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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A73078	A treatise of mentall prayer With another of the presence of God. Composed by the R. Fa. Alfonsus Rodriguez, of the Society of Iesus. And translated out of the Spanish, into English.; Ejercicio de perfección y virtudes cristianas. English. Selections	Rodríguez, Alfonso, 1526-1616.; Matthew, Tobie, Sir, 1577-1655.; Wilson, John, ca. 1575-ca. 1645?	1627 (1627)	STC 21148; ESTC S123265	122,250	331

resorting to God beseeching him with his whole hart to be fauourable to him and that he will help him out of all his dangers necessities according to that which King Iosaphat said whē he foūd himself hem'd in by his enemyes 1. Paral. 10. ● Cùm ignoremus quid agere debeamus hoc solùm habemus residui vt oculos nostros dirigamus ad te Since we are so weake since we are so poore and needy and know not which way to turne our selues we haue no other remedy but onely to cast vp our eyes to God Celest ca. 9. contra Pelagium and with our harts to beg of him those things wherof we are in so great neede And so Pope Celestine in one of his Decretall Epistles to teach the importance of Prayer speaketh thus I know not what better thing to say to you then that which Zozimus my Predecessour sayd Quod est tempus in quo eius auxilio non indigemus in omnibus igitur rebus causis negotijs exorandus est Protector Deus What tyme is there wherein we haue not necessity of the help of God There is no such tyme. If that be so then are we at all tymes and in all occasions and in all affayres to resort to God by Prayer with desyre that he will protect vs. Superbū est enim vt humana natura aliquid de se praesumat For a great pride it is that a frayle and miserable man should presume any litle vpon himselfe S. Thomas proues the necessity of Prayer S. Tho. 2.2 q. 8● ar 2. Damase l. 3. fidei ca. 24. Aug. l. 2. deser Domini cap 7. ser 230. de t●mp Basilius in Iul. mart Chrys ho. 30. in Ge● sim Gre. l. ● dial ● 8 by a very solide and substantiall reason and it is the doctrine of the Saints Damascen Augustine Basill Chrysostome and Gregory These Saints declare that the things which God by his diuine wisdom and disposition did determine from all Eternity to giue to soules he would impart in time by meanes of Prayer and that by this meanes he had resolued vpon the redresse the conuersion and the saluation of many soules and vpon the progresse and perfection of many others in such sort that as God disposed and determined that by meanes of marriage mankind should be multiplyed and that by plowing and sowing cultiuating the ground otherwise there should grow abundance of bread and wine and other fruits of the earth and that by meanes of Artificers and materialls houses and buildings should be erected So did he also ordayne to worke great effects in the world and to communicate many graces guifts to soules by this meanes of Prayer And so did Christ our Redeemer assure vs in the Ghospell Petite dabitur vobis quaerite inuenietis pulsate aperietur vobis Matt. 7. omnis enim qui petit accipit qui quarit inuenit pulsanti aperitur Aske and it shal be giuen seeke and you shall finde knock and it shal be opened vnto you for he who asketh receyueth he who seeketh findeth to him who knocketh it shal be opened So that Prayer is the meanes maister-conduit wherby our Lord wil be pleased to releiue our necessityes to inrich our pouerty to replenish vs with benedictions and graces Wherby we see well the great necessity which we haue of frequenting Prayer And so the Saints do frame a very fit comparison when they affirme that Prayer is as a Chayne of Gold one end wherof is hooked vp in heauen the other end reacheth downe to the earth and that by this chayne all celestiall graces are deriued and drawne downe to vs and by the same our selues ascend moūt vp to God And we may also say that this is a kind of Iacobs Ladder which reacheth from heauen to earth and wherby the Angells do ascend Gen. 28.11 Aug ser 226. and descend The glorious S. Augustine sayth that Prayer is the Key of Heauen which is made to open all the gates therof and of all those coffers which are full of the treasures of God Aug exhort de salutaribus monitis ad quēdam Comitem ca. 28. without excepting any one Oratio iusti clauis est caeli ascendit precatio descendit Dei miseratio And els where he sayth That looke what breade is to the body that very thing is Prayer to the soule Sicut ex carnalibus escis alitur caro Nilus ca. 95. de orat ●n bib SS PP 10. ● ita ex diuinis eloquijs orationibus interior homo nutritur pascitur And the same is affirmed by the holy Martyr Abbot Nilus One of the most principall considerations wherby the Saintes declare the value and estimation which we ought to make of Prayer on the one side and on the other the great necessity which we haue therof is because Prayer is a very principall and efficacious meanes to order and addresse our life and to explayne or ouercome all those difficultyes which may offer themselues to vs in the way of vertue And so they say that vpon it depends the gouermēt of our life that when Prayer is well made the life