Selected quad for the lemma: enemy_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
enemy_n	according_a	hand_n	lord_n	994	5	3.8044	3	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A89259	Protection proclaimed (through the loving kindness of God in the present government) to the three nations of England, Scotland, and Ireland: wherein the government established, in the Lord Protector and his council, is proved to be of divine institution; and the great stumbling-block of thousands of Christians (in regard of his title) removed; proving it to be none other than what hath been given to those whom God hath made instrumental for his peoples deliverance of old. / Written to satisfie unsatisfied consciences, by John Moore, a well-wisher to the peace of our English Jerusalem.	Moore, John, of Wechicombe, near Dunster, Somerset.	1655 (1655)	Wing M2562; Thomason E860_5; ESTC R206643	17,676	24

heart that he did animate the Captains that were with him to tread upon the necks of five Kings saying Come neer put your feet upon the necks of them And Joshua said unto them Fear not nor be dismayed be strong and of good courage for thus shall the Lord do to all your enemies against whom ye fight After the death of Joshua the people fell away from following the Lord and the Lord afflicted them by the hands of the Midianites And they cried unto the Lord who for his Names sake appointed Gideon to be their Protector from the spoil of the Midianites who being but of a mean Family in Israel spake thus unto the Angel of the Lord O my Lord wherewith shall I save Israel behold my Family is poor in Manasseth and I the least in my Father's house And the Lord said unto him Surely I will be with thee and thou shalt smite the Midianites as one man After the death of Gideon in their distress he gave them Jephtha one of a small reckoning amongst them in their prosperity After Jephtha Sampson was given them to be their Deliverer from the hands of the Philistines Thus did God of old appoint men of his own chusing to be Head in the Government of his people and furnished them with parts suitable thereto and raised them from a low estate to honour and renown Thirdly is it the Title of Protector that thou stumblest at then consider that the Title of Protector was a Title given to the Governours of Israel long before they had a King to reign over them for I will ask thee this single Question What difference there is between a Protector and a Saviour I finde then in Scripture that this Title of Saviour God hath formerly conferr'd upon those Worthies that have been faithful Instruments in his hand to go in and out before his people against his and their Enemies which Title Nehemiah acknowledgeth chap. 9. 27. Therefore thou deliveredst them into the hands of their enemies who vexed them and in the time of their trouble they cried unto thee thou heardst them from heaven and according to thy manifold mercies thou gavest them a Saviour who saved them out of the hand of their enemies And this Title I clearly apprehend shall continue to those that shall be for the time to come instrumental in the hand of God for the safety of his people God having promised by the Prophet Isaiah That he will restore to his people Judges as at first and their Counsellors as at the beginning that Zion shall be redeemed with judgement and her converts with righteousness and the Title that they shall have at that time when such deliverance shall be wrought shall be Saviours or Protectors there being no difference as I know between Salvation and Protection and that this shall be the Title of honour which God will give to such a better name than that of Sons read the last Verse of the Prophet Obadiah where it is thus written And Saviours shall come up on Mount Zion to judge the Mount of Esau and the Kingdoms shall be the Lord's But because I have written somewhat more of my minde concerning these and other Scriptures of like nature in the ensuing Treatise I shall refer thee to it for thy further satisfaction desiring that thy judgment may not be blinded by thy own will which if it be not I hope thou wilt have as much satisfaction in reading it as I had in writing it which is the main desire of him who unfeignedly desireth the Peace and Welfare of his Country J. Moore A Word to the Servants of Christ in Covenant with him through Grace and in fellowship together under the Ordinances of the Gospel I Do wonder and admire that so few of you have given publick Testimony of your affection to the present Government established amongst us through the providence of the Almighty which makes me conceive it hath an ill savour amongst you or out of a tenderness of Conscience to the exaltation of Christ's Kingdom and longing for his reign you cannot fully close with it Now I beseech you Brethren from the tender love of my Soul to the Peace and Welfare of your Souls and Bodies that you will without prejudicate thoughts weigh these two or three Considerations in the balance of your Spirits First consider That the chiefest ground of all our Engagements Watchfulness Weariness Painfulness the shedding of our own and friends dearest Blood yea the Prayers and Tears that have