Selected quad for the lemma: lord_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
lord_n	word_n	worthy_a	write_v	302	3	4.8596	4	false

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A76384	A bright starre, leading to, & centering in, Christ our perfection. Or a manuell, entituled by the authour thereof, the third part of the Rule of perfection Wherein such profound mysteries are revealed, such mysterious imperfections discovered, with their perfect cures prescribed, as have not been by any before published in the English tongue: faithfully translated for the common good.; Règle de perfection. English. Part 3	Benoît, de Canfield, 1562-1610.	1646 (1646)	Wing B1867AC; ESTC R223949	72,498	265

sees God upon earth to slight his acquaintance there and fling away to abstraction Or with what face or piety can she turne her back on him hanging on the Crosse to hunt for pleasures he remaining in paines Vrias wisely considering that the Arke of God dwelt in Tents utterly refused comfort saying The Arke of God and Israel and Judah rest in Tents and my Lord Joab and the servants of my Lord encamp in the open field and shal I goe into my house to eat drink and lie with my Wife How much more ought we to forsake comfort so far as it depends on us and our seeking yea and from God double rewarded to bear a part with the Living Arke of God wherein God himself is inclosed yea which is God himselfe When King David out-worne with woes clumbe gasping to the Top of the Mount of Olives barefoote the Princes yeelded themselves his consorts How then can ●e doe lesse to the Immortall God ●ur King then they to their Mor●ll Man Also these words Make it after ●●e patterne expresse that Ingage●ent wee stand in of bearing the Passion of Christ alway before our ●yes For as a Painter about to ●rame an Image to the life accor●ing to the Type is tyed alway to ●old the same before his eyes So ●s it with us in the Passion which ●s our Pattern and Prototype E●ery Christian is a Painter His ●ands and fingers are the Pencill His colours many vertues good workes Himselfe is the Image hee is to draw where colour must be laid upon colour and vertue added to vertue They shall goe from strength to strength until the Image be brought to perfection Which the better to accomplish this Patterne is alway to be had before his eyes And Painter-wise to fixe his eye on the Prototype at every draught of the Pencill of Vertue Wel-doing or suffering not moving a jot without a sight of the same lest the Image should rebound unlike And because our whole Life is spent in painting and inducing new glories to this Image it followes that this pattern is never to be abandoned to death Jacob stucke twi-straked roddes before the eyes of his sheepe and so made them bring forth Lambes like variously speckled And our heavenly Jacob and good shepherd sets before the eyes of our soules the varieties of the Vertues of his Passion that we may produce the like Againe this Patterne was shewed in the Mount whence you may gather the wondrous height of this Mysterie as also how much their Judgement is besotted who suggest they have wonne the top thereof in the Active and Illuminate Life as if either the toppe of this Mount were not passing high or as if in this Mysterie consisted not the most sublime Contemplation Our Lord commanded that both the posts of the Children of Israels houses should be sprinkled with the blood of the Lambe shewing that hee would have us so ever mindfull of the blood and Passion of that Lamb which taketh away the Sinnes of the World that we could neither enter our Inner house by Contemplation nor goe out by Action but we should have this blood and Passion before our eyes Which command is also resembled in that which he gave to the children of Israel whom he enjoyned to write his Laws upon the gates of their houses that they might alway remember them The letter T. representing the Crosse imprinted on the foreheads of mourners in Jerusalem signifies also the same Remembrance which God would have us beare of his Passion as when he commanded the Children of Israel to carry his Law before their eyes hee would that they should never forget the same The Scarlet thread hung up in Rahabs window teacheth us that t is Gods will we should hang up his Crosse and bloody Passion in the Window of our Inner house our understanding that so we may alway muse on and behold the same And surely he that well weighs with himselfe the Magnificence of that supreame Majesty and how unsearchable a secret it is that such royalty and omnipotency should suffer so bitter sorrows and that to no other end but to be an example to us he shall easily grant that the whole space of our Life is most excellently spent in beholding this Mysterie When God spake to Jeremiah he gave him this charge Goe down into the Potters house and there thou shalt heare my words Now who shall wee say this Potter is but the Son of God that frames those earthen vessells Men And which should be his Mansion-house or Worke-house but his Man-hood where by the power of his Passion he repaires and renews the Instruments marr'd and broken If therefore