Selected quad for the lemma: sin_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
sin_n	heart_n	sorrow_n	tear_n	3,398	5	8.0837	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

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

Memory before the eyes of our Vnderstanding the Point or Mistery vpon which we meane to make our Prayer and then to enter in with out Vnderstanding it selfe discoursing meditating and considering those things which may serue most for the mouing of our Will and then are the affects and desires of the Will it selfe to follow and this third we haue already said to be the chiefe part and Fruite which we are to gather from Prayer So that Prayer consisteth not in that sweetnes and sensible guste which sometymes we feele and do experiment within our selues but in the acts which we make with the powers of our soules Now the doing of this is euer in our power though we be neuer so dry and discomforted For although I should be more dry then any sticke Note and more hard then any stone yet would it be in my power with the fauour of our Lord to make an act of detestation and griefe for my sins and an act of the Loue of God and an act of Patience and an act of Humility and to desire to be disgraced and despised in imitation of Christ our Lord who would needs be disgraced and despised for loue of me It must heere be also obserued that the businesse of making good Prayer and the Fruite therof doth not consist in that one make so much as these very acts themselues with guste or sensible consolation nor in that he feele much euen of what he is doing nor doth the goodnesse and perfection of the acts themselues nor the merit which followes vpon them consist in this This I say is to be noted much For it vseth to be an errour very common to many who discomfort themselues as conceauing that they do no good in Prayer because they feele not so much actuall sorrow for their errours and sins or so great affection desire of vertue as they would But these feelings do belong to the Sensitiue Appetite whereas the Will is a spirituall Power and dependeth not vpon the other And therefore there is no necessity that a man should feele his owne acts in such a fashion but it sufficeth that they be produced by the Will And so the Deuines Saints who treat of Contrition and Griefe for sin do thus comfort their pennitents Who comming to make great account of the greuiousnes of mortall sinne are discomforted for not being able to dissolue themselues in teares nor to feele in themselues that sensible griefe which they desire For they could find in their harts that euen their very bowels might split in their bodyes for sorrow of their sins And those Authors say That True contrition griefe consisteth not in the sensitiue Appetite but in the Will Let it trouble you to haue sinned because sinne is the offence of God who is worthy to be loued abone all things for this is true Contrition That other feeling when our Lord shall impart it do your receiue it with giuing of thanks and when he doth not be not troubled for God exacteth not that of you For it is euident that he is not to exact that of vs which is not in our power and that kind of feeling which you would haue is a guste and sensible deuotion which is not in your power Therfore God expecteth not that of vs but he expecteth that which is in our power which is the sorrow of our Will which hath no dependance vpon that other And the same is to be said of the acts of the Loue of God Loue you God aboue al things with your Will for this is that strong and appreciatiue Loue and that which God exacteth of vs. That other is a tender kind of loue which is not in our power The same is to be said of the acts of other vertues and of all the good purposes which we haue This truth is clerely seene by the contrary For it is most certayne Note that if a man do with his will desire and consent to a mortall sinne although the same man haue no other feeling nor take no other guste therein yet he shall sinne mortally and shall deserue to be condemned for it to hell By the same reason he whose Will cōsenteth and desireth that which is good although he haue no other guste of feeling of it shall please almighty God and merit heauen Especially since God is more ready to reward vertue then to punish vice Nay many tymes these acts are more meritorious and more acceptable to God when they are done after that dry manner without guste or sensible consolation because they are more pure and more durable a man placeth in thē more of his owne stocke and he is at more cost as a man may say then when he is carried on by sensible deuotion And so it is a signe of more solide Vertue and of a Will more firme and faythfull to the seruice of God For he who without those helpes of gustes and spirituall consolations doth make those acts what would