Selected quad for the lemma: heaven_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
heaven_n	angel_n	descend_v	ladder_n	1,870	5	11.7110	5	false

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A73078	A treatise of mentall prayer With another of the presence of God. Composed by the R. Fa. Alfonsus Rodriguez, of the Society of Iesus. And translated out of the Spanish, into English.; Ejercicio de perfección y virtudes cristianas. English. Selections	Rodríguez, Alfonso, 1526-1616.; Matthew, Tobie, Sir, 1577-1655.; Wilson, John, ca. 1575-ca. 1645?	1627 (1627)	STC 21148; ESTC S123265	122,250	331

resorting to God beseeching him with his whole hart to be fauourable to him and that he will help him out of all his dangers necessities according to that which King Iosaphat said whē he foūd himself hem'd in by his enemyes 1. Paral. 10. ● Cùm ignoremus quid agere debeamus hoc solùm habemus residui vt oculos nostros dirigamus ad te Since we are so weake since we are so poore and needy and know not which way to turne our selues we haue no other remedy but onely to cast vp our eyes to God Celest ca. 9. contra Pelagium and with our harts to beg of him those things wherof we are in so great neede And so Pope Celestine in one of his Decretall Epistles to teach the importance of Prayer speaketh thus I know not what better thing to say to you then that which Zozimus my Predecessour sayd Quod est tempus in quo eius auxilio non indigemus in omnibus igitur rebus causis negotijs exorandus est Protector Deus What tyme is there wherein we haue not necessity of the help of God There is no such tyme. If that be so then are we at all tymes and in all occasions and in all affayres to resort to God by Prayer with desyre that he will protect vs. Superbū est enim vt humana natura aliquid de se praesumat For a great pride it is that a frayle and miserable man should presume any litle vpon himselfe S. Thomas proues the necessity of Prayer S. Tho. 2.2 q. 8● ar 2. Damase l. 3. fidei ca. 24. Aug. l. 2. deser Domini cap 7. ser 230. de t●mp Basilius in Iul. mart Chrys ho. 30. in Ge● sim Gre. l. ● dial ● 8 by a very solide and substantiall reason and it is the doctrine of the Saints Damascen Augustine Basill Chrysostome and Gregory These Saints declare that the things which God by his diuine wisdom and disposition did determine from all Eternity to giue to soules he would impart in time by meanes of Prayer and that by this meanes he had resolued vpon the redresse the conuersion and the saluation of many soules and vpon the progresse and perfection of many others in such sort that as God disposed and determined that by meanes of marriage mankind should be multiplyed and that by plowing and sowing cultiuating the ground otherwise there should grow abundance of bread and wine and other fruits of the earth and that by meanes of Artificers and materialls houses and buildings should be erected So did he also ordayne to worke great effects in the world and to communicate many graces guifts to soules by this meanes of Prayer And so did Christ our Redeemer assure vs in the Ghospell Petite dabitur vobis quaerite inuenietis pulsate aperietur vobis Matt. 7. omnis enim qui petit accipit qui quarit inuenit pulsanti aperitur Aske and it shal be giuen seeke and you shall finde knock and it shal be opened vnto you for he who asketh receyueth he who seeketh findeth to him who knocketh it shal be opened So that Prayer is the meanes maister-conduit wherby our Lord wil be pleased to releiue our necessityes to inrich our pouerty to replenish vs with benedictions and graces Wherby we see well the great necessity which we haue of frequenting Prayer And so the Saints do frame a very fit comparison when they affirme that Prayer is as a Chayne of Gold one end wherof is hooked vp in heauen the other end reacheth downe to the earth and that by this chayne all celestiall graces are deriued and drawne downe to vs and by the same our selues ascend moūt vp to God And we may also say that this is a kind of Iacobs Ladder which reacheth from heauen to earth and wherby the Angells do ascend Gen. 28.11 Aug ser 226. and descend The glorious S. Augustine sayth that Prayer is the Key of Heauen which is made to open all the gates therof and of all those coffers which are full of the treasures of God Aug exhort de salutaribus monitis ad quēdam Comitem ca. 28. without excepting any one Oratio iusti clauis est caeli ascendit precatio descendit Dei miseratio And els where he sayth That looke what breade is to the body that very thing is Prayer to the soule Sicut ex carnalibus escis alitur caro Nilus ca. 95. de orat ●n bib SS PP 10. ● ita ex diuinis eloquijs orationibus interior homo nutritur pascitur And the same is affirmed by the holy Martyr Abbot Nilus One of the most principall considerations wherby the Saintes declare the value and estimation which we ought to make of Prayer on the one side and on the other the great necessity which we haue therof is because Prayer is a very principall and efficacious meanes to order and addresse our life and to explayne or ouercome all those difficultyes which may offer themselues to vs in the way of vertue And so they say that vpon it depends the gouermēt of our life that when Prayer is well made the life is well led and that when Prayer is discomposed the life groweth also into disorder Rectè nouit viuere qui rectè nouit orare Aug. ho. 4. ex 150. quae eius nomine circumf sayth S. Augustine He knoweth how to liue well who knoweth how to pray wel And S. Iohn Climacus sayth that a seruant of God deliuered a memorable speach to him and it was