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Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
death_n	law_n	life_n	power_n	7,966	5	5.2131	4	true

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A63045	The soul's communion with her savior. Or, The history of our Lord Jesus Christ, written by the four evangelists digested into devotional meditations. The first part.	Traherne, Philip, d. ca. 1725.	1685 (1685)	Wing T2019A; ESTC R220906	52,296	223

THE Soul's Communion With her SAVIOR OR The History of our Lord Jesus Christ Written by FOUR EVANGELISTS Digested into Devotional Meditations The First Part. LONDON Printed for W. Crooke at the Green Dragon nigh Devereux-Court without Temple-Bar 1685. THE PREFACE TO THE Devout Reader SIr Edwyn Sandys in his Europae Speculum observs That as one principal Means used by the Papacy to countermine the Progress of the Reformation they took such Care to fill all Countries with Books of Prayer and Piety in their own Language that they forbore not to reproach the Protestants who had upbraided them for confining the Peepl to the dark Devotion of an unknown Tong with their Poverty Weakness and Coldness in that kind as being forced to take the Catholick Books for their Supply therein And since the time wherin he made that Observation the Reformed Churches hav been too long exposed to the same Reproach and Inconvenience for as it was the highest Mark of deplorabl Servitude that the Israelits went down to the Philistins to sharpen evry man his Share and his Coulter and his Ax and his Mattock so it must needs prov a very dangerous Snare to the most religious Protestants that they were constrained to hav Recours to the Church of Rome for their best Helps to Devotion whose Care of Souls in making that necessary Provision for Piety carried with it so fair a shew of tru Sanctity and Godliness as invited too many of the unwarily Devout first to a favorabl Opinion and then to the absolute Espousal of her Errors and Superstition craftily mingled and recommended in those Prayers and Meditations that were hammer'd out at her Forge And what was so 〈◊〉 a Temtation to win her Adversaries may wel be thought a more forcibl Argument to establish and confirm her own Friends and Abettors to her 〈◊〉 So that without a proportionabl Care to countermine her Policy there could be littl hope either of with-drawing any of her Members or withholding many of our own from her Communion But now the Church of England hath both exprest her self sufficiently sensib of that Defect and made abundant Provision for its Supply in compiling and publishing such and such store of Books of Devotion in her Mother-Tong as neither the Roman nor any of the Reformed can boast of more or better It may therefore be questioned to what purpos this littl Tract should be super-added to those many excellent pieces of Devout Meditation already in Print which makes me judg it requisit to giv the Reader som short Account both of its Occasion and Design A most Excellent Person eminent not to mention her quallity which is very considerabl as wel for her Devotion as Intelligence being by a just and rational Conviction of those gross Errors and Forgeries on and by which the Church or rather Court of Rome hath founded and upheld her Greatness reclaimed from her Communion to that of the Church of England to evidence how far she was from being induced therunto by any other Motiv besides that of disinterested Religion resolved to confine her self to the same strict Rules of Devotion and Abstinence in the Exercise of her Protestant Principls whereby she had exprest her exemplary Zeal in the Popish Superstition And that her Soul in those many hours which she daily allotted for Retirement might not grow languid and dull in the same Act either of Prayer or Reading as the Body is apt to becom stiff and unweildy if long held to the self-same Posture or Motion these brief Aspirations on the Gospel-History were composed to diversify her Entertainment and fill up those Intervals which a pious Difcretion thought requisit for the better Improvment and more orderly Disposal of the time set apart for such Religious Exercises And what hath been thus used and approved in the Devout Solitude of a Privat Closet now appears in Publik with Design to supply the vacant Hours of other pious Votaries especially at such times as either the wise Authority of our Superiors or their own particular Resolution shal dedicat a whol day to the Duties of Prayer and Humiliation But lest that different Order wherinto the several Evangelists hav cast