Selected quad for the lemma: father_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
father_n	believe_v	faith_n	holy_a	10,213	4	5.4982	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A17888	A spirituall combat a tryall of a faithfull soule or consolation in temptation. Written in French by I.P. Camus Bishope of Belley, and translated into English by M.C. P. of the Eng. Coll. of Doway.; Lutte spirituelle, ou encouragement à une âme tentée de l'esprit de blasphème et d'infidélité. English.	Camus, Jean-Pierre, 1584-1652.; Carre, Thomas, 1599-1674.	1632 (1632)	STC 4553; ESTC S107507	60,746	308

I powre into your wound following therin the Apostles counsell who will haue vs pray ouer him that is sad * weepe with him that is soerowfull * And me thinkes I heare I know not what secrete voice giue me assurance that this infirmitie shall not be to death but that the glorie of God shall be therby more manifested in you * And if with patience you expect his blessed pleasure you shall shortly see the splendour of his diuine face shine vpō you An incouragement CHAP. III. ATTEND therefore Gods pleasure be couragious Let your hart rise as a palme-tree against that which doth oppresse it susteyne this assault * What doth he know who is not tempted Blessed is he who suffers temptation for being once tryed he shall receaue the crowne of life * Patience workes probatiō begets Hope and such a hope as is not confounded For by patience we possesse our selues in Peace * Say to the pusilanimous lift vp your deiected minds * saith the Prophete Tell them that they are to hope euen against all hope * And that whē they conceaue they are lost they are neerer to their saluation then they can beleeue * Loose not then your confidence THEOPISTE sith so great a reward is promised vnto it * Giue care vnto your sweet Sauiour who cryes vnto you be confident for I haue ouercome the world * And what vertue is it which giues vs victory ouer the world The Apostle makes answere it is our Faith * But alas say you THEOPISTE This is that which I want this is my desease and you say vnto me be well From that quarter warre is waged against me your counsell is liue in Peace That is the euill which doth afflict me and you say vnto me ô man of litle faith why dost thou feare * It is not I that say thus vnto you THEOPISTE it is our Sauiour himselfe the very words of whose Testament you vse It is his Apostle that assures you that vertue is perfected in infirmity * that euen from its owne infirmity it gaines new strength oftentimes when we apprehend we haue lost all we winne all For God is faithfull and neuer tempts vs in euil He permits vs not to be tēpted aboue our strēgth * Contrariwise he makes vs draw profit from our tribulation * and find out our saluation in the midst of our enemies * When we thinke that our vertue doth fayle vs and that the light of our eyes hath forsaken vs * he serues vs as a Pillar of fire in palpable darknesse and makes a light shine amongst the obscurities to those that are of a right hart * That which you repute a serpent taken by the tayle vpon a soudaine is in our hand a florishing rodde and a rodde of directiō in the Kingdom of Heauē Beleeue it THEOPISTE ether am I a very badde Prophete or els this temptation against Faith which doth afflict you will more affright thē hurt you for all the temptations which doe not please cannot hurt * as a Father of the Church saith Contrariwise if you will please to follow my counsell and aduise with as much confidence as God hath giuen you freedome to reueale your cause and discouer vnto me the wayes and feelings of your interiour man I doubt not but you will draw confusion vpon the house of NABVCHODONOSOR * cut of HOLOPHERNES his head with his owne sword * and with the dint of a stone from a slinge beat downe that proude PHILISTIAN who would out-braue the army of your good desires * The profit of Temptation CHAP. IV. I Dare promise my selfe that as DAVID found bitternesse in Peace * so contrariwise you shall meete with sweetnesse in this warre And that honie-combes shall not onely spring out of rockes to you * but euen out of the Lion's iawes which you thinke is about to deuoure you * according to SAMSON'S Embleme That you shall draw fresh water out of the midst of this brinish sea as vaines therof are found in the bosome of the Oceā that one day you shall sing with the Psalmist it was good for me ô Lord to haue beene humbled by thy hand to th' end I might learne thy iustifications * Then shall you know that that affliction which giues you the same blowes in matter of Faith which the Angell of Satan gaue S. PAVL in point of dishonestly * shall haue the like effect in you as the waters of the Deluge in the Arke of Noë And what effect had they in it Marry they lanched it from the shore they bore it vp towards Heauen brought it safe at length to the toppe of the highest Armenian Mountaines * I would say hereby that this trouble in lieu of depressing shall exalte your faith and that this essay of your vallour shall purge and purifie your Faith as gold in the Crurible * and shall giue it a deeper colour and perhaps whereas she now