Selected quad for the lemma: death_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
death_n	body_n	love_n	soul_n	5,983	5	5.1532	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A56724	The third part of the soul's delight collected and composed out of the works of the glorious virgin, St. Teresa of Iesus (author of the reformation of the Holy Order of the B.V. Mary of the Mount Carmell,) by the R.F. Paul of St. Vbald, religious of the same order, for the comfort of those that are more spirituall, and haue supernaurall prayer.; Jesus Maria Joseph Teresia. The soul's delight.	Teresa, of Avila, Saint, 1515-1582.; Paul, of St. Ubald, Brother.	1654 (1654)	Wing P876B; ESTC R218976	49,433	122

repose and delightfull contemplation they as Martha are well employed in outward actions and some laudable occupations yet they are not so attentiue outwardly that they doe wholy forget the inward and we may compare them to one who hath one eye looking on what is outward and the other to what is inward for they doe well know that the will which is their principall part doth remaine there vnited in ioy and that there their most attendance ought to be so that they are not perfectly in the one nor in the other but this good that memory and cast of the eye to what the will is a doing bringeth to the soul that when the outward employment is ended they quickly desyre their former solitude and are easily retyred and recollected with the will and then the soul doth remaine in great quietnesse tranquility and inward peace with admirable content and satisfaction by reason all doe concurre and assist her more seriously compleatly and perfectly to enioy her only good and praise her God without impediment 17. At other tymes his diuine Maiesty is pleased to keepe the will and vnderstanding captiues and vnited leauing the memory and imagination free at liberty and they finding themselues alone and not regulated or directed by the vnderstanding are very vnquiet and troublesome and doe endeauour to disturbe the soul from her peaceable content and rest desirous to bring the other powers to themselues but though it be a cruell warre they are able to effect nothing wanting the assistance of the vnderstanding and will yet howsoeuer they doe molest her much and the imagination doth present so many things runing from one to an other that the poore soul cannot doe what she would by reason whereof she doth often lament and make her moane to his diuine Maiesty that she is so diuided and not wholy vnited in his loue and praise and at length he causeth them for her comfort to be vnited with the other powers and to burne in and with the same fire in which the others are almost consumed loosing in a manner their naturall being and liuing supernaturally in him In this and the like cases and occasions when any of the powers are at liberty and troublesome you must doe as is formerly said of quiet prayer not regard them nor attend to what they doe but as a wiseman taketh no notice of what a foole saith or doth so she must doe with them and remaine as much as she can possibly in her sweet rest and repose this is of importance to be knowen by such as are come to these degrees of prayer 18. And when a soul is come so farre as to begin to be wholy dead to all things of the world and liue to God alone her desyre to be with him and enioy him is to vehement and her paine thence so great that if his diuine Maiesty by a speciall way had not preuented it and preserued her it were more then sufficient as is said to seperat the body from the soul for she can think vppon nothing desyre nothing is satisfyed with nothing but God alone and the enioying of him in his kingdome of glory which she cannot haue being a prisoner in the miserable and corruptible body and therefore there is no death so cruell that could be offered but she with vnspeakable ioy would endure that set at liberty she might the better and without any impediment possesse for euer whom she doth so deerely loue our Holy Mother doth affirme that the paine and agony that the soul hath in this degree with that desyre to be dissolued and liue with Christ where he is seene cleerly face to face is such that the soul hath neede to haue great courrage to beare and endure it Therefore she aduiseth that the soul in this occasion must resolutly cast her selfe wholy into Gods hands and care and leaue her selfe to his Holy disposing in all things for she doth know that she cannot doe litle or much in this case neither hath she other ability but to giue her consent and resigne her will to receiue those fauours and embrace such gifts as his diuine Maiesty is pleased to bestow vppon her 19. To this happinesse ordinarily they only come who are mortified voyde of selfe interest diligent in Gods seruice feruent in his loue prompt to doe his will carefull and sincere in all that is to his honour glory and praise these are they that his Maiesty bringeth into the wynecellar to drinke of the choyse and best to eat at his owne table to be in his priuat chamber to rest in the