we wait that God should speake to and direct us in the wayes of the highest Perfection and Contemplation then are we not to prye up to his Deity alone but to meek our selves to his Manhood and Passion For there hee hath promised to speake to us There saith he thou shalt heare my words When Naomi counselled Ruth what she had to doe to compasse the Marriage of her rich Cousin Booz she willed her to marke the place where he used to sleepe and having uncovered his feete by heaving up the utmost rindge of the Coverlet whereunder he reposed himself there to lay her self down and so she should come to know of him what she should do This Naomi teaching Ruth deciphers Wisdome which informes the Soule Rich Booz personates Jesus Christ who is rich in all and who is next of kin to the soule as to her whose Nature he hath assumed The place where he sleeps is the Crosse The Covering his Man-hood The utmost and lowest rindge of the Covering towards the feet is his Passion full of Ignominies which he suffered towards the end and last of his Life And this is that utmost border which we are to detect and turn up by Contemplation where the Royall Kinglinesse of the Divine Majestie will be found And there is the Soule to cast her selfe downe as another Mary Magdalen at the feete of Jesus where he will shew her what 's to be done that she may present her self worthy to be his Spouse Our Lord wills us being called to the Wedding to chuse to our selves the lowest roome Sit down saith he in the lowest seate And after he that invited thee will say Come up higher This Marriage is that of the Lambe whereof t is said Blessed are they that are called to the Supper of the Lamb. When therefore we are invited thither by Contemplation we are to take the lowest place of least respect which is that of his Passion so shall we appear worthy to heare that word Come up higher But too too little humility resides in that soul which slighting our Lords Passion will presse up to his Godhead alone And surely she does her self no little disadvantage thereby For in time of tribulation adversity and affliction she is found supportlesse and so fluttering in the aire is tost to and fro

life supereminent but those who are annointed with the unction of God having Christ formed in them and having such a high Priest have boldnesse of accesse to the things within the vaile Now as none could enter the Holy of holi●●●●●●ping over the first second Temple b●t must pace trace and passe step by step fr●m one end to the other of the outward 〈◊〉 in●ar● Temple before they could app●●ach the inmost so none can make escape into this third Will but he who hath made due progresse foote by foot through the obedience of the exteriour will and contemplation of the interiour except it be by rapture And as at the last the vaile of the Temple was rent in twain which was the partition-wall that so all might see the Arke Mercy-seate c. and nothing be hid from their eyes so although whilst we are in the outer we are not in the inner whilst we are in the inner wee are not in the inmost Temple or will of God yet they leade so one to the other that they leave not untill they come to the inmost of all And as the three Courts were but one Temple distinguished into Courts so these three are but one will distinguished into outer inner and intimate It 's possible Reader thou shouldst expect something in commendation of this Treatise but it is of age to speake for it selfe and is licensed by the most learned and judicious Againe wisedome is justified of her children Trueth needs no praise of men thou must remember the Author was a man and Elias the man is subject to infirmities his heavenly treasure is in an earthly vessel thou shouldst doe well to try the spirits and from within to approve or reprove To me I confess he speakes divinely and on this s●bject second to none but mine eyes are not thine it s in Gods light alone that thou and I shall see light Only Reader let me leave this with thee this Treatise search it and discover it such subtill secret thin spirituall and almost indiscernible imperfections with cures unto each of them applyed that what thou hast most of all admired as most excellent endeavoured after as most worthy and rested in as most happy that I say hee shall in the strength of God strip thee of and shame thee with Remember also that the perfection hee here drives at is an uncreated perfection not to be sought for or found in the acts thoughts minde or will of man acting doing and being something though never so heavenly for these shall never be found the best perfections having their imperfections but this is a passive perfection wherin we ceasing to be of our selves God onely now is being doing and working drawing forth his beauty in us and putting his glory on us that man might have wherein to glory not in himselfe but in the Lord and this shall be done to him whom the Lord will honour I intend it for experienced Christians who shall be able to set to their seale tha● God is true And thus not doubting th● good successe hereof amongst the children of light the taught of God who run and reade the hidden and deepe things of God I recommend both it and thee to the word of God and his grace in the face of the Lord Jesus Christ being thine assured in the unity of the spirit and bond of love Giles Randall The Contents Chapter the first THe Essentiall will of God is God Pag. 1 Nothing is in God that is not God p. 3 The difference betwixt the interiour and the Essentiall will p. 10 Chapter the second NO meanes to the vision of God but God Pag. 11 Highest contemplations are strongly to bee borne downe p. 12 The Will of God is only received when we are passive p. 13 The will of God is then only comprehended when it comprehends us p. 14 Mans meane too meane to rise to God p. 15 Chapter the third ADivine meane without all meane to the vision of God p. 17. 