Selected quad for the lemma: enemy_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
enemy_n	good_a	seed_n	sow_v	2,339	5	10.3710	5	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A16832	A defence of the gouernment established in the Church of Englande for ecclesiasticall matters Contayning an aunswere vnto a treatise called, The learned discourse of eccl. gouernment, otherwise intituled, A briefe and plaine declaration concerning the desires of all the faithfull ministers that haue, and do seeke for the discipline and reformation of the Church of Englande. Comprehending likewise an aunswere to the arguments in a treatise named The iudgement of a most reuerend and learned man from beyond the seas, &c. Aunsvvering also to the argumentes of Caluine, Beza, and Danæus, with other our reuerend learned brethren, besides Cænaiis and Bodinus, both for the regiment of women, and in defence of her Maiestie, and of all other Christian princes supreme gouernment in ecclesiasticall causes ... Aunsvvered by Iohn Bridges Deane of Sarum.	Bridges, John, d. 1618.	1587 (1587)	STC 3734; ESTC S106910	1,530,757	1,400

A DEFENCE OF THE GOVERNMENT ESTABLISHED IN THE CHVRCH OF ENGLANDE FOR ECCLESIASTICALL MATTERS Contayning an aunswere vnto a Treatise called The Learned Discourse of Eccl. Gouernment otherwise intituled A briefe and plaine declaration concerning the desires of all the faithfull Ministers that haue and do seeke for the discipline and reformation of the Church of Englande Comprehending likewise an aunswere to the arguments in a Treatise named The iudgement of a most Reuerend and Learned man from beyond the Seas c. Aunsvvering also to the argumentes of Caluine Beza and Danaeus with other our Reuerend learned Brethren besides Caenaiis and Bodinus both for the regiment of women and in defence of her Maiestie and of all other Christian Princes supreme Gouernment in Ecclesiasticall causes Against The Tetrarchie that our Brethren would erect in euery particular congregation of Doctors Pastors Gouernors and Deacons with their seuerall and ioynt authoritie in Elections Excommunications Synodall Constitutions and other Ecclesiasticall matters Aunsvvered by Iohn Bridges Deane of Sarum Come and See Ioh. 1.36 Take it vp and Read Aug. lib. conf 8. ca. 12. AT LONDON Printed by Iohn VVindet for Thomas Chard 1587 The Preface to the Christian Reader WHereas in a Sermon preached at Paules Crosse about two yeares past I had touched on occasion some part of this Learned Discourse then lately set foorth and for the peoples satisfaction I had aunswered some principall argumentes of the same in defence of her Maiesties supreme gouernment in Eccl. causes and for our Bishops iurisdiction as appeareth by the Sermon it selfe which for the further manifesting the occasion hereof I haue set forth also and recommend deare Christian Reader to thy fauourable interpretation which Sermon according to the diuerse affections of the auditorie tooke diuerse effectes some beginning to relent and be resolued which before had beene greatly carried away in the contrary perswasion of these matters and promising reconcilement vnto their Bishops whose state before they had misliked some on the otherside tooke such offence at that part of the Sermon which touched these thinges that they ceased not to deface it and to chalenge mee for it I then promised not only the anowing of that I had spoken but also God assisting me the publishing both of the whole sermon and the aunswering atlarge of all the Learned Discourse For discharge of which promise and because this booke pretendeth such a plausible title and withall is reckoned of so great account as I afterwarde could get oportunitie and leasure thereunto proceeding by little and little in the same and by the way taking withall some parts of the like argument that other our Brethren haue since composed and partly passing vp from them to the very fountaines as I take it from whence all our Brethren fetch their chiefest motiues or the groundes of them especially in these three reuerend● and learned Fathers Caluine Beza Danaeus I haue now thankes be to God at length after many delaies and stoppes thereof thus farre forth accomplished set out the same It is no small griefe to me I protest that on this occasion I was thus drawen into these questions with those whom otherwise in Christe I humbly acknowledge to be our deare Brethren And much gladlier the Lord knowes would I be to haue wholly obiected my selfe as before to my mediocritie I haue endeuoured against the publike aduersaries of Gods truth And would God all we which are of the houshold of faith professing the light and libertie of the Gospell would againe bende our forces that wayes against the errours and tyrannie of Antichrist In which course a while we did runne well but as the Apostle sayth to the Galathians who hath let vs For so long as we ioyntly followed the quest of that vncouth beast and of the purple Harlot on his backe God mightely prospered vs in all our affayres Yea it is wonderfull to consider if we haue grace to acknowledge it how God hath still hetherto aboue any Nation in the worlde in this last age thereof and yet