Selected quad for the lemma: enemy_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
enemy_n	arm_n	good_a	great_a	1,047	5	2.4349	3	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A56453	More than conquerour a sermon preach't on the martyrdom of King Charles the I, Jan, 30, at Christ-church, Dublin : before his Excellency Arthur Earl of Essex, lord lieutenant general and general governour of the Kingdom of Ireland / by B.P.	Parry, Benjamin, 1634-1678.	1673 (1673)	Wing P555; ESTC R31070	13,763	42

possibly be thought owners of such strength of body and mind as to endure the torments to which they were exposed without a secret arm an invisible power and a mighty irresistable grace subduing all before it And if it shall be further urged that even amongst Christians as Sectaries and others if they may be called Christians that are out of the Church there are some so stout that no penalties almost can force them to recant or renounce their errours and return to their wits and duty again we must say first That they are few for the number and much fewer for their worth Secondly That the obstinacy of bad men in a bad cause as it doth not justifie their crimes so neither doth it disparage the piety and virtue of good men in a good for a notorious Malefactour is not less a Criminal for being obstinate and unrelenting and therefore it does not at all disparage or evacuate the power of Gods grace that even wicked and carnal men may seem to have a share sometimes of the same fortitude and courage for hypocrisie is no stranger in the World The best things have their Counterfeits and it is the Devils constant work and choicest master-piece to imitate as much as he can the gifts and graces of Gods Spirit and Transform himself into an Angel of light to delude the World but as no man in his witts will say there is no such thing as Truth because some have writ Fables and Romances so neither can we deny the mighty operations of Gods Holy Spirit in his Church and Servants because there are so many lyars and pretenders to the same Spirit since we have a sure rule left us by which we are to walke our selves and judge of others In a word if it be true That it is the cause alone which makes a Martyr than they who have no other certificate from Heaven but that which is common to Brutes also are not Saints and Conquerours but Cheats and Deceivers and they are Children in grace as well as knowledge that will be thus baffled and trepann'd from their Holy faith by such Tricks and Impostures There is no man living without his Cross in this World one way or other but he that bears it piously and bravely and endures to the end he shall be saved and he that suffers for Righteousness sake is blessed for ever What man is he that would see good dayes in spight of all his Enemies and Oppressors keep thy Soul from evil and thou shall be happy in the midst of thy Troubles and what ever the World may rob thee of yet Heaven is thy portion and its refreshments thy comfort and reward no adversity can deprive thee of that since the more thou art afflicted the greater is thy Crown and therefore no good Christian will murmur or repine at the various methods of Gods providence in this World that thus exerciseth the faith and patience of his Servants that their joyes and his glory may be the greater For what ever the frailty of our natures and the weakness of flesh and blood may be he that sincerely makes God his hope shall not want a deliverance from or Consolation in his distress which they that carnally and Sceptically deride are not worthy to receive which brings me to the next particular The happy fruits the victorious consequences and effects of this spiritual warfare with the rewards and triumphs that attend it in making us more than Conquerours Crowning us with peace strength and joy in the Holy Ghost in this life and eternal glory in the next When God told St. Paul That his grace was sufficient for him he triumphantly declares He could do all things through Christ that strengthened him for having made it his constant exercize and study to have alwayes a conscience void of offence he feared not the face of man but thirsted to behold that of Gods and could with more zeal and pleasure lay down his life than other men could preserve theirs so vast so admirable a change can the Spirit of God make in the soul of man with such glory display his Omnipotence in our weakness His Majesty in our infirmities and make humane misery and distress a Theam and Theatre to display the strength and riches of his power and love Our Blessed Lord could have armed his Apostles with a word to have crush't the Earth to nothing given them legions of Angels to prepare their way and gather Captives or with storms and lightning have blasted the World into submission and Homage and made Kingdoms tremble and bow down before them But he took another course which though not so outwardly pompous or seemingly powerful and prevailing was yet more wonderfully and unexpectedly glorious and successful making weak things to confound the mighty and foolish things to confute the wise and Babes and Children to disarm Caesars and their legions baffle their strength and their Philosophy together and by humility and patience faith and perseverance gain more Triumphs then by Arms and Banners teaching us thereby neither to trust in nor make use of an arm of flesh in His service that His Gospel was not to be propagated by violence and blood force or murder Treason or Compulsion but the nobler Warfare of Obedience and Peace Vindicating also his Providence by bringing good out of evil defeating the malice of his Enemies and the arts of the Devil making good the Truth of his promises in the faith and