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
A52407	Twenty sermons preached upon several texts by James Nalton ; published for publick good.	Nalton, James, 1600-1662.	1677 (1677)	Wing N124; ESTC R28705	269,750	474

out Saul Saul why persecutest thou me when a man treads upon another mans little toe the tongue complains why do you hurt me Jesus Christ when he is now in heaven he complains of himself being persecuted in his Members he hath such a simpathy with them That 's the first Quaery Secondly It may be demanded How does Jesus Christ succour and relieve his servants in their temptations I answer he succours and relieves them these five ways First By discovering to them that it is a temptation for many there are that misliste their temptations some take temptations for the impulsess or impresses of Gods spirit not considering that there are tempting providences as well as approving providences such a providence was that which you read of when David had Saul at an advantage 1 Sam. 26.8 When Saul lay sleeping in his trench and his spear stuck in the ground at his bolster then said Abishai to David God hath delivered thine enemy into thy hand this day now therefore let me smite him I pray thee with the spear even to the earth at once and I will not smite him the second time Abishai thought that this was an approving medicine that God had delivered Saul into the hands of David and now he may be avenged upon him and cut his throat and smite him presently nay nay says David to Abishai destroy him not for who can stretch forth his hand against the Lords anointed and be guiltless David saw it was a tempting-providence not an approving-providence he would not have a hand in his blood he would not slay the Lords anointed though his enemy though a wicked man though a man guilty of blood for he had slain Fourscore of the Lords Priests at one time commanding Doeg to fall upon them and destroy them But says David I will not have a hand in the blood of the Lords anointed though he hath delivered him into my hand this was but a tempting-providence not an approving-providence this is a certain Rule that there are tempting providences as well as approving-providences to follow providence without the Word is dangerous to follow providence against the Word is damnable but to follow providence with the Word that only is safe and comfortable now David he had a providence here but he had not the Word of God going along with that providence and therefore he looks upon it as a tempting-providence Now Jesus Christ succours his people by discovering to them which is a tempting-providence and which is an approving-providence Secondly The Lord Christ succours and relieves them by his Gracious Supportation he does support them under their tryals that is a precious Scripture that tempted ones should be continually meditating upon 1 Cor. 10.13 There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man but God is faithful who will not suffer you to be tempted above that you are able but will with the temptation also make a way to escape that you may be able to bear it God sometimes draws the Bow to the Arrow head but he will not break the Bow if God lays heavy loads on poor tempted ones then he will make their shoulders so much the stronger by his Gracious Manutency or holding them by the hand Psal 73.23 Nevertheless I am continually with thee thou hast holden me by my right hand And when God holds a poor tempted soul by the right hand though he fall he shall not utterly be cast down because the Lord upholds him Psal 37.24 Thirdly Jesus Christ relieves and succours tempted ones by his gracious intercession for he sits at the right hand of God to make intercession for them Heb. 7.25 and if so be thou art but one that does but desire to believe in Jesus Christ and take hold of him though it be but with a trembling hand know thus much for thy comfort in every temptation that thou meetest with Jesus Christ does nominate thee to his Father he nominates thee in particular and he says to thee as he did to Peter I have prayed for thee that thy faith fail not Luke 22.32 Fourthly Jesus Christ does succour and relieve tempted ones by making a diversion some way or other of them by a less temptation sometimes he prevents a greater that would even crush a poor soul to pieces sometimes by an outward affliction upon the body he prevents a greater affliction and trouble that would lye upon the spirit It is better a thousand times to be afflicted in the body than afflicted in the mind Fifthly The Lord Christ doth succour tempted ones by a gracious Abolition as I may call it by a total removal of the temptation when he treads Satan under our feet as he hath promised Rom. 16.20 And the God of peace shall bruise Satan under your feet shortly And when he gives Charge to Satan as he did to him concerning the poor Child that was possessed with a dumb and deaf spirit I charge thee that thou come out of him and that thou enter into him no more Mark 9.25 Thus you have the point opened Now briefly to apply it two Uses I shall make of it Frist for Information Secondly for Consolation First For information you may learn this Lesson by way of Inference That Gods own people his Elect true Believers must look for temptations nay they must look for divers temptations Jam. 1.12 My brethren count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations in 1 Pet. 6 Wherein ye greatly rejoyce though now for a season if need be ye are in heaviness through manifold temptations They must look for temptations of all sorts as the Apostle saith in the like case All that will live godly in Christ Jesus must suffer persecution so all that will live godly must look for temptations Gods People may be tempted these four ways First Sometimes they may be tempted by their godly friends so was St. Paul Acts 11.12 when the Prophet Agabus foretold that Paul should be bound at Jerusalem and suffer so many things of the Jews Pauls godly friends disswaded him from going thither but Paul lookt upon it as a temptation for says he in the next verse What mean ye to weep and to break my heart for I am ready not to be bound only but also to die at Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus Acts 21.13 Secondly Gods people are sometimes tempted by wicked men as Joseph was by his wanton and lascivious Mistress Thirdly Gods people are tempted sometimes by Satan they are tempted to presumption on the one hand and to desperation on the other hand For these are two great Rocks upon which thousands of souls suffer shipwrack but there are more that perish on the rock of Presumption than of Desperation Fourthly Gods Children are sometimes tempted by God himself it is said God tempted Abraham to try him Gen. 22.1 And it came to pass after these things that God did tempt Abraham and said unto him Abraham and he said behold here I

