Selected quad for the lemma: prayer_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
prayer_n	pray_v	spirit_n	watch_v	2,594	5	9.9201	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A56865	A spiritual treasure containing our obligations to God, and the vertues necessary to a perfect Christian. Written in French by John Quarre, Englished by Sir Thomas Stanley, Kt.; Thrésor spirituel. English.	Quarré, Jean-Hugues, 1580-1656.; Stanley, Thomas, 1625-1678.; Stanley, Thomas, Sir, of Cumberlow Green, Herts.	1664 (1664)	Wing Q146D; ESTC R203327	257,913	558

resist To obtain this favour the Apostle particularly recommends Prayer to us saying Pray alwayes with all prayer and supplication in the spirit and watch with all perseverance These words are to shew with what importunity devotion and fervour we are to pray And truly we have need when the perills are so great our enemies so powerfull and our forces so small In the time of temptation it is not requisite to fight hand to hand much less to dispute with it to reason with or examine it or to force it away by violence this were to attribute too much to our selves for many times to examine it is to entertain it and to strive to oppose it too neerly is to become fastened to it and by disputing with it we are overcome It is more to purpose that as soon as we see the temptation we turn our thought some other way and look upon it with contempt and derision We must neither hearken to the Devil nor speak to him nothing puts him into greater fury then to see himself slighted nothing pleases him more then to heed and regard him for so we give him access and in a manner enter into acquaintance with him This is one of his ordinary subtilties whereby he deceives even the most wary yet we take no heed of it The devils intention in all this is to amuse and entertain us the objects he lays before us are not always evil it is sufficient for him if he but see us hearken to him that he may by little and little enter into discourse with us which once done he will soon instill his poyson into us Which way sover it is his drift is to turn us from God that he may have the disposall of our hearts and spirits that is enough to deceive even those who make profession of solid piety and much faithfulness in the ways of God It is no small evil to turn away from God to regard and examine a suggestion and conference that the devil would have with our spirits although we should do it to a good end with an intent to drive him away For it is to heed the devil to hearken to him and by a strict examination of his suggestions to conferre with him it is to withdraw our hearts and thoughts from God to employ them in what the devil proposes To avoyd all these impurities and to keep our selves from danger we must bear the temptation without enclining to it we must spit at the devil slight all his assaults and above all withdraw our eyes and thoughts from all he proposes This is the shortest and most easie way in all kinds of temptations For we shall find that temptations stay in us because we entertain them under pretence of driving them away and examining them It is enough we be watchfull and as soon as we have discovered the temptation or suggestion of the devil to renounce and despise it But there are some temptations that arise from objects or occasions in which case we must onely avoyd them and from all that may divide us from God There are others that are urgent and make lively impressions upon our spirits upon divers matters which would be long to explain In these cases we must not regard the temptation but God in it as Iob did when he was most tempted and afflicted The Lord giveth and the Lord taketh away so we when pressed must cast our selves at the feet of Iesus Christ and offer our selves to him that he may annihilate the temptation in us if it be for his glory or keep us from consenting thereto We must implore his mercy for there are such pressing temptatirns that there is need of the greatest mercy of God to deliver us from them We must therefore cry out with humility and as much as we can enter into some conference and application of spirit with the Son of God acording to the state and strength of our soul. CHAP. XVII Of Resignations in Temptation BUT if we have not the power to elevate our selves to God if the soul be so bound by his secret conduct that we are sensible of our being forsaken to a generall impotency we must cast our selves upon God and having done what we can though ever so little employ the rest of our forces in offering our selves to the designes of God over us resigning our selves absolutely to his conduct and with a spirit of confidence be content to bear and patiently suffer the estate wherein we are Or if our soul can apply her self to any object she shall honour the weaknesses and temptations that the Sonne of God vouchsafed to sustain upon earth and shall implore his spirit and grace that she do nothing in this estate of weakness and temptation that may displease him But if our souls be reduc'd to an absolute impotency she must remain therein with dependance and humility of spirit there is nothing else required then to take care that we never regard the temptation but bear it with humility and patience Observe that it must be born with humility for though we consent not to the evill or temptation though assisted by the grace of God we bear it with much patience and with a spirit of sufferance yet we ought to annihilate and humble our selves because the evill is in us and we are joyned to the temptation This point is the more to be considered because herein the Devill deceives many and by a malicious dangerous deceit runs them out of patience and brings them into much evill whence they cannot withdraw themselves without a particular mercy of God To comprehend this secret we must note that the spirit of sufferance and temptation is an Evangelicall and Divine Estate and we say ordinarily that it is a mark of God's Elect an effect of the residence of Iesus Christ in us an infallible fruit of love the last draught of Christian perfection Hence the soul that is arrived at this estate is looked on as a chief work of Grace Now the Devill who watcheth us every where and circumvents even the best fails not to spit his poyson here if he can and will if such souls do not annihilate themselves by profound humility infallibly deceive them He makes them easily enter into an esteem of the estate wherein they are and insinuateth a vain confidence thereof he applies them to a regard of themselves makes them believe they are well advanced in Vertue and much in Gods favour since he numbers them among his friends and treats them as those he loveth best Thus by degrees he brings them into an esteem of themselves and their vertue and having infused this poyson into the heart and put the soul into this belief it is easie for him to ruine it to do what he will with it to deceive it as he pleases The Devill hath another sleight more dangerous and lesse known which is when he changes himself into an Angel of comfort and spirit of consolation even he who

