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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A65793	A manuali [sic] of divine considerations delivered and concluded by ... Thomas White ; translated out of the original Latine copie.	White, Thomas, 1593-1676.	1655 (1655)	Wing W1833; ESTC R10112	54,484	214

A Manuall OF DIVINE CONSIDERATIONS Delivered and concluded by the Reverend THOMAS WHITE Deut. 32. 29. O that men would be wise that they would understand that they would consider the last things Hierem. 12. 11. All the earth is become desolate with desolation because there is not a man that considers Translated out of the Original Latine Copie Printed in the year MDCLV To his honoured Cousin JOHN COTES of Woodcote Esquire SIR THose endearing expressions which I beyond my merit or expectation received heretofore from my worthy friend your indulgent Father and those other due respects which I owe unto that Name and Family whereof I am a branch ingage me to prefixe your Name in the Frontispiece of this little work I dare confidently put the same into your hands as a solid piece and deserving your regard And albeit I am neither ambitious of honour nor fearfull of censure yet I desire you to give it protection who notwithstanding you have a different sense from me in points of Religion yet I hope you are not so estranged but that you dare accept a book presented by a kinsman who is moreover dear Sir Your most affectionate Servant W. C. From my chamber this day of the memoriall of our Lords Passion 1655. To the Reader ALthough this cōpendious Treatise will not admit a large Preface yet I shall venture to give in few words a civill account which I hope will not much wrong your patience In the first place I must remove all honour from my self it being due unto him who composed the considerations set down in this little Manuall assuring you he is one who for his generall and rationall knowledge is the wonder of this age yet I shall be silent in his commendations lest some should think I say too much and others I am sure will esteem all that I can say too little It is enough to tell you they are Mr. White's They were dictated by him to divers Gentlemen then under his charge and the objects of his care as fast as his pious soul conceived them which breaking forth expressed it self in an active and burning charity Behold therefore deep sallies proceeding from a zealous heart They are not a miscellany of fragments stolen out of other mens works but a sinewy discourse issuing from a profound judgement compacted together and tied up with such a strength of reason so close and pressing the motives so home that Vice hath nothing to colour her deformity which he hath not unmasked nor have the Vertues any lustre to set forth their inviting beauties which are not likewise by him discovered Finally that man who is but meanly considerative must be mainly defective in his capacity if he doth not easily of himself fall upon firm resolutions to perform the duties correspondent to a good Christian And if yet either a dulness of nature or a quickness of unmortified affections make the soul cold and drie in the consideration of spirituall objects the Authour comes in again at every turn and assists with conclusions suggested and substantially raised upon the firme Basis of his wel-grounded motives As for the persons to whom he delivered them they were Gentlemen of good condition well qualified and Catholicks who yet by an unhappy mistake of some seduced Zelots were therefore disesteemed and cast off as being scarcely either good Christians or loyall Subjects An errour nourished by some of our greatest whose honour and name I spare and so far drove on by design under pretence of securing the State their temporall Interest and the new-established Gospel that now at length they have lost and undone themselves their best Subjects and Friends and the Formalities though that be least to be lamented of their supposed Church and all that flourish of Religion whereunto they pretended the storm rising according to Gods judgements in another quarter where some of them did least fear it But in the mean time while they ruffled it in their glory many honest Catholick Christians lost both life and fortunes Nor had these distressed Gentlemen any other comfort but their prayers joyned with the practise of vertues and a good conscience for which they suffered To the almighty whose loynes are girded with power they offered up their daily supplications beseeching him to regard and pity his holy Spouse the Church to cast an eye of mercy upon his servants misery to look graciously upon their religion innocency to grant them patience obedience and humility to mollifie the obdurate hearts of their adversaries in the bowels of his eternall charitie for his son Christ Jesus sake to recall and receive into the bosome of his Church their seduced yet still their dearly-beloved Countrymen Such were their weapons to advance Religion such was their armour to defend themselves and such use they made of the considerations conclusions to be seen in this ensuing Treatise Wherein towards the latter end you shall find some Meditations composed properly for those who after a long time spent in praier and study having mortified their own wills were called by God and their superiours to assist their Countrey in an active life and to undertake the sublime function of Priesthood And albeit those considerations of single life and some other points more immediately conducing to that particular state are not so generally concerning all men yet I would not defraud thee of whatsoever was in the originall Copie I was willing therefore to dress those Meditatiōs also in our English habit since the least spirituall profit of the Reader is infinitely more worth then all my labours and I verily believe there be many who will read them and make good use of them learning daily more and more to esteem and increase that talent wch God hath given them for the benefit of their own souls the salvation of others and to watch and guard their steps warily when they see to what a high pitch of perfection they are obliged by vertue of their profession how perrillous and pernicious every the least slip may prove to themselves and how scandalous to others being to act upon a slippery stage before the eyes of many curious observers God forbid that they should cause his Name to be blasphemed his holy Spouse to be despised or his sacred Priesthood to be vilified among the nations which do not know him when as their Saint-like vertues as well as their sublime vocation ought to make them a spectacle of reverence to Angels and men Nor wil those discourses be only profitable to such as are or should be in a state of perfection but they also who hūbly creep along lead a secular life may among other good lessons learn to obey and honor that celestial state whereof he ought to acknowledge himself much unworthy whoever best deserves it Lastly I assure you that although I extremely liked the Latine piece and loved the Authour for it yet being contented with the Originall I was not ambitious to translate it