The poetical works of Thomas Traherne faithfully reprinted from the author's original manuscript together with Poems of Felicity reprinted from the Burney manuscript and Poems from Various Sources: Edited with preface and notes by Gladys I. Wade |
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 | The poetical works of Thomas Traherne |  |
94
The Publisher To the Reader.
The faithful Watch-man being gon to rest
From's pious Labors, which he did not spare
To spend himself in; as All those attest
Who e'r convers'd with him, and know the Care
And earnest Pains which he did always take
To keep their drowzy Faculties awake:
From's pious Labors, which he did not spare
To spend himself in; as All those attest
Who e'r convers'd with him, and know the Care
And earnest Pains which he did always take
To keep their drowzy Faculties awake:
Lest thy dull Soul should sleep the Sleep of Death
For lack of som such Means to ope thine Eys;
Lo, he yet speaks, tho dead and void of Breath,
In such a manner as may make thee wise
Unto Salvation; if a serious Thought
Thou fix upon what in this Book is wrote.
For lack of som such Means to ope thine Eys;
Lo, he yet speaks, tho dead and void of Breath,
In such a manner as may make thee wise
Unto Salvation; if a serious Thought
Thou fix upon what in this Book is wrote.
Which I do for no other End produce,
But that his lively Notions of God's Lov,
(Whose Works and Ways it was his constant Use
By Night to contemplat, by Day improv
In all his Talk) may cure that gross Neglect
Of our tru Joys which doth the Earth infect.
But that his lively Notions of God's Lov,
(Whose Works and Ways it was his constant Use
By Night to contemplat, by Day improv
In all his Talk) may cure that gross Neglect
Of our tru Joys which doth the Earth infect.
Truths common, tho not heeded, to thy View
I here present; And, that they mayn't do less
Than rouz thy Sens, if not thy Sight renew,
Shew the Divine cloath'd in a Poët's Dress,
To win Acceptance: for we all descry,
When Precepts cannot, Poëms take the Ey.
I here present; And, that they mayn't do less
Than rouz thy Sens, if not thy Sight renew,
Shew the Divine cloath'd in a Poët's Dress,
To win Acceptance: for we all descry,
When Precepts cannot, Poëms take the Ey.
95
And let the Soul that borrows hence a Spark
Of Light; so blow it up into a Flame
Of Holy Lov, as may not in the Dark
Suppress the Benefit: but to God's Name
Giv all the Thanks and Prais (whom the Author meant
To honor) and not him the Instrument.
Of Light; so blow it up into a Flame
Of Holy Lov, as may not in the Dark
Suppress the Benefit: but to God's Name
Giv all the Thanks and Prais (whom the Author meant
To honor) and not him the Instrument.
Amen.
| The poetical works of Thomas Traherne | |