name and ineffable greatness of Iesus Christ if all our actions be full of our own will and it were to little purpose to subject our selves by words to the Soveraignty of Iesus Christ to the conduct of his spirit and motions if in the management of our life we follow the spirit of the World living in a continuall desire to satisfie our selves and our own inclinations This were to say much and do nothing This we must be carefull in since many deceive themselves in this kind of piety which they so easily profess contenting themselves with the superficies and neglecting the rest Remember that he who sayes we must adore God in spirit said also we must adore him in Truth The second act of this piety is an act of Oblation whereby the soul offers her self wholly to Iesus Christ and renouncing her self resignes into his hand all that she is all the power that she hath over her self over all her actions over all things and to make her self the more a servant to Iesus in a perfect condition she renounces her own liberty and all the use she can make thereof giving it up into the hands of the Son of God of whom she received it granting him all the right that she had to dispose thereof to order it as he pleases that being so resigned to Iesus she may not have any thing more nor be any thing more but that he may be all have all and operate all in her This Obligation thus conceived is of great importance For if it be done after the manner it ought if the Son of God vouchsafe to accept it it puts us in the perfection of Christianity in as much as it drawes the soul from her self and all creatures to be Christ's to adhere to him to depend on him in all things wherein consisteth true perfection Moreover this Obligation is an effect of the esteem and belief we have of Iesus Christ and contains the spirit of Christian subjection For as according to Law the slave is no more his own nor hath any right over any thing but is wholly left to the power and pleasure of his Master so by this Obligation the Christian puts himself as nothing before Iesus Christ he gives place to all his rights of nature and grace to be onely the subject of his power and divine will And though we are all servants to Iesus Christ by right and purchase as we said elsewhere yet we will be such also out of good will and affection giving him by this Oblation a new power over us that we may be the Captives to his love as well as to his power and submit to the designs of the eternall Father who hath delivered us from the power of darkness and translated us to the Kingdom of his dear Son Thus examining this Oblation we find that it is necessary for all those who seek true piety as containing the essence and grounds of devotion it puts the soul into a perfect denudation and makes her entirely dependant and resigned to Iesus Christ to be led according to his will They therefore who in their exercises of piety make ordinary use of this principle of devotion must weigh well what they say and consider with what sincerity and faithfulness they proceed with the Son of God For seeing they leave themselves wholly to him in the quality of servants and make profession mark the word to have nothing which is not his and of him and that by this Oblation they yeild up all to him even to the use of their own life and naturall liberty what have they more to think of but sincerely and faithfully to accomplish what they profess What have they more to do but to take care that their life be conformable to what they say otherwise they shall be constrained to condemn themselves and to confess that they have no devotion any further then the mouth that they deal not sincerely w th God and their own consciences It concerns them to take heed that that is not justly to be attributed to them which the Prophet said Cursed are they that do the work of the Lord negligently To these Exercises of interiour piety we may add a third act Purity of Intention By this intention the Christian who offers himself to God in the manner we have described begins to refer himself actually to him and to his glory protesting that in all things even to the least and in all his actions he will have no other intention then the will of the Son of God and live no longer nor act any thing but according to the intention of Iesus Christ. Having made this protestation he demands of him participation of his holy spirit and prayes him to inspire him with holy and pure dispositions whereby he may accomplish his actions This practice of piety is little known and perhaps little understood yet it is necessary for a perfect Christian. To conceive and affect it he is to remember that as we have said true piety contains a resignation of the soul to the conduct of grace and to the spirit of Iesus and that this resignation is more then a bare simple resignation for it includes annihilation and unity annihilation of our own spirit and conduct and unity with the spirit and conduct of Iesus Christ to which we resigne our selves By this act of intention the Christian annihilates all his desires and intentions to unite and subject himself onely to the intentions and desires of Iesus Christ in such sort as to admit no other Hence it may be inferr'd how necessary this intention is to all those souls that thirst after true piety but to make a fuller discovery thereof we are to reflect on our own infirmity and incapacity which is so great that we know not what is lawfull for us to desire and are ignorant of what we ought to demand of God as not understanding what designes Iesus Christ may have upon us We must therefore wait till he enlighten us and inspire us Now that we may be in a disposition to receive this grace and in a capacity to submit to the conduct of the spirit of God we must annihilate our own desires and particular intentions and give our selves up to those of Iesus which is that the Christian endeavors to do by the act of intention here proposed It is the Doctrine of the Apostle who says We know not how to pray as we ought but the spirit makes intercession for us by groans that cannot be uttered He who searches the heart knows what is the desire of the spirit he sueth for the Saints according to the will of God Here we are taught this practice which shews us that our prayers desires and intentions must be inspired by the spirit of Iesus Christ who knows what God demands of us Moreover there is not any thing so certain as that the Sonne of God hath those intentions and designes upon the life actions