their Relation of our Savior's Acts and Speeches which the Holy Ghost hath thought fit to transfer unto succeeding Ages upon Record might occasion a fruitless Repetition of any one Part or an unseemly Confusion in the Whole I have reduced it to such a Method which Gerard and Chemnitius hav digested their Harmony of the Four Gospels into that the Religious Peruser may more regularly pass throu the entire History or the more readily hav Recours to any particular Transaction in it which may best suit with the present Scope of his Devotion Wherunto if this small Essay prov any way serviceabl it will at once recompens my present Labor and encorage me to proceed being ardently desirous to express my Self in Communion with my Savior A sincere Lover of Souls P. Traheron A General Prayer Preparatory to the ensuing Meditations O Father of Mercies and God of all Consolation who art the Fountain of Life and Salvation my So● and all that is within me bless thy Holy Name for sending thine Only-begotten Son into the World to redeem Me and all Mankind to thine Eternal Glory I beseech Thee withdraw mine Affections from this World that I may serv Thee in Spirit and in Truth Enlighten my Understanding and reform my Will that my Heart may be entirely united to Thee and all other Business set apart as well secretly among the Faithful as openly in the Congregation adore and prais the God of my Salvation And since the Mercies of GOD do at once oblige and encorage me to present my Soul and Body a Living Sacrifice at thine Altar let this my Reasonabl Service be so acceptabl unto Thee that neither Death nor Life nor Angels nor Principalities nor Powers nor Things present nor Things to com nor Hight nor Depth nor any other Creature be abl to separat me from the Lov of God which is in Christ JESUS our LORD Giv me a clear Sight into all the Mysteries of His Life and a du Sense of all the Miracls of His Lov unto Death til I be so ravished with the Contemplation of their gracious Design upon my Soul as to count all things but Loss for the Excellency of the Knowledg of Christ Jesus my Lord and be ready to suffer the Loss of all things and count them but Dung that I may win Christ and be found in Him not having mine own Righteousness which is of the Law but that which is throu the Faith of Christ the Righteousness which is of God by Faith that I may know Him and the Power of His Resurrection and the Fellowship of His Sufferings being made conformabl unto His Death And let the constant secret Meditation of His Life and Lov His Sufferings and Glory His Virtues and Graces His Precepts and Promises His Presence and Power be

〈◊〉 or not By thee the very Priests and Levits are redeemed who themselvs were taken from among the Children of Israel instead of all the first-born which had been 〈◊〉 to the Lord. I beseech thee by 〈◊〉 of the Price thou hast paid for my Soul enrol me among the general Assembly and Church of the First-born which are written in Heven who having received the Spirit of Adoption are not only the Children but Heirs of God and joint-Heirs with Christ. And that thine infinit Merit which sufficeth to make evry one of thy Brethren a compleat Possessor of thine Eternal Inheritance may qualify us all to receiv a Kingdom which cannot be moved let us hav Grace wherby we may serv God acceptably with Reverence and godly Fear as becoms persons redeemed from their Iniquities §. 4. When the Parents brought in the Child JESUS to do for him after the Custom of the Law Simeon a man just and devout to whom it was revealed by the Holy Ghost that he should not see Death before he had seen the Lord's Christ came by the Spirit into the Templ where he took him up in his Arms and blessed God for the Consolation of Israel which he had long waited for and now happily found I prais and magnify thy Name O my Dear Jesus as wel for the singular Graces conferr'd on this reverend person as for the publick Testimony he gave of Thee to them that were present Pardon I beseech thee my Neglect of Waiting for Thee wherby I have justly forfeited the peculiar Manifestations of thy 〈◊〉 and Favor and now that I am not only ready but earnestly desirous to receiv Thee in mine Arms yea to lodg Thee in my Heart vouchsafe to purify and enlighten me with the H. Ghost that I taking Delight in thy Sanctuary and carefully attending Thee there with a Soul ful of Joy and a Mouth ful of Praises may also bless Thee my God and speak of thine Honor in thy holy Templ §. 