this By the very beginning of the morning I do already know what kind of dayes worke it will be Climacus Giuing to vnderstand therby that if he complyed well with his Prayer in the morning all the rest would succeed well and so that it would fall contrarily out if either he did not comply with it at all or els did it not so well as he could And the same rule holds with all the rest of a mans life Our selues do take daily experiment herof so that when we make our Prayer well we go so well in order so cheerfull so full of good purposes and desires that it is to make one wonder and contrariwise if we take no care of our Prayer all the good which we had gotten is in the way to be lost S. Bonauenture sayth Sine isto studio omnis religio est arida Bonauen de progres religionis ca. 7. imperfecta ad ruinā promptior By not resorting to Praier all goes backward and by and by comes in tepidity and then by litle and litle the soule begins to grow weake and to wither and to loose that vigor and breath which it had before And then I know not how those holy purposes and first thoughts grow to vanish and then begin to awake and reuiue all our passions Soone after will a man finde himselfe to become much

very easy very profitable and of much Perfection Pag. 291. CHAP. V. Of some differences and aduantages which there are in this Exercise of going in the Presence of God Pag. 295. CHAP. VI. Certayne pious Considerations of Gods Immensity and of his Presence in all places and in all things Pag. 300. Of Mentall Prayer CHAP. I. Of the Value and Excellency of Prayer THE glorious Apostle and Euangelist S. Iohn in the fifth eight Chapters of his Apocalyps doth well declare the value and excellency of Prayer and sayth That the Angell stood before the Altar and held an Incensary of Gold in his hand and that a great quantity of Incense was giuen to him which were the Prayers of the Saints to the end that he might offer them vp before the Altar of Gold which stood before the Throne of God and that the smoke of that Incense did ascend from the hand of that Angell into the presence of God S. Chrysostome speaking vpon this place sayth Chrys ho. 13. super Matth in opere imperfect Hereby you may discerne how high pretious a thing Prayer is since it alone is compared in holy Scripture to Thymiama which was a confection of Incense and other things most odoriferously fragrant Because as Thymiama being well compounded and framed did extraordinarily delight mē by the odour of it so that Prayer which is made as it ought is very sweet and and pleasing to Almighty God and doth delight and recreate the holy Angells and all the other Cittizens of Heauen Guiller Paris in sua Rheto. diui c. 4. In such sorte as that S. Iohn sayth They haue in their hands as it were so many pomanders of admirable odour which are the Prayers of the Saints wherunto they do very often apply their most pure sent to speake after the manner of men that so they may enioy this most sweet smell Habentes singuli Phialas aureas plenas odoramentorum quae sunt orationes Sanctorum Aug. in tract d● misericor Tom. 10. S. Augustine speaking of Prayer saith Quid est oratione clarius quid vitae nostrae vtilius quid animo dulcius quid in tota nostra religione sublimius What thing is there more excellent What more profitable what more delightful and sweet what more sublyme and high in all our Christian Religion then Prayer S. Gregory of Nice Greg. Niss●n de orat Domin Ber. ser 7. super Cāt. Ep. 78. sayth the same Nihil ex his quae per hanc vitam coluntur in precio sunt oratione preastat S. Bernard sayth That although it be certaine that the Angells do very ordinarily assist the seruants of God with their inuisible presence so to deliuer them from the fraudes sleights of the Enemy and to set forward their desires of seruing God with greater feruour Yet much more assistance do those Angelicall spirits giue when we imploy our selues in making Prayer And he bringeth to this purpose many places of Holy Scripture as that of the Psalmist In conspectu Angelorum Psallam tibi I will praise thee Psal 137. in the presence of the Angells Praeuenerunt Principes coniuncti psallontibus Psal 67. in medio inuencularum tympanistriarum which he also declareth of the Angells who associate themselues to such as pray And that also Tob. 12.12 which the Angell said to Tobias When thou didst pray with tears I offered vp thy Prayers to God For when the Prayer issueth out of his mouth who maketh it iust then do the Angells who are presēt offer it vp to God S. Hilary sayth the same thing Hilar. can 16. in Mat. Angeli praesunt fidelium orationibus eas quotidie Deo offerunt So that when we be in Prayer we are inuironed and circled in by Angells our selues are also doing the office of Angells and we are practising and exercising our selues in that which hereafter we are to do continually in Heauen and that is to blesse praise our Lord. And for this cause we are particulerly fauoured and beloued by the Angells as being their Companions now being also expected to be so hereafter filling vp those seates which grew empty by the fall of their fellowes S. Chrysostome treating of the excellency of Prayer and being desirous to expresse the greatnesse of it Chrys lib. 2. de orando Deum sayth That one of the highest greatnesses which did occur to be expressed by him was this That whosoeuer maketh Prayer doth confer and treate with God himselfe Considera quanta est tibi concessa faelicitas quanta gloria attributa orationibus fabulari cum Deo cum Christo miscere colloquia optare quod velis quod desideras postulare Consider the