Selected quad for the lemma: religion_n
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A16866
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The exercise of true spirituall deuotion Consisting of diuers holy meditations and prayers; seruing for the inflaming of mens benummed affections; the quickening and increase of sauing grace; and the better ordering of the whole course of the life of a Christian, in a manner acceptable to God, profitable vnto others, and comfortable vnto his own soule. The first part.; Exercise of true spirituall devotion.
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Alliston, Joseph.
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1610
(1610)
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STC 377; ESTC S117776
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98,747
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428
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and raigning with thee and with all that heauenly and victorious host of thine in glorious and triumphant manner for euermore Amen The difficultie of conquering a mans selfe and his owne affections A Man must striue along while and that with great earnestnes and continuall exercise and endeauour before he can ouercome himselfe and hauing mastered his owne will and waiward affections giue vp himselfe wholly vnto the obedience of God in all things with humble submission both of body and soule So great resistance and opposition shal he finde within himselfe by reason of his corrupt nature euen that treacherous enemie which lieth lurking continually in his owne bosome haling and drawing him from that which is good and hindring him in euery godly purpose and in euery holy action and religious enterprise in such sorte that except he euen offer violence as it were vnto himselfe and to his sinfull nature and labor with a strong hand to subdue corruption within him he cannot preuaile O Lord my strength without thee I can doe nothing vnto thee therefore do I stretch forth my hands Thou knowest how weake and how fraile I am how vnable of my selfe to resist that secret enemie which continually opposeth himselfe against me in euery thing which is good thou seest how hard a matter it is for me to bring euery thought of my heart euery motion desire and inclination of my will and euery action of my life vnto that subiection and obedience which thou requirest how difficult to frame my selfe wholly vnto thy will and to submit my selfe vnto thee in all things according vnto that rule and commandement which thou hast giuen vnto me O therfore let it please thee to strengthen me with thy grace which alone is sufficient for me let it please thee to helpe me in all my weaknesses and to giue vnto me a greater measure of Christian fortitude and of spirituall courage and resolution withall to giue good successe vnto all my actions enterprises and endeauours in the way of godlines and saluation yea O Lord let it please thee to leade me forth in the constant and continuall practise and exercise of pietie and true religion and in the resistance of all enmitie whatsoeuer that so when the time of this spirituall warfare is ended I may receiue that incorruptible crowne of life and glorie which thou hast promised vnto them that ouercome The worlds esteeme of Gods children IF one comes into the presence of a kings sonne or some great or noble personage hee no sooner seeth him but he is moued with reuerence and sheweth that according to the worthines of his person he doth regard and honour him But as for the sonnes of God who haue God to their father Christ their elder brother all the Saints and Angels their companions and fellow-bretheren and the kingdome of heauen it selfe their inheritance for euer where they are to liue and raigne as kings in that glory which is vnspeakeable how little are they regarded in the world how meanly accounted of What small honour is shewed vnto them whom the king of heauen doth and will honour so greatly Nay are they not of all men the most base and contemptible in the eyes of men The nearer they are vnto God the more they are loued and honoured of him are they not the more hated despised of the world Euen holy Dauid a man after Gods owne heart is but a worme and not a man in the account of men Iehoshua and his followers monstrous persons Paul and the rest of the Apostles as the filth and of scouring of all things men vnworthie to liue vpon the earth In briefe all the saints who are deare and precious in the eyes of God euen made signes and wonders amongst men Cease to wonder at this It is no newe no strange thing The world knoweth and hath alwaies knowen his owne and maketh much of them but those that are Gods it neither knowes nor regardeth And no marueile since it knoweth not God himselfe but hateth and despiseth him euen whiles in a false and counterfaite maner it professeth loue vnto him Behold we euen all the faithfull are now the sonnes of God such loue such honor hath our heauenly Father vouchsafed vnto vs but yet our glory and dignity doth not appeare but when Christ our hope our life and glorie shal be reuealed and made manifest then shall we be changed into the glory of his image we shal be like vnto him and then shall the blinde and contemptuous world both see and know him and vs to their owne shame and confusion Lord let me neuer regard the railings of the wicked Shemeis of this world nor the mockes and scoffes of those prophane Ishmaelites who could neuer abide thy chosen people the sonnes of the promise for whom thou hast prouided the inheritāce yea let me passe very little to be iudged of mans iudgement euen of those who are carried whither their owne blinde and corrupt reason or fancie leadeth them But let me alwaies know and consider that thou seest not as man seest that thy thoughts are not as their thoughts but that I am deare and precious in thy sight and shal be glorious hereafter for euer euen with the same glorie wherewith thy Christ my sauiour is glorious Let mine eyes alwaies be fixed vpon that blessed estate wherein I shall continue for euer in the heauens and let the hope thereof cause me to purge my selfe that I may be pure euen as he is pure vnto whom then I shall bee made conformable in righteousnesse glorie and happines Another THe sonne and heire of a Noble man or some great personage whiles he liueth obscurely in a strange and farre country beeing not knowne is not regarded but lieth open to the contempt and abuse of the meanest and vilest persons who if they knew his estate would more highly esteeme of him Lord let me not care how vile or base soeuer I seeme whiles I liue heere in a strange place vnknowen vnregarded since thou hast assured me that I shal be so glorious at my returne into mine owne countrey the habitation of thy saints that heauenly paradise that celestiall Ierusalem the citie of thee the euerliuing God the glory whereof is vnspeakeable God and the world of a different iudgement GOd seeth not as man seeth They are many times of great esteeme amongst men who are vile in Gods sight such as he hath reiected And on the other side they are highly in Gods fauour oftentimes who are very meanly esteemed of among men yea despised and accounted as the refuse of men and the ofscouring of the world Those which seeme the least and most contemptible in the eye of men are oft the greatest and most honourable in the sight of God and those which seeme the very abiects of men such as in whom nothing is to be desired appeare as glorious before him O Lord seeing thou dost iudge so differently from that which the world