been offered before the Lord in your several Congregations hath been for the full Enjoyment of Freedom and Liberty in the service of Christ from the coercive compulsions of bloody persecuting penal Statutes and now it is granted both from God and by Oath from his Highness the Lord Protector to the utmost of his power to be protected in it as if we were already weary of it we hate the Instrument by which it is confirmed Secondly consider the frame of your own Spirits at present with what they once were when such Freedom and Liberty was precious to you would you not once have owned almost any civil Government that would have granted that spiritual Freedom which we now enjoy I dare be bold that if the late King had proclaimed such Liberty to his Subjects he had been alive to this day except sickness had cut him off and that the people of God in England formerly called by the name of Puritans to whom such Freedom was precious would have laid their Bodies and Estates at his feet to manifest their affection And pray you what is the reason that we are so dull so dead and so void of our publick manifestation of affection to him that with the often hazarding his life hath been made instrumental in the hand of God to purchase it for us yea we are so far from declaring our affection that a great part of us swell with hatred towards him an evil requital for his labour of love towards us for if you well consider how many fell away to the Enemy and sought our destruction and others that had been admirable Instruments for a season threw up their Commissions refusing to act any further and how he I mean the Lord Protector that now is never refused to act for that Freedom we now enjoy but like another Joshua or Caleb followed the Lord fully in the work that he was called to and left us not till we had enjoyed that Liberty in the Gospel that we long looked for except we are blinde and can't see when good cometh I say If we consider these things we have not the least cause to manifest the least disaffection either to the Government or the Person to whom it is given but contrariwise hearty affection with all cheerfulness that we can Thirdly Measure the disposition of your Spirits with the Saints in the primitive times of the Gospel and you 'l finde that such peaceable Liberty which we enjoy under the present Government

was of such worth to them that they could pray for Kings and all that were in Authority that under them they might lead a peaceable and a quiet life and acknowledge that the Powers that were were ordained of God although at that time they were generally Enemies to Christ and Persecutors of his Gospel And lo we are so different in our Spirits from the qualifications of theirs that we cannot own that power to be of God that hath made provision for the peace and tranquillity of the servants of Christ in the Freedom of their Consciences and is tender of their welfare Now I beseech you dear Friends if Freedom and Liberty in the service of Christ be of any account with you be not sullen in your Spirits put away that peevishness of heart that is yet remaining in any of you against the Government estabished amongst us say not That is not of God that is a furtherance to and a countenancer of godliness call not that your Enemy which hath vowed your Protection let 's not say to him that hath stood to the face of Pharaoh for us Who made thee a Judge and Ruler over us as the Israelites did to Moses But let us unanimously close with and own him that hath so cheerfully engaged for our safety when others left us for in all probability our murmuring and repining at his exaltation may continue fresh plottings and contrivings of the common Enemy to take away his life and from thence foster their hopes of enslaving us again Now that you may consider these things with an equal hand for the preventing of your own ruine and the loss of the most precious Liberty in the World and that the Lord would open the Eyes of our Judgements that you may see where you are is the unfeigned desire of him who desires to commend himself to every one of your Consciences in the things presented to you and remain Your poor Friend and unworthy Fellow-Servant in the Bonds of Peace J. M. Protection proclaimed c. The present Government established in the three Nations of England Scotland and Ireland c. is of God THE great Creator of Heaven and Earth who by his providence supporteth the whole Creation hath made of one Blood all Nations of Men for to dwell on the earth and hath determined the times appointed and the bounds of their Habitation even he that worketh all things after the counsel of his own will though man know it not and perceive it not without whom there is not a sparrow falls to the ground nor the hair from a man's head who hath bounded and limited all his Creatures so that their bounds and limits they cannot pass without him the Sun and Moon and Stars in their constant course are subservient to his will the Sea keeps its bounds at the command of the Almighty yea every little Water course observes its Makers will the same God by his determinate counsel hath bounded and limited the sons of men both in their habitations and power