dignity the glory to which our Lord hath exalted thee in that he hath giuen thee power to treate and conuerse with him to haue conuersation speach of intercourse with Iesus Christ to desire what thou wilt and to aske what thou desyrest There is no tongue sayth he which can ariue to declare of how great dignity height this treating and conuersing is with Almighty God and of how great vse and profit to vs. For if they who haue their ordinary conuersation here on earth with wise and prudent men do feele much profit in short tyme it growes quickly to be knowne that they are much improued in wisdome knowledge if they who hold familiarity with vertuous men do sucke of that vertue into themselues as the Prouerbe doth thus expresse Conuerse with good men thy selfe wilt growe to be one of them what shall become of such persons as conuerse treate in frequent familiar manner with Almighty God Accedite ad Deum illuminamini Psa 33. What light knowledge what benefits and benedictions will they receaue by such cōuersation and communication as this And so S. Chrysostome sayth Chrysos ho. ●e orat super illud Ps 7. Confitebor Domino secundum Iustitiam eius That there is nothing which maketh vs so much growe in vertue as much Prayer and frequent conuersation with Almighty God For thus the hart of man growes to be truly generous and to haue the things of this world in great cōtempt and to raise himselfe aboue them all and to vnite and transforme himselfe after a certaine manner into God and to become in fine a spirituall person and a Saint CHAP. II. Of the great Necessity which we haue of Prayer HOvv necessary Prayer is for vs we haue inough inough experience I would to God i● he were so pleased that we had not so much Now since man is so full of need of Gods fauour in respect that he is subiect to the taking of so many falls and that he is inuiroued by so many and so fierce enemyes and laboureth vnder the want of so many things which belong aswell to the soule as the body there remaines no other remedy for him but euer to be

we are to do them and say them as one who speakes to God already present and not as one who raiseth his hart or his thought to send it far off or without himselfe This aduise is of great importance in this Exercise For this is properly to go in the Presence of God and this is that which makes this Exercise easy and sweete and which makes it moue and profit more Yea euen in our other Prayers when we meditate of Christ vpon the Crosse or at the Pillar they who treate of Prayer giue counsaile that we should not imagine that to be at Ierusalem and that it passed a thousand and so many hundred yeares agoe for this wearyes more and moues lesse But we are to imagine it as present where we are that it passeth there before vs and that we heare the strokes of the scourges the knocks of the hammers And if we meditate the Exercise of death they say that we are to imagine that we are already vpon the point to dye and giuen ouer by the Physitians and with the holy candle in our hand How much more reason then shall it be that in this Exercise of the Presence of God we performe those acts which we haue named not as men who speake with an absent person and that far off from vs but as men who speake with God present since the very Exercise it selfe requires it and in reality of Truth he is Present CHAP. V. Of some differences and aduantages which there are in this Exercise of going in the Presence of God TO the end that we may the better see the perfection and profit of this Exercise and way of going in the Presēce of God which we haue shewed and to the end that it may be the more declared Note we will touch some differences and aduantages which there are therein The first is this In the other Exercises of the Presence of God which some vse to propound all seemes to be but an act of the Vnderstanding and all seemes to end in this that they imagine the Presence of God But this Exercise presupposeth this Act of the vnderstanding of fayth That God is present and then it goes further on and maketh Acts of the Loue of God and in these it doth principally consist And this doth euidently appeare to be better and more profitable then the former Iust so as we said in the Treatise of Prayer Tract 5. c. 14. that we are not to dwell in the acts of the Vnderstanding which is the Meditation and Consideration of things but in the acts of the Will that is in the affects and desires of vertue and the imitation of Christ our Lord and this is to be of the fruite of Prayer And so heere the chiefe and best and most profitable part of this Exercise consists in the acts of the will and this is that wherupon we must insist most The second benefit which followes vpon this Exercise Note is that it is more sweet and facill then the rest For to those others is necessary discourse and labour of the vnderstanding and imagination to represent formes before it which is the thing that vseth to weary and to breake the braynes and therfore it cannot last so longe Whereas towards this Exercise there is no neede of discourse but of affects and acts of the will which are produced without difficulty For although it be true that there is some act of the Vnderstanding euen there yet that is presupposed by Fayth without wearying vs therby And as when we adore the B. Sacrament we presuppose by Fayth that Christ our Lord is present there and all our attention and imployment is in adoring reuering louing and begging fauours of that Lord whome we know to be present so it is in this Exercise And from hence also it is that the same being more facill one may continue