Selected quad for the lemma: enemy_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
enemy_n	death_n	sting_n	victory_n	1,403	5	9.4621	5	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A39658	The balm of the covenant applied to the bleeding wounds of afflicted saints First composed for the relief of a pious and worthy family, mourning over the deaths of their hopeful children; and now made publick for the support of all Christians, sorrowing on the same or any other account. To which is added, A sermon preached for the funeral of that excellent and religious gentleman John Upton of Lupton esq; by John Flavell, preacher of the gospel at Dartmouth in Devon.	Flavel, John, 1630?-1691.	1688 (1688)	Wing F1157; ESTC R222662	58,144	192

they were deprived of those comforts other men have in their Posterity yet he would not have them look upon themselves as dry Trees a Covenant-interest would answer all and recompence abundantly the want of Children or any other earthly comfort Certainly therefore David was at the right door of relief and comfort when he repairs to the Covenant as here in the Text Yet hath he made with me an everlasting Covenant There or nowhere the Relief of Gods Afflicted is to be found Now to make any thing become a compleat any perfect relief to an afflicted Spirit these three Properties must concur and meet in it else it can never effectually relieve any man. I. It must be able to remove all the causes and grounds of troubles II. It must be able to do so at all times III. It must be capable of a good personal security to us For if it only divert our troubles as Creature-comforts use to do and do not remove the ground and cause of our trouble 't is but an Anodine not a Cure or Remedy And if it can remove the very ground and cause of our trouble for a time but not for ever then 't is but a temporary relief our troubles may return again and we left in as bad case as we were before And if it be in it self able to remove all the causes and grounds of our trouble and that at all times but not capable of a personal security to us or our well-established interest in it all signifies nothing to our relief But open your eyes and behold O ye afflicted Saints all these Properties of a compleat relief meeting together in the Covenant as it is display'd in the Text. Here is a Covenant able to remove all the grounds and causes of your trouble for it is ORDER'D i● all things or aptly disposed by the wisdom and contrivance of God to answer every cause and ground of trouble and sorrow in our hearts It is able to do this at all times as well in our day as in David's or Abraham's day for it is an Everlasting Covenant its vertue and efficacy is not decay'd by time And lastly it is capable of a good personal security or assurance to all Gods afflicted people for it is a Sure Covenant The concurrence of these three Properties in the Covenant makes it a complea● Relief a perfect Remedy to which nothing is wanting in the kind and nature of a Remedy These three glorious Properties of the Covenant are my proper Province to open and confirm for your support and comfort in this Day of Trouble I. That the Covenant of Grace is able to remove all the causes and grounds of a Believers trouble be they never so great or many This I doubt not will be convinceingly evidenced and demonstrated by the following Arguments or undeniable Reasons Argument I. Whatsoever disarms Afflictions of the only sting whereby they wound us must needs be a compleat Relief and Remedy to the afflicted Soul. But so doth the Covenant of Grace it disarms Afflictions of the only sting by which they wound us Therefore the Covenant of Grace must needs be a compleat Relief and Remedy to the afflicted Soul. The sting of all Afflictions is the guilt of sin when God smites Conscience usually smites too and this is it that causes all that pain and anguish in the afflicted 'T is plainly so in the Example of the Widow of Zarephath when her son her only son and probably her only child died how did that stroke of God revive guilt in her Conscience and made the affliction piercing and intolerable as appears by her passionate Expostulation with Elijah who then sojourned in her house What have I to do with thee O thou man of God art thou come unto me to call my sin to remembrance and to slay my son Q. d. What injury have I done thee Didst thou come hither to observe my sins and pray down this Judgment upon my Child for them The death of her son revived her guilt and so it generally doth even in the most holy men When Iob looked upon his wasted body under Afflictions every wrinkle he saw upon it seemed to him like a witness rising up to testifie against him Thou hast filled me with wrinkles which is a witness against me and my leaness rising up in me beareth witness to my face Affliction is like a Hue and Cry after sin in the ears of Conscience and this is the envenom'd poysonous sting and Affliction pluck out this and the afflicted man is presently eased though the matter of the affliction still abide with him and lie upon him He is afflicted still but not cast down by affliction the anguish and burden is gone though the matter of trouble remain This is plain both in Scripture and in Experience Suitable hereunto is that strange but sweet Expression The inhabitant shall not say I am sick the people that dwell therein shall be forgiven their iniquities It 's not to be imagined these people had found such a fortunate Island o● happy Climate where no Disease could touch or invade their Bodies no sickness will find o● the Bodies of the best men where ever they live wherever sin ha●● been sickness and death will fo●●low it Heaven is the only pr●●viledg'd place from these miseries but the meaning is though the● be sick they shall not feel th● pains and burdens of sickness they shall not say they are sick An● why so because their iniquitie● are forgiven Plainly confirmin● what was before asserted that the anguish of an Affliction is gone as soon as ever the sting of guil● is plucked out And hence par●doning of the Soul and healing o● the Body are put together as co●●jugate mercies Bless the Lord O my soul who forgiveth all thine iniquities and healeth all thy diseases When the soul is at ease the pains of the body are next to nothing sick●ness can cloud all natural joys but not the joy of a Pardon Nay which is yet more pluck out but the sting of sin and there is no horrour in Death the King of Terrours and worst of all outward Evils See how the pardoned Believer triumphs over it O death where is thy sting O grave where is thy victory the sting of death is sin They are words of defiance as men use to deride and scorn a boasting insulting Enemy when they see him cast upon his back and his sword broken over his head Heus uhi nunc fastus altaque verba jacent Where are your boasts and menaces now O Death thou hast lost thy sting and terrour together Thus the pardoned Believer with an holy gallantry of spirit derides and contemns his disarmed Enemy Death so then 't is manifest that whatever plucks out the poysonous sting of Affliction must needs be an effectual Remedy and Cure to the afflicted person But this the Covenant of Grace doth it reveals and applies Gospel-remission to them that are