18 Chapter the fourth THe subtillest imperfections are in the simplest contemplations p. 23. c. Three maine imperfections hinderances to this vision p. 28. 29 Three points of perfection contrary to the three former imperfections p. 30 Chapter the fifth SAcred desires are not to be destroyed but perfected in God p. 30. 31. 32. When where and how good desires are to cease p. 34 The change of desires containes 3 things First a cleare manifestarion of the things desired pag. 36. c. Secondly a full satisfaction of the desires with the things manifested p. 40. c. Thirdly the desires being full rest and desire no more p. 44. c. Chapter the sixth NO joy comparable to the joy of Union with God p. 48 c. May by his owne actions wanders from God p. 51. 52 Purgation of the soule the worke of God p. 54. c. Chapter the Seventh NO distance twixt God and the minde illuminate p. 60 Light and Law the continuance of Union p. 64. c. Chapter the Eighth NOthing is but God and his Will p. 69. c. God is all in the creature nothing p. 72. The creature is nothing but a meere dependance p. 76. c. The creature a something nothing p. 78. Chap. the ninth ALl things good in their own being p. 80 Sin not man the fount of Error p. 83 Sin not being is to be destroyed p. 85 Chap. the tenth TWelve close and unheard of Imperfections disclosed and their cures discovered from pag. 88. to pag 102. Chap. the Eleventh THe presence of all things nothing'd by a twofold annihilation p. 106 Wherein Active and Passive Annihilation doe consist p. 108 Passive annihilation tends to fruitive love and Active to practick p. 111 Chapter the Twelfth LIght and remembrance chiefely considerable in Annihilation p. 114 A full description of light p. 115 A full description of remembrance p. 120 Chap. the thirteenth TEn hidden imperfections and Impediments to Active Annihilation unvailed from page 122. to page 131. The cure of them all p. 131. to 134 Chapter the fourteenth THe proper times and places for the practises of Active and Passive Annihilation from page 135. to 137. Exterior Interior and intimate workings are good and not to be forsaken in their proper place p. 137. to 141 Passive Annihilation and fruitive love not to bee forsaken for the Active and practick pag. 141. to pag. 146 Mens best works enemies to true rest p. 146 Distinctions betweene true and false rest p. 148. to p. 152 Chap. the Fifteenth OUtward working mysteriously changed pag. 152. to 156 No true Annihilation in willing Imperfection pag. 159 Impure working falls short of perfections pag. 160. to 167 Chap. Sixteenth CHrists passion alwaies to bee eyed and not neglected for the glory of the Godhead pag. 167. to 179 Chap. Seventeenth THe Godhead and Manhood to be seene together and in the Passive p. 179. to 189 Chap. Eighteenth CHrist and his Passion to bee practised in us p.

by the tempests violence Paul seems to write nothing but the Passion in Preaching to extol no other thing but the Passion in the Passion alone to seek matter of rejoycing to glory only in the Crosse and to be all-transformed into this Divine Passion yea acknowledgeth himself to know no more but Jesus Christ him crucified CHAP. XVII That God and Man is to be beheld in the Passion the God-head Manhood seen together with a single eye as one not as two ANd here the Manhood is not to be beheld alone but also the Godhead therewith wherin many faile looking either on the Manhood alone or sometimes on it and sometimes on the Godhead as on two divers objects And so it comes that some begin to falter thinking it to be in manner no other Mysterie but only in beholding the Manhood to phansie a Man tortured with cruel torments upon a Crosse and after to finde the Godhead forsaking the same object they presse up to some other whereby to behold the Godhead not beleeving they can bee rais'd to both at once the which indeed pertaines to the highest practise For to see God and Man in one simple sight is not unlike to that knowledge whereby God and Man is seene to make one and the same person This Contemplation of God Man seemes prefigured in that brazen Serpent whose alone sight cur'd the beholders of their bitings by other serpents A miracle indeed that God should give such power of healing to the looke of a Serpent Nor doubt I but he would insinuate to us thereby the admirable vertue inclosed in that coelestiall Serpent which is Jesus