Selected quad for the lemma: enemy_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
enemy_n	david_n	great_a	saul_n	1,241	5	9.2078	5	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A17888	A spirituall combat a tryall of a faithfull soule or consolation in temptation. Written in French by I.P. Camus Bishope of Belley, and translated into English by M.C. P. of the Eng. Coll. of Doway.; Lutte spirituelle, ou encouragement à une âme tentée de l'esprit de blasphème et d'infidélité. English.	Camus, Jean-Pierre, 1584-1652.; Carre, Thomas, 1599-1674.	1632 (1632)	STC 4553; ESTC S107507	60,746	308

dreadfull Giant who in his brauadoes threatened to make him haulkes meate I doe not affirme that the Actes of Meditation are not good weapons weapons as S. PAVLE saith of our spirituall warefare able to ouerthrow the enemy * But as it happens often that those that are ouerburthened with too heauie armour doe fall downe vnder the waight of them and are lesse able and actiue in the fight thē though they were but armed with light armour so in spirituall Combates the multiplicitie of actes contrarie to the vice wherwith we are tempted doe more oppresse then succour the soule and with the simple acte of Contemplation it giues a more victorious blow then with the varietie of others All those litle Actes are like vnto the dew dropes or perles which the nighte's freshnesse vpon the Aurora's approach doth spread ouer the face of the earth wherwith it is but superficially watered but the act of Contemplation resembles a full flood which ouerflowing it's bākes doth throughly water the whole feilds and sinkes euen into the tree rootes The Father of a possessed person as S. MARKE doth teach vs in his Ghospell brought his sōne vnto our Sauiour beseeching him to deliuer his child from the wicked spirit which did torment him and said vnto him I beleeue ô Lord helpe myne incredulitie This word of Faith inuoking the Diuine assistāce inuited our Sauiour's sweetnesse to be mercyfull vnto him If you could but once THE OPISTE recollect all the powers of your soule in the vnitie of your spirit and with a louly and louing aspect expresse before God this onely word I beleeue with as much heate of the will as light of the vnderstanding I doubt not but ether this Spirit of Blasphemie would depart frō you or if by the Diuine permission he should persiste to persecute you it would be to bring the verie vertue which he seekes to ruinate to a greater perfection in you Exercise your selfe therfor with care and attention in this interiour recollection and in this act of simple Contemplation which is that eye of the doue washed in the milke of meekenesse and mourneing ouer the floodes of afflictions and you shall see God will restore you your wished Peace and will place you in a plentifull deepe repose * calling you into the holes of the rocke into the holow places of the wall An act of Contemplation CHAP. XI BVt what is this holow place Marrie Contemplation but in a higher degree then the former and which doth extend it selfe not to the hight of passiue Contemplation which depends not of him that doth plante and water but of the onely mercy of God * who giues that grace to whom he pleaseth the Spirit being free to blow whet it will * a hight which I will in no sort striue to touch THEOPISTE but such an one as will beare you vp vpon the wings of the Doue * that is of Grace to the highest point to which that actiue Contemplatiō can raise a truely faithfull soule one that is holily inamoured of the soueraigne good * Now which is this high point this supreame degree but that whereof the diuine S. DENIS the Areopagite the Apostle of France speakes in these tearmes to the Bishope of Ephesus TIMOTHEE in the first Chap. of his booke of misticall Diuinity As for you my deare Timothee applying your selfe with an attentiue and recollected study to misticall speculations forsake both sense and intellectuall operations all sensible and intelligible things all things that are and those that are not too and after an vnknowen manner rayse vp your selfe words that doe point out an actiue Cōtemplation proceeding from our owne endeuours assisted by Gods grace without which we are able to doe nothing rayse vp your selfe as much as you can possibly to his vnion who is beyond all essence and knowledge for being disintangled from your-selfe all things all which you haue forsaken and cleared your selfe of with a purely free issue you shall be carried vp to the super-essentiall raye of the diuine darknesses * Hitherto are the words of this great Sainte whom all the misticall diuines behold as their light Words of gold and which would not onely merit to be written in marble but vpon the harts of all those that make profession of a spirituall and contemplatiue life Here is no place to explicate them I doe but onely represent them to your eye or rather to your mynd THEOPISTE to th'ēd that you might note by the way the high and