is well led and that when Prayer is discomposed the life groweth also into disorder Rectè nouit viuere qui rectè nouit orare Aug. ho. 4. ex 150. quae eius nomine circumf sayth S. Augustine He knoweth how to liue well who knoweth how to pray wel And S. Iohn Climacus sayth that a seruant of God deliuered a memorable speach to him and it was this By the very beginning of the morning I do already know what kind of dayes worke it will be Climacus Giuing to vnderstand therby that if he complyed well with his Prayer in the morning all the rest would succeed well and so that it would fall contrarily out if either he did not comply with it at all or els did it not so well as he could And the same rule holds with all the rest of a mans life Our selues do take daily experiment herof so that when we make our Prayer well we go so well in order so cheerfull so full of good purposes and desires that it is to make one wonder and contrariwise if we take no care of our Prayer all the good which we had gotten is in the way to be lost S. Bonauenture sayth Sine isto studio omnis religio est arida Bonauen de progres religionis ca. 7. imperfecta ad ruinā promptior By not resorting to Praier all goes backward and by and by comes in tepidity and then by litle and litle the soule begins to grow weake and to wither and to loose that vigor and breath which it had before And then I know not how those holy purposes and first thoughts grow to vanish and then begin to awake and reuiue all our passions Soone after will a man finde himselfe to become much

our mouthes those words Cum quibus nostras voces vt admitti iubeas deprecamur supplici confessione dicentes Sanctus Sanctus Sanctus c. O Lord that which they say I say and that which they do I would ●aine do iust as they praise and loue so would I fayne blesse and prayse and loue thee And sometymes it wil be also good that we remit our selues euen to our selues as we were at some former tyme when we conceiue our selues to haue beene in good Prayer saying O my Lord that which I did then and as then I offered my selfe wholy to thee so do I offer my selfe now and as then I grieued for my sins so do I grieue now and as then I desired Humility Patience and Obedience in the same manner O Lord do I craue and beg it of thee now But aboue all it is a most singular good practise to vnite our workes with those of Christ our Lord and to supply our faults imperfections by the merits of his most sacred Passion aswell in that which concerneth our Prayer as in our other actions offering to the eternall Father our Prayers in vnion of the loue and seruour wherewith Christ our Lord did pray to him and praise him here on earth and our Fasts in vniō of those Fasts which he made beseeching him that he wil be pleased to supply our Impatience with the Patience of Christ our Lord our pride with his Humility and our Malice with his Innocency Blosius c. 9. institu● spiritual This practise as Blosius relateth was reuealed by our Lord to some deare seruants of his to the end that we may so make our workes of much worth and merit relieue our pouerty by his meanes through the infinite treasure of the merits of Christ our Lord. CHAP. XX. That we must content our selues with this Prayer wherof we haue spoken and not goe with complaint and griefe for not being able to obtayne that other Prayer which is more high ALBERTVS Magnus sayth that the true humble man Albertus magnus de adhaerendo Deo doth not presume to lift vp his hart to a desire of that high and rich Prayer and of those extraordinary fauours which our Lord doth vse Note sometymes to cōmunicate to his deare seruants For he esteemeth so little of himselfe that he holdeth himselfe vnworthy of all fauour and spirituall consolation And if at any tyme without any desire of his our Lord do visite him with any comfort he receiueth it with feare acknowledging that he deserueth not those visitations and that he knowes not how to profit by them as he ought And if we had true Humility we would content our selues with any of those kinds of Prayer wherof we spake Nay rather we should hold it for a particuler fauour of our Lord that he leades vs by the way of Humility For therby we shall conserue our selues and by that other way we might perhaps growe light-headed and so be lost S. Bernard sayth Bern. ser 5. quadrag that God doth carry himselfe towards vs as the Fathers of this world do towards their little children That when the Childe asketh bread Note they giue it him with a good will but when the Child asketh for a knife wherewith to cut his bread they will not giue it him because they see it is not necessary and that perhaps it might do him hurt by cutting his fingers But the father takes the knife and cuts the bread that so the child may neither be put to any trouble nor made subiect to any danger in this forte doth our Lord proceed He giues you the bread already cut and will not giue you those gusts and consolations which are in that most high Prayer because perhaps you would cut your selues they would do you hurt by making you wanton and guiddy and to hold your selues for spirituall persons and to prefer your selues before others Our