place of repose and bed of delight o how sweet is their conuersation how diuine their embracement how strong their loue he said to his spouse with perpetuall charity I loued thee Heere he giueth her a taste a begining and a feeling of those ioyes Ieremy 31. v. 3. and glory which are eternall O who would not labour to attaine to so great happinesse which is so easily granted and had 20. Come deere Christian soul to him by the practise of this Holy exercise of prayer put on once a good resolution and though perhaps in the begining you may haue some difficulty and be in darknesse yet in tyme with your perseuerance you shall be illuminated and eased come to him I beseech you though neuer so heauy loaden with sinne be not a shamed nor a frayd for he is truly in loue with the least and worst of vs all and I belieue farre more forward with loue of vs then we can be with loue of him this his coming from heauen to earth his Bitter Passion his Pretious Blood shed and his painfull death on the crosse for vs doth testify come therefore with confidence to him and you shall not be confounded nor get a deniall nor repulse the manner how to come to him King Dauid doth declare saying with all my heart I sought after thee and not Ps 110 v. 145. with a diuided heart that is that he loued nothing else but God for he resolued not to admit any other loue into his v. 145. heart but his and in an other verse of the same psalme he said I cryed vnto thee o Lord with all my heart and therefore he was heard for his prayer like incense ascended vnto God from the altar of his penitent and louing heart and it was so gratefull to his diuine Maiesty that the 1. king● 13. v. Scripture saith that he was a man according to God's owne heart 21. Be not thou then daunted come to this thy louing Lord take delight in prayer in his holy conuersation and seruice come with all thy heart and then aske what thou wilt for thy good and doubtlesse it will be granted the petions of thy heart he will regard and if thou wilt dispose thy selfe well and be perseuerant thou mayst obtaine this happy degree of prayer and at last his diuine Maiesty seing thee according to his owne heart will crowne thy

one in particular may be plainly seene she sayth that this vision was one of the greatest fauours which God did vnto her and that a soul hath great neede of a strong courage to behold what are there chiefly the horrid and foul sinns committed against his diuine Maiesty and the many abuses and iniuryes which dayly are done to him in the world this is able and sufficient she sayes to cause a separation and an absolute diuision of the soul from the body if God had not giuen her strength to bere it or disposed of her otherwise 12. She doth also speake of an other sort of rapt farre beyond the rest and saith that it is more then a rapt for it is a very vehement and eminent rapt and of great value and worth this suddenly at the hearing God well spoaken of or calling to mynd that he is absent whom she doth loue most entirely and often without any of both she doth find in her selfe a vehement motion and desyre to be with him which is so forcible that in an instant it doth penetrat the soul wholy she knoweth not how it is but doth feele it and is not able to resist it and she is taken and powerfully carryed beyond all that is created and placed in a strang solitude desolat and destitute of any comfort from heauen and earth and she doth conceiue that none of any of both would keepe her company or be a comfort to her in that desolation neither doth she desyre any comfort or company from them but would there willingly suffer and dye 13. And it doth happen as she saith that his diuine Maiesty doth communicat him selfe to her in so subtile and admirable a way that it cannot be vnderstood lesse expressed by any but by himselfe but she hath so cleere a knowledge then left in her of his greatnesse and goodnesse and his other incomprehensible perfections that it doth increase her loue and augment her paine and torments loue doth burne and consume her her desyre to be with him is able to separat the soul from the body and she doth not know how to help her selfe but by death and therefore dye she would to enioy his blessed presence in glory this torment is the greater that the memory of him is so perfect and cleere notwithstanding he doth absent himselfe which addeth much to her affliction 14. In other degrees or rapts the ioy doth mitigat her paine but in this she is destitute of all ioy or consolation and left in the furnace of tribulation which is a very strong martyrdome and so painfull that as ioy and ouer much delight in the other degrees did suspend the powers and senses so paine doth in this and it is of so great vehemency that the very body doth partake with her of it and it is so disioynted that a● the members seeme broaken and for many dayes after no one member can be moued without great and vnexplicable paine 15. It is able to moue a stony heart to read how our Holy Mother doth describe it in her life and what lamentation In her life chap. 20. and loud cryes she giueth out to express her paine only desyrous to be dissolue and be with Christ and for her greate torment in that solitude she is put in mynd of that verse I watch and am as she Ps 101 v 3. solitary sparrow alone in the toppe or roofe of the house and she thinketh then that she is so and in that case and solitarinesse she doth remember these words Ps 41. v. 4. 