20 quotes
Quickly would I make my path even,
And by mere playing go to heaven.
Silex Scintillans (1655)
And yet, as angels in some brighter dreams
Call to the soul when man doth sleep,
So some strange thoughts transcend our wonted themes,
And into glory peep.
Silex Scintillans (1655)
Then bless thy secret growth, nor catch
At noise, but thrive unseen and dumb;
Keep clean, be as fruit, earn life, and watch
Till the white-wing’d reapers come!
Silex Scintillans (1655)
An age of mysteries! which he
Must live that would God's face see
Which angels guard, and with it play,
Angels! which foul men drive away.
Silex Scintillans (1655)
Those observations are but foul,
Which make me wise to lose my soul.
Silex Scintillans (1655)
Tempests and windes and winter-nights
Vex not, that but One sees thee grow,
That One made all these lesser lights.
Silex Scintillans (1655)
I cannot reach it, and my striving eye
Dazzles at it, as at eternity.
Silex Scintillans (1655)
Holy writing must strive (by all means) for perfection and true holiness, that a door may be opened to him in heaven.
Silex Scintillans (1655)
Some men a forward motion love,
But I by backward steps would move.
Silex Scintillans (1655)
Why should I not love childhood still?
Silex Scintillans (1655)
Dear, beauteous death, the jewel of the just!
Shining nowhere but in the dark;
What mysteries do lie beyond thy dust,
Could man outlook that mark!
Silex Scintillans (1655)
When I behold thee, though my light be dim,
Distant, and low, I can in thine see Him
Who looks upon thee from his glorious throne,
And mindes the covenant 'twixt all and One.
Silex Scintillans (1655)
Still young and fine! but what is still in view
We slight as old and soil'd, though fresh and new.
Silex Scintillans (1655)
They are all gone into the world of light!
And I alone sit lingering here;
Their very memory is fair and bright,
And my sad thoughts doth clear.
Silex Scintillans (1655)
There is in God — some say —
A deep, but dazzling darkness; as men here
Say it is late and dusky, because they
See not all clear.
O for that Night! where I in Him
Might live invisible and dim!
Silex Scintillans (1655)
Happy those early days, when I
Shined in my angel-infancy!
Before I understood this place
Appointed for my second race.
Silex Scintillans (1655)
My soul, there is a country
Far beyond the stars
Where stands a wingèd sentry
All skillful in the wars:
There, above noise and danger,
Sweet Peace is crowned with smiles,
And One born in a manger
Commands the beauteous files.
Silex Scintillans (1655)
I saw Eternity the other night
Like a great ring of pure and endless light.
All calm, as it was bright;
And round beneath it, Time in hours, days, years,
Driv'n by the spheres
Like a vast shadow moved; in which the world
And all her train were hurled.
Silex Scintillans (1655)
I see them walking in an air of glory
Whose light doth trample on my days,
My days, which are at best but dull and hoary,
Mere glimmering and decays.
Silex Scintillans (1655)
Dear Night! this world's defeat;
The stop to busy fools; care's check and curb;
The day of spirits; my soul's calm retreat
Which none disturb!
Christ's progress, and His prayer-time;
The hours to which high Heaven doth chime.
Silex Scintillans (1655)