Eph. 2.8 and you cannot of your selves believe So Saint Peter he bid Simon Magus pray that his sins may be forgiven him and yet notwithstanding no man is able of himself to pray in an acceptable manner saith the Apostle We know not how to pray as we ought but the Spirit helps our infirmities Rom. 28.6 But the Arminians they stretch the Objection yet a little further and argue thus Object If God commands us to do what we are not able to perform then this is cruelty in God and they give you an instance For example say they If you tie a mans hands and bid him work or cut off his legs ard bid him walk this is a great deal of cruelty so say they If God bid us do his will and we have no freedom nor ability to do his will then this is cruelty in God To this I answer It is true indeed if God should tie our hands or cut off our legs then this Objection would be of some weight but God doth not do so God at first made man upright he gave us ability to do his will but if we have lost that ability we cannot blame God but our selves our destruction is from our selves our inability to do Duty is from our selves Secondly I answer Natural and unregenerate men though they cannot work grace in their own hearts yet they may do something in a tendency to grace they may wait on the means of grace they may hear as they are able and pray as they are able and do Duties as they are able they may wait upon God as they did in Acts 2 when they cryed out Men and Brethren what shall we do to be saved 1 Cor. 14.24 25. They may come to the Assemblies of Gods Saints as that ignorant and Unbeliever did though for the present he was in a state of ignorance and unbelief yet by hearing the Word preached he was convinced and converted Men are not damned for Can-nots but for Will-nots men are not damned because they can do no better but because they will do no better Thirdly I answer Though we do not work with God yet God will not work without us God saves no man against his will God carries no man to Heaven as a Sack is carried to the Market on Horse-back but God saves a man by bowing and bending his will and of unwilling making him willing Saint Austin saith Qui sine auxilio tuo te Creavit contra voluntatem tuam te non salvabit He that made thee without thee will not save thee without thee Fourthly I answer this Objection of the Arminians thus When our Saviour saith He that doth the will of my Father he shall know of the Doctrine and he supposeth that such a man hath grace in his heart that doth enable him to do the will of God Though it is true an unregenerate man hath no freedom of will to do good yet this is a certain truth that the regenerate so far as they are regenerate have freedom of will to do good Now for the Use and Application of this Point briefly First By way of Information If the Disciples of Christ are or should be Doers of Gods will then it follows he that would be a true Disciple of Christ must be a self-denying Christian it was that I proved to you at large in many Sermons upon Luke 9.23 He that will be a true Christian must be a self-denyer but why so it appears plainly If the Disciple of Christ must be a Doer of Gods will then First He must not do his own will but he must deny himself in that he must not walk in his own way he must not live by his own rule he must not prosecute his own ends but he must do all according to the will of his Lord and Master Secondly If he must do Gods will then he must not fulfil the will of the flesh and of the mind Ephes 2.3 They that are Christs Disciples have crucified the flesh together with the affections and lusts of it Gal. 5.24 Thirdly If he must do Gods will then he must not do the will of men he must not seek to please men Gal. 1.10 Or do I seek to please men for if I yet pleased men I should not be the servant of Christ Fourthly If he must make the will of God his Rule then he must not make Providence his Rule nor the impulse of the Spirit as they are usually called First He must not make Providence his Rule 1 Sam. 26.7 8 9 David he had opportunity of killing Saul who was his deadly enemy Saul was now asleep in the Cave he might have said Surely here is the Providence of God he hath put my enemy into my hand but David would not make Providence his Rule because he had not a Warrant from the Word of God to do any such thing I would have you to remember this Rule To follow Providence without the Word is dangerous to follow it against the Word is damnable but to follow Providence with the Word that is safe and warrantable Neither must the impulse of the Spirit be the Rule of your walking David had so strong impulse on his Spirit to destroy Nabal and his Family for his churlishness to his Soldiers being in distress because he would not spare them necessaries when he sent unto him that he said God do so to me and more also if I leave any of Nabals Family and not cut off all that pisseth against the Wall 1 Sam. 25. But upon the good counsel of Abigail Nabals Wife he recollected himself and saw that it was not the will of God that he should do so but he blessed God that he had diverted him from his purpose Secondly Learn another Lesson by way of Inserence and that is this The life of true Religion consists not in saying but in doing it consists not in profession but in practice When a man hath the Word of life in his mouth and the life of the Word in his Conversation then he is a Christian indeed It 's not the talking but the walking Christian not he that talks of the way to Heaven and that talks of Christianity but he that walks in the way that leads to Eternal life This will prove you to be Christians of a right stamp Thirdly Learn this Lesson That the will of God is the perfect Rule of Righteousness A thing is therefore good because God wills it for God cannot will any thing that is not good all his ways are equal though our ways are unequal all his paths are righteousness therefore whatever God commands it must therefore needs be good because he wills it Fourthly Learn this Lesson If Christians must be Doers of Gods will then it follows that whosoever is proud stubborn and disobedient willingly resisting the Commands of God such certainly cannot be the Disciples of Christ they that fulfil their own wills and they that walk in their own ways and after their own wills