The Minor Poems of Joseph Beaumont ... Edited from the autograph manuscript with introduction and notes by Eloise Robinson |
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Hymnus ad Christum, proxime
cooptandi in S. Presbyteratus Ordinem
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 | The Minor Poems of Joseph Beaumont |  |
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Hymnus ad Christum, proxime cooptandi in S. Presbyteratus Ordinem
1
Sweet love, loe at thy gentle FeetMy trembling Soule I throw;
Which doth full sadly know
How great
The Sanctitie of this high Function is,
And how extreem my own unworthynes.
2
Were my foule Spotts clean washed out;Were I refin'd, till I
Could with pure Seraphs vie
In stout
And genuine Rays; still must my Heart complain
'Twere too impure this Office to sustein.
3
This Office, which with Clay & DustDoth Heavn it self, & more,
Thee, whom all Heavns adore,
Intrust.
How, how shall most polluted I endure
The mighty burden of a Charge so pure!
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4
But though I durst not shutt mine earAgainst this Call, which from
Thy Self doth seem to come;
Yet fear
Of mine own Vilenes, & of glorious Thee,
Spurrs to this bold Request all-quaking Me:
5
Yf Thou foreseest that I shall notAdvance thine Honor by
My climbing up so high;
O putt
Some Barr between, yea though't be Death, that so
I may not Rise to mine own Overthrow.
| The Minor Poems of Joseph Beaumont | |