that by the exercises of piety we must honour God and refer our life and actions to him it must necessarily be by a principle of God and by supernaturall inclinations For this reason we say that the Christian who seeks true piety must quit his own inclinations and quitting them demand those of the Son of God that we may act by their motion and principle Otherwise it is to be feared that all these exercises of piety are rather naturall and humane then supernaturall and christian which makes many deceive themselves in their daily devotions But for as much as it is very interiour and insensible and that reason and sense can nothing assure us therein it is very requisite that the devout Christian should establish himself in grace and live in a great dependance on and true adherence to Ie. Christ after the manner formerly insisted upon For all our goodness all the grounds of true piety and perfect Christianity consist in our being God's and depending on him But we must shew more particularly the uses and practises we are to make use of in the temptations which ordinarily accompany a Christian life and the exercises of piety for to be tempted is the way and conduct of God over his Church and over all souls and was a part of the life of the Son of God It must also be part of the life of a devout soul and we must not doubt but God hath great designs upon them whom he puts into this estate Wherefore it concerns us to know how to make use of it and to learn how to gather strength in weaknesse and perfect our selves in temptation since vertue according to the Apostle is made perfect by weakness Thence she receives lustre God purifies us by contradictions and subversions he confirms and assures us by temptations Let us see how we may passe through this fire without burning CHAP. XVI Of temptations and the advantages a Christian ought to make of them THE first advice to be given in this point is not to be over-confident of our selves but to believe that we may be easily tempted while we are mortall and subject to the Law of sin and tyranny of concupiscence we shall alwayes have something to fight with There are a many who think they are in no danger of temptation who yet are very deep in it for either they are guided by their own naturall inclinations and motions and yet believe they do nothing but by the motions of grace and conduct of God or they are seduced by self-love and perswaded they are full of the love of God or haply are deceived by false apprehensions thinking themselves well advanced in the sight and truths of God These are great temptations which yet have the appearance of solid vertue when indeed the estate of such is very dangerous The greatest part of Christians think themselves free from temptations when they feel not the violence of them it is not that they are not tempted but the temptation hath feiz'd on them and raigns in them Whence they say they are in peace when they are most tyranniz'd over and most enslaved by temptation the evill is the more dangerous the lesse it is known For this reason we say the Christian must alwayes take heed to himself in temptation and easily believe it that he may the better stand upon his guard for our nature is corrupt and infirm our inclinations stray from God the spirit of the world is opposite to Iesus Christ and our enemies subtil and powerfull watching alwayes for our ruine This consideration should not perplex us but keep us in humility and continuall vigilancy The sight of the danger wherein we are should cause us every moment to cry out and require help of the Son of God our protector and refuge in tribulations and anguishes of soul. When we find our selves in temptations we are presently obliged to get out of them it is not sufficient not to consent thereto and to be willing to submit to the effects of the evill spirit but we should endeavour to destroy the temptation as far as we can if it arise from within us and issue from our own nature we must curb it as St. Paul did I keep under my body saith he and bring it into subjection For in such temptations which must often make use of fasting watching prayers and austerities we must oppose our selves fight against our inclinations destroy our evill habits curb our lusts and affections forcing them from all objects as much as possible In brief we must use violence against our selves delicacies are indeed the effects of self-love and the fuel of temptations If we would free our selves from temptation we must take away the cause for when there is a correspondence between our nature and our enemies our souls will at last be yielded up unto them Let men commend these serenities of devotion as they will and preach up the goodness of God yet if it be true that vertue must be bought that we must crucifie the old man and destroy him not sooth and cherish him if according to divine and humane Lawes he that will overcome and gain the Crown must fight if wrastlers as St. Paul saith to gain a transitory honour and fading crown deprive themselves and abstain from all things what we do who as Christians hope for a crown must of glory immortality We must fight oppose and subdue our selves if we will triumph over temptation which is bred in us But if the temptation be from the Devil we must then oppose it the more couragiously with a Christian generosity For if he find us remiss he will strike home overcome us To a faithfull confident soul he is no more then a Fly to a feeble and cowardly fierce as a Lion Resist the Devil and he will flie you saith St. Iames. As to discover so to vanquish and destroy temptations we must live in great humility and above all take heed we trust not too much to our own courage or good resolutions on the contrary we must distrust our selves and confide only in God for we should be overcome in any ever so small temptation if God by his grace did not assist us if he gave us not his light we should not so much as know them Wherefore we must always say with the Disciples Save us O Lord or we perish We must often call upon the spirit of Iesus and the grace of his mysteries to give us strength in our weakness and light in the darkness of our spirit who was himself tempted that he might overcome us that in the temptation of Iesus we might find strength and grace sufficient to preserve and save us in all manner of temptations This Saint Paul meant when he said Take unto you the armour of God that ye may resist in the evil day It belongs to the Son of God to give us the armour that is to give us strength and grace to