12. without procuring it where is thy God as if it were said to her where is he in whom thou ha'st placed all thy confidence where is he why doth not he now helpe thee in this distressed case hath he so forsaken thee whom thou do'st so deerely loue and seeke after now he hath left thee destitute of all comfort and consolation if he had loued thee he would not forsake thee thus are all thy labours come to this that thou art left in desolation without comfort or helpe from heauen and earth where is thy God this God so permitting doth duble her paine and increase her desyre so vehemently to see and be with him that it is sufficient to take away many liues if she had them and that saying of S. Paul was represented vnto her I Gal. ● v. 14. am crucified to the world and the world to me so that she remaines in the greatest torment that may be imagined as it were crucifyed betwixt heauen and earth 16. Our Holy Mother doth compare this paine to the paines of Purgatory it is so excessiue and when the soul doth perceiue that his diuine Maiesty is to bring her into this solitude and anguishes of death for truly it is no other she naturally doth feare and tremble but once that she is in it she would not be out of it true it is that the sensitiue or inferiour part cannot but loath it being so ouer painfull and apt to separat the body from the soul yet the superiour or spirituall part taketh content in so suffering for the loue of God esteeming it as in deede it is of great value and profit fot in this she is most like vnto our Sauiour Crucified destitute of any comfort Math. 27. v. 46. from heauen or earth which caused him to say my God my God as what ha'st thou for saken me and therefore she doth reiect all that formerly were wont to comfort her to remaine in this paine and conformity to Christ our Sauiour suffering for as the gold by fire she in this is tryed purified and refined as if she were come from Purgatory her loue is now purer and so excessiue great that nothing can content or satisfy her burning desyre but the possession and enioying of God wholy as he is and not any particular part of him and since she cannot iustly procure her owne death to be with him with great tendernesse of heart she doth lament and bewayle her long bannishment resigning her selfe wholy to his diuine disposing and earnestly praying that her liuing as yet in this case may be very highly to his honour and glory which she doth allwayes and in all things regard more then her selfe and desyre rather then her ease or to be free from her paine though she were certaine it should continue to the world's end 17. In this paine dying life and excesse of loue towards God our Holy Mothers soul was commonly in her later dayes and the impulses of loue were so penetratiue and forcible in her that with the vehemency of one great impulse of loue her pure and blessed soul departed the body not of any other sicknesse and ascended into glory where she doth most happily enioy him whom she so deerely loued this she did declare appeering to the venerable Mother Catherin of Iesus Prioresse of Beas the very day of her death I beseech his diuine Maiesty to grant this diuine loue

the soul loosing her forces and the vse of her powers and senses is like to yeald the Ghost and thus with loue and excesse of ioy both she and all the powers are not themselues but sopited and like to one as is said wholy senslesse and the ioy and content which is heere had by farre exceedeth that of the former degree yet his diuine maiesty with this not contented to manifest his loue the more to this his beloued spouse he bringeth her into a solitude beyond all that is created and this is the fourth step or degree called vnion where all are absorpt and drowned ouer head and eares for she and all the powers are wholy vnited to God and ingulfed in the depth of his diuinity and she is become one and the same with God quite forgetting all that is in heauen and earth and the very body which during the tyme of vnion is voyde of sense and in a manner dead neither doth she know whether she be in the body or no. in this vnion she doth not continew long perhaps halfe an hour or there about before some of the powers doe returne to them selues and often not finding the like content as one should say in their owne house they goe willingly back againe and are drowned in the same depth and burned with the same fire and in this coming and going some houres may be spent but not in the totall or perfect vnion of all for as our Holy Mother saith it is so strong and forcible that our weake nature is not able to endure it long but by degrees his diuine Maiesty doth