> as lemmas

1539 R. Morison tr. J. L. Vives Introd. Wisedome sig. C^v Let euery man descende downe into hym selfe [L. secedat in se vnusquisque], and there secretely thynke welle vppon this matter.

a1572 J. Knox Hist. Reformation Scotl. (1587) 277 To moue the heartes..of the true seruauntes of God..to discend within them selues, and deepely to consider, what shall be the ende of this pretended tyrannie.

1594 T. Bowes tr. P. de la Primaudaye French Acad. II. 11 Those Philosophers that..descended not into themselues, to know themselues and their nature.

1653 J. Howell German Diet sig. Gg.1^v When I descend into my self, and contemplat my most terrible horrible terribility, I can hardly hold my self within my self.

1671 J. Milton Paradise Regain'd ii. 111 The while her Son..with holiest Meditations fed, Into himself descended, and at once All his great work to come before him set. View more context for this quotation

1736 R. Brookes tr. J.-B. Du Halde et al. Gen. Hist. China IV. 60 Watch every Moment over your Heart, descend often into yourself, and pardon yourself no Fault.

1828 J. W. Cunningham Morning Thoughts Gospel St. Matthew (ed. 2) 41 And how, without this occasional, and even frequent, retirement, can we hope to ‘descend into ourselves’?

1864 H. Melvill Lect. Pract. Subj. xx. 402 Descend into yourselves, search into yourselves, and be content with no evidence but that of an increasing love of God.

1909 Princeton Theol. Rev. July 410 He [sc. Calvin] does proclaim the immanence of God and invites us to look upon His works or to descend within ourselves to find Him.

1992 A. H. Rushdy Empty Garden ii. iii. 263 Jesus descends into himself—into his mind, his personality—in order to ascend through Satan's earthly kingdoms to his spiritual.