Lord doth you a greater fauour in giuing you the bread already cut then if he gaue you the knife wherewith to cut it If God with your Prayer giue you a great resolution and strength rather to dy then to commit sinne and if he keepe you through the whole course of your life without committing a mortall sinne what better Prayer and what better Fruite can you desire then this This is that answere which the Father of the Prodigall Sonne gaue to his elder brother Who seing that the Younger was receiued with so much feasting and ioy was deepely offended with it and already was refusing to enter into his Fathers house saying to this effect So many years are now past since I serue you and haue euer beene subiect to your commaundements and obsequious to your person and you haue neuer bestowed vpon me so much as a Kid to the end that I might make merry with my friends And as for that other who hath dissipated your state and beene disobedient to your selfe you haue killed the fat calfe and made him a sumptuous banquet with great musique and ioy The Father makes this answere Luc. 15. ●● Fili tu semper mecum es My sonne know that I do not this as louing the other more then you You are euer remaining in my house and with my person It will also be reason that you know and esteeme worthily of that which I do for you Is it perhaps a small grace and fauour which I do you in continuing you euer about my selfe The same I say in your case Doth it seeme a trifle for our Lord to keepe you euer with himselfe and in his house It is a greater matter for our Lord to giue you the guift of perseuerance and to keepe you from euer parting from him and falling into sin then if after you were fallen he should lend you his hand as he did to the Prodigall Sonne It is more for him to keepe you from breaking your head then if he should heale it when it were broken If then our Lord with this Prayer which you haue do giue you this of what can you complayne If with this Prayer he giue you great promptitude towards al things which concerne his seruice and great indifferency with intiere resignation towards all the orders of Obedience what can you desire more If with this Prayer God conserue you in Humility and in his feare and in walking warily and in preseruing your selues from occasions out of the dangers of sinne what reason haue you to sigh for more This is that Fruite which you were to gather out of Prayer if it were neuer so high and sublyme And when our Lord were pleased to giue you many gusts and comforts in it to this end you were to addresse thē all Now this is that which God doth worke in this playne and ordinary Prayer He giueth you the end and the Fruite without those extraordinary meanes of eleuations and gusts and consolations as they find by experience who perseuere in it And therfore

we are to giue for this double thanks to our Lord. For on the one side he frees vs from the danger of vanity and pride which we might be subiect to and on the other side he giues vs that Fruite and profit of Prayer which is most complete The holy Scripture saith of the holy Patriarch Ioseph That he spake to his brethren with hard and sharpe words Gen. 42.7 25. and yet withall that he filled their sacks full of corne and commaunded his Steward to treat them well And so doth our Lord carry himselfe many tymes towards vs. We will neuer vnderstand as we ought wherein Prayer doth indeed consist Or to speake more properly we will neuer vnderstand as we ought wherein our spirituall profit perfection doth consist which is the End and Fruite to which our Prayer is ordeyned And so many tymes when it goes ill with vs we thinke it goes well and when indeed it goeth well we are apt to thinke that it goeth ill Drawe you out of Prayer that which we haue said and especially to proceed well that present day and with edification Chap. 15. as was touched before and you shall haue made good Prayer though whilst you were praying you were as dry as a sticke and as hard as a stone And if you gaine not this you haue not made good Prayer though you were streaming downe teares all the while and although you had beene eleuated vp to the third heauen Henceforward therfore do not complayne of Prayer but turne your complaints against your selues and say It goes ill with me in point of Mortification It goes ill with me in point of Humility Note in point of Patience in point of Silence and Recollection This indeed is a iust complaynt because it is to complayne against your selues for you do not that which you ought and yet it is in your owne power But that other course of going in complaynt against Prayer seemes to be a kinde of complayning against God because he giues not that kinde of way and quietnes and comfort which you could desire This I say is no good complainte It is no word this which may induce our Lord to mercy but rather prouoke him to wrath and indignation as the holy Iudith said to them of Bethulia Non est iste sermo Iudith 8.11 qui misericordiam prouocet sed potius qui iram excitet furorent accendat And it is worth the considering how contrary we are in this to reason For I find not that we complayne of not being willing to mortify