could be seene in his countenance I see no reason why I should be blamed for passing those Ioyes in silence which are greater then can be comprehended by humayne sense or Imagination Besides that breuity which I haue studyed from the beginning loath now to loose it's Palme at the later end did hasten me away from more prolixity by affoarding me this reason That it was euery way auaylable vnto this worke and me that those who were delighted with it should be sory it is so short and those who were not should be glad it is no longer FINIS * Kyrie eleison * Gloria in excelsis a Sanctus b Dominus Deus c Eleuatiō d Agnus dei e Domine on sum dinus f Communion