inaccessible couert or hole where you are to take vp your refuge if your desire with the doue to saue your selfe from the Hawkes tallon which by the tēptation of infidelity doth so eagerly pursue you You shall find out this refuge if during the storme renoūcing all the operations of your sense reason of the inferiour superiour part of the soule as well sensitiue as reasonable you retire and betake your selfe into your inmost chāber the Center bottome point and vnity of your Spirit into the essence of your soule for all these termes signifie the same thing amongst the misticall Diuines And there in the high silence and repose of all your exteriour and interiour faculties you be quiete see that God is God* you taste and see how sweete he is * And if in a close vnion you adheare to him by a liuely faith this adhesion will make you one same spirit with him according to that of the Apostle he that adheares vnto God is made one spirit with him * Thus shall you imitate the shells of the Sea which that they may not be the billowes game cleaue to the Rocke as soone as they perceaue the tēpest approch remaining there immoueable and vnuariable and you shall cleaue to God you shall hold him and not let him goe like to the Spouse in the Canticles you shall tye your selfe to the pillar firmamēt of Truth * the holy Church which doth propose vnto vs his oracles a pillar against which all the Gates and Powers of Hell shall neuer be able to preuaile * This is that secrete to you * or rather which is in you wherof the Prophete speaketh whither you may retire your selfe neere vnto God who is present to the most inward corner of your hart as all the Contemplatiues hold in a most peculiar manner This is the couert of his countenance vnder which we may shelter our selues frō the violence of contradictions and temptations no otherwise then litle sucking children who doe thrust into and hide themselues in their mothers bosome whē any thing feares them This is the denne where DAVID persecuted by SAVLE hidde himselfe and where his very enemy fell into his power This it that great City of Refuge that Sanctuary where you may free your selfe from your inuisible enemies and where they are not permitted entrie This is that high place that sharpe toppe of the Rocke where the Eagles build their nest * as IOB saith And that most high

Lord that I lifte vp my eyes who dost inhabite the Heauens * Alas doe not chastise me in thy fury correct me not in thine angar * And a number of others the like eleuations of of mind which the Psalmist breathes out in so many passages of his heauenly Canticles Whereby we are taught that Prayer is the towre of DAVID an Armory wherin are all sorts of armour against the assaults of temptation so that we alwayes conclude ouer prayers in those words of perfect resignation Let thy will ô Lord be done not myne * Be it done in earth as it is in Heauen * Be it done according to thy blessed pleasure not according to my guste or liking For if we desire that God should doe our will is it not most reasonable that we should submit our selues vnto his And that we should repute him our soueraigne law * put downe in the beginning of our booke * and engrauen in the midst of our hart We doe often aske and receaue not because we aske amisse * And God who is good doth sometimes out of Loue deny vs that which if he were offended with vs he would grāt vs. S. PAVLE petitioned to be freed from that shamefull temptation which did afflict him but was answered that grace did suffice him because his vertue was perfected in infirmity * So that he was heard in one sense and not in another Let vs therefore aske what we ought and as we ought and Gods promisse will neuer faile vs. For his Truth remaines foreuer and his word passeth not The word of God another Antidote CHAP. IV. BEsides Prayer there is yet another weapon very powrefull against temptations especially that with which you are afflicted THEOPISTE it is the sword of the Holy Ghost the word of God * whether it be heard for faith is by hearing and hearing by the word of Christ * read or spoken for its redounding is the voice of thunder which doth daūt the accursed spirits The tryall of this remedie was made by our Sauiours temptation in the desert who repelled the Tempters darts with the words of life life euerlasting * The Authour of it is S. HIEROME writing to his EVSTOCHIVM deliuering her verie particular and ample documents touching it S. GREGORIE in his Moralls S. BASILE in his short Rules and CASSIAN in his twenty two Conference all who with one consent doe aduise vs to store our selues with sacred darts opposite to the vices which temptation doth suggest as with so manie sharpe arrowes quiuered vp in our memorie where of we may make vse in time of neede to beate downe all the enemys plots by a constant and couragious cōter-batterie Howbeit I must ingeniouslie confesse this remedie is not so commō nor is it vsefull for euerie one but such