Christ crucified as he cals himselfe inasmuch as when wee rightly behold the Manhood crucified we instantly behold his Godhead which is God himselfe the small cure of all evill For how can we continue sensible of sorrow or crosse when we see God himselfe bearing the same Crosse Blessed are the pure in heart saith our Lord because they shall see God The which divers holy men affirm to be wholly in the next life and partly in this If therefore we see God on the Crosse we are entred on part of our Blisse in this Life and consequently cannot feel the pangs of the Crosse 'T was a thing unheard of and which with many transcended all beliefe that out of a hard rocke at the second smite of the Rod such plenty of water streamed out This Rocke is Christ Jesus But the Rocke was Christ whose Passion though it appeare so stonie that at the first sight it yeelds no more but all harsh hard and full of afflictions yet if you smite the same twice by Contemplation of the Godhead and Manhood you shall finde an overflowing Inundation of waters of Comfort a torrent of Joy a swift gushing river flowing from the face of God Ezekiel saw a Booke written without and within intimating to us thereby that Jesus Christ the Booke of Life is written within and without both sides containing the same perfections O ravishing Booke O Miracle O prodigy O new and unusuall thing transcending and passing all Reason and far surmounting the territories of Mans capacity that all the Attributes of God proper to his Divine Majesty should bee described in our mortall flesh That all the internall perfections of God should be depainted in Man and to know that person as perfect as God yea to be God himselfe O booke I say beyond admiration even to astonishment wherein the eternall omnipotency is described in externall impotency Immortality in Mortality Spirit in Body Glory in Ignominy Freedome in Bondage and God in Man A booke where without is written and displayed to the eyes of all men whatsoever the Eternall Father from everlasting either said or thought A booke shewing us the Crosse a Tribunall the Passion a Throne and Death the Triumph of Je Christ A book-wherof one saith O wondrous power of the Crosse O unspeakable glory of the Passion wherein is both the Throne of our Lord the judgment of the World and conquest of Christ crucified This is the booke wherein all contrary propositions are reconciled without distinction made all one where the outer thing is truly knowne the inner bodily spiritual weaknes strength Sorrow Joy Contempt Majesty Shame Glory Littlenesse Greatnesse Poverty Richnesse Bondage Freedome and Torments Delights But out alas for pity who beleeves all this Or who is it that with a simple heart gives credit to these things where is wisedom found or what place is left for understanding Here is Wisedome and Patience of the Saints even in seeing and practising those things which belong to the Passion And here God pr●●●d them at the waters of contrad●ction which waters of Life they ex●ract out of that Celestial flinty rocke whilst they smite it with the rod of Christian Discipline Who is wis● and he wil keepe these things It may truly bee said that 〈◊〉 booke and passion is no other but the gate of Heaven and the house of God And though in this Pas●ion he made darkenesse his Pavili●n neverthelesse as is his darke●esse so also his light Jacobs Ladder though the one ●nd toucht heaven and the other ●rth yet both made but one Lad●er even so the person of Jesus Christ which liv'd on earth by his Manhood and endured those tor●ents in his Passion was no other ●hen that selfe-same second person ●n the Trinity living ever glorious in the Heavens Moses saw God in the middest of the thorny bush signifying to us that God himselfe is found in his painefull and thorn-crowned Passion and not to be sought without the same No marvell then if Saint Paul the Doctor of the Gentiles and trumpet of truth al over the world exhausted all his wisedome from no other fount but out of the Abysse of this wisedome and knowledge as himselfe acknowledgeth saying I desire to know nothing among you but Iesus Christ crucified Which yet was so farre from vailing him from high Revelations that as himselfe witnesseth he was rapt to the third Heaven Whence it is cleerer then the Noone-day Light that in the crucified Manhood he also saw the boundlesse depth of the Godhead But the Centre of all this Difficulty consists in the right sending forth of this Simple sight whereby God and Man is seene neither omitted For in failing of either we incurre a like losse The depth of the Mysterie being founded in both one and not in each apart For first to behold God Omnipotent and then a miserable and forlorn Man which he became by his Incarnation This worketh somewhat in the soule by way of Consideration But to see both one as wee have said and to behold it with a single eye and naked aspect that strikes the soule with amazement and bereaves her of all her forces And this is that simple and perfect Contemplation which our Lord extolls with so many prayses in his Spouse in the Cantic Thy eyes ●re Doves eyes i. simple ones And againe