courage of his Saints and Martyrs that his Holy Spirit was indeed the Comforter the Lord and giver of life both in the Tryal and the exaltation the exercise and establishment of their hopes and graces not onely in supporting and sustaining their infirmities but by inspiring them above all the horrours of Mortality rejoycing that they were counted worthy to suffer for his name sake An honour greater I may say then that of Angels who live but not by dying are Ministers of his will but not Martyrs for it They stand before the Throne but their voice is not heard from under the Altar they afford not their Maker cause or occasion to display such variety of wonders And therefore for man frail man dust and ashes not to fear death is more wonderful and glorious than to be above it and to expire for Gods Truth more noble than their immortality Wherefore our Holy Lord hath pronounc't a double blessedness to them that suffer for Righteousness sake the honour and the reward of persecution Their Memory shall be sacred and their name precious their sufferings eterniz'd and their very dust immortal and the Kingdom of Heaven being their assured portion they shall at the Resurrection of the just exchange their Purple for a Robe of light and their Crimson dye for a Crown of Glory and shine for ever as the Sun in the Kingdom of their Father And truly were it not for this what would the life of a Christian be but a miserable and empty nothing the

his pious soul the depth of his judgment or the humility of his mind the excellence of the Prince or the Divinity of the Saint Every thing conspired to make him great and happy but his graceless and irreligious subjects Never had people a better King never had Prince a more ungrateful people And shall not his Fall awaken us and the voice of his Blood send us for shelter to his which speaks better things than that of Abels Can so great a judgment be silenc't but by as high and loud a repentance a publick united sorrow and an universal remorse Let Turks and Arabians thieves and murderers make no conscience of their Actions Let the mad and frantick Sectary rave and be deaf to the voice of sober reason and Religion but let all that call on the Name of Christ detest and depart from so great iniquity and abhor the prodigious Villany of those monsters that shed the Righteous and the Royal blood and whilst we are ashamed of them and our selves let us prize the memory of his graces pay him Homage in the Grave and give him that tribute of Honour and obedience we denyed him alive Yes Great Prince we will reverence thy Memory and thy Righteousness shall not be forgotten thy Sacrifice shall not want Tears nor thy Martyrdom a Trophy raised by our sighs but much more lasting and eternal we will bury thee afresh who canst never dye nor shall oblivion sit upon thy Tomb whilst every loyal heart shall be thy Monument and every Eye thy mourner every year shall be the Resurrection of thy vertues and our shame thy goodness and our ingratitude thy glorious piety and our infamous disloyalty Thy Relicts shall be sacred and thy name pretious thy suffering Canonized and thy death immortal the perfume of thy graces and the fame of thy remains the voice of thy perfections and never dying piety shall be its own Chronicle and speaker Thou hast conquered thine Enemies and art entred into thy glory Triumph't over death and art sat down in greater Majesty and in a better Kingdom and what have we to do but to imitate his piety and goodness and make the vertues of his life our example For though his Royal Successor was graciously pleased to set out an Act of Pardon and Oblivion yet that alone will not serve the turn or acquit us of our guilt but we must have Gods pardon as well as the Kings if we would be secure if we would divert Gods judgments for the future and appear with confidence and comfort before his Tribunal hereafter But alas how can we expect Gods pardon when instead of Repenting we are ready to repeat our sins and renew those fatal crimes that destroy'd us willing and forward to warm our hands with new fires grow bright once more in Temple flames and consume the Church with fresh combustions If this be not so why then is there the noise and bleating of Jeroboam's calves in every corner wildfire-doctrine and religious nonsense Scripture perverted to edification the Faith pretended against the Decalogue and the Gospel made use of against the Creed When there is so much Atheism and prophaness on one hand and schism and sedition on the other and so great and general a neglect of God in us all can we think our selves safe without sincere repentance and reformation of our sins or that we stand so secure as not to fall again God can reach us with a secret arrow from Heaven or meet us with an open calamity and judgment in our faces he can blast our pride and confidence in a moment consume our strength and beauty in a trice We have had for many years such a Vicissitude of mercies and judgments as no Age or Kingdom can parallel and unless we have a mind to be rooted out for ever from being a people professing his Name let us make such timely suitable returns and acknowledgements as may evidence our sense and care our wisdom and repentance our gratitude and obedience under all his dispensations Let the mutability and misfortunes of this world fix and settle us the more on him that seeing the uncertainty and inconstancy of all earthly things here below we may seriously look up and wisely prepare for that glory which is above the stroke of change or death that so having fought the good fight and finished our course with joy we may have our warfare crown'd with immortality and honour and eternal life among the Saints in light FINIS