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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A22897	A little pamphlet entituled the ladder of paradise Very worthy and needful to be read of every Christian that is willing to tread the steps which lead to heauen.; Scala paradisi. English.	Augustine, Saint, Bishop of Hippo, attributed name.; Guigo II, d. 1188, attributed name.; T. W., fl. 1573-1595.	1580 (1580)	STC 937; ESTC S115844	15,368	46

one of his epistles vnto a Lady that Ladies also hauing the vvoord of God so especially dyrected vnto them might endeuour thēselues vvith the greter dyligēce to read it and certēly knovv themselues not to be excluded frō the exercise therof The vvisdome of GOD in the last chapter of the Prouerbs discribing and as it vvere painting out the properties not of a mean vvomā but of a noble mans vvife and a vertuous Lady among other excellent qualities that such a vvomā ought to haue He saith She opēeth her mouth vvith vvisdōe and in her tung is the lavve of grace But lest I should passe the competent boūds of an Epistle I vvil breefly note the Book the Chapter and the Verse of diuers other places vvhere God him self by his holy vvord plainly teacheth that all men yea men vvomen and children ought to be diligently exercised in the vvord of God as the onely vvay to eternall life and the Ladder of Heauen Deut. 6. ver 6. 7. Deut. 8. ver 3. Deut. 11. ver 18 19. 20. Deut. 31. ver 11. 12. Iosu 8 ver 35. 1. Reg. 22. ver 5. 2. Reg. 23. ver 2. 2. Esd 8. ver 3. 18. ibi 9. ver 2. 3. Psa 1. ver 3. Psa 19. ver 7. Psa 36. ver 31. 32. Psa 119. Pro. 1. ver 1. 2. 3. 4. Pro. 2. ver 1 2 3 4 5 9. Pro. 4. ver 20 21. 22. Pro. 6. ver 23. ibi 7. ver 1 2 3. ibi 8. ver 9. ibi 28. ver 9. Esay 8. ver 19. 20. Esay 29. ver 19. Esa 34. ver 16. Esay 48. ver 16. Esa 59. ver 21. Eccle. 24. all Eccle. 39. ver 1. Mat. 4. Mar. 12. ver 24. Lu. 16 ver 29. Iho. 5. ver 39. 47. Iho. 8. ver 43. Iho. 15. ver 3. 7. Act. 11. ver 1. 14. Act. 13. ve 26. 46. Act. 26. ver 2. 3. Rom. 10. ver 8. 17. Rom. 15. ver 4. 1. Cor. 10. ver 11. 2. Cor. 1. ver 13. Ephe. 3. ver 1. Thesa 4. ver 18. Phil. 2. ver 16. Collo 3. ver 16. 2. Timothe 3 ver 15. 16. Ia. 1. ver 18. 20. 1. Pet. 1. ver 23. 1. Pet. 2. ver 8. 2. Pet. ver 19. 1. Ioh. 2. ver 12. 13. 14. Iude. ver 17. Apoc. 1. ver 3. The very nāe of Gods vvoord ought to strike into our harts great reuerēce tovvard it great desire to haue it great haste to hear it great loue to read it like care to keep it If a Kīg or a Queen should vvrite vnto vs lord hovv vvould vve shore vp our eares vvhat haste should vve make to hear the contents Beholde God him self hath directed his letters to euery one of vs his ovvne spirite is his Secretary his Prophets and Apostles are Purciuants messengers that bring them vnto vs. Intollerable is the contempt of God that sen deth thē if vve doo not humbly read them hear them and diligently mark and obserue the speciall points and contents of them The dredful vvoords of God doo folovve such contempt as it is vvrittē O turn you vnto my correction lo I vvil expresse my minde vnto you and make you vnderstād my vvoords Seeing then that I haue called you refused it I haue stretched out my hād and no man regarded it but all my counsel yee haue despised and set my corrections at nought therfore shall I also laugh in your destruction c. VVhat promise can be svveeter then to haue God expresse his minde vnto vs and make vs vnderstand his vvoord VVhat terror can be greater then to haue God laugh and reioice in our destruction From vvhich dredful destruction I beseech almighty God deliuer vs and stay vs vppon the steps of his holy vvord til vve come into his happy kingdome Your La. euer to commaund T. VV. Suorum quisque Vulnerum remediūex diuinis Scripturis eligat Chrisost in act Cap 13. Ho. 29. ❧ Let euery man chuse out of the diuine Scriptures the remedy of his ovvn vvoūdes These are the vvords of S. Iohn Chrisostom vvriting vpon the 13. Chapter of the acts the 29. Homely FINIS To the Reader IAm not ignorāt that as well this as many other books which are numbered reputed and printed among the workes of Augustine Bishop of Hippo are thought of māy not to be his wherin as I mean not to contend but regarding more the matter thē the man and also finding the same amōg the rest of his works not only in the later editions but in the prints of such olde tīe as hardly cā be red but of those which are vsed to read