nor humble nor amēd our selues Note which yet is the thing that we haue in our power But we go complayning of that which is not in our power but runns vpon the accounte of Almighty God Endeauour you to mortify and ouercome your selues herein do that which belongs to you and trust God with that which belongs to him For more desire hath he of our good then we our selues And if we do that which belongs to vs we may rest secure inough that for his part Tract 8. Ca. 24. seqq vide suprà Cap. 5. ad finem ex B●rmardo he will not be wanting to giue vs that which is fit for vs. We will speake more largly of this pointe when we treate of Conformity with the will of God where we will procure to giue more expresse satisfaction to this complaint and temptation CHAP. XXI Of the causes of Distraction in Prayer and of the Remedies THIS is wonte to be a very ordinary complaint and therfore the Saints do generally treate therof and especially Cassian Cassianus coslat ● 8.7 They say that distraction in Prayer may rise from one of three causes The first our owne carelessnesse or negligence because we go scattered in our owne thoghts Note and we set little guard vpon our hart and make little recolection of our senses He who liueth in this manner hath no reason to wonder how he comes to be be distracted in Prayer and why he can make no way in it For it is cleere that the images and figures and representations of those things which he suffers to enter in are to disquiet and molest him afterwards in Prayer The Abbot Moyses sayth well Collat. 10. That although it is not in the power of a man to keepe himselfe from being surprised with thoughts yet that it is in his power eyther not to admit thē or els to driue them away And he addeth further that it is in great part in our power to correct and mend the quality of those thoughts and to cause that they may be holy good that those others which are impertinent vayne may grow by little little to be forgottē For if he giue himselfe to the spirituall Exercises of Reading Meditation and Prayer if he imploy himselfe vpon good and holy workes he wil be sure to haue good and holy thoughts But if when he spends the day he do but feed his senses with vaine and impertinent things his thoughts will not faile to be of the same quality To this purpose he bringeth a comparison and it is also brought by Saint Anselme and S. Bernard Collat. 1. cap. 18. These Saints affirme that the hart of man is like a Milstone which is euer mouing Note but it is in the hand of the Miller who rules it to choose whether it shall grinde wheate or oates or any other graine for that which they cast before it it will grinde And so the hart of man cannot be without thinking vpon somewhat which it will grinde but by your industry and diligence you may make it grind what corne you will wheat or rye yea or earth it selfe for in fine whatsoeuer you cast before it that will it grinde In conformity therfore of this if you meane to be recolected in Prayer you must procure as you conuerse to carry you hart recollected and to keep the gates of your senses close For our Lord takes pleasure to treat with soules which are as Gardens shut And so it was a common saying of those ancient Fathers and it is alledged by Cassian Cassianus collat 9. Abbatis Isaac c. 1. ● Quales orantes volumus inueniri tales nos ante orationis tempus preparare debemus ex praecedenti enim statu mens atque animus in supplicatione formatur We must go backe againe to begin our course and procure to be when we are out of Prayer Note such as in Prayer we desire to be For of the same state and temper which the hart shall haue out of Prayer the same it will also haue in Prayer Qualis liquor vasi infunditur taliter redolebit quales herbas in horto cordis tui plantaueris Bonauen● de profecta religiosi li. 〈…〉 58 talia semina germinabunt sayth S. Bonauenture Such as the liquour is which you powre into the vessell such wil be the smell● such as the hearbs

for which we hope this other obscure sight is matter of merit to vs wherby we must growe to obteyne that other But yet still in fine we must imitate those blessed spirits to the best of our power whilst we procure not to loose the sight of God in the workes which we are doing Iust so as the holy Angells who are sent downe to our succour for our defence and help are in such sort imployed vpon those ministeryes as that yet withall they neuer loose the sight of God As the Angell Raphael said to Toby Videbar quidem vobiscum manducare bibere Tob. 12.13 Mat. 18.10 sed ego cibo inuisibili potu qui hominibus videri non potest vtor I seemed indeed to haue beene eating and drinking with you but I the while did serue my selfe of an inuisible meate and of a kind of drinke which cannot be discerned by humaine eyes They are euer susteyning themselues vpon God semper vident faciem patris mei qui in caelis est And so also although we eate and drinke and conuerse and negotiate with mē and though it seeme that we enterteyne and imploy our selues therein must yet procure that that be not our foode and entertaynement but another food and entertaynement which is inuisible and which men discouer not and this