he do with them Father Auila sayth very well M. Auila That God carryeth the other man in his armes as if he were a Child but this later goes vpon his owne legs like a man Blosius saith That they are like such as serue some Lord Blosius in monil spiritual c. 3. at their owne charge And it importeth much that we be accustomed to pray after this manner For the most vsuall kind of Prayer with many is wont to be in drinesse those other are extraordinary fauours So that as men who goe by Galleys in deepe seas when the wind comes to fayle them do make their way by the force of Oares so they who meane to exercise themselues in Prayer when the prosperous winde of the illustrations and fauours of God are wanting must procure to passe on by the Oares of the Powers of their soule which still are helped by the fauour of the Holy Ghost though not alwayes so copiously as at some tymes The secōd way we may shew thus Cap. 14. Prayer as hath beene sayd is not the end but a meanes which we take for our spirituall profit and to obteyne victory ouer our passions and euil inclinations that so hauing smoothed the way and remoued all impedimēts we may deliuer or selues wholy vp into the hands of God When those Cataracts were strucken downe from the eyes of S. Paules soule by that light of heauen and that diuine voice which said Ego sum Iesus quem tu persequeris Act. 9.9 I am Iesus whome thou persecutest O how did he remaine all changed in hart how truly conuinced and resolued and rendred vp to the accomplishment of the will of God Domine quid me vis facere O Lord what wilt thou haue me do This is the fruite of good Prayer And we said before that we must not content our selues Chap. 1● with drawing certaine generall desires and purposes out of Prayer but we must descend to that particuler wherof

super Cant. but we must be well contented to liue in the exercise of vertue and with the happinesse of being conserued by our Lord in his friendship and grace and in that he suffer vs not to fall into sinne Vtinam detur mihi pax bonitas gaudium in spiritu Sancto misereri in hilaritate tribuere in simplicitate gaudere cum gaudentibus flere cum stentibus his contentus ero I would to God our Lord were pleased to giue me peace goodnes ioy in the holy Ghost mercy simplicity and charity with my neighbours for with this would I content my selfe Caetera sanctis Apostolis virisque Apostolicis derelinquo Ps 103.18 Those other high Contemplations I leaue to the Apostles and Apostolicall men Montes excelsi ceruis petra refugium herinacijs Those high mountaines of contemplatiō let them be for such as do 1. Cor. 10.4 with the swiftnesse of Harts and Roes runne at full speede to perfection I who am no better then a meere hedg-hog full of faults and sinnes will betake my selfe to the holes and concauities of that Rocke which is Christ our Lord to hide my selfe in his wounds and to wash away my faults and sinnes with the bloude which floweth out from thence and this shal be my kind of Prayer But now if the glorious S. Bernard content himselfe with the only exercise of vertue and with griefe contrition for sinne and do leaue this other most excellent Prayer for Apostolicall mē for those great Saints to whome our Lord is pleased to communicate the same it wil be agreable to all reason that we also be content therewith and that this be our exercise in Prayer to be wounded with griefe and confounded with the shame of our sinnes and to attend to the mortification of our passions and to the rooting vp of vice and vicious inclinations and to ouercome all repugnances difficultyes which may offer themselues to vs as impediments in the way of vertue And as for that other most excellent and most aduantagious kind of Prayer let vs leaue it till such tyme as our Lord may be pleased to call and raise vs to it Yea and also euen then when we conceiue our selues to be called to it we had need to very cautelous Note well aduised for in this there hath beene much abuse and errour Sometimes a man will thinke that God doth call him to this Prayer by Blosius in speculo spirit cap. 11. I know not what kind of delight and sweetnes or facility which he findes in the exercise of the loue of God whereas indeed God doth not call him to it but it is the man himselfe who mounts and will needs intrude himselfe because the diuell deceaues blindes him to the end that he may leaue the desire of obtayning that whereof he hath most need and so vpon the whole matter he may do nothing and neither profit in the one nor other kind There is a great maister of spirit who sayth thus very well As a Man would shewe himselfe to be of little wisdome if he whome the King had commaunded to assist and serue him at his table should presumptuously sit downe at the same table without the commaundment or so much as leaue of the King so doth he very ill