antiquities wherof I my selfe haue one to shew I thought it good ther fore leauing the censure to such as are learned to make no questiō therof specially seeing this Ladder of Paradise long be fore the time of Augustine was set vp by Christe Iesus for his chosen and elected children to ascend into those mantions which he hath prepared for them not only in the kingdōe but also in the house of God his father to Paradise Cap. 1. WHen vpon a certain day béeing occupied with the bodily labour of my hands I had begun to think vpon the exercise of that spirituall man foure spirituall steps sudenly offred thē self vnto my minde as I thought theron namely reading meditation prayer and cōtemplation This is the Ladder of those that be religious by which they are lifted vp frō the earth in to Heuen This lader is parted in to fewe steps not withstanding it is of vnmesurable and incredible greatnes whose lower part resting vpon the earth the vpper end perceth the clowds and sercheth out the secrets of Heauen These degrées as they are in names and number diuers so are they distinct in order and woorthines if any man doo diligently beholde their properties and their seuerall offices what they woork concerning vs how they differ and haue the preheminence one of a nother what soeuer labour or study hee shall spend therin they shall repute the same but short and easy in comparisō of the great profit and swetnes therof Reading is a looking vpon the Scripture with a diligent intention of the minde Meditation is a studious action of the minde searching out by drift of proper reason the knowledge of hidden trueth Prayer is a deuout bending of the hart vnto God for the putting away those things that are euil and obtayning those things that are good Contemplation is a certain lifting vp of the minde depending vpon God tasting the Joyes of euerlasting swéetnes The discription of the offices of the foure degrees or steps Cap. 2. THe discription of the foure degrées then béeing set foorth There resteth y t we beholde their offices Readīg seketh Meditatiō findeth Prayer requesteth Contēplation taketh the taste wherof the Lord him self saith séek and yee shall finde knock and it shalbe opened vnto you Seek by reading and you shall finde by meditation Knock by praying and it shall be opened vnto

¶ A LITLE Pamphlet of Saint Augustine entituled the Ladder of Paradise Very woorthy and needful to be read of every Christian that is willing to tread the steps which lead to Heauen Imprinted at London for Edward Aggas dwelling in Paules church yard at the signe of y e red Dragon and are there to be solde NEC TEMERE NEC TIMIDE To the right worshipfull Ladye the L. Fane true felicitie with the increace of God his moste excellent blessings IT is not rare but vsuall to see gifts brought vnto a ritch mā and many presents geuē to him that lacketh not verifying that in things earthly vvhich properly is spokē of the minde To him that hath it shall be giuē he shall haue abundāce euen so the abundance of Gods good gifts the humblenes of minde the loue of vertue and zeale of seruing God vvhich I haue hard and seene in your Ladyship hath long since geuen me great desire by vvryting somvvhat to ad some good thing vnto the heap of those good vertues But finding in my selfe nothing vvhervvith to ansvvere my desire as being voide of learning or vvisdome vvorthy to be heard I became cleerely resolued to folovve any purpose no further and to end vvith prayer vnto God that he vvould blesse his gifts in you to the encreace of an hundreth folde yet spending some time as my leisure did serue me in turning the leues of that anncient father AVGVSTIN I sound this litle Pamphlet an apt pecco as me thought for that purpose and a I evvell vvorthy to be vvorne not about the neck but about the hart of the greatest Lord or Lady in this vvorld namely a ●●●aier of stayres or a ladder of pure golde so artificially vvrought that vvho so listeth to goe there on shall be sure to come safely vp into the presence chamber of Gods euer lasting glory and in so small roume this I uell is cōtriued that it may vvel be placed in the least of all the christian harts yea and the lesse the hart is the more aptly it may be hidden therin vvhich also for the antiquitie is a boue eleuen hundreth yeere olde and for excelencie the litle vvoorke dooth so praise it self that a far better pen thē myne adding somevvhat to the praise therof should