beyond which they cannot pass Moses the servant of the Lord witnesseth Deut. 32.7 8. saying Remember the dayes of old consider the years of many generations ask thy Father and he will shew thee when the most high divided to the Nations their inheritance when he separated the sons of Adam he set the bounds of the people according to the number of the children of Israel The same God the same yesterday to day and for ever by the same power will and counsel hath bounded limited and put an end to the power and reign of the Norman Race of Kings and Queens in England yea the time of the late Parliaments Government was limited by God So that let them all be discontented never so much fret chafe and rage yea nil they will they they must stoop to the determinate counsel of Jehovah's will so that by the Divine institution of him who hath wrought all these things after the counsel of his own will is the present Government established in Oliver Cromwel subordinately to God the entituled Lord Protector thereof and whosoever he be that denies it or speaks against it denies the Omniregency of God and the Ordinance of his will for the Scripture saith That promotion cometh neither from the east nor from the west nor from the south but God is the Judge he putteth down one and setteth up another But for further satisfaction to my Country in general in particular to all those that have heretofore engaged for that Liberty we now enjoy that the present Government established in his Highness and his Council is of God I have inserted these Arguments following First that Government and Rule that answers the main desire and request of God for his people must needs be of God Now if it be proved that this Government is correspondent to the main request and desire of God for his people on earth then it must be of God and that it doth so I prove it thus God's main desire for his people on earth is That the powers below touch not his Anointed and do his Prophets no harm but that they may serve him without fear in holiness and righteousness all the days of their life Now this Government hath answered the desire of God herein and hath made provision for their peace and safety and hath vowed their protection so that they may without fear of any penal bloody persecuting Law worship him in the administration of the Gospel with Freedom and Liberty without confines of time or place Therefore of God God hath promised by his servant Obadiah the Prophet That Saviours shall come up on Mount Sion to judge the Mount of Esau yea this I say that such shall come and one is that shall judge condemn and throw down the Mount of Esau Esau was a Persecutor of his Brother Jacob because he had obtained the blessing of spiritual things and himself went without them Now by this Mount of Esau I understand the Mountainous Power of Persecutors of the Servants of Christ for their Faith in him which shall in due time be consumed like stubble and by degrees come to nought by the hand of those whom God shall send as Saviours for the same purpose Object I know that this will be objected If this Government be so careful of the Freedom and Liberty of the Servants of Christ why then are so many eminent Servants of Christ restrained in prison I answer Although the Lord knows I have both in private and publick prayed for their deliverance and that the difference between them and the Lord Protector by whom they are imprisoned may be reconciled he to them in loving kindness and favour and they to him by acknowledging the hand of God in exalting him to the Government in which he is invested Yet I say That they are not imprisoned as they are Servants of Christ nor is it for their Conscience in the worship of Christ in the Faith of the Gospel that

Sword in Christendom since the time of Scanderbeg and that if it were against a Forrain Nation they would as faithfully and as cheerfully serve under his Command as under any one in the world And that at last the very name of him was such a terror to them that they could not force on their Men to fight if they knew he was in the Field A valiant and a couragious General strikes terror to the heart of an Enemy although the number on his party be but few The very name of Gideon struck terror into the hearts of the Midianites that lay as Grashoppers for multitude yea at the very report of the Sword of the Lord and of Gideon they fled and were discomfited though he had but three hundred men with him The Prowess and gallant Atchievments of the Army since he was their Head in chief in bringing to subjection a potent enemy in three Kingdoms and setling them in peace and quietness except a few hot-spurs that bit their tongues with the very anguish of their spirits against him and clandestinely making a pit for his life they fell into it themselves hath made all the Nations stand amazed with admiration His Understanding and Judgement both in religious and civil affairs is acute and sharp whereby he is able to judge the differences of the one and with wonderful policy to act in the other for the protection and safety in civil affairs of the three Nations Therefore laying aside all envy heart burnings dislike contempt hatred enmity