as are conuersant in holie write or bookes of spiritualitie And indeed THEOPISTE I speake to you as to one that knowes the law * as S. PAVLE saith that you may make vse of this weapon in this your extreamitie according to the skill you haue therat All the Holie Fathers hold it soueraigne Hence DAVID said that the arrowes of God that is of his word were sharpe headed powerfull aboue his workes fit to beate downe the enemies of the King of Glory * That melancholie is to be auoyded CHAP. V. BVT I perceaue the tempest of your mynd requiers that I should sound search your wound yet deeper and presse and prie with more diligence into your sore O God THEOPISTE take-heade least that bitternesse of mynd which doth possesse you proceeding frō the smart of your euil endured with melancholie and impatience may be worse then the temptation it selfe It is a remedie which nature without the helpe of Grace can applie vnto it selfe while yet in lieu of disengaging it selfe it inueigles it selfe in lieu of curing it impoysones its woūd in lieu of lightening it makes its owne burden more vnweldie In vaine THEOPISTE in vaine doe you striue to build your interiour house vpon a solide and sure foundation vnlesse God put his hand to the worke If God keepe not the Citie of your soule in vaine doe you stand sentinell in vaine you walke the round of the walls * Vnlesse that strong armed keepe the Fort you are neuer to hope for Peace * If he awake not if he speake not the storme will not cease * the calme will not come * If you thinke to find out the meanes in your selfe whereby to conserue your Faith against the powers of darkenesse * you seeke for birds in the sea fishes on the drie land you looke to finde out fountaines of liuing water in broken cisternes and in Nature fruites not to be found in her garden effects that are beyōd her reach Yes for Faith being infused into our hart by a diuine and supernaturall way she will not be stayed there By humane meanes nor by our endeuours strife alone If you thinke by your owne endeuours to quite your selfe of the assaultes which are made against you you shall neuer be freed from them because this buckler is not of a temper strōg enough nor is this armour proofe The more that you drinke of the water of your Cisterne * the more you demand the more you are inflamed the more your thirst is augmented and your melācholie will increase by the very meanes you vse to remoue and put it away It is as oyle cast into the fire which in steede of extinguishing doth kindle it Haue recourse therefore to God in this behalfe in him you shall find Peace and repose for he assures vs that his yoake is sweete and his burden light * But that I may no further dilate my selfe vpon this remedy I referre you not to the bare reading but to the diligent and faithfull practise of the eleauenth and twelueth Chapter of the fourth part of our B. F. his Philothee where he speakes of vnquietnesse saddesse There you shall find soueraigne receptes for your desease and in the storme wherein you are tossed the Seagalls calme In fine that Peace of God which passeth all vnderstanding and all humane conceipt That we are in no wise to omit the ordinarie exercises of our vocation CHAP. VI. ABOVE all things THEOPISTE be ware that this affliction of mynd which doth crosse you doe not delay you as an importune Remora in the course of your nauigation that is in the exercises of your vocation For as the Crampe-fish hauing takē downe the fishers baite sends out by the line such a mūnesse into his arme that he is forced to lett all goe so the Angell of darknes who striues still as the Prouerbe goes to fish in troubled waters perceauing him selfe not able to staggar a soule by temptation takes pleasure at least to put him out of the racke or path of his dutie casting woode on his breade * as well as snares in his way * that he may forget to eate that or at least stumble at this He thinkes he

a good hart therefore and say with the Psalmist that though all the forces of Hell should make head against you yet would you not feare though a million of companies incōpassed you yet would you not dread because God doth rise vp to succour and saue you Vnite your selfe vnto him in the high point of Contemplation which I haue discouered vnto you keepe your selfe there without all discourse without all reflection vpon your selfe without framing any particular act in a profound and generall silence For it was in the vniuersall Peace and silēce of all the vniuerse and in the midst of a darke night that the Omnipotent WORD came from Heauen to earth to vnite himselfe to our nature * to enlighten euery man coming into this world * and to illuminate those who were in darknes and in the Region of the shadow of death * And with what torch but the torch of Faith wherby he makes our darknes lightsome I remember THEOPISTE I made once a litle spirituall treatise or EXERCISE OF LIVELY FAITH which might as I conceaue not a