creepes vpō the earth amidst shades Enigma's Mirrours * fantomes and imaginary shapes her youth being renewed like vnto the Eagle * she shall become cleare-sighted resembling that bird which without shutting her eyelides can fixe the aples of her eyes vpon the brightest sunne beames Yea may it not be that after my Theopiste haue once read this Practise or spirituall Combat and when I say Practise my meaning is that that which is read should be practised he shall heare with the theife vpon the Crosse who seeing himselfe with in two fingars breath of ship-wrake receaued yet pardon from the King of mercy in these fewe words amen amen I say vnto thee this day thou shall be with me in Paradice * Which was accomplished euen in Hell or in Abraham's bosome whither this good theife discending saw the glorious and triumphant soule of our Sauiour who defeated Death and blunted the sharp point of the sting of Hell * while he bore away the spoyles and ledd Captiuity captiue after him * ITHEOP my beleife is that we shall not die but liue * and that if we doe firmely cōstantly beleeue floodes of waters of life * running to eternity * shall issue out of our breastes * This blessed Hope is surely lodged in my bosome * The estate of a soule in temptation CHAP. V. BVT before I begin to dresse your wound which seemes to me more daunting then dangerous I must behold it neerer You are say you for some tyme past so vext with thoughtes of blasphemie and infidelitie that all your wisdome is defeated in this hot assault and the malignitie of the sore surpassing all the remedies you apprehend your wound incurable You haue had recourse to the seeing to the Prophetes and to the Angells of God to be deliuered by their assistance from the Monsters and perills which are found in the way of Rage or rather in the way of this rage of infernall furies which seeme to stand with open iawes readie to swallow you vp You haue runne from liuing to dead Oracles that is you haue

forme Resolutions Yet further giue her a modell of thankesgiuing vnions and the rest In fine speake to her touching attentions Actuall habituall vertuall of distractions of want of guste of lightes visiōs with a number of other tearmes Doe you not plainely discouer that in steede of giuing her the wings of a doue to fly you lay a loade vpon her vnder which she is not able to sturre while she knowes not at what end to begin a worke so confused So that hauing at once more to doe then she is able she doth lesse then she ought But if omitting all this you would moue her to beleeue in simplicitie of hart that IESVS CHRIST was borne of the virgine MARIE * as we haue in our Creede hauing as she hath the habit of Faith this simple Act is easie vnto her Wish her to loue him who by this his birth gaue himselfe vnto her * and in himselfe whom he gaue without reserue all things * you will find her moued with this excesse of Charitie * freely to offer vp her selfe to him and perceaue her to be as it were in the verie same disposition which caused the Diuine Apostle to say I liue in the Faith of IESVS CHRIST who hath loued me euen vnto death and the death of the Crosse * Now in your aduise is not this simple and louing aspect a kind of Cōtemplation since it is made without discourse and without that multiplicitie of Actes or rather agitations of the vnderstāding and will Hence it is that simple persōs are sometymes more capable of deuotion then curious actiue reslecting and penetrating witts who make a great deale more brute but yeald lesse fruit Endeuour far more yet performe lesse Who thinke you hath more fruition of the Sunne the Rustike who hath a cleare sight to behold and cōsider its beames and brightnes or the Philosopher who is short sighted yet is able to discourse of the motions influences and effectes of that great light What man in his right witts will not preferre the Rustike before the Philosopher in that consideration Say the like of him who discourseth verie much in Meditation and yet hath far lesse taste and light in heauenly things though he towle a number of Idea's about his imagination his memorie his vnderstanding he falls far short notwithstanding of the sweet and delightfull knowledge which springs from the simple and amiable attention of Contemplation Yet doe I ingeniously confesse that this kind of simple contemplation in simple soules which forerunns meditation is but vnpolished rude and accompayned with much imperfection And that that which followes a long exercise and practise of Meditation is far more compleate and high because the soule being persuaded to heauenly Loue by force of so many considerations ratiocinations affections aspirations resolutions and other actes of Meditatiō doth with much more facilitie light and heate fall into simple actes of Contemplation hauing so frequently and so attentiuely beholden tasted and acknowledged a good Truth or a true Good and thervpon is inclyned to that loue which doth vnite the hart to God and thence is called the band of perfection * Yet this doth in no sort preiudice the proposition which I made to witt that it was easier to contemplate then to meditate