Selected quad for the lemma: enemy_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
enemy_n	able_a	lord_n	zion_n	59	3	9.5212	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A93404	Moses his prayer. Or, An exposition of the nintieth Psalme. In which is set forth, the frailty and misery of mankind; most needfull for these times. Wherein [brace] 1. The sum and scope. 2. The doctrines. 3. The reasons. 4. The uses of most texts are observed. / By Samuel Smith, minister of the Gospel, author of Davids repentance and the Great assize, and yet living.	Smith, Samuel, 1588-1665.	1656 (1656)	Wing S4189A; Thomason E1624_1; ESTC R208959	212,879	567

Midianits into thy hand lest Israel say my hand hath saved me Thus David when he was to encounter with Goliah The Lord saith he Saveth not with sword nor speare 1 Sam. 17.4.7 but the battle is the Lords That no flesh should rejoice in his presence 1 Cor. 1.19.31 But that he that rejoyceth should rejoyce in the Lord. And lastly Reas 4 because all power and might is with him to save and deliver the Churches cause is ever the Lords cause and the people are the Lords And to bring downe the wicked God can arme frogs and lice catterpillers and the smalest of his creatures and these being sent of him shall prevaile As Moses incourageth the people Exo. 14.14 the Lord shall fight for you therefore hold your peace Seeing that herein viz Vse 1 in the proction of Gods Church and people the work of God his power wisdome justice and providence doth appeare How may this stir up all Gods people to beg and intreat the Lord that his work may appeare to us at this time wherein so many are dayly plotting to undermine Religion the Gospell and ministery and all That God would now take care of his Church and people that we may at last see Sion in her beautie and that at last we may see the Church thoroughly purged all things which make for the beautie of the Church established Let all the Lords remembrancers give him no rest till he thus shew his work upon us and make Jerusalem the praise of the whole earth O that England might now see this worke of God when so many are wrastling against this worke Esa 62.6 7. Now Lord let thy worke appear and let thy power thy providence and mercy be seene in the defence and protection of thy Gospell and Church that all the world may see that thou art mind full of thy Church And let shame fall on them that be enmies to the work of the Lord amongst us That the Lord would regard the prayers of the destitute that it may be written for the generations to come Psal 102.18 that the people that shall be created may praise the Lord. Secondly Vse 2 this lets us see the happie priviledges of Gods Church and people above all the wicked in the world that have such a watchman and keeper that never slumbreth nor sleepeth Deut. 32.11 12. It is he that keeps them as the Apple of his eye that spreadeth abroad his wings and beareth them up as the Eagle her young ones And the ground of all is his people are his portion and Jacob is the lot of his inheritance O who would not bea member of his Church to whom these excellent priviledges belong and appertaine why should we not thus trust in him in the worst of times and in the sorest danger Nothing can stave off his mercy but sin let us be humbled for sin and meete him by unfeigned repentance let us awake him by our prayers as the Disciples did Christ and say Master save us lest we perish And last of all Vse 3 when the Lord shall declare his work and shall be pleased to send deliverance to his Church and people Zac. 3.2 that they are as a brand taken out of the fire It becometh the just to be thankfull and to looke up to the hils from whence our deliverance comes and to say with Mary He that is mighty hath done great things for me Lu. 1.49 and holy is his Name Many of us partake of many mercies and deliverances from God with those Nine Lepers but few returne thankes to God but hereby we may know whether any mercy or deliverance we receive from God bebest owed upon us in mercy or judgment by considering how our hearts stand affected in thankfulnesse to God after the same And thy glory unto their children HItherto we have heard their petition and that was for protection Now for their reasons to inforce their petition and they are two 1. If the Lord would be thus pleased graciously to heare them and protect them in their journey towards Canaan it would redound much to his glory For then should those Canaanites see and all the wicked of the world that there is a God that takes care of his Church and people and might be afraid to offend him 2. If the Lord would be thus pleased to prosper them and protect them then it should fare well with the Church and people of God for Ages to come His mercifull dealing towards them would be made knowne to their Children And thy glory to their Children The Lord had promised to give the land of Canaan to this people the