and indiscreetly who deliuereth himselfe all ouer to the sweete delightfull rest of Contemplation not being euidently called to the same by God himselfe And S. Bonauenture doth herein giue an excellent good aduice and sayth Bonauent de processu religionis c. 20. Let a man exercise himselfe in that which is profitable and secure which is in extirpating of vices and ill dispositions and in acquiring true and solide vertue For this is a very playne and safe way wherein there can be no deceit but so much the more as one shall endeauour to perfect himselfe in mortification humiliation and resignation so much the more shall he please God and deserue more in his sight And as for these other exquisite and extraordinary wayes there are saith S. Bonauenture may errours committed and many illusions of the diuell imbraced by occasion thereof For many tymes one thinks that to be of God which is not of God and that to be some great matter which is nothing and therefore these latter are to be examined by those former and not those by these This is the generall doctrine of the Saints as shortly we shall see CHAP. VI. In which the same doctrine is more declared and confirmed FOR the better declaration confirmation of this Doctrine Greg. li. 7. mor. c. 27. Bern. ser 46. supra Cant. Isidor li. 3. ca. 15. the Saints and Maisters of spirituall life do heere obserue That for the obtayning of this Prayer and high Contemplation wherof we haue spoken there is need of great mortification of our passions and that a man be very well grounded in the mortal vertues S. Tho. q. 184. art 3. Caiet in Geu 32.30 and that he exercise himselfe long in them if not they say it is in vayne for a man to pretend to enter into Contemplation to make profession therof Oportet say they vt priùs sis Iacob luctans quàm Israel Deum videns ac dicens Vidi Deùm facie ad faciam It will first be necessary that thou be a strong and stoute wrastler and that thou ouercome thy passions and peruerse inclinations if thou desire to arriue to that intimate vnion with Almighty God Blosius sayth that he who pretends to atriue to some very eminent degree of diuine loue Blosius in tabula spirituali addie 1. yet procureth not with great diligence to correct and mortifie his vices and to driue from himselfe all inordinate loue of creatures is like a man who being loaden with leade iron and withall being bound hand and foote will yet needs clyme vp to some very high tree And therefore they aduise such as are Maisters in matter of spirit that before they treate of Contemplation with them whome they instruct they must treate of the way how to mortify all their passions very well and how to acquire the habits of Vertue of Patience of Humility of Obedience and that they exercise themselues much herein This they call the Actiue Life which must go before the Contemplatiue And for want of this methode many who would not walke by these steps but would needs peruert the order and clyme vp easily to Contemplation do find themselues after many years of Praeyer to be very voide of vertue and to be impatient harsh and proude and that if you touch them a little in this Kind they are ready through impatience to breake our into passionate words wherby they well discouer their imperfection immortification This is very well declared by our Father Generall Euerardus Mercurianus Euerardus Mercurianus in a letter which he wrote about this subiect in these words Many who did more wnat discretion

be perfect if alwayes thou wilt goe beholding of God and considering that he is euer beholding thee that euen from this instant thou maist account that thou shalt be perfect For iust as the Stars do from the aspect of the Sunne with is present to them draw light wherby they are resplendent both within and without their owne bodyes and do also get other vertues wherby they make influence vpō the earth so do iust and vertuous men who are as so many stars in the Church of God from the sight of God and by considering him euer present and by conuerting their thoughts and desires to him draw light wherby in their interior which God sees they shine with reall solide vertues in their exteriour which men see they shine with all innocency and decency and they draw strength and force from thence for the edification and profit of others There is nothing in the whole world which doth so properly declare the necessity that we haue of continuing euer in the Presence of God as this which followes Note Behould the dependance which the Moone hath vpon the Sun the necessity to which it is subiect of being euer in prefence of it The Moone of it selfe hath no clarity but receiues it all from the Sunne according to the proportion of the aspect which it hath from thence And it worketh vpon inferiour bodyes according to the rate of clarity which it receaues from the Sunne