THE EXERCISE OF TRVE SPIRItuall Deuotion Consisting of diuers holy Meditations and Prayers Seruing for the inflaming of mens benummed affections the quickening and increase of sauing grace and the better ordering of the whole course of the life of a Christian in a manner acceptable to God profitable vnto others and comfortable vnto his own soule The first Part. AT LONDON Imprinted by Felix Kyngston for Thomas Man 1610. TO THE RIGHT WORSHIPFVLL SIR EDVVARD LEVVKENOR Knight grace and happines SIR I here offer vnto you a small present yet my first fruites in this kinde and therefore such as I hope will find some acceptance with you That which moued me to the bringing of them to open light was not any priuate or sinister respect but mature and aduised deliberation First I obserued the great neglect of those two maine duties of meditation and prayer how farre most were from the daily practise thereof how much vnacquainted therewith then which notwithstanding nothing should bee more ordinary with Christians I heard oft complaints of the scantnes of writings of this nature as much as of superfluitie in others yea euen our aduersaries haue not spared to fasten this as a reproch vnto our profession and religion though indeede they haue least cause to complaine of vs what colour soeuer they may seem to haue seeing the greatest part of their labours herein is farre from that holy exercise of true deuotion sauouring in many things too much of superstition and carnall affectation and not that onely but also as may easily appeare to those that are of sound iudgement right discerning exceeding defectiue in the main points and maimed in the principall parts euen in those which should bee the very life of deuotion I considered also how necessarie it was for men to haue many helps and furtherances at hand whereby they might bee inured to the due and frequent performance of this dutie so requisite for the taking away of that drines of hart and that deadnes of affection which is oftentimes in the best and for the remedying of that spirituall distemper which not seldome doth preuaile too much with them who otherwise are well disposed desire to approoue theÌ„selues vnto the Lord in truth and sinceritie as also for the quickening of the fainting soule and languishing spirits which without the daily exercise of this and other holy duties are soone ouertaken with a kinde of chilnesse and want of spirituall life and motioÌ„ Besides that which more nearly concerned me I remembred how God hath placed all men in the world for a time not to be idle and vnprofitable but to be helpful and seruiceable vnto others whiles they liue by what meanes they can yea how straitly euery one is bound to imploy any talent that God hath betrusted him withall during his life here vpon earth vnto his glorie and to the benefite of others lest when the day of accounts shall come he be found blame-worthie and so depriued of the ioy of his master euen the glorie of that celestiall Kingdome the losse whereof can neuer be recompensed with the greatest abundance of the fading pleasures and fruitles vanities of this alluring and deceitfull world I saw also how fast my dayes did slide away with a swift foot and how the harbingers of death had oft summoned me to my last end giuen me warning to prepare for his comming yea how my candle was much spent whiles I had giuen but little light vnto others Eccle. 9.10 Psalm 115.17.18 and thought vpon that of the wiseman that there is neither worke nor inuention nor knowledge nor wisedome in the graue whither I was going and making hast euery houre and therefore considering oft and seriously with my selfe the shortnes vncertaintie of my fading life the line wherof God of his mercie and goodnes hath drawen out longer then I either did or could promise vnto my selfe I was desirous that this short course of mine might not be without profite but that according vnto that poore talent which the Lord hath giueÌ„ vnto me I might in any sort be beneficiall vnto the least of the saints of God and be a meanes of spiritual good vnto any though not in such maner as those whom God hath inabled for greater performances This it was that preuailed with me and at length moued me beeing also moued thereunto by some who hauing interest in me made me more forward in this businesse to publish that for the benefite of others which I had first vndertaken for mine owne priuate exercise the exercise I meane of my minde in the duties of true spirituall deuotion The reasons why I haue made choice of you among others vnder whose name to communicat vnto others these slender labours of mine are these especially First that knowing you haue bin so well seasoned in your younger yeares by meanes of the religious and godly care of your worthie parents who as while they liued they were lights vnto others so now being dead and at rest with the Lord their example may well be a paterne and president vnto those of that ranke and order I might hereby stirre vp your pure minde in this your riper age vnto the daily exercise of those duties which were so vsuall and ordinarie with theÌ„ as doubtlesse they haue left few behinde them who deserue the like praise herein As the remembrance hereof may be a ioy and comfort vnto you so the imitation of the same wil be comfortable and exceeding profitable both vnto your selfe and others Againe I was drawen hereunto in priuate respects both in regard of that ancient frieÌ„dship first begun whiles we liued in the same Colledge vnder the same gouernment as also of that kindnes which you haue since shewed me and which being desirous to make acknowledgement of I thought good to take this occasion Accept therfore I pray this as a testimonie of the vnfained loue Christian affectioÌ„ which I deseruedly beare towards you in many respects And if it please you at your vacant houres to bestow some time in the perusing of it I hope you shall finde that which maybe some waies profitable which is the only thing I desire and aime at The Lord increase his graces in you and multiply his blessings vpon you and vpon that whole familie that it may be as it hath bin a light vnto others in this darke and sinfull age wherin the examples of those that should goe before others in the practise of pietie and godlinesse are so rare and precious Your Worships in all christian dutie and affection I. ALLISTON Emman Coll. in Cambridge August 30. 1610. The Preface MEditation praier these ought to be the daily exercise of euery true Christian. Ne ther can I see how he should deserue the name of a Christian who dâ—th altogether neglect either or both of them Both of them are necessarie as seuerally in themselues so especially iointly together although indeede the one neither may nor can be well