seed and posteritie of Abraham The Lord had now begun to bring them onward of their journey thither and if the Lord should now have cast them off in the wildernesse then the glory of the Lord should have beene obscured and the ungodly Heathen would have blasphemed God and said that it was because he was not able to do it And therefore that the glory of God might not be thus obscured or dimmed or evill spoken of by their enemies they intreat the Lord to go before them to direct and protect them so as their enemies might have no cause to insult or they once to doubt of Gods promise From hence we learne Doct. 4 To plead Gods glory a good argument to move the Lord to pitty his Church That there is no greater argument to move the Lord to protect his Church and people in times of misery and distresse then this that it shall turne much to his owne glory Our Saviour teacheth us in this prayer left unto his Church as a pattern and platforme of all our prayers First to pray that his name may be hallowed and to conclude our pravers with for thine is the Kingdome power and glory To shew that we can use no better argument to move the Lord to grant us any thing we stand in need of Then when it shall tend to his owne honour and glory for of all things the glory of God is most dear to him so as he is most tender of it and will part with it to no other Esa 42.8 I am the Lord that is my name and my glory will I not give another It was our Saviours prayer and practise to seek his Fathers glory Jo. 12.28 Father glorifie thy name Joh. 8.49 50. and againe I seek not my owne glory but his that sent me Thus Moses was so set upon Gods glory Exod. 32.32 as that he preferr'd it before his own part in the book of life And thus those Seraphims cry one to another Holy holy holy is the Lord of Hosts Esa 6.3 the whole earth is full of his glory And those foure and twenty Elders say Rev. 4.11 thou art worthy O Lord to receive glory and Honour and power c. And when this glory of God is set before our eyes and pleaded in our

tribulation hee knew God to be the Lord and humbled himselfe greatly before him Thus David in all times of his distresse had still recourse to God Ps 18.3 4. The Lord is my strength in whom I trust my shield my salvation and my refuge Thus Paul buffited by Sathan 1 Cor. 12 prayes three times So that the point is clear and plain that the only refuge of Gods Church and people in time of affliction and distresse hath ever been Gods bosome as a sure refuge And great Reason Because it is the Lord that hath the principal hand in all the tryalls afflictions of his people Reas 1 Now who can cure the wound better than he that gave it Deut. 32.39 Hos 6.1 It is he that killeth and maketh alive He woundeth and he healeth When we are judged we are chastned of the Lord. 1 Cor. 11.32 And he is said to be the God that heareth prayers and therefore to him shall all flesh come Secondly Reas 2 affliction bringeth men to a more clear certain and experimentall knowledge of God and of our selves 1. 2 Chron. 33.13 Of God as Manasses by his affliction knew that God was the Lord. 2. Of our selves for now the Lord awakens conscience and brings our former sins to remembrance that we had forgotten as Job hath it If they be bound with fetters Job 36.8 9. and holden with the cords of affliction then he sheweth them their works and their transgressions that they have exceeded When sicknesse comes and affliction seize upon us that we know not which way to turn our selves then if ever we begin to look up to God the thoughts of death and the thoughts of eternity will make the most desperate and hard-hearted sinner to look about him Object But do we not see Object that many that have been under Gods hand have had piercing sorrowes and sore afflictions and yet have not been humbled nor brought nearer to God but are as Ahaz that in time of his distresse 2 Chron. 28.22 he sinned yet more against the Lord. Answ 'T is true Answ this is not true of all neither doth affliction in its own nature drive us to God But this comes only from God who sanctifies affliction for the good of his chosen To wicked men they are the beginning of sorrowes and tend to their further ruine as they were to Pharaoh but they tend to the great benefit to such as love and fear God Rom. 8.28 to whom all things work for their best Is the time of affliction the time that God is to be sought unto by prayer Use 1 then let this minde us of our duty whether our afflictions be Nationall or personall to flye unto God as our only refuge There is a strange expression of the Prophet Hear the rod and who hath appointed it Mic. 6.9 Hear the rod What is that Why all Gods rods are speaking rods all Gods rods utter a voice or a cry and therefore must be hearkned unto Lam. 3.39 Man suffereth for his sin Our sufferings then do tell us of our sins and the Lord saith I will plead against them by the pestilence and by blood Afflictions