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	hand_n	saul_n	2,591	5	9.7819	5	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A30424	A sermon preached at the Chappel of the Rolls on the fifth of November, 1684 being Gun-Powder-Treason day / by Gilbert Burnet.	Burnet, Gilbert, 1643-1715.	1684 (1684)	Wing B5880; ESTC R27240	8,805	30

A SERMON Preached at the CHAPPEL OF THE ROLLS On the Fifth of November 1684. BEING GUN-POWDER-TREASON-DAY By Gilbert Burnet D. D. LONDON Printed for the Author and are to be Sold by R. Baldwin in the Old-Baily Corner upon Ludgate-Hill 1684. THis Sermon as it was the shortest I ever preached so was not at all intended for the Press but some Discourses that have been raised upon it made me conclude it was in some sort necessary to publish it for my own vindication I have writ it out with all possible exactness and fidelity tho since I do not read my notes nor repeat them word for word I cannot answer that either in this or the other Sermons that I have printed my pen has so governed or followed my tongue that there was no variation between them I am sure it is here printed as near the words I used as I can remember them and in this I have not depended only on my own memory but on several of my hearers who hearkned to that Sermon with more than ordinary attention and do think that it is very punctually set down here as I spake it I am sure the last part of it that presses Loyalty and Obedience is not at all enlarged beyond what I not only preached in that Sermon but on many other occasions in which I appeal to all my Hearers But I leave the Sermon to speak for it self and me both and will refer it to every mans conscience that reads it to judg whether or not I can be concluded from it to be a person disaffected to his Majesties Government PSAL. XXII 21. Save me from the Lyons mouth for thou hast heard me from the horns of the Vnicorns WE have no greater encouragement in our Addresses to God than the remembrance of past deliverances and we never Worship him more decently than when we mix our acknowledgments for what is past with our Prayers for what is to come So David here implores the Divine Protection in an extreme danger which is poetically exprest by the Lions mouth the figure of a Lion importing the strength as well as the rage of his enemies and its mouth importing the nearness of the danger which perhaps relates to the hazards he run of falling into the hands of Saul And with this he gives the reason of his confidence in God even in that Extremity because in some former dangers which are expressed by the figure of being on the horns of the unicorn or Rhinoceros and so being ready to be tossed up or torn by it God had heard him This perhaps relates to his deliverance from the Lion and the Bear or from Goliah It is needless to enlarge more upon the words Three things occur very naturally to our thoughts from them with relation to this present occasion The first is the apprehension of danger from a formidable and cruel Enemy The second is a hope of preservation founded on former deliverances And the third is the mean that is here laid before us for our preservation it is prayer to God that he may save us from the lions mouth who has before heard us that is in the Seripture-phrase delivered us from the horns of the unicorns For the first Particular I will use no Preambles but plainly tell you That it is the Church of Rome which I mean that is both so strong and so cruel an Enemy and is as a Lion going about seeking how to devour all that differ from it As for the Strength of this Enemy it may be measured by the Empire which that Church has assumed not onely over Mens Persons but over their Consciences This being indeed the Fundamental Doctrine of of that Church of believing as the Church believes of delivering up Mens Reasons and Consciences to be led blind-fold into whatsoever Doctrines or Practices their Guides impose upon them and making them think that to doubt of any of these is a Sin and that therefore it must be opened to the Priest and cannot be taken away but by his leave and Pardon given by him The Mystery of Popery lies not so much in other Speculative Opinions as in this main Point That we ought not to trust neither our Reason nor our Senses in the examining such Articles as that Church proposes to us but must take them all and her Authority to boot which determines all the rest upon her own Word So that the main thing in controversie between the Church of Rome and us is Whether we ought to inquire into the Will of God our selves or must take it upon trust from our Guides A Church that has established such a Tyranny upon the tenderest Part of our Natures our Reason which is the most jealous of its Liberty as well as the most desirous of it no wonder if she takes it ill to see so sacred a Secret look'd into for as it will not bear an Inquiry so every Inquiry into it is a Step towards the shaking it off And therefore as her Power is absolute over her own Votaries so she must bear an extreme Hatred to any that will be so impudent as to pretend that their Understandings are exempted from her Yoke Other things concur in that Church to confirm this Empire The Belief of the Priests Power both of Transubstantiating the Bread and the Wine and of granting Absolution makes it seem very reasonable to trust a Body of Men that are so wonderfully qualified with the Keeping and Conduct of other Mens Consciences And after the most essential as well as the most uneasily subdued Power of a Man was conquered no wonder if the lesser Matters such as Wealth and Dominion should follow the other as a sort of Perquisits He that can forgive the Sins of the Living and redeem the Souls of the Dead will drive a sure Trade for himself for though it cannot be sure that what he does is ratified in Heaven yet the Belief of it whether it gives Heaven to the Purchaser or not is sure to bring the best part of this Earth to the Seller Men do not return to tell that they were cheated in the Bargain and to demand an Equity On the contrary in dark Ages nothing was more common than pretended Apparitions and Voices to confirm the Imposture which have vanished in an Age that is more apt to suspect and examine such things as the Illusions of our Dreams fly from us whenever we are awake But the Night was so long and so dark that no wonder if so gainful a Trade was carried on with great success And who would stand much upon the Case after they had parted with the Jewel So Mens Reasons being once given up no wonder if Wealth and all other Secular Advantages were thrown into the Bargain A Church established upon such a Bottom and supported with so much Wealth and Power and defended by such Multitudes who as they have all their Proportion of the Spoil so are tied to it by Vows as well as engaged in