Selected quad for the lemma: book_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
book_n	david_n	king_n	samuel_n	1,895	5	9.9973	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A85783	The Christian in compleat armour. Or, A treatise of the saints war against the Devil, wherein a discovery is made of that grand enemy of God and his people, in his policies, power, seat of his empire, wickednesse, and chiefe designe he hath against the saints. A magazin open'd: from whence the Christian is furnished with spiritual armes for the battel, help't on with his armour, and taught the use of his weapon, together with the happy issue of the whole warre. The first part. / By William Gurnall, Minister of the Gospel in Lavenham. Imprimatur, Edmund Calamy.	Gurnall, William, 1617-1679.	1655 (1655)	Wing G2251; Thomason E824_1; ESTC R207679	343,381	430

commonly made of the Christians wood First he tempts to sin and then for it Satan is but a creature and cannot work without tooles he can indeed make much of a little but not any thing of nothing as we see in his assaulting of Christ where he troubled himself to little purpose because he came and found nothing in him Though the devil throws the stone yet 't is the mud in us which royles our comforts 'T was in vaine for the Philistines to fall on Samson till his lock was cut take heed therefore of yielding to his enticing motions these are the stumbling block at which he hopes thou'lt break thy shins and bruise thy conscience which once done let him alone to spin out the cure Indeed a Saints flesh heals not so easily as others drink not of the devils wassel there is poison in the cup his wine is a mocker look not on it as it sparkles in the temptation what thou drinkest down with sweetnesse thou wilt be sure to bring up again as gall and wormwood Above all sins take heed of presumptuous ones thou art not out of the danger of such Sad stories we have of Saints falls and what follows then Take him Jailor saith God Deliver such a one unto Satan and if a Saint be the Prisoner and the devil the Keeper you may guesse how he shall be used O how he will teare and rend thy conscience Though that dreadful Ordinance is not used as it should be in the Church yet Gods Court sits and if he excommunicate a soule from his presence he falls presently into Satans clutches Well if through his subtilty thou hast been overtaken take heed thou stayest not in the devils quarters shake the viper off thy hand ply thee to thy Chirurgeon green wounds cure best but if thou neglectest and the winde get to it thy conscience will soon fester Ahab we read was wounded in battel and was loath to yield to it it is said he was held up in his chariot but he died for it when a soule hath received a wound committed a sin Satan labours to boulster him up with flattering hopes holds him up as it were in his chariot against God what yield for this afraid for a little scratch and lose the spoile of thy future pleasure for this O take heed of listening to such counsel the sooner thou yieldest the fairer quarter thou shalt have Every step in this way sets thee further from thy peace A rent garment is catch't by every naile and the rent made wider Renew therefore thy repentance speedily whereby this breach may be made up and worse prevented which else will befall thee SECT II. 2ly study that grand Gospel-truth of a souls justification before God acquaint thy self with this in all its causes the moving cause the free mercy of God Being justified freely by his grace the meritorious which is the blood of Christ and the instrumental faith with all the sweet priviledges that flow from it An effectual door once open'd to let the soul into this truth would not only spoil the Popes market as Gardner said but the devils also when Satan coms to disquiet the Christians peace for want of a right understanding here he is soon worsted by his enemy as the silly hare which might escape the dogs in some covert or burrough that is at hand but trusting to her heels is by the print of her owne feet and sent which she leaves behinde followed till at last weary and spent she falls into the mouth of them In all that a Christian doth there is a print of sinful infirmity and a sent by which Satan is enabled to trace and pursue him over hedge and ditch this grace and that duty till the soule not able to stand before the accusation of Satan is ready to fall down in despair at his feet whereas here 's a hiding place whither the enemy durst not come the clefts of the rock the hole of the staires which this truth leads unto When Satan chargeth thee for a sinner perhaps thou interposest thy repentance and reformation but soon art beaten out of those works when thou art shewen the sinful mixtures that are in them whereas this truth would choak all his bullets that thou believest on him who hath said Not unto him that worketh but unto him that believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly his faith is imputed for righteousnesse Get therefore into this tower of the Gospel-Covenant and rowle this truth as she that stone on the head of Abimelech on the head of Satan SECT III. Thirdly be sure Christian thou keepest the Plains Take heed that Satan coop thee not up in some straits where thou canst neither well fight nor flie Such a trap the Egyptians hoped they had the Israelites in when they cried They are entangled they are entangled There are three kindes of straits wherein he labours to entrap the Christians Nice Questions obscure Scriptures and dark Providences First he labours to puzzle him with nice and scrupulous questions on purpose to retard the work and clog him in his motion that meeting with such intricacies in his Christian course which he cannot easily resolve thereby he may be made either to give over or go on heavily therefore we have particular charge not to trouble the weak heads of young Converts with doubtful disputations Sometimes Satan will be asking the soul how it knowes its election and where he findes one not so fully resolved as to dare to own the same he frames his Argument against such a ones closing with Christ and the promise as if it were presumption to assume that which is the only portion of the Elect before we know our selves of that number Now Christian keep the Plains and thou art safe 'T is plain we are not to make Election a ground for our faith but our faith and calling a medium or argument to prove our Election Election indeed is first in order of divine acting God chooseth before we beleeve yet faith is first in our acting We must believe before we can know we are elected yea by believing we know it The Husbandman knowes 't is Spring by the sprouting of the grasse though he hath no Astrology to know the Position of the Heavens thou mayest know thou art Elect as surely by a work of grace in thee as if thou hadst stood by Gods elbowe when he writ thy name in the book of life It had been presumption for David to have thought he should have been King till Samuel anointed him but then none at all when thou believest first and closest with Christ then is the Spirit of God sent to anoint thee to the Kingdom of Heaven this is that holy oyle which is poured upon none but heires of glory and 't is no presumption to reade what Gods gracious purpose was towards thee of old when he prints those his thoughts and makes them legible in thy effectual calling here thou