Selected quad for the lemma: death_n
Text snippets containing the quad
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A75968
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A short instruction for the better understanding and performing of mental prayer
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Abercromby, Christopher.
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1691
(1691)
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Wing A76A; ESTC R173110
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11,185
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63
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other it shall please his mercy or justice to put them to They may also unite their suffrings and present pain vvith the Agony of our saviour in his prayer in the garden or vvith that unspeakable resignation he felt upon the cross striuing to persvvade ourselues by his example there to remain and to suffer constantly even till death The sixt manner of praying consists in a revievv of our ovvn interiour You must by a serious consideration enter into your ovvn heart and endeavour to make a perfect discouery of the present state and condition of your soul set before your eyes your defects your passions your infirmities your weaknesses your evil inclinations for none but has more or less somthing of corupt nature in them examin your heart hovv ever inscrutable it be dive into the bottome lay open your ovvn miseries and your nothing Adore the judgments of god in regard to the present state you are in bovv and submit to his holy vvill and blisse him equaly for the punishment and chastisement of his justice and for the favours you have received from his infinit Mercy humble your foul in presence of his souvraigne majesty make a sincere Confession of your sins and infidelitys beg a thovvsand pardons there retract your fals and erronious judgments vvhen blinded by passion you so often prefered temporall to eternall honnour richess pleasurs to contempt pauverty and suffring Abhorre and detest all the evil you have ever committed by thought word deed or omission and make a sted fast purpose of amendment for the future This manner of prayer is vvithout constraint and all kind of affections may find place in it you may make it at all times but chiefly after some suddan and unexpected accident for to dispose on s soul to the mercifull chastisement of gods justice or after having bin in any exteriour dissipating concerne for to recouer again your vvonted interiour peace and recolection of mind The seauenth manner of praying consists in a lively representation of the 4. last things that are to befall man That excelent Master of à spirituall life father Iohn d'Avila recommends it much I imagin says he in a letter to one of his disciples that you are already buried reduced into ashes forgott by your parents freinds and that your soul is already in its state of separation c. You may then to performe this kind of prayer represent to your self that you are effectualy reduced to your last agony and ready to give up your soul put your self in spirit betvvixt time and eternity betvvixt your life past and the judgment of god vvhere you are going to appeare there you must endeavour to conceive and feel before hand the sentiments you will have when you come to that extremity vvhat you vvould vvish then to have don hovv you vvould vvish to have lived c. You must not only foresee but even also strive to haue an anticipated feeling of the pain trouble and fear you vvill then certainly be in recall to your mind your sins the disorders of your life the frequent abuse you have made of gods grace hovv at that moment you vvould wish to have behaued your self in such and such occasions c. Infine you must make some strong and solid purposes to apply some efficacious remedy to all that you have any ground to feare at the sight of that state and of its Terrible consequences You may allso imagin that you are already before the Tribunal of Christ Jesus or in Purgatory or in hell the more the representation is livly the more profitable vvill be your prayer T' is in this state that god often puts in spirit many souls for to dravv them perfectly out of this world and devest them of their bodys causing them to make an intire divorce from flesh and blood and all that has been the dearest to them upon earth for it is an order and an indispensable law of divine Providence that vve must absolutly die by that mistical death for to partake of the first resurrection which consisteth in being delivered and made free from all corruption of sin and that vve must of necessity pass through this Purgatory before vve can perfectly enioy god almighty and attain to that possession vvhich is the perfectest Manner we can posess him upon earth The eight Manner of praying may be called an application of our mind to Jesus-Christ in the blessed Sacrement vvhich is performed after this manner 1. After you have adored our saviour in this mystery vvith all the respect that his real presence requires You must unite your self to him and all his divine operations in the Eucharist where he never ceases from adoring praising and loueing god his father in the name of all mankind and that after the perfectest manner imaginable that is to say in the form and state of à victime You must then meditate and strive to conceive somthing of his retirement recollection of his solitude his hidden life his obedience his humility and of all other virtues according to the model and example he gives of them in this Sacramentall state you must stirr up your soul to the imitation of his vertues and make good purposes not to faile to put them in practice as often as you shall have occasion 2. Offer up to god the father his son Christ Jesus as the only victime worthy of him and by vvhich alone vve are able to render due hommage to his suprême Dominion acknowledge his benefits satisfy his justice and oblige his mercy to help and assist us 3. Offer up your self to god make à sacrifice to him of your being your life your imployments and in particular make à good purpose to performe some act of virtue some mortification that you relolue to undergoe to Ouercome your self and that for the same end for which our saviour in the blessed Sacrement offers himself up in sacrifice and you must make this oblation vvith an earnest desire to increace as farr as lies in your povver the glory he renders to his father in this sacred Mystery Finish your prayer by à spirituall Communion this vvay of prayer is excelent and your study must be to make the practice of it so much the more familiar that our happiness in this life depends on our union vvith Christ Jesus in the blessed Sacrement and I advise you to make use of it as often as you can particularly towards evening The ninth manner of prayer vve make in the name of our saviour and as taking his place in the addresses vve make to god vvhich may help us vvonderfully to breed in our souls à perfect confidence in god almighty and make us enter in Spirit into the sentiments of our saviour It is grounded on this truth to vvitt that vve have contracted à true alliance with the son of god We are his brothers the members of his mystical body he has granted and made over to us all his merits he leaves us