rather blemish then beutisie it by saying● much lesse or much vvorse then the same dooth say for it selfe hauing therfore as I haue said nothing in me to further the loue of vertue ād zeale of christianitie vvich God hath geuen you I haue thus obtained this olde father saint AVGVSTINE to doo it for me vvhom if it shall please your ladyship to hear vvith good affectiō attētiuely the paine shall sure be much les thē the profit and you shall not fail to reap great fruit vvith small trauaile yea the labour shall soōe be gone and the profit long remaine Novv vvhat so euer therfore in this litle treatis is spoken I humbly beseech your ladiship allvvay to remember It is not I but the ancient and excellent father Saint AVGVSTINE that speketh It is he that saith reading meditation prayer and contemplation are the steps of that ladder that leadeth to heauen It is he that expounding the vvoords of Christe saith seeke by reading and ye shall finde by meditation knock by praying and it shall be opened vnto you by contemplation It is he that saith reading dooth as it vvere apply substāciall meat vnto the mouth meditatiō dooth chovve it break it prater obtaineth the svveetnes of it contemplation is the svvetnes it self It is Saīt AVGVSTINE that saith reading vvith out meditation is saples meditation vvith out reading is erronius And lest some fond body should imagī that this reding vvhich hee so oft speaketh of should be the reading of any other thing but of Scripture only and that vvith these vvords reading saith he is a looking vpon the scripture vvith a diligent entention of the minde and in the tenth chapter he saith these foure steps are so linked togither that they vvhich goe before vvithout them vvhich folovve can profit litle or no thīg they vvhich folovv vvithout them that goe before doo profit seldōe or neuer To conclude the vvhole somme effect therof is nothing els but that the reading of Scripture the meditation vpō the Scripture prayer to obtain the vnderstanding of Scripture and contemplatiō in the svveetnes of Gods promises cōtained in the Scripture is the onely gate of Heauen and the vvay to attain eternal life For the cōfirmatiō vvherof it vvere no hard matter for a man of mean knovvledge to cōpile a huge volume and to bring many hundred places out of the auncient fathers VVherin they plainly and directly confirm the same that by these steps onely none other vvay a man must goe to heauen But moste of all it ought to mooue vs that God him self by his ovvne vvord hath ratified this to be the only vvay to Heauen and that for all men vvith out any exception For vvho can haue greater priuiledge then a King or greater occasion to surceasse from the continuall excercise of this reading meditation prayer and cōtemplation And is it not expresly set dovvn by Gods cōmaūdemēt that a King ought to haue the book of Gods lavves by hī and ought to read therin all the dayes of his life vvho should sooner be exempt frō this diligent excersise of Scripture then a Souldier or Captain and that durīg the vvarres But dooth not God him self speak vnto the noble Conqueror captaī Iosua in the first ētre of his vvarres and straightly charge him saying Let not the book of this lavve departe out of thy mouth but occupy thy minde therin day night VVhere mark these precise tearmes Book mouth minde day night For vvho seeth not that vpō euery of these vvords much might be said if breuitie vvould suffer it VVhen or at vvhat time should any intermission frō the exercise of Scripture be graunted to any man if it be cōuenient for a noble man trauailing by the vvay in his iourney to read the Scriptures And did not the noble Lord Tresurer of the great Queene Cand ace trauailing by the vvay sit in his Chariot treading of Esayas the Prophet vvas not the end therof saluation of his soule Is it not also vvrittē by Saint Luke for an euerlasting commendation vnto those that vvere the noblest of birth among them of Thessalonica because vvhen Paule had preached they serched the Scriptures and that dayly to see vvhether it vvere so or not And by that meanes they vvere brought vnto the faith of Christe Yea and not noble men only but Ladies also by nāe are apoīted of God to tread these steps and they shall neuer come to heauen other vvise then by reading the scriptures by meditation of the scriptures by praier to vnderstand them contemplation in the svvetnes of them And therfore Saint Iohn vvriteth