Selected quad for the lemma: truth_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
truth_n	word_n	worthy_a	write_v	238	4	5.2206	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A06436	Of prayer, and meditation Wherein are conteined fovvertien deuoute meditations for the seuen daies of the weeke, bothe for the morninges, and eueninges. And in them is treyted of the consideration of the principall holie mysteries of our faithe. Written firste in the Spanishe tongue by the famous religious father. F. Lewis de Granada, prouinciall of the holie order of preachers in the prouince of Portugall.; Libro de la oración y meditación. English	Luis, de Granada, 1504-1588.; Hopkins, Richard, d. 1594?	1582 (1582)	STC 16907; ESTC S100761	342,485	696

hath with a rare wisedome in such wise tempered the doctrine and accommodated him selfe vnto all states and conditions of persons that neither the verie highe and learned haue anie cause to leaue it as ouer base for them nor the verie lowe and vnlearned to refuse it as ouer highe for their capacities For here is made a conuenient prouision of competent meates both for the one sort and for the other And because the Awthor vnderstode right well howe farre the mouthes of men now adayes are owt of tast and how much they are more affectionate vnto the sleshe pottes of Egypt than to the breade of Angels I meane hereby rather to the readinge of prophane bookes by reason of the pleasant stile wherewith they thinke they are written than to the bookes of spirituall doctrine which are commonly written with more simplicitie he hath therefore dressed this meate in suche wise and hath written this doctrine in such a sweete and pleasant stile that it maie prouoke an appetite vnto this boke euen in such persons as doe otherwise lothe good and holesome foode besides that the verie matters them selues are exceedingly well chosen and of great profite And because it were the parte of rude and rusticall persons to geue thankes to the bees that make the honie combes and not vnto almightie God who created the flowers from whence the bees gather the honie which they worke in their hiues I exhort all persons to geue thankes to the deuoute and Learned Author of these workes for these so sweete and sauorie honie combes which he hath here geuen vs in such sorte that they omit not to procede further and to geue thankes to almightie God also who hath sent the flowers wherewith this honie is made And withall I make humble request vnto all men that I may be partaker of the prayets they shall make by meanes of the good disposition which I truste with the grace of God the readinge of theise holie and excellent deuoute workes shall cause in all godly and deuoute Christian Readers ✚ Bernard de Fresneda Bishoppe of Cuenca TO THE VERIE REVEREND FATHERS AND right honorable personnages DON ANTONIO DE CORDOVA and Father LORENÇO DE FIGVEROA The Epistle of the Awthor Note reader that theese to whome the awthor directeth this booke are two noble personages of the most noble and auncient howses of Spayne whiche haue forsakē all their wordlie possessiōs and entred into religion I Cannot find anie other place whither I maie better direct this my smale present then to your Reuerende handes For settinge a part diuers and sundrie reasons of great importance that bynde me so to do certeinlie the wonderfull change of liffe which your Reuerences haue made and the holie example which you haue geuen to the world in this our corrupte age are sufficient cawses to moue all such as doe anie thing desire the glorie of Christ to serue you in this your spirituall iourney that haue in such wise amplefied his glorie I might well speake of this matter more largelie in this place and surelie without lyinge or flatterie and to speake herein were not to emploie the time in the praises of men but in the praise of almightie god Forsomuch as it is manifest that this your wonderfull change of life hath not proceded of flesh and bloode but of the right hand of the highest But because it behoueth all men of our cote and profession to be free not onelie from all flatterie but also euen from all suspition of the same I will therefore content my selfe at this present onelie with geuing thāckes to our lord for this notable vertuous act of yours and I will confesse that we haue seene that wonder in our daies which the holie auncient father S. Ierome declareth to haue chaunced in his tyme. He writeth it in a certein Epistle to Ruffinus in theise wordes Bonosus thy frynd and myne is now gone vp by that misticall ladder S. Ierom. ad Ruffinum which the Patriarck Iacob sawe and according to the misterie of Moses he hath now sacrificed the brasen serpent in the desert where at this present he soweth with teares that