and perseuere in it longer tyme. For euen to sick persons who are not capable of any other Prayer we are wont to aduise that they are often to lift vp their harts to God with some affects acts of the Will because they may be produced with facility And therfore although there were no other aduantage belonging to this Exercise but only that one may continue and perseuere in it longer tyme then in the rest we should haue reason to esteeme it much and therfore how much more are we to do it hauing so many aduantages besides The third and principall thinge that which we are to obserue very well is That the Presence of God is not only considered to the end that we may dwell in that but to the end that it may serue vs for a meanes to do those other things well which we are to performe For if we should content our selues with hauing an attention to the presence of God and therby did neglect our workes themselues and did performe them with faults this would be no good deuotion but an illusion We are alwayes to make account that although we carry one of our eyes towards his diuine Maiesty we must place the other vpon the worke it selfe that we may performe it well for the loue of him And our seeing that we stand in the Presence of God must be the meanes to make vs do all that which we are to do the better and with the more perfection And this is much better done by this Exercise then by others For in the performing of others the Vnderstanding is much imployed about those corporall sigures which a man hath a mynde to set before himselfe or about those conceytes which he will drawe out of that which he hath present to him and whilst he will needs drawe this or that good consideration from thence many tymes he markes not well what he is doing and so he falls out to do it ill But this Exercise since it busieth not the Vnderstanding doth not hinder any way the good performance of the workes but rather it doth greatly helpe that they may be exactly done For he is doing them for the loue of God and in the Presence of God who lookes vpon him And so he procures to do them in such sort and so well as that they may be fit to appeare before the eyes of that diuine Maiesty and that there may be nothing therein which is vnworthy of his Presence Concerning which Tract c. 3. we spake else where of another point which sheweth another way of going in the Presence of God which is very good and profitable and recommended by the Saynts and therfore we will forbeare to repeate it heere CHAP. VI. Certayne pious Considerations of Gods Immensity and of his Presence in all places and in all things 1. TO consider that God is so immense and great as he filleth all his creatures with his infinite Greatnes and is more inwardly present in all things then they be in their owne Essence And notwithstanding all this he is not imprisoned heere in the world and though there were many millions of worlds more yet should he be still infinitly greater then they in so much as it is impossible to fly frō him sith he is by his Essence Presēce and power in all places and all creatures be filled with his greatnes This consideration should make vs more present to our selues in all our actions both priuate and publike by representing to our selues that Gods eyes be vpon vs and making vnto our selues an Oratory in all places sith he is euerywhere We must excite in our selues affections of ioy and of admiration at so wonderfull a greatnes 2. We must consider our selues as liuing and doing our actions in God who enuironeth vs round as doth the water of the Ocean compasse in the fish that swym and liue therin And this consideration should keep vs from going and wandring out of our selues seeing we haue God present within vs as though we were his house or by considering our selues enuironed without penetrated within by God as though he were our owne and belonging vnto vs. 3. To consider how God sheweth himselfe in heauen to his Elect with vnuealed and open face working in them most glorious things and he giueth in some places on earth particuler signes of his presence as Iacob saw him on that mysticall ladder whereof the Scriptures make mention God also hath his aboad particulerly in the Churches and Oratories and in a more excellent manner in the iust with whome he abideth by his grace and worketh strange and wonderfull thinges in them But aboue all he is with some great friends of his in this life producing spiritually within them miraculous effects as illustrations discourses of the soule reuelations of diuine mysteries which be all signes and testimonyes of his particular presence All this ought to make vs the more attentiue and present to God and our selues and more composed both within and without THE COLLOQVY O my soule thou hast within thee all good things how doest thou not enioy them Within thee is thy soueraigne freind and Father reioyce to haue him with thee ioyne thee ioyntly with him and giue vnto him thy whole hart If thou art poore thou hast God with thee who is rich in mercy runne vnto him that he may impart vnto thee of his riches If thou art weake and pusillanimous thou hast God with thee who is fortitude it selfe and vnited with him thou maist doe all things in vertue of him wherfore then doest thou seeke without thee with anxietie helpe of the creatures hauing within thee the omnipotency of the Creator O my Creator my God and my all things perfect in me this strayte coniunctiō which thou hast with me vniting thy selfe also with me by the perfect vnion of grace that I also may conioyne my selfe with thee by the perfect vnion of charity Amen FINIS