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
A64833	Venning's remains, or, Christ's school consisting of four classes of Christians, I. babes, II. little children, III. young men, IV. fathers : with their several characteristical differences and attainments, also the doctrines proper to be taught to each of them : being the substance of many sermons / preached by Ralph Venning and fitted by him for the press before his death.	Venning, Ralph, 1621?-1674.	1675 (1675)	Wing V225; ESTC R27039	205,701	393

and sleep in sin if thou canst lie contentedly in a perishing and damnable condition and not cry out for Salvation surely thou art in a most dangerous case notwithstanding thy name of Christian for what will it avail thee to have a name to live and yet be dead If thou tell me thou hast repented from dead works I can Answer thee it cannot be so while thou art dead in sins and walkest in them for they are dead in sin who live in it Ephes 2.1 2 3. But beside if that were true that thou hadst repented yet know this that righteousness is not by Repentance but by Faith so that if thou repent and do no believe though thou be not far from the Kingdom of Heaven yet thou art never the near for the one thing necessary is wanting and though thou seem too good to go to Hell yet thou art not good enough to go to Heaven 2. Consider this too that thou hast had and long had the means of Faith viz. the Preaching and Hearing of the Gospel by which Faith comes now what a sad thing is it to hear of Faith and not feel it to be a hearer and not a Believer Have ye not heard yes the Gosspel hath sounded loud and long in your ears 'T is sad when the Gospel comes to thee and thou dost not come to God! when it comes in word and not in power it had been better for thee thou hadst never heard than to have heard and not believe Better thou hadst never known the way of righteousness than knowing it not to walk in it 'T will be more easie for Turks than for thee according as 't will for Sodom and Gomorrab in the day of Judgement than for Capernaum as our Saviour speaks Matth. 11. These things are said as the Gospel is written that you may believe that Jesus is the Son of God and that believing ye might have life through his Name Joh. 20.31 And truly if you believe not the Gospel neither would you believe if one should come from the dead the more means of Faith the greater condemnation if men do not believe and greater means than that of Gods appointing there can be none And then 3. Consider this that Christ may take his Gospel and be gone then the things of thy peace may be hid from thine eyes thou maist die in thy sins and be damned for ever to day therefore while 't is called to day now or never i. e. now or it may never be hear his voice who calls thee to repent and believe the Gospel that thou maist be saved which if thou do not the same Gospel saith He that believeth not shall be damned Canst have patience to think of going to Hell if not believe It were better thou hadst never been born than to die without being new-born 't is sad to be dead in sins but to die in sins Oh who but them in Hell can tell how sad it is Hear therefore and believe that thy soul may live 2. I am now to address my self to the Babes especially such of them as lie under despondencies of Spirit and to you I say as before 1. Despise not the day of small things who knows to how great a tree this grain of Mustard-seed may grow how great a fire this little spark may kindle To how tail a stature a poor Babe may grow though thou canst eat but Milk thou maist grow thereby Thou hast got down one portion of Milk more already and art not only one that repentest from dead works but hast Faith also towards God Though thou have no Wine to make thine heart glad nor oyl to make thy face to shine nor bread to strengthen thine heart yet bless God that thou art alive and hast milk to eat For 1. Consider that thou art gone farther than thou art aware of thou art nearer Heaven than thou thinkest for in having Faith towards God though thou be a great way off yet thou art within thy Fathers ken and view as 't is said concerning the Prodigal while he was yet afar off but a coming but beginning to come his Father saw him had compassion of him c. the Father saw him before he saw the Father and though he were but coming yet 't is said he was come he arose and came i. e. was a coming for as yet he was afar off and yet 't is said he arose and came his coming was lookt on as if he were come as Abraham is said to offer his Son in that he did purpose and was about to do it so the Prodigal and the Babe is said to be come though as yet but coming towards God It 's something to be on thy legs that thy journey is begun dimidium facti qui bene coepit habet thou art on thy way and thy Father sees it and hath compassion on thee and as to Christ Jesus he will never cast thee off no by no means see John 6.37 39. 2. If thou never go further than to be a Babe all thy daies suppose that yet thou art gone far enough to be saved by Faith we are saved as safe as if we were saved There is a blessing for this Faith as before Matth. 16.17 and Justification for this Faith as before Luke 18.14 and God loves such Believers as before from John 16.27 'T is not a little remarkable that blessedness is annexed to the lowest as well as to the highest Form in the School of Christ as in the Beatitudes Mat. 5. and to these Hebrew Babes the Apostle saith I hope better things of you than of some that had been inlightened c. and things that accompany or contain salvation though you be but Babes Heb. 6.9 10. Salvation is not annexed to degrees as such but to truth of grace as such in the lowest degree John 6.37 him that is but coming 3. As weak as thy Faith is the gates of Hell shall not prevail against it thou shalt be kept through this Faish by the power of God unto Salvation 1 Pet. 1.5 This poor Soul is apt to scruple and say Alas my Faith is but small if any and I fear what will become of me in an hour of temptation my strength is so small that I shall faint in the day of affliction But the Lord saith to thee Fear not for though thou have but a little strength yet because thou dost not deny his name God will keep thee from the hour of temptation or from the temptation of the hour as it may be read Rev. 3.8 10. Though Saul pursue thee and hunt thee yet the house of Saul shall grow weaker and weaker and the house of David shall grow stronger and stronger and the weak shall be as David who notwithstanding his fear did not perish by the hand of Saul Though thy enemies be strong and thy grace weak yet thy weak grace shall be too strong for thy strongest enemies Though the Sons of Zerviah be strong and in thine