whether we vnderstand that rude and vnpolished Cōtemplation which forerun's or that subtile and accomplished which followes the long vse of Meditation An Act of simple Contemplation a soueraigne remedie against temptation CHAP. X. BVT what am I to inferre out of all this THEOPISTE Marrie that if by many Actes of Faith taken out of the Store-house of Meditatiō you cannot driue away the thoughtes of infidelitie which doe trouble and disturbe you you should haue recourse to the Act of Contemplatiō which is more efficacious and lesse forced more powerfull against your aduersarie more cōfortable to your soule and fitter to fortifie her in the vertue which temptation striues to shake It is a simple and pure acte deuoyd of all composition of discourse Idea's or if it haue any mixture of any they are so subtile and delicate that they can hardly be perceaued at all For it happens often by the industrie of that wicked man who ouersowes cockle amongst the good corne * that the same actes which one would make vse of to repulse the darts of temptation do more incumber then comfort the mynd and do rather inueigle then illustrate it Be they faire and easie be they violent and rough they do often tymes equally hurt while the Diuell doth change cures into poyson and wounds vs with our owne weapons Vineger and honie though contrarie in taste yet agree in this effect that they both inflame the wound into which they are powred Euen touching and rubing of a sore doth venime it To dispute against a temptation is to irritate it To endeuour to driue it away by force of armes is to stope its departure To striue to put it out of the memorie is to engraue it therin Belzebub Prince of Flies neuer coming so thicke vpon vs as when we often strike him off If you will beleeue me therfore you shall not wearie your mynd by producing incessantly Actes of Faith to repelle those assaults but you shall practise the counsell of our Blessed Father in the 7. Cap. of the 4. Part. of this Philothee you shall vse diuersious and faire and softely taking and turning the ey of your mind off the dreadfull face of the temptation you shall simply and louingly place it vpon the truth and assurance of the diuine Goodnes and this louing aspect being an act of liuely Faith quickened and informed by charitie and with all produced in contemplation with great facilitie and simplicitie will serue you for an impenitrable buckler against all the darts which temptation shall send out against your fidelitie O who is able to expresse vnto you how efficacious this simple aspect is when it is accompaigned by Loue and how dreadfull it is to the Diuells since it makes the soule as terrible vnto them as an Armie rancked and put in battell array because her powers and faculties being vnited in this contemplatiue acte are far more strong then when they vse their actiuitie in Meditation distinctly and separately The old Chāpions in wrastling whē they would exercise themselues therin came naked vpō the Theater and anoynted their bodyes with oyle that their antagonists might catch no hold of them And wheras temptation wherof we now speake is a spirituall wrastling against the Angell of darknes by how much more naked the soule shall be stript of all representations and actes and recollected in her selfe drawing all her forces into the vnitie of her Spirit more vigorous shall she be and lesse hold shall she afford to her enemy DAVID when he was to goe out to meete GOLIATH put off SAVLES armour which did loade and hinder him more then it was seruicable vnto him and with a poore sling and a stone slew that

interiour powers and faculties and in this sort you shall find out that so much desired Peace tearmed best * by the wiseman When a towne is beseiged at the first the inhabitants make sallies to free thēselues till the enemy force them in and then they conteyne themselues within the compasse of the walls But if the towne come to be taken by assaulte they retire and betake themselues into the Castle which being also takē they imprisone themselues in the dūgeon where they come to reasonable tearmes of composition We are to proceed in like manner in our temptations First we are to vse sensible Actes to rayse the Seige but finding the enemy too violent and strong we are to retire our selues into our interiour yea in case the appetire and Powers suffer violence we may shutt our selues vp in the verie botome of our soule where full and absolute Consent doth reside and hart whence the wiseman saith life doth proceede * and neuer depart or render vp that place till we accord an honorable composition to witt that our Soueraigne be not offended It is better to fall innocēt then criminall to liue saith an auncient Father And doth not holy write say what better were a mā to gaine the whole world and loose his owne soule * for an Eternitie Certes this retireing of our selues into the bottome or inmost roome of our soule makes vs resemble the Tortis who is as it were impregnable while she keepes her selfe within her shell and the Irchine which cannot be bitt by a dogge nor taken by the bare hand of a man being as a cheshnut vpon the tree