The true christian's " Soul [is] by Grace refin'd from drossie Earth, / From sordid Lusts and love of Sin / Made mindful of its own high Birth; / It will not be confin'd within / These narrow bounds of Matter and of Time"
— Rawlet, John (bap. 1642, d. 1686)
Work Title
Place of Publication
London
Publisher
Printed for Samuel Tidmarsh
Date
1687
Metaphor
The true christian's " Soul [is] by Grace refin'd from drossie Earth, / From sordid Lusts and love of Sin / Made mindful of its own high Birth; / It will not be confin'd within / These narrow bounds of Matter and of Time"
Metaphor in Context
But the true Christian free
From this ignoble painful slavery,
O're fear of Death has got the Victory,
And o're the love of Life and all that's here
Which this low Life to Mortals doth endear,
His Soul by Grace refin'd from drossie Earth,
From sordid Lusts and love of Sin,
Made mindful of its own high Birth;
It will not be confin'd within
These narrow bounds of Matter and of Time,
But up into Eternity will clime,
With wings of Faith and fervent Love doth soar
To the Æthereal Regions there to share
Those Glories which our Lord is gone before
For all his faithful Followers to prepare:
Our Lord who drove away dark shades of Night,
Brought Life and Immortality to light,
And with that darkness banisht fear,
And by that Light our minds did chear;
The Christian he doth teach to wait,
And long for Death that shall translate
His Soul to its most blissful State;
And makes him patient to endure
The cares of Life, or miseries of old Age,
Even when the torturing Stone, the Gout or Colick rage,
He bears with courage what he cannot cure.
From this ignoble painful slavery,
O're fear of Death has got the Victory,
And o're the love of Life and all that's here
Which this low Life to Mortals doth endear,
His Soul by Grace refin'd from drossie Earth,
From sordid Lusts and love of Sin,
Made mindful of its own high Birth;
It will not be confin'd within
These narrow bounds of Matter and of Time,
But up into Eternity will clime,
With wings of Faith and fervent Love doth soar
To the Æthereal Regions there to share
Those Glories which our Lord is gone before
For all his faithful Followers to prepare:
Our Lord who drove away dark shades of Night,
Brought Life and Immortality to light,
And with that darkness banisht fear,
And by that Light our minds did chear;
The Christian he doth teach to wait,
And long for Death that shall translate
His Soul to its most blissful State;
And makes him patient to endure
The cares of Life, or miseries of old Age,
Even when the torturing Stone, the Gout or Colick rage,
He bears with courage what he cannot cure.
Categories
Provenance
Searching "soul" and "dross" in HDIS (Poetry)
Citation
4 entries in ESTC (1687, 1691, 1721, 1738).
Poetick Miscellanies of Mr John Rawlet, B.D. and Late Lecturer of S. Nicholas Church in the Town and County of New-Castle Upon Tine. ( Printed for Samuel Tidmarsh, at the King’s-Head in Cornhill, near the Royal Exchange, 1687). <Link to ESTC>
Poetick Miscellanies of Mr John Rawlet, B.D. and Late Lecturer of S. Nicholas Church in the Town and County of New-Castle Upon Tine. ( Printed for Samuel Tidmarsh, at the King’s-Head in Cornhill, near the Royal Exchange, 1687). <Link to ESTC>
Theme
Refinement
Date of Entry
07/19/2005