is That we be euer beholding and louing God and accomplishing his most holy will Great was the accounte and practise which the Saints and the ancient Patriarches made of going alwayes in the Presence of God Prouidebam Dominum in conspectu meo semper Psa 15.8 quoniam à dextris est mihi ne commouear The Royall Prophet did not content himselfe with praising God seauen tymes in the day but withall he procured to haue God alwayes present with him And so continuall was this Exercise with those Saynts that this was also their common phrase of speach Viuit Dominus in conspectu cuius sto 3. Reg. 17. Our Lord liueth in whose presence I am The benefits and profits are great 4. Reg. 3.14 which flowe from our going continually in Gods Presence whilst we consider that he is euer looking on vs and therefore did the Saynts labour in it so much This alone sufficieth to make that a man be very well ordered and composed in all his actions For tell me what seruant is there who will not carry himselfe exactly well vnder the eye of his Lord Who will not do that which he commaunds or who will dare to offend him to his teeth Or what theefe will presume to steale whilst the Iudge hath an eye vpon his hands Now therfore since God is so euer looking vpon vs Note and since he is our Iudge and since he is Omnipotent and can commaund that the earth may open and swallowe a man vp into Hell Yea and since he hath indeed done so sometymes to such as durst offend him what is he that will dare to offend him any more Aug. sol 14. And so S. Augustine sayth O Lord when I consider with attention that thou art euer looking vpon me and that thou art watching ouer me night and day and that with so great care as if there were neither in heauen nor earth any other creature for thee to gouerne but me alone When I consider well that all my deeds desires and thoughts lye open and cleere before thee I am all fulfilled with feare and ouer-whelmed with shame Without doubt we are cast into a very streight obligation of liuing with great rectitude iustice by the consideration of our doing all things vnder the eye of that Iudge who seeth all things and from whome nothing is able to hide it selfe If in this world the presence of a graue and qualifyed person will keep vs in order what will not the Presence of God be able to do S. Hierome vpon that place where God said to Hierusalem Ezech. 28. ● by the Prophet Ezechiel Meique oblita es Thou hast forgotten me sayth thus Memoria enim Dei excludit cuncta flagitia The memory of God dismisseth and dischargeth all sinne The same also doth S. Ambrose say And els where S Hierome sayth againe Certè quando peccamus si cogitaremus Deum videre esse praesentem numquam quod ei displiceret faceremus The memory of God and the watching still in his Presence is a meanes of so great efficacy that if we did but consider that God is present and doth behold vs we would neuer aduenture to do that thing which might displease him This alone sufficed to make that sinfull woman Thais giue ouer her bad life and betake herselfe to a course of pennance in the wildernes Holy Iob said thus Nonne ipse considerat vias tuas Iob. 31.4 cunctos gressus meos dinumerat God stands beholding me and as a true ey-witnes counts the paces which I make and who then is that man who will presume to sinne or to do any thing amisse On the other side all the disorder Note and perdition of the wicked doth proceed from their not considering that God is Present beholdeth them according to that which the holy Scripture doth so often repeate in the person of wicked men Et dixisti Isa 47.10 Ierem. 1● 4 non est qui videat me Et non videbit nouissima nostra And so did S. Hierome note it vpon the seauenth Chapter of Ezachiel Hierome where the Prophet reproouing Ierusalem for the many vices and sinnes which it was subiect to growes to say That the cause of them all was for that that Citty had forgotten God And he assigneth also the same cause whē he interpreteth many other places of scripture For as a horse without a bridle and a ship without a sterne runs vpon precipices and rockes so if you take this bridle out of the mouth of man he rums headlong after his owne inordinate appetites and passions Non est Deus in conspectu eius inquinatae sunt viae illius in omni tempore Psa 9.26 sayth the Prophet Dauid He carrieth not God before his eyes he considereth him not as present before him and therefore are his ways which are his workes all defiled still with sinnes The remedy which the blessed S. Basil giues in many places of his workes against all temptations Note and troubles and for all the occasions and necessityes which may present themselues is the Presence of God And therfore if thou desire a ready and compendious way for the obteyning of perfection and which may conteyne and lock vp in it selfe the force efficacy of all other meanes this is that And for such Gen. 17.1 did God giue it thus to Abraham Ambula coram me esto perfectus Walke before me thou shalt be perfect The holy Scripture doth here as in many other places take the Imperatine for the Future to expresse home the infallibility of the successe It is so certaine that thou shalt