are Gods messengers and alwaies come with a message from God that is that we finde out in our selves the cause of Gods displeasure and that we speedily meet the Lord by repentance And when Gods hand is upon us in what kind soever every soule should make this application to himself Jer. 2 1● as to say Hast thou not procured this unto thy selfe in asmuch as thou hast forsaken the Lord thy God Surely it was a sad complaint that the Lord takes up I have corrected them but they have not been humbled The Lord help us to finde out the plague of our own hearts wherefore the hand of God is gone out this day against the Land so many waies And yet O the cursed Atheisme of our hearts that lay no more Gods judgments to heart the Pestilence hath spoken aloud to us the sword hath spoken aloud and this strange sicknesse and visitation that hath swept away so many hath spoken aloud all calling upon this Land and Nation for speedy repentance But we have not laid Gods judgments to heart we have not been humbled to this day Secondly Use 2 seeing the bosome of the Lord is the best refuge to flye unto in times of distresse we may see the happy estate and condition of Gods children above all the wicked in the world in their greatest miseries they are never left without comfort whereas wicked and ungodly ones God hears them not in the time of distresse 'T is true in time of misery wicked men wil cry call but God hears them not nor regards their cries They cried not to me when they howled upon their beds Hos 7.14 O when the Lord shall make no more account of our prayers then the very howlings of a Dogg who is able to put to silence the voice of desperation But now for the godly the Lord doth not only give them free liberty to come to the Throne of grace in times of misery but doth give them a comfortable assurance that they shall be heard Mat. 7. Ask and ye shall have And if earthly Fathers can give unto their children good things much more will our heavenly Father give not only what we ask but more abundantly Ephes 3.20 Above all that we are able to ask or think Enemies Tyrants Death Devills cannot make a true believer miserable that hath such a God to flye unto Thirdly Use 3 seeing the Lord hath recorded in his Word the prayers of his servants we may take notice of the great mercy of God towards us in this age of the world for whereas we are ignorant and know not how to pray the Lord hath provided for our weaknesse and ignorance and hath left us patterns of prayers that were made by the holy servants of God that so we might use them in the like case as Psalm 92. A Psalm for the Sabbath as most proper for that day So here A Prayer of Moses when the Church was in great affliction and distresse Dan. 9. So the Prayer of Daniel Nehemiah David c. which we may use in the like case as they did So that there is none in the Church that can plead ignorance but they may learn out of Gods Book how to pray The Lord deals with his people as a Father with his child bids him say after him Thus doth the Lord with his people Take unto you words Hos 14.3 and say thus Take away all iniquity and receive us graciously and so will we render the calves of our lips And the Lord foretells by his Prophet that he will powre upon every member of his Church this Spirit of supplication and of prayer Zach. 12.10 But may set forms of prayer be used Quest or may this Psalm of Moses be used in the

some to merit some to be seene of men pharisaical like c. And do not thefe things for Gods sake to honour God with their substance can have no comfort at all in it And thy glory unto their Children Here we have the second end of their petition and request made unto God for protection viz that it might not only fare well with them but also with their posteritie and the Church of God that should live after them From whence we learne Doct. 5 that it is the duty of all Godly Christians We ought to take care of the Church after our dayes to have a speciall care of the Church of God after their departure that when we are dead and gone yet our seed and posterity after us may likewise flourish and be in a good estate How earnest is David for the Church that it might prosper and flourish O be favorable to Sion Psa 51.18 build thou the wals of Jerusalem Where David prayes for all heavenly blessings and graces for the Church That God would repaire the decayed estate of it and fence it about with the wals of his protection against the Churches enemies And this hath been the speciall care of Gods people in all their prayers to pray for the good of Gods Church and people Even after their dayes that it might prosper and flourish As for such as are the enemies of the Church he prophecyeth vengeance against them They that hate Sion shal be ashamed Psal 12.9 By all which he sheweth his exceeding care he had of the Church And such was that tender affection that good Nehemiah bare towards the Church of God That when he heard by those poore Jewes Nehem. 