beset on euerie side with prickes The diuell knowes not where to catch hold on vs in this happie estate nor where to hitt vs for hauing renounced sense humane Reason and all created things he knowes not how to assaulte vs while we leaue no place or footing to his illusions Happie is the soule that is come to this degree for one may affirme of her that God hath raysed her a Horne of saluation in his house where freed from the hands of her enemyes she may liue deuoyd of feare in sanctitie and Iustice And which is yet more remarkable he makes her draw aduātages from her enemyes from all that hate her and profit from her temptations and tribulations A generall abstraction CHAP. XIV MAKE haste THEOPISTE to enter in this Repose * But by what gate are you to enter by a mentall abstraction from all that is created and all that can be any impeachment to the vnion of our soule with God Then it is that you are to imitate the Commanders of the Armie of Israel who hauing made their garments and weapons a troupe of testimonies and placed IEHV vpon them they proclamed him King and cryed liue IEHV IEHV is King When you shall haue turnd the old man out of his vitious habites and shall haue renounced all the impressions of sense and reason then in that intire humane ignorance you shall meet with the obscure brightnesse or bright obscurity of Faith which will appeare vnto you as a Pillar of bright light fire a pillar in strēgth in truth a light and burning in Charitie This eminent degree of Actiue Contemplation doth not behold God in any affirmation or negation as the Misticalls speake nor yet in any particular species but as an vniuersall Obiect eleuated aboue euery created knowledge and capacity In which respect this practise would be soueraignely good against your tēptation which being onely generall would be much more efficaciouslie repelled by this generall aspect then by anie one in particular Against generall temptations CHAP. XV. FOr I must here tell you for your consolation that in matter of temptations the most vniuersall are the least to be dreaded For as in good Philosophie the arguments that conclude too much conclud nothing at all so excessiue suggestions doe fill the soule tempted with such a horrour and distaste that they neuer get admittāce since the soule cannot be carried so soudenlie to such an extreamitie Whereas particular ones which come with a lesse noyse doe runne like water into the interiour and as oyle into the bones * that is in a sort insensibly and imperceptibly The baite is quicklier swallowed downe then the hooke that is hid vnder it is thought of We gather Aspalata delightfull to the ey without euer thinking of the Aske that lyes vnder it whose sting is mortall This will be more easily conceaued in an exāple You are tēpted in generall against all that faith doth teach vs and there is no kind of abominable Idea to this effect no kind of brutish infidelity of execrable blasphemie of detestable impietie which the wicked spirit doth not represent vnto your hart to bring you to Athisme Loe the Picture of your affliction But doe you not also discouer the folly foolerie of the diuell therein as malignant mischeeuous as he is doe you not perceaue that that which you esteeme force and violence is meere want of force and infirmity in him who vsed so little flight and guile in laying his snares For your soule conceauing an incōparable horrour against such like illusions falls into the other extreamity and though imperceptibly which is admirable and indeed is the worke of the fingar of God * in you diues deeper and takes better roote in faith which that hellish Feind striues to roote vp or shake Whereas if the temptation were against some one article of our beleife as against the reall presence of the body blood of the Sonne of God in the Eucharist of the Trinitie of persons in vnity of Essence or the like doubtlesse his battery were more to be feared for like as in an ALARVM if one linke or ring breake the whole is spoyled so taking away one Article of the Catholike Faith we faile in the whole that is we forsake vniuersality which makes the true Catholike and cōsequently the whole frame doth threaten ruine At the Seige of a towne though it be inuironed rownd about to preuēt the entrie of any succour yet is batterie layd onely to one side of it where the breach being made as great as they desire the assaulte is giuen vnlesse good resistance oppositiō be made the falls towne into the beseigers hands who entering onely that way and not ouer all the walls at once make themselues notwithstāding Masters of the towne The diuell our sworne enemie doth cōtinuallie lay seige vnto our hart and roaes about it like a Roaring lyon seeking his prey * But to make himselfe Master he mist his marke in assaulting vs so generally without making a particular breach whereby he was to enter This is it that makes me iudge that the temptation which doth assault you THEOPISTE being too generall is but a false ALARVM which the enemie giues rather to trouble your inward repose and quiet then anie hope which he conceaues to ouerthrowe or reduce you to the Abisse of misery Take