Before thy face, that all thy spirits shall fill
With sweet enragement of celestiall love,
Kindled through sight of those faire things above.”
(ll. 284–290.)
The “Hymne,” which celebrates the life of Christ on earth as a man among men, closes, as it had begun, with the mind in the presence of heavenly beauty.
In Phineas Fletcher the term “idea” is not used, but the habit of thought is identical with that of Spenser’s. Christ is to be seen by the soul, not in his bodily form, but in his “first beautie” and “true majestie.” In the passage where these expressions occur Fletcher is showing the manner of the love we should bestow upon Christ for that which he has shown to us. He says that the only adequate return is to give back to Christ the love he has given to us. He then prays that Christ will inflame man with his glorious ray in order that he may rise above a love of earthly things into heaven.
“So we beholding with immortall eye
The glorious picture of Thy heav’nly face,
In His first beautie and true Majestie,
May shake from our dull souls these fetters base;