hereafter he maic Reape with ioye Lett the truthe of this worthie act putt to sylence all the lyenge wonders which the Greikes and Lattins haue written in their histories Behold here a yong man brought vp in our companie and instructed in all good artes and learning who had no want neither of landes nor riches nor honor nor dignitie emonge his equales who forsakinge his mother and his sisters and aboue all his most deerlie beloued brother went to liue in an Iland which is verie solitarie and fearfull and enuironed with diuers seas there to dwell like a new inhabitor of paradice and being alone in this place howheit not alone forsomuch as he is in the companie of Christ he seeth now the glorie of almightie God which the Apostles them selues neuer saw but when they were alone in the mownt Thus farre be S. Ieromes wordes This holie example of Bonosus is treulie a thinge wherein almightie God is to be praised as in a singuler worke of his grace And suerlie no lesse is he to be praised in your Reuerend and most honorable personages who hauinge much more to forsake in the world than Bonosus had and being now in the verie flowers of your youth haue forsaken the world and all the vayne pōpe and pryde thereof and with all your great landes and possessions the dignitie of your highe noble estates and the hope of so great honorable promotions that were due vnto your nobilitie and vertue and to the renowmed desertes of your verie auncient and most noble families And all this yow haue dōne to embrace euen the pouertie nakednes and obedience of Christ you haue not done like that yong man in the gospell Math. 19. who remembring how great possessions he had refused to followe the waie of perferction which our sauiour Christ tawght him But ye haue done like that wise and prudent merchant who after he had found the pretiouse pearle Math. 13. sould all he had in the world to bye the same And if vnto this wonderfull change of yours we ioyne also the notable vertuous change of liffe which the most noble and renowmed Duke of Gandia hath made in our daies This Duke of Gandia forsooke his greate Dukedome in Spayne and became a religious mā of the holie societie of Iesus commōlie called Iesuittes Cantic 8. and the merueylous changes of sundrie other right honorable personages which might here be reheresed it will verie euidentlie appeare that there is more sweetenes in the waie of Christ then the world thinketh there is sithence euen those that haue had so long and so greate experience both of the one kinde of life and of the other do verie hartelie and willinglie renownce all that euer the world geueth and promeseth vnto them for the least crumme that falleth from Christes table sayinge

of his owne frailties infirmities falles and miseries S. Bernarde For if humilitie be as S. Barnard saith the contempt of our selues which procedeth of the knowledge of our selues it is manifest that the deeper a man shall wade by meanes of consideration into this knowledge of him selfe and the more he shall digge into this donghill the better and more trewlie shall he vnderstand what he is of him selfe and the more shall he contemne and humble him selfe Now to speake of thankes geuinge vnto almightie God for his manifolde inestimable benefites out of which do proceede those songes and praises of God which is a principalle parte of true religion from whence I saie doth this rendering of thankes procede but from the profound consideration of the same benefites For the more a man shall by meanes of consideration penetrate and vnderstand the greatnes and excellencie of Gods benefites the more is he prouoked to praise and geue thankes vnto almightie God with all his hart for the same I doe here also passe ouer the contempt of the world and the hatred of sinne with other the like vertuouse affections which next after grace doe proceade of this exercise of consideration which is the spurre and prouoker of them all and the oyle wherewith the lampes of all these vertues and good affections and of other the like graces are still nourished and meinteined HOW PRAYER IOYNED with consideration helpeth all the vertuous affections § V. PRAIER likewise when it is ioyned with consideration as ordinarily it is wont to be helpeth no lesse then consideration it selfe yea sometimes it helpeth much more For consideration commonly is not occupied anie further but onely about enkendelinge of some one of these vertuouse affections but praier when it is attent and deuout and is withall accompanied with spirite and feruencie of minde is wonte to stirre vp all theise vertues aforesaid For when the soule presenteth her selfe before almightie God with an earnest greate desiere to appease his wrath and to desiere him of mercie then there is