Selected quad for the lemma: enemy_n
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A80485
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A sermon preached at the assizes in Salisbury upon Saturday, July 23. 1653 By Henry Carpenter, vicar of Steeple-Ashton in Wiltshire.
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Carpenter, Henry, 1605 or 6-1662.
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1653
(1653)
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Wing C614A; ESTC R222501
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33,242
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47
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and shame The first Occasion 2. Upon the Churches just sentence of Excommunication Clave non errante rightly and duly administred for some crying sins and scandalous offences An heavy Ordinance which casts men out of the Church into ghostly torments and spiritual agonies in Conscience by Satan St Paul may well say 2 Cor. 2 6. Sufficient is this Punishment c. which cutteth men off from communion with the Saints of God Sufficient indeed which cutteth men off from communion with God himself the God and all the Good of the Saints Sufficient indeed for dismal Consequences the hiding and withdrawing of the light of his Countenance the witness of his Spirit and the comforts of his gracious Presence Sufficient to such a one c. He needs no more punishment to be sure created Nature being capable of no greater here This is the Case of the incestuous Corinthian and it admits of two heavy Aggravations in that very Text 1 Cor. 5.4 5 both from the Judg and Executioner 1. In the Name and with the Power of the Lord Iesus Christ Verse 4 That is by a Commission from Christ which issuing out in his Name when the Church proclaims it on Earth Christ signs it in Heaven And this is an heavy case to be cut off and cast out by Christ the Redeemer by Jesus the Saviour It is not a small cloud that will hide this Sun Rev. 6 16 not a light matter that will anger this Lamb. 2. Vers 5. 1 Pet. 5.8 Rev. 12.9 Psa 27.12 To deliver such an one unto Satan the grand Adversary of Mankind the Devil And this also is an heavy case David deprecates it as a fearful evil To be given over unto the will of his enemies though but corporal and temporal Of how much deeper deprecation may it be thought worthy to be delivered up unto the will of The Enemy spiritual and immortal who is big with Malice never satisfied but with blood and death 1 Sam 22.18 Fall upon him Doeg was an hard saying of Saul Fall upon him Devil a harder saying of God And yet that same Text affords as many Extenuations both from the Restraint and End 1. For the destruction of the flesh Lo Satan is restrained in destroying Ps 104 26 Iob 38.11 That Leviathan hath bounds set him as well as that Element he plays in Hitherto shalt thou come and no further Iob 1.12 and here shall thy proud waves be stayed As there in Job's case first restrained to his Goods and Children Hitherto and no further Iob. 2.6 then to his Body only Hitherto and no further So here in the Corinthians case the Destroyer is restrained to the flesh For the destraction of the Flesh Hitherto shalt thou come but no further and here shall thy proud waves be stayed 2. For the destruction of the flesh That the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus Lo Satan is ordered and overruled to another End then he intends not to accomplish 1 Tim. 1.19 2 Tim. 3.13 2 Pet. 2.20 but to spoyl his own works however he get his own end with Hypocrites carrying them on to more sin waxing worse and worse their latter end worse then their beginning but with Gods own he is compelled to Gods end 2 Cor. 12.7 As there in Pauls case That he might be humbled to that end and no other So here in the Corinthians case That his flesh might be destroyed and his spirit saved to this end Rom. 6.6 Rev. 3 2. and no other That sin might decrease and grace increase That the old man might be crucified and the new enlarged in him Thus by the Devils Commission upon the Churches Censure for scandalous Crimes which is the second Occasion 3. Upon Gods own Excommunication by Divine Desertion the Church neglecting her office in that kind God himself sometimes doth cut off and cast out as it were excommunicate mens spirits from his gracious Presence and deliver them up to the Devil by terrors to fright them back and whip them home to himself again As in the cases of Job and David giving them occasion to say of such terrors preventing sin as David to Abigail preventing blood Blessed be thou of the Lord that thou hast met me this day 1 Sam. 25.32 and blessed be the Lord God of Israel which sent thee this day to meet me c. God often sets the Devil to hedg up the way of Christians with his Terrors and evil men with Afflictions and Persecutions as it were with thorns as was threatened or promised the Church of old Hosea 2.6 I will hedg up thy way with thorns c. And blessed thorns which hide and stop every path to sin Upon all these Occasions God grants the Devil some power in commission in common as it were over Good and Bad but with great difference Over the Bad Ephe. 6.12 Ephes 2.2 2 Tim. 2.26 1 Cor 12 2 2 Cor 4.4 as their Ruler The Rulers of darkness of this world as their Head Working in the Children of Disobedience as their Conqueror Taken captive by him c. as their God The God of this world hath blinded their minds c. Over the Good only as a Jaylor over his Prisoners For a righteous Judg may commit his own son that is a Malefactor into the hands of a Jaylor not at his absolute arbitrary power to kill or rack or whip at his will and pleasure but according to warrant and commission And thus God commits some of his own into the hands of this Jaylor as by the particular warrant appears This Warrant is recorded by which the Jaylor is in greater Chains then the Prisoners Rev. 2.10 Behold the Devil shall cast some of you into Prison that ye may be Tryed And ye shall have Tribulation Ten days The Church of Smyrna whom it concerned is bid Behold Behold their Jaylor as well as themselves his Prisoners Behold their Jaylor in Chains of Three Limitations Limitations in all the Circumstances of Persons Time and Place of Affliction 1. In the Persons and Number of the Afflicted The Devil would have All in his hands but he is there in Chains Not All but some of you 2. In the Place and Nature of the Affliction The Devil would have it Hell and Destruction but he is there also in Chains Not so but into Prison and Tribulation that ye may be Tryed 3. In the Time and Duration The Devil would have it like his own Chains Everlasting but he is here too in Chains of Limitation Not so but for Ten days And then shall be heard the saying that was prophecyed Prisoners go ye forth and ye that are in darkness shew your selves Isai 49.9 Therefore Fear none of these things which thou shalt suffer but be thou faithful unto death and I will give thee a Crown of Life And thus for the Manner and Occasions of Gods granting the Devil such Power