5. Thus did pious Simeon whose Eys were no sooner blest with that desirabl Interview but his Tong exprest the Contentment of his Heart in this Swan-like Song Lord now 〈◊〉 thou 〈◊〉 Servant depart in peace according to thy Word For mine Eys hav seen thy Salvation which thou hast prepared before the face of all 〈◊〉 I prais Thee O Christ For being both A Light to lighten the Gentils and the Glory of thy peepl Israel No wonder that Ioseph and thy Mother marvelled at those things which were spoken of Thee especialy hearing him that blessed them say 〈◊〉 Mary Behold this Child is set for the Fall and Rising up of many in Israel and for a Sign that shal be spoken against in so much that a Sword should pierce throu her own Soul also Lord endu my Soul with a like sens of this inestimabl Benefit that I may rehears this Song with equal Pleasure and Concernment since mine Eys also see the Longings and Expectations of former Ages turned in to Joys and Praises for all 〈◊〉 Generations it being highly reasonabl for our Satisfaction to be as strong in Delight as their Expectation was great in Desire For the principal Design of thy Coming into the World was to remedy not occasion the Fall of any either in or out of Israel that such as fall throu their own Default might rise agen by Faith in Thee and those who hav spoken most bitterly against Thee may upon Repentance be forgiven when the Thoughts of all Hearts shal be revealed §. 6. This notabl Testimony of old Simeon was seconded by Anna a Prophetess of the Tribe of Aser who was of a great Age being a Widow of about fourscore and four Years which departed not from the Templ but served God with Fastings and Prayers night and day for she coming in at that Instant gave thanks likewise unto the Lord and spake of him to all them that looked for Redemtion in Ierusalem I prais and magnify thy Name O Redeemer of Israel for rewarding that godly Matron's Devotion with so happy a Change of her Fastings into Jubilees and her Prayers into Praises Lord since those to whom thou revealest thy Self must be qualified for that blessed Priviledg by so much Diligence and unwearied Devotion enable me by thy Grace to apply my utmost Endevors therunto Night and Day as well in Fastings and Prayers to deprecat my own and my Nations Sins as by Feastings and Praises to congratulat thy Manifestation to the World and the saving Consequences thereof uniting in my Devotions all the pious Longings and earnest Wishes of the Old World with the transporting Joys and inexpressible Satisfactions of the New Cap. VI. Of His Flight into Egypt §. 1. WHen they had thus performed all things according to the Law of the Lord they returned into Galilee to their own City Nazareth but were not allowed any long Continuance there for soon after the 〈◊〉 of the Lord appeared to Ioseph in a Dream saying Arise and take the yong Child and his Mother and 〈◊〉 into Egypt for 〈◊〉 wil seek the yong Child to destroy him he took them by night and departed 〈◊〉 I celebrat thy Name O Son of the Highest for exposing thy Self to so many Hazards and Inconveniences for my sake and for the constant Vigilance of thy Father's Ey to serv and secure Thee by the Ministry of Angels Thy Lov alone moved thee to descend from the Region of Bliss and Glory to this Vale of Misery and Troubl and nothing but thy gracious Design to free us thence inclined thee rather to retire into the Hous of Bondage than yield thy 〈◊〉 to the Tyrants Cruelty lest Our hope should hav been unseasonably cut off Watch over me I humbly beseech thee in all the Dangers wherwith I am beset in this World of Iniquity and either instruct me to escape them or strengthen me to sustain them Let no Devices of the Wicked prosper against my Soul but reflecting on this thine own Peril be thou ever ready to deliver me from the malicious Designs of unreasonabl and cruel Men. §. 2. O my blest Redeemer who in thy tender Years for the avoiding of Herod's Rage didst endure a tedious Banishment to let us know there is no less ground of Contentment in a voluntary Exile when thy Providence makes it necessary for us than in the Enjoyment of our nativ Soil I bless thy H. Name For being equaly near us in all places of thy Dominion for the whol Earth is thine Lord whatsoever thy Wisdom and Authority thinks fit to enjoin me let thy Grace incline me cheerfuly to obey how much soever it seem to thwart my worldly Interest or Eas and in all my Endevors to execute thy Will conduct and defend me with thy good Providence Obeying Thee I may be safe in Egypt the Hous of Bondage while encompassed with Perils and throu Disobedience to thy Commands may perish in Bethlehem the Hous of Bread tho surrounded with