Selected quad for the lemma: sense_n
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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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eternal Joy Mid-night and Daily THOUGHTS On Christian Epicurism IF all the Epicurisms in the World were join'd in one they could not produce one moment of such serene Delights unto the Heart of Man as is comparable to the Soul's Joy in a divine Elevation unto God by Meditation for when such sacred Illuminations in Devotion do defeend from above to enlighen the Souls of pious Men with transporting Joy inessable and not to be described Tho' they be but saint Idea's of Heaven they beget such Comforts while those holy Flames last that Men may guess thereby those illustrious Glories they shall participate of when they come to the possession of their eternal Bliss in the presence of GOD which a great reprobate become regenerate can best judge of even as well as if a Man risen from the dead should bring the same News to him Thus St. Paul the greatest Sinner became an Epecurean Saint When Age and Zeal by Grace have luft subdu'd Let not foul Gluttony thy Soul delude Left carnal Fancies should to Age prescribe Luxurious Diets more Wine t'imbibe Than Nature does require for our Support Or Conscience can admit in any sort For when our Surfeits do our Sense abuse Such Drunkenness no Language can excuse Reader THE Author is advise instead of an elaborate Preface from some kind Friend to publish this little Book of his Midnight and daily Thoughts without being polished by a more learned Pen. Tho' some great Clerks do not allow illiterate Men to write Devotion this Writer does believe that all Men ought to do some good in this World proportionable to the Talent given them by God and doth therefore humbly hope to shew such unlearned People as himself that the Plowman and the Cobler may find the way to Heaven without Greek or Latin by an usual exercise of divine Meditations and also to shew some plain Products of his own Time so spent by which his Heart does find much Joy by serving God entirely by frequent practice thereof with great comfort of Grace here and some encouraging assurance of Glory in the next World Which he hopes also may raise other Men's Thoughts to an higher degree of Pleasure and Piety than his Talent can reach though he does endeavour to think himself into Heaven before he is called thither really believing that a sincere hearty Devotion is as acceptable to God in plain Language as in Wit and Eloquence which the generality of Mankind understand not If thou a Scholar art thou soon wilt find That I am none I pray thee be so kind As all Grammatick Errours to excuse I know not Latin nor the Grammar use Or if thou art a nice dogmatick Wit And wilt dispute 'gainst all that I have writ I then must into Heaven for refuge fly Because I seek not Praise but Piety And have desired if then till I am dead These private Papers be not published In truth these Meditations were not made For publick view and I am much afraid That you will say so too my Mid-night Thoughts They are without art contriv'd full of Faults Throughout but yet some pious learned Men Approve Devotion from my vulgar Pen Which shew my freer Spirit who have writ Plain Lessons without Eloquence or Wit Fit to be printed for the Publick Good That may be the meer Mobb be understood On my old Friend's Hieroglyphick Pictures of Enternity T'Hy Time is with thy Life of equal date And should be priz'd as equally thy fate Then lay thy Wonder by without delay Prepare to claim a share in that long Day Thou need'st no Serpent-Skull nor Skeliton To mortifie thy Heart by looking on When thy own Glass doth shew thee ev'ry day How thy Bleer-eyes and wrinkled Face decay Emblem to make thee see and teach thee why Thou shouldst live ev'ry moment fit to die With joyful Thoughts and most divine Content To be thy own eternal Monument Thou know'st that God's all-seeing Eye observes What ev'ry motion in Man's Heart deserves Since nothing from his Knowledge can be hid Do thou do nothing that he has forbid But now redeem thy mis-spent Time that 's past To gain a bless'd Eternity at last So reconcil'd that a short Summons may Thy Soul from hence to Paradise convey By blessed Angels to Seraphick Peace Where Joys on Joys eternally encrease On Divine Ambition HAppy are they who can this World despise And firmly serve their God without disguise With no design of Avarice or Pride Or any other vicious Acts to hide But have Ambition to be rich and great To shelter the oppress'd that need retreat To help the Blind the Hungry and the Lame In honour to their own and God's great Name To shew their Power and have it understood They seek the Nation 's and therein their good On the Five Senses Awake dull Soul left this lethargick Fit Benumb thy Senses and thou fall by it Thus to permit thy Appetites to sway Will ruine them and cast thy self away I. When Earth and Air and Seas are vex'd to find Excessive Rareties of ev'ry kind To please thy Palate cook'd with cost and care Wish then some heavenly Manna were thy fare II. When rich Arabian Spices shall be spent To make sweet Odours to delight thy Scent Think on that costly Ointment that was shed With such Devotion on thy Saviour's Head III. When Lutes and Harps do cast away thy Cares Abate thy Sorrows and do please thy Ears And mortal Voices do great solace bring Think on the Choirs of Angels how they sing IV. When thou art ravish'd with some gentle touch Think if the Spear or Crown of Thorns were such Or when much pleas'd with what ' doth softest feel Think when whose Hands were pierced thro' with Steel V. When thy vain Eyes are dazled at the fight Of some bright Beauty with too much delight Look upward to the Throne of Grace there see More glorious Rays sent thence to lighten thee Thus may my Soul rejoice in either sence Be satisfied and yet learn good from thence The world enjoy and yet from Crimes be free By turning Pleasure into Piety On Man's Frailty Frail Man whose highest Comfort is To create hopes and dream of Bliss Born still to learn by learning find The more we see the more we 're blind Desire does all our Joys imply Fruitions cloy not satisfie Our wished ends attain'd we still create New thoughts which new desires do animate From age to age repining at our lot We still desire to have what we have not Our active souls no contentation have No fix'd delight between the womb and grave Yet though our God have thought it good Thus to endow our flesh and blood With frail desires to earthly things Which nought but pain and sorrow brings He hath our souls created free T' enjoy much more felicity When our hearts flame with his celestial fire He will the object be of our desire There may our fancies work and never cease And then will our
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