Selected quad for the lemma: enemy_n
Text snippets containing the quad
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A03609
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The soules implantation into the naturall olive. By T.H.; Soules implantation
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Hooker, Thomas, 1586-1647.
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1640
(1640)
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STC 13732; ESTC S104198
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169,253
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375
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thing so there must be a beam of Gods love to fall upon the soule before it can love God againe as in Hosea 11.4 I drew them with the cords of a man even with the bands of love God lets in the cords of love into the soule and that drawes love againe to God But above all that place Cant. 2.4 marke the manner how Gods Spirit expresseth himselfe to the soule He brought me into the banquetting house Cant. 2.4 opened and his banner over me was love stay me with flaggons and comfort me with apples for I am sicke of love And so when the banner of Christs love is spread over the soule the soule comes to be sicke in love to Christ As it is in war when the Commander displayes the banner these three things are signified by it First that there is the presence of the Commander Secondly the displaying of the banner commands all to come to it Thirdly while it is held out all keepe to it Now see the excellencie of the Spirit of God in the Scripture The Church was then in some trouble but the Lord Christ brings the Spouse into his chamber nay into the wine-celler and the banner that was displayed over her was love and first Christ came as a Commander to redeeme her and to save her from all troubles and afflictions Secondly it commands the soule to come to the banner Thirdly when God displayes his love in the beautie of it in any measure then all the company of poore sinners come in unto it and so they love the Lord because the Lord hath loved them This love of God doth beget our loves in three particulars First Gods love to us begets love in us towards him and how there is a sweetnesse and a relish which Gods love le ts into the soule and warmes the heart with you shall see how the fire is kindled by and by As when a man is fainting we give him Aqua-vitae so a fainting sinner is cold at the heart and therefore the lets in a drop of his loving kindnesse and this warmes the heart and the soule is even filled with the sappinesse of the mercy of God as Cant. 1.1 2. where the Spouse saith Let him kisse me with the kisses of his mouth for his love is better than wine The poore soule though hee drinke water yet he drinkes better wine than any carnall man under Heaven the kisses of his mouth are the comforts of his Word and Spirit The soule saith Oh let the Lord refresh me with the kisses of his mouth that is of his Word and Spirit let the Lord speak comfort to the heart and this is better than wine For the Lord must doe it before hee can be apprehensive of his love yea let the Lord expresse the comfort of his precious promises in Iesus Christ to me And againe in the second verse Because of the savour of thy garments thy name is as an ointment poured forth therefore the virgins love thee Christ was the oyntment Christs oyntment is his graces and the savour or the communication of this is the expression of his love to the soule the virgins are the soules truly humbled that love the Lord. Secondly as this warmes the heart so the freenesse of the love of God thus let in and thus intimated begins even to kindle this love in the soule that it sparkles againe Rom. 5 8. see how God sets out his love to us Seeing saith the Apostle that while wee were sinners Christ died for us This commends the love of God the Lord sends to poore miserable sinfull broken-hearted sinners and saith Commend my mercie to such a one and tell him that though hee hath beene an enemy to me yet I am a friend to him and though hee have beene rebellious against me yet I am a God and a Father to him and let him not thinke that because he hath offended me therefore hee shall not receive mercie from me but here is my love and it is worth the commendation Christ died for poore sinners when they were enemies therefore if God so loved us as to dye for us when wee were sinners and enemies how ought we then to love one another But much more how ought wee to love the Lord What was it that kindled that frozen and vile and stubborne and wicked heart of wretched Saul who had a heart as hard as ice 1 Sam. 24.19 when David had him upon the hippe and might have slaine him but would not even this wrought upon the heart of Saul and kindled a fire of affections of love towards him and made him say Come againe my son David Thou art more righteous than I for thou hast rewarded me good whereas I have rewarded thee evill And thou hast shewed mee this day how that thou hast dealt well with mee forasmuch as when the Lord hath delivered me into thine hand thou killedst me not For who ever slew not his enemie when he found him at such an advantage wherefore the Lord reward thee good for that which thou hast done unto mee this day Sauls heart is all on fire with this kindnesse So when the poore sinner considers this with himselfe and saith Is the Lord so mercifull to mee who ever thus found his enemie and slew him not I that loved my sins and continued in them had it not beene just that I should have perished in them But will the Lord not only not slay his enemie but give his Sonne for mee Oh let my soule for ever rejoyce in this unconceivable goodnesse of God! Bee thy heart neuer so hard if it have but the sense of this it cannot but stirre thee to humiliation Lastly the greatnesse of the freenesse of this mercie of God being setled upon the heart enflames it This sweetnesse warmes the heart this freenesse kindles the fire and when the greatnesse of the sweetnesse comes to be valued this sets the heart all upon a fire In Eph. 3.17 18. the Apostle desires that Christ might dwell in their hearts and that they might be rooted in love but how shall we come to this that we may bee able to comprehend with all Saints what is the breadth and length and depth and height of the love of God in Christ As if the Apostle had said If I once come to see the unmeasurablenesse of Gods mercy this will blow up the soule and enflame the heart with admirable love againe to the Lord and make the soule say I that have done all that I could against the good God it breakes my heart to thinke it there was no name under Heaven that I did more blaspheme and teare in peeces more than this I have despised no command so much as the command of God and of Christ and I have grieved no spirit so much as the good Spirit of the Lord against those sweet motions that God hath let into my soule and struggled with me to plucke me from my company and to contend with me