and so do the effects therof increase or faile according to the full or wayning of the same light And when any thing doth place it selfe aboue the Moone which may depriue it of the sight view of the Sunne at that instant is the lustre and clarity therof ecclipsed therewith withall a great part also failes of the efficacy which it had to worke by meanes of the Sunne Now in the selfe same manner doth it passe betweene the soule and God who is the true Sunne of the soule For this cause it is that the Saynts do so earnestly recommend this Exercise to vs. S. Ambrose and S. Bernard discoursing of the continuance perseuerance which we are to vse herein say thus Amb. lib. de dignitat● con Sicut nullum est momentum quo homo non vtatur vel fruatur Dei bonitate misericordia sic nullum debet esse momētum quo eam praesentem non habeat in memoria As there is no pointe or moment of tyme wherein man enioyeth not the goodnesse and mercy of God so ought there not to be any pointe or moment of tyme wherein he ought not to haue God present to him in his memory And S. Bernard sayth els where In omni actu vel cogitatu suo sibi Deum adesse memoretur omne tempus quo de ipso non cogitat perdidisse se computet A Religious man must procute in all his thoughts and in all his deeds to remember that he hath God present with him and all that tyme wherein he thinketh not of God he is to hold for lost God doth neuer forget vs it is but reason that we procure to be neuer vn mindfull of him S. Augustine vpon the 31. Psalme Firmabo super te oculos meos Aug. Psa 31.8 sayth Non à te auferam oculos meos quia tu non aufers àme oculos tuos I will not O Lord withdraw myne eyes from thee because thou dost not withdraw thine eyes from me Continually will I lodge them fixed firme vpon thee as thy Prophet did who said Oculi mei semper ad Dominum Ps 14.15 Mine eyes are euer vpon our Lord. S. Gregory Nazianzen sayth Gregor Naz. in ora Theologica Non tam saepe respirare quàm Dei meminisse debemus As often ought we to remember God yea and more often then we fetch our breath For as we haue need of respiration for the refreshing of our harts and for the tempering of our naturall heat so are we in continuall necessity of resorting to God by Prayer for the restraint of that inordinate heate of concupiscence which is mouing and intising vs to sinne CHAP. II. Wherein consisteth the Exercise or Practise of going alwayes in the Presence of God TO the end that we may serue our selues the better of this exercise or practise it wil be necessary to declare wherin it consists Note It consisteth in two Acts the one is of the Vnderstanding the other is of the Will Tract 5. cap. 7. The first Act is of the Vnderstanding For this is euer ●●quisite and presupposed for the performing of any act of the Will as we are taught by Philosophy The first thing therfore is to be to consider with the Vnderstanding That God is both heere euery where els That he filleth the whole world and that he is all in all in euery parte and in euery creature how small soeuer it may be Of this an Act is to be made because this is a certayne Truth Act. 17.17 which Fayth propoundeth to be belieued by vs. Non enim longeest ab vnoquoque nostrum in ipso enim viuimus mouemur sumus sayth the Apostle S. Paul You are not to imagine or fansy God as one who were farre from you or as if he were without you for he is within you S. Augustine confesseth thus Confess l. 10. c. 27. I sought that without me O Lord which yet was within me Within you is God and more present and more intrinsecally more intimately is God in me then my selfe In him we liue and moue and haue our being He it is who giueth Life to all that which liues and he who giueth strēgth to all which hath any strength and he who giues being to all that which is And if he were not present susteyning all things they all would leaue to be and returne to their nothing Consider therfore that thou art all full of God inuironed compassed in with God and as it were swimming in God Pleni suunt caeli terra gloria tua are very good wordes to this purpose The heauens and the earth are full of thy glory Some to help themselues more in this Note do consider all the world to be full of God as indeed it is and they imagine themselues to be in the middest of this infinite sea of God circled hemmed in by him in such sort as a sponge in the middest of the sea might be all bathed and full of water and besides compasted in and enclosed by water on all sides This comparison is not ill for the rate of our weake vnderstanding But yet it falleth short reacheth not by a great deale to declare that wherof we are speaking For that Sponge in the middest of the Sea if it mount vpwards it is at an end aboue if it descend downeward it findes an end below and it meets with a stay if it go eyther on the one side or the other but