enable the soul and make her capable for receiuing those supernaturall fauours and diuine communications 12. In this totall vnion the soul knoweth nothing as is said but enioyeth a content and happinesse surpassing sense yet what she doth enioy or how she vnderstandeth not but doth remaine absorpt and vnited to the diuine essence and thus she is become God's captiue tyed and chayned fast by loue and hath no power to free her selfe vntill his Maiesty be pleased to set her at liberty neither would she though she could esteeming it a greater captiuity to be left to her owne liberty and farre more liberty to be in that sweet and happy captiuity this is a greater and more eminent gift and fauour then all the former it is a most blessed vnion or coniunction a most diuine transformation a most happy death a true deification and most happy life in God 13. Note that in that quiet prayer the will only is vnited and not the other powers in that other of the sleepe of the powers the will and the powers are vnited but so that they are not perfectly vnited or wholy lost but in this vnion they are all wholy and perfectly lost vnited and in gulfed in the diuine essence and they are wholy dead to all the world drowned in vnspeakable delight and the profit of the soul in this degree is vnexplicable her loue is come to so great a height that nothing but the enioying of God wholy and perfectly can giue her content Therefore his diuine Maiesty doth lead her to an other step or degree farre beyond her selfe and all that hath beene sayd eleuating her spirit and opening her eyes to set and know somwhat of his greatnesse and the treasure of his celestiall glory with visions and reuelations of high matters hidden and most profund misteryes and this is called and exstasy or rapt where she vnderstands cleerly and plainly how all things created are a meere shadow and nothing compared with what she then doth enioy and see in God and this rapt some tymes is so forcible and vehement that it doth eleuat the very body with the soul from the earth and remayneth hanging in the ayre and it doth so participat of the inward ioy and glory of the soul that it doth loath to be longer on earth and faine would be inuested with immortality for all eternity and after these great raptes commonly when the soul returneth to her selfe the body as yet and perhaps for some dayes will not be able to vse its owne functions nor the powers and senses are themselues but all are out of order for they are as yet drunk with the memory of the glory and delight which they enioyed and the introuersion and application of the powers and senses is so great that they cannot but with difficulty attend as yet to any outward things and though they see and heare at those tymes yet they neither well see nor know what they see or heare this soul now is no more her owne but wholy belongeth to God for she hath consigned her selfe her will and the keyes therof vnto his diuine Maiesty so that she liueth not now but Christ doth liue in Gal. 2. v. 20. her in so much that she myndeth nothing but the honour glory and praise of God and heartely desireth and laboureth that all may loue and praise him for euer her vertues are solid and of great perfection her loue is so excessiue that her life on earth is a continuall martyrdome and death by reason of her forcible and languishing desyre to be dissolued and be with her beloued Christ Iesus in glory for all Eternity 14. Thus deere Christian soul our Sauiour doth reward euen in this mortall and myserable lyfe the litle labour and endeauours of a louing soul O who would not labour for so great a good and willingly serue so good a Lord O who would not affect so true a louer and deere a frend o who would not freely forsake all this world for the loue of so bountifull and Gracious a God O Blessed Lord praysed and exalted for euer and euer mayst thou be who art so choyse of vs and ha'st prepared so great happinesse for such wormes of the earth as we all thy creatures loue and praise thee for euer more Amen THE II. CHAPTER Of Recollection and quiet Prayer more in particular 1. WHereas this recollection is so great and inward and the powers not troubled with the noyse of worldly and vaine thoughts and that God is there present what must the soul doe in this recollection first she must consider that he is there only attending to giue audience and ready then to heare her petition and that she can without any impediment speake to him being so neere for as our Holy Mother sayth the In her life chap. 27. soul seemes to haue other eares and tongue inwardly and needeth not speak loud or cry out with noyse of inward words or consider him in heauen or a farre of or without her selfe to be heard or vnderstood but she may rest there with him for he is not a frend of many words and accustome the vnderstanding to worke very slowly and as it were in silence carefully attending to what is said and with what reuerence and confidence she speaketh to him and if the vnderstanding can be kept quiet sweetly beholding that