"To Act on Obligations yet unknown, | To Act upon Rewards as yet unshewn, | To keep Commands whose Beauty's yet unseen"

     For Man to Act as if his Soul did see
The very Brightness of Eternity;
For Man to Act as if his Love did burn
Above the Spheres, even while its in its Urne;
For Man to Act even in the Wilderness,
As if he did those Sovereign Joys possess,
Which do at once confirm, stir up, enflame,
And perfect Angels; having not the same!
It doth increase the Value of his Deeds,
In this a Man a Seraphim exceeds:
     To Act on Obligations yet unknown,
To Act upon Rewards as yet unshewn,
To keep Commands whose Beauty's yet unseen,
To cherish and retain a Zeal between
Sleeping and Waking; shews a constant care;
And that a deeper Love, a Love so Rare,
That no Eye Service may with it compare.
     The Angels, who are faithful while they view
His Glory, know not what themselves would do,
Were they in our Estate!  A Dimmer Light
Perhaps would make them erre as well as We;
And in the Coldness of a darker Night,
Forgetful and Lukewarm Themselves might be.
Our very Rust shall cover us with Gold,
Our Dust shall sprinkle while their Eyes behold
The Glory Springing from a feeble State,
Where meer Belief doth, if not conquer Fate,
Surmount, and pass what it doth Antedate.

     Thomas Traherne, Christian Ethicks, chap. 21 ("Encouragements to courage"), ed. Carol L. Marks & George Robert Guffey, Cornell studies in English 43 (Ithaca, NY:  Cornell University Press, 1968), 165-66.