litle comfort you and more amply instruct you touching this act of Contemplation which I haue marked you out for your last refuge I made you this Paraclese or Consolation being at our villemond where I am detayned this winter to distribute the word of God After my returne to my Residence I will looke out that writing from amongst the papers of my Studie where it lyes buried and I will make a copie of it be taken to send you Meane while make vse of the instructions which are conteyned herein not onely in the temptation which doth presently presse you but in all the rest that may chance to assault you after you shall be deliuered of this For these precepts which for the most part I haue gathered out of the aduises of that blessed Prelate FRANCIS DE SALES of holy happie memorie our most honoured Father and Directour may be applyed not onely to the temptations of blasphemie and infidelititie but euen to all other temptations for that these endeuours are not so tyed to particularities as that they doe not also descend to generalities being of the number of those Antidotes which are tearmed vniuersall An Exhortation to spirituall vallour in imitation of IACOBS wrastling CHAP. XVI IN cōclusion I must make the Apostolike trumpet sound in your eares fight I fight THEOPISTE as a good and faithfull seruant of IESVS CHRIST * Fight generously māly incessantly that by that good Combat you may conserue your Faith and obtayne the crowne of Iustice * Our whole life is a warfare a temptation Sweete and gentle calmes are blowē ouer by rough stormes In the world as on the Sea the still calme day is most doubted most subiect to rayne The Calme of the mynd is still essayed by some rebellion that so standing alwayes vpon our gard temptation may not surprise vs. * Doth the greatnes of your aduersarie astonish you call to mynd that IACOB'S antagonist was yet stronger An Angell at libertie must needs exceede those Angells of darknes who be loaden with their chaynes Yet at IABOC'S well the Pacriarke held the Angell play and though he came halting away yet victorie and benediction was his Be couragious and the like will befall you And though you haue not a like aduersarie yet like IACOB you fight by God's permission a try all of your fidelitie you fight in the night of Faith which is inuironed with types enigma's clouds At IABOC'S well signifying that you are to cleanse your selfe from all naturall lightes and reasons all sensible and intellectuall know ledge to betake your selfe naked and pure to the toppe of the Spirit without all the formes and shapes of terreane things where liuelie and pure Faith keepes her Residence IACOB neuer quitted his hold till the Angell blessed him and the day began to breake So are you inseparably to hold God till the rayes of his countenance beginne to shine vpon you * And till he restore the ioy of his Saluation * Thus shall you become a true Israelite victorious and seeing God * Be not troubled that humane reason in you comes off halting you shall walke hereafter vpon a right legg the Diuine reuelation wherin consistes the essence of Faith An essence by so much the more pure by how much it admitts lesse of the mixture of naturall light and experiēce For Faith doth loose its merite saith S. GREGORIE where experience hath place being saith the Apostle of inuisible things and such as appeare not * If you desire to be armed with the Armour of God to defeate the Diuell throw away with DAVID SAVLS armour stripe your selfe of humane reason and sense We are not onely to wrastle against flesh blood but Powers and principalities also against the Gouernour of the world wordly darknes against the hyest and most subtile malice of our mortall enemy * The armour of God therfore is necessarie for vs to stand constant to stand immoueable like vnto the Mont-Sion * And to this end we are to retire our selues into the verie topp of our Spirit where God doth soueraignely rayne He that remaynes there vnder the wings of the Highest shall infallibly be deliuered out of the Fowlers snare and vnder that shelter shall sing to God the song of his deliuerie adoring this Mercy in the 30. 90. 123. ps or in the Canticle of our B. La. ZACHARIE SIMEON But aboue all be sure to keepe your selfe in this learned ignorance and Adhearing onely faythfully to the prime vniuersall Truth which is God banish from you hart all manner of curiositie in point of Faith Protest with the Apostle that you will know nothing here below but IESVS CHRIST * Stand fermely least the enemy bereaue you of your crowne Forsake the foule troubled waters of Egipt to drinke of the pure source Sacryfice your ISAAC your naturall light vpon the toppe of this mountaine Repose peaceably in him WHO IS Be not separated from his Charitie and your faith is in assurance CHRIST hath reuealed a faithfull promise by the mouth of his beloued disciples whosoeuer shall remayne faithfull till death shall be rewarded with a crowne of life FINIS