of the next ditch must containe and content them till their dying day Yet to such as these the proposition of Habakkuk extendeth it selfe If the persons and causes be alike the joy also shall bee alike I will rejoyce in the Lord I will joy in the God of my salvation If Christ be come into the house and by him salvation who shall forbid them to bee comfortable as Zacheus and the Jaylor I will rejoyce in the Lord or because of the Lord Bajehova and so in the next clause Baelohi God is left unto me when all else is taken away still I I have a God to take comfort in And First he is greater matter of comfort than any of those things can be of sorrow and dejection for those are finite evils but God an infinite good Secondly he is higher than they all my comfort lies out of the reach of all enemies and all adversities Psal 46.1 Thirdly he is nearer than any of them a very present refuge in the time of trouble Losses and crosses goe neere to the heart and to the quick but God is nearer Fourthly he is Jehova in whom I rejoyce hath his being of himselfe and gives being to all the creatures and preserves it so long as him pleaseth Therefore by his benefit I shall subsist when all the secundary meanes of maintenance are intercepted Matth. 4.4 Man lives not by bread onely but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God Fifthly he is the God of my salvation that is he saves my body and naturall life whether I have meanes or no meanes it is he that strikes the maine stroke in my preservation by an Hebraisme oft called The God of salvation and this not only temporally for the body but spiritually and eternally for the soule And then the argument is easie He that doth the greater will doe the lesse too God that saves us from hell the Divell will save us from starving and the like miseries Jehova that became the Lord Jesus to us when we had no strength will never sticke with us for trifles in comparison This sweet and blessed name meets him that reads the Text in the Originall Baelohi jishgni which Saint Jerome translates in God my Jesus or Saviour just as the Virgin sang Luke 1 47. De civit Dei l. 18. c. 32. My spirit rejoyceth in God my Saviour and Saint Austine preferres the using of this nomen amicius dulcius before the Septuagints Deo salutari meo Certaine it is that by Christ only we have interest in God and can rejoyce in him There is no salvation in any other Act. 4.12 nor any other name given under heaven by wich wee can be saved And in him doe all true Christians triumph Phil. 3.3 not in the righteousnesse of the Law nor in any legall and carnall priviledges And wee have ample cause to rejoyce in him even in the greatest failing of naturall comforts and greatest desolations that can come upon us Although the fig-tree blossome not c. Although there be another drought another and ten years one after another and a greater mortality of pestilence and the sword too with all the mischiefes that accompany it Yet I will rejoyce in the Lord I will joy in the God of my salvation In greatest wants true Christians have cause enough to rejoyce in God Doctr. However the world goes for comforts of nature yet in Christ wee have full cause to rejoyce and so should stirre up our selves to doe See Psal 42.5 7 8 9 10 11. and 73.25 26 27 28. Dying Jacob lifted up himselfe by thinking on the salvation which God had wrought for him Gen. 49.18 Job stript of all praised God as when hee had all about him Moses seeing him that is invisible feared not the wrath of the King Micaiah having seene God in a vision was nothing daunted at the presence of two glorious Kings The three children beleeving in God regarded neither NebuchadneZZars anger nor the furnace extraordinarily heated So the Apostles Acts 4. and 5. and the Martyrs in severall histories of the Church Reason 1 Eccles 1.2 One reason whereof may be taken from the vanity of the creature Vanity of vanities vanity of vanities saith the Preacher all is vanity and vexation of spirit They are good comforts of nature where they may be had and a good man will make them so many encouragements in the way of grace But God never appointed them to be part of the Saints portion Gen. 15.1 No I am thy portion thy buckler and great reward and so the Christian makes account Lam. 3.24 The Lord is my portion saith my soule therefore will I hope in him And he sets no such high price upon wine oyle or other comforts as that without them he should not rejoyce in his God So he either parts with them the more easily or wants them the more joyfully Reason 2 The other is taken from the superabundant excellencie of the Creator Both in respect of his Attributes on which whiles a Christian meditates hee shall ever finde something to set against his particular maladie with a large over-plus of comfort And in respect of his Workes both of Creation and Providence and this both for preservation and gubernation Psal 92.4 5. Thou Lord hast made me glad through thy worke I will triumph in the workes of thy hands O Lord how great are thy workes and thy thoughts are very deepe And these very evils drought dearth warre c. are they not by Gods permission and limited how long they shall continue and ordered to a good end Rom. 8.28 And in respect of his Ordinances The Word is our song in the house of our pilgrimage and the joyfull tidings of our salvation The Sacrament is a marriage supper of the great King for his onely Sonne Eate O friends drink yea drink abundantly Cant. 5.1 Psal 84.1 O beloved And the Tabernacles of God are amiable the onely joy of David And in respect of his unspeakable benefits in and by Christ that one word Salvation is an epitome of all blessings it comprehends the causes means effects and perpetuitie of our blessednesse and absolute overthrow of the enemies and specially the immediate authour of salvation which is Christ It would aske an houres discourse and more to tell in particular what ample cause we have to rejoyce in Christ that if we had nothing left us but naked Christ in naked Christ we should have Peace and Joy enough John 16.33 Christ at the worst and poorest is a rich treasure Quod cunque Deo indignum est mihi expedit Tert. Whatsoever became him not as God is expedient and profitable unto us even his shamefull accursed death And if his death be so joyous and blissfull what shall his resurrection be his ascension session at the right hand of his Father and intercession for us with all the gracious execution of his Kingly and Propheticall