"Prepare thy heart, / For that's the room / Where God must come:"
— Speed, Samuel (bap. 1633, d. 1679?)
Work Title
Place of Publication
London
Publisher
Printed by J. C. for S. S. [etc.]
Date
1677
Metaphor
"Prepare thy heart, / For that's the room / Where God must come:"
Metaphor in Context
The World's a Monster,
And a humane life
So full of strife,
That a dry morsel better may suffice
With quiet, than contentions sacrifice.
Man is conceiv'd
In sin; when born
Become a scorn;
Addicts himself to vanities and lyes;
Poysons himself with sin, then bursts, and dies.
Then, O my Soul,
That thou may'st thrive,
Fix thus to live:
Serve God, and love thy Neighbour; not for gains,
Self-service will but cheat thee for thy pains.
Consider well,
Thou canst not buy
Eternity,
But pious Pray'rs and Tears must be thy cost;
For Heav'n is not so soon obtain'd as lost.
Prepare thy heart,
For that's the room
Where God must come:
Then mind not things that are but transitory,
But entertain thy God, the King of Glory.
He when he comes
Will be thy Guest,
Himself the Feast.
Of Earth no expectation thou canst have,
But live a sinner, to become a slave.
And a humane life
So full of strife,
That a dry morsel better may suffice
With quiet, than contentions sacrifice.
Man is conceiv'd
In sin; when born
Become a scorn;
Addicts himself to vanities and lyes;
Poysons himself with sin, then bursts, and dies.
Then, O my Soul,
That thou may'st thrive,
Fix thus to live:
Serve God, and love thy Neighbour; not for gains,
Self-service will but cheat thee for thy pains.
Consider well,
Thou canst not buy
Eternity,
But pious Pray'rs and Tears must be thy cost;
For Heav'n is not so soon obtain'd as lost.
Prepare thy heart,
For that's the room
Where God must come:
Then mind not things that are but transitory,
But entertain thy God, the King of Glory.
He when he comes
Will be thy Guest,
Himself the Feast.
Of Earth no expectation thou canst have,
But live a sinner, to become a slave.
Categories
Provenance
Searching "room" and "heart" in HDIS (Poetry)
Citation
2 entries in ESTC (1677).
Text from Prison-Pietie: or, Meditations Divine and Moral. Digested into Poetical Heads, On Mixt and Various Subjects. Whereunto is added A Panegyrick to The Right Reverend, and Most Nobly descended, Henry, Lord Bishop of London. By Samuel Speed, Prisoner in Ludgate, London. (London: Printed by J[ames] C[ottrell], 1677). <Link to ESTC><Link to EEBO>
Text from Prison-Pietie: or, Meditations Divine and Moral. Digested into Poetical Heads, On Mixt and Various Subjects. Whereunto is added A Panegyrick to The Right Reverend, and Most Nobly descended, Henry, Lord Bishop of London. By Samuel Speed, Prisoner in Ludgate, London. (London: Printed by J[ames] C[ottrell], 1677). <Link to ESTC><Link to EEBO>
Date of Entry
03/26/2005