no stone so hard but that it is moued hereunto I meane hereby that there is no holie affection but that it is then wholie exercised and emploied to this purpose And it fareth in this case as it doth with a mother that is desirous to still her childe or as it doth with a good and louinge wife that hath a desire to pacefie her husband when she perceaueth him to be angrie In which cases they are wont to omitt no meanes they can deuise that maye aniewise further the matter Forsomuch as in praier the religious soule accuseth her selfe before almightie God The offices ād effectes of praier Math. 18. there with the publican she is confounded and ashamed for her sinnes and offences there she purposeth an amendment of life there she humbleth her selfe and trembleth before the supreme diuine maiestie There she beleueth there she hopeth there she loueth there she adoreth there she praiseth there she geueth thankes for all benefites and there she offereth sacrifice vnto almightie God The habites of vertues doe increase withe the exercise of their actes both for her selfe and for all her neighbours All these thinges be performed in a deuout praier And because the habites of vertues do increase with the exercise of their actes hereof it procedethe that the soule by meanes of this exercise of prayer remaynethe very much bewtified and perfited in these vertues As S. Laurentius Iustinianus affirmeth in these wordes In the exercise of praier the soule is clensed from sinne charitie is nourished Faith is illuminated Hope is streingthened the spirite is conforted the bowels are mollified the hart is quieted truthe is discoueuered temptation is ouercome heauines is put to flighte the senses are reuiued the strengthe that was weakened is repaired lukewarmenes is abandoned the rustines of vices is consumed and in this exercise the liuelie sparcles of heauenly desires do rise vp and shew them selues emonge which burnethe the flame of the loue of God By this we vnderstand that praier is a most conuenient exercise for that man that mindeth to reforme his maners and life and to change himselfe into an other man As our Sauiour hath plainly signified vnto vs in the misterie of his glorious transfiguration whereof S. Luke writeth thus that as he wa● prainge in the mount he sodeinlie transfigured him selfe in such wise that his face shined verie brighte like the sonne and his garmentes became white like snowe why our sauiour woul de transsigure himselfe rather at the time of praier thē at anie other time Our Sauyour could right well haue transfigured himselfe at other times then at praier if it had pleased him But he would of verie purpose be trāsfigured whiles he was at praier to signifie vnto vs in the transfiguration of his bodie what vertue praier hath to transfigure our soules that is to make them to lose the customes of the old man and to clothe them with the new man which is created after the image of God Prayer ha the greate vertue to transfigure our soules There it is where the vnderstanding is illuminated with the beames of the true sonne of iustice and where the garmentes and ornamentes of the soule are renued and becomme whyter then snowe This is the verie thinge that almightie God signified to holie Iob when he said What Is it by thy wisedome Iob 39. that the hauke prunethe and changethe her fethers when she beateth her winges ag●●nst the sowthe Certeinly it is a thinge greatly to be wondered at that this birde knoweth how to cast of her old fethers and how to fether her selfe with newe And that for this purpose she seeketh the whot aire of the sowthe that with the heate thereof her poores maie be opened and with her mouing the olde fethers fall of and so geue place to the newe that beginne to springe out But how much more wonderfull is it to see a soule vnclothe her selfe of Adam and to put on Christ to change the conditions of the olde man and to adorne her selfe with the conditions of the new man Now this change that is so wonderfull is then wrought when the deuoute soule turneth her selfe to the sowthe and there beateth her winges in the aire And what is it to turne her selfe to the sowthe but to lift vp her spirite to the consideration of the eternal light and to the beames of the true sonne of iustice And what is it to beat her winges in the aire but to be there sighinge and pantinge with heauenly affections and desires calling vpon almightie God with great anguishe of minde and desiringe most humblie his fauore and grace For then bloweth the aler of the sowthe that is the heauenly refreshinge of the holie Ghost who with his temperate heate and sweete mouinge strengtheneth and helpeth vs to cast of all the olde fethers of the olde Adam that they maie geue place to the newe fethers of