1 that came to the Pallace at Shusan for reliefe by whom he understood the miseries of the Church that was at Jerusalem He sat downe and wept and mourned and fasted and besought God for his Church We are all members of one and the same mysticall body the Church Reas 1 and if a man be a true member of this body he cannot but desire the welfare of the whole Secondly the welfare of a State and Kingdome is lapped up in the happie and florishing estate of the Church Reas 2 It cannot be well with the right side when there is a plurifie in the left miserable is the estate of those Princes and common weales that labour not for the prosperitie of the Church and Gospell Religion hath beene a friend to Princes when Princes have not beene friends to Religion in the Churches peace they have peace When there is no order but confusion in the Church Princes can never looke to be truly setled on their thrones This condemnes them as no true members of the Church of God Vse 1 that respect not the walls of Jerusalem but their owne walls that so they may build up their owne houses leave the house of God desolate that mind themselves in their prayers but seldom mind the Church that it may flourish when they are gone Moses Josuah and David Deut. 33. los 24. their greatest care was for the Churches welfare after their dayes that the generations to come might serve the Lord. And surely there is no religion where the coutinuance of religion for our posteritie is not thought upon The Lord knows this duty is little thought upon at this day now that Religion is ready to take her wings and fly away though we see the enemies busie to sow tares and sects and Heresies increase upon us all threatning ruine as if the Lord had a purpose to lay his vineyard waste Yet how few lay the Churches miseries to heart Doubtlesse the great securitie that is amongst all even amongst professors themselves this day ' are sad Omens and presages that God is not far off with some further judgment then yet we have tasted of It shall be our wisdome then to make more conscience of this duty Vse 2 to beg hard at the throne of grace that the Lord would not remove his candlestick from amongst us but continue his Gospell still amongst us and to our posterities after us even to the comming of Christ that we may never see nor our posteritie after us Popery or Heresie set up and countenanced but that God would still dwell amongst us owne us for his Church and people that his glorious Gospell Englands glory may not depart from us And thy glory to their children THere is one thing more observable in these words that they which in the former part of this Psalme lay as it were in the gulfe of despaire as not worthy to open their lips to God for themselves Yet now are bold not only to pray for themselves but for the Church of God and their children and posteritie afer them Hence we are taught that poore sinners Doct. 9 Sinners cannot pray for themselves no● others Pro. 28.9 whilst they live in their sins and are not reconciled to God can neither pray for themselves nor for others But upon their Repentance and reconciliation to God can pray for themselves and others The sacrifice of the wicked is abomination to the Lord but the prayers of the righteous are his delight Iob. 9.31 God heareth not sinners And ye as living stones Heb. 13.16 are made a spirituall house c. To offer up spirituall sacrifices acceptable to God thorough Jesus Christ Till we become living stones in Gods Temple there is no accepting of our sacrifices we offer up to God The Lord had first respect unto Abel and then to his Sacrifices where the person is not accepted the sacrifice is rejected And the reasons are First every unregenerate man is called a stranger and an enemy to God Reas 1 Ye that were strangers and enemies to God c. Eph. 2.19 Now things done by strangers are not much looked upon but by Enemies are no whit regarded Secondly whilest a man lies in an impenitent estate and in his sin Reas 2 not being reconciled to God such can ask nothing at Gods hand by vertue of any promise for God hath not made any promise to the wicked unlesse it be of Hell and of wrath but all the promises are made over to the faithfull in Christ In whom all the promises are Yea and amen But now when a wicked man shall turne from his wickednesse and by repentance come to be reconciled to God he may goe boldly to the Throne of grace and beg mercy not only for himselfe but for others There is no way to be heard of God in prayer but first to be at peace with God and reconciled unto him How may this stir up every Soul speedily to returne unto God Vse 1 by repentance and to seeke reconciliation againe with him that so they may come boldly to the Throne of grace to beg mercy in time of need for our selves and the Church for without this we cannot looke to obtaine any thing at Gods had For wanting faith whereby we lay