meditations of division murmurings repinings grudgings at the Government and at the honourable Exaltation of the Person who in submission to God is dignified with the Titie of Lord Protector it behoves all the good people of the three Nations cheerfully and cordially to submit unto it and acknowledge it a Mercy that God hath placed such an one over them that hath been a chief instrument in his hand an invaluable Liberty to purchase for them and is tender and careful of the continuance of it for for my own part I look upon it as one of the greatest mercies that ever England enjoyed and that it behoves all the faithful in the three Nations to submit unto it let them consider these things First Seeing that if there must be a Government till Christ shall come let such a Government be acknowledg'd that comes nearest to Christ and truely for my part it is clear to me that this Government now established comes nearer to Christ for reasons before alledg'd then any that I have read of since Christs incarnation whose coming is prepared as the morning which breaketh forth clearer and clearer to the perfect day Let us not then be angry at the Sun because it is not in the height of the Firmment so soon as the day breakes but let 's wait upon God as he moves in exaltation for he that believes will not make haste learn what that means and be not like the Israelites of old who fell out with Moses because they did not presently enjoy the land of Canaan which he had promised them Secondly consider that there can be no breach made against this Government but by Civil discord and bloody division amongst our selves and except we delight in embruing our hands in one anothers blood we will not hearken to any Seditious Principle And I beseech you dear Friends and Country-men lay to heart the miserable desolation of Jerusalem who though they were exceeding strong and Victorious against an enemy whilest they were united yet what bloody slaughters and unheard-of massacres were wrought amongst them by the civil discord of Seditious Captains and their siding one against another truly my very heart hath bled within me to read of it What ruine and misery did the seditious discord of Corah Dathan and Abiram and those two hundred fifty Princes of the congregation that came to Moses and told him that he took too much upon him to rule over them the earth opened her mouth and swallowed up part of them and fourten thousand seven hundred were consumed by a noyson Plague which shews the great wrath of God revealed from heaven against seditious principles amongst his own people quarreling at that Government and Governour whom he had placed over them Now I beseech you if you would not have your Country made an Akeldama nor the channells of your Cities and Towns run down with blood if you would not see your Wives and Daughters ravish'd before your faces and the brains of your little ones dashed against the walls if you would not hear your children cry to you for a bit of bread when you have none to give them and your selves stagger and reel in the streets for want of bread to support you feeble bodies would you not be drag'd by the hair of the head from your several meetings in the worship of God would you not have your blood mixt with your Prayers would you not have the eyes of all your comforts put out would you not grinde in the mill of a cruel enemy if you love your lives and liberties or any thing that is dear if you value christian liberty at any price if you count it worth any thing let no principle of sedition against the present Government be entertained amongst you least you repent it when it is too late There is no other way left to the enemy for to break in upon us but our own sedition and divisions consider how forward the Devil hath been in all ages to blow with his mouth at such a coale and what unquenchable flames he hath blown them to 't is that the enemy stands gaping for you cannot do them a greater pleasure how do they laugh in their sleeves when they hear of such a thing 'T is Nuts for them you cannot offer them a greater present 't will make them more pastime then all the Play-houses in London Remember how the Lords of the Philistines sent for Sampson to make them sport the Nations that are round about us that are our enemies they hate us already with a bitter hatred and wait for an opportunity to do us any mischief they can this way they hope to breake in upon us even our disaffection to the Government and divisions amongst our selves if you think it cannot be why Jerusalem thought the same yea their enemies thought so too Jeremiah in his Lamentations breaks forth into these words The Kings of the earth and all the inhabitants of the world would not have believed that the adversary and the enemy should have entred into the gates of Jerusalem Lam. 4. 12. Let us frustrate all their hopes then of bringing us into a two-fold slavery of conscience and body by a resolvedness of heart to submit unto that Government under which we enjoy unspeakable liberty considering that in the destruction of it lyeth our absolute ruine and misery For I must tell you whosoever you be that cannot see it and own it to be of God ye are