treat of viz. to shew what is meant by the evil one what the dispute between the wicked one and the Young men is about that the Young men do overcome and how they do overcome the wicked one c. Of these things I shall speak in the Model and order first proposed which brings me to the fourth Chapter CHAP. IV. Shewing what or who is meant by the wicked one THE evil or the evil one this expression especially if read in the Neuter Gender 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is meant of more evils than one yea of all evil and so it may be understood in that Prayer which our Lord taught Matth. 6.13 and that Prayer which our Lord made and Prayed Joh. 17.15 and so in Rom. 12.9 1 Joh. 5.19 but here it seems to be of the Masculine Gender 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and refers to one viz. him who is eminently and principally the evil one or the wicked one whether spoken of a man or of the Devil It is used to denote and set out a notorious wicked man that hath no fellow in wickedness a Devil incarnate an Antichrist as 't is in 2 Thes 2.3 9. for though the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 be not there yet 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an equivalent word is there Hesychius makes these words to be synonymous 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 all noting a most flagitious profligate and terribly wicked person as this word doth 1 Cor. 5.13 but it doth most usually refer to the Devil himself who is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the wicked one so eminently as none is beside him and this may be observed to be undoubtedly true by comparing these following Texts Matth. 13.19 with Luke 8.12 Ephes 6.16 1 Joh. 3.12 now this is the evil or wicked one not excluding others that these Young men have overcome by being strong and the Word of God abiding in them The Devil being the Captain-General the ring-leader the Master of misrule and mischief the rest fall with him In telling us that they have overcome the wicked one 't is implyed that there was first a fight an hot and sharp encounter between the Devil and the Young men the Devil did set upon them and tempt them shrewdly and they had not a little to do till they won the field and day of him And surely 't were not temptations in common but some singular ones that these Young men were under the Babes meet with common ones but these with special ones 1 Cor. 10.13 As Christ Jesus would not teach the Babes Doctrine which they could not bear so he would not lead them into temptations which they could not overcome but these Young men who are his Champions and Worthies they encounter Giants as Davids did they war not against flesh and blood weak enemies but against principalities and powers c. Ephes 6. It will therefore be expedient if not necessary to enquire after what the special temptations are which Young men encounter and overcome or what the thing is that the dispute is about between the Devil and the Young men Christians CHAP. V. What the dispute is about or what the temptations are which Young men do undergo and conquer IT must be remembred that these Young men are taken out from among the little Children who have received the witness of the Spirit that they are the Children of God and about this thing is the dispute between the Devil and them viz. whether they be the Children of God or not and so some understand that place which speaks in Military language as if it properly referred to the state and condition of these Young men Ephes 6.12 reading that which we render in high or heavenly places about heavenly things viz. our Title to Sonship and so to Heaven this is the thing which the Spirit witnessed to their spirits this the Devil calls in question and offers arguments against it but all these arguments do the Young men overcome by the Word of God abiding in them which strengthens their Faith to give glory to God and his Spirit as the faithful and true witness notwithstanding all the cunning insinuations of wiles and the Devil To clear this up a little more I humbly offer this to consideration That the Saints members of Christs body are all of them more or less conformable to his Image and to the several states and conditions wherein he was Now such was the condescension of our great and good Lord Jesus that he not only took flesh and blood the humane nature in common but was found in our fashion and tempted like us in all things yet still without sin he went through all our states he was once as a Babe viz. made under the Law and was in the likeness of sinful flesh and so judged as carnal withal he was under Tutors and Governours and was obedient to them Luke 2.46 51. where 't is added that he increased in wisdom as in age which argues without any disparagement that his attainments as in the flesh were gradual After a while he being Baptized and Praying hath the witness from heaven that he was the Son of God Luke 3.21 22. and then was Jesus led up of the spirit into the Wilderness to be tempted of the Devil Matth. 4.1 and so past from the Child 's to the Young mans state So then in conformity hereunto I conceive and declare that the temptations which the Young men undergo are the same and about the same thing which Jesus Christ underwent when after the witness of the Spirit he was tempted by the Devil The Spirit first witnesseth then the Devil calls this into question and puts Christ upon the proof to which Christ answers and conquers by the Word of God abiding in him and just so it was with these Young men the phrases and things do so accord that it seems to me to be unquestionable To come up then to what I intend by steps and degrees The Saints in conformity to Christ Jesus are but Babes at first under the Law in the likeness of sinners as carnal and are in subjection to Tutors and Governours after this God is pleased to make himself known to some of them as a Father by the witness of his Spirit and so they arrive to the state of Children and then God singles out some of these to be tempted of the Devil about their Sonship and they become 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Young men and brave Souldiers who are taught to draw and wield the sword of the Spirit the Word of God against the Devil as Christ also did God was pleased to take this care of and about Israel under the Law That when a man had taken a new Wise he should not go out to War neither should he be charged with any business but he should be free at home one year and cheer himself with his Wife Deut. 24.5 So by way of allusion I may say that when the Saints marry a new Wife the Fathers Love they