doth not cease to blesse vs his name of vs againe ineessantly be blessed and magnified for it Howbeit the shadowe is not more concomitant to the bodie than enuie is aemulous of vertue and glory As there is no state so happy on all partes in this life but it shall euer be crossed with some or other daunger or disturbance so doth the enuious man in these our Alcions dayes labour nothing more than to impugne and to ouerthrowe this our bless●d state yea to haue bereft vs of the Lordes annoynted his holy handmayden our most gratious Soueraigne by whom vnder our Lord Iesus Christ God hath vouchsafed vs all these blessinges In which practise although the aduersaries attempts haue beene so perilous and vnnaturall that the very remembrance of them breedeth horrour yet the Lords continuall deliuerance from them hath bin so admirable and almost miraculous that we can not but all reioyce together breake forth into the prayses of our so gratious father our most mightie righteous m●rcifull God and cast all our repose vpon his prouidence But as the holy Apostle S. Peter prudently forwarneth vs be sober and watch for your aduersarie the diuell as a roaring Lyon walketh about seeking whom he may deuour so see the malice and craft of this old serpent That thing which he could neuer atcheiue by himselfe withall the subtleties of his smooth temptations nor by his grand deputie the man of sin sonne of perdition withall his stratagems violent forces Sathā eftsoones hath now not only crept in among the childrē of God but hath so broken a sunder the bondes of Gods peace hath sowen the cockle of such contentions diuisions among vs that are brethren wherby such discord hath also risen euen among those that sowed before the good seed wheat that no small hindrance hath growen therby to the course of the Gospell as great hazard to the state of all our Church Realme as could haue bin inflicted by the open hostilitie of the publike enemie Yea what could lay vs more open to his iniuries thā to fall out thus amōg our selues into these garboyles Or how freely can we nowe oppose our faces to confront our aduersaries when euermore we must haue a skew eye to the awke blowes of our own fellowes Brethr. hard at our elbowes Which double fight is so daungerous so distrustfull that it maketh many amongst vs to r●uolt or at least to hoouer and is such an incouragemēt aduantage to the enemies to be more cōfirmed in their errors strengthned in their confederacies that they insult vpon vs both yea they blaspheme the very gospel it selfe which we professe and all by occasion of these intempestiue but too tempestious disagrements When Abraham saw the falling out between his and Lots heardmen fearing the euill euent of such discorde he sayth vnto Lot let there be I pray thee no strife betweene

speaking of the state thereof in the Apostles times that the Church of God was perfect in all her Regiment before there was anie Christian Prince For that might yet haue béene restrayned to that time considering the speciall prerogatiues of that age to haue supplied the want of Christian Princes Notwithstanding it was not euen then so perfect but that S. Paule wished the Regiment thereof to haue béene better And that better euen by christian Princes Else had hee neuer had such troubles nor néeded to haue wished that Agrippa Festus Bernice c. had béene Christians nor haue appealed vnto Nero nor haue had such hinderaunces in his function But when these our bretheren thinking to haue carried this cleare awaye will nowe make a generall rule thereon that the Churche may stande perfecte still in all her Regiment and that in most blessed state with-out anie Christian Princes then GOD helpe poore Christian Princes For being suche poore helpes vnto the Regiment of the Church they may bee as well spared or wished ●way which the Anabaptists wish them as to be wished for which S. Paul did wish them saue for the Princes saluation of their owne soules in which respect they are not Christian Princes Nay if this were true whie may they not as well with the verie Anabaptistes set downe this rule to that the Churche of God may stande and doth stand better without them For howsoeuer they séeme here to allure the reader with these godly titles of the Churche of God of perfection in all her regiment and that she standeth at this day in most blessed estate where Christian Princes are not at all and the ciuill Magistrates are not the greatest fauourers yet dare we not ascribe these titles of perfection in all her Regiment and of most blessed state vnto the Church of God being militant and trauelling still vnder imperfection But we acknowledge as S. Paule sayeth 1. Cor. 13. that we knowe imperfectly and we teache imperfectly but when that which is perfect shall come then that which is imperfect shall be done away And then shall come indéede the most blessed estate of the Churches perfection in all her regiment But if it be nowe alreadie and that where no Christian Princes are or where the Ciuill Magistrates are not the greatest fauourers then whereto serue the Christian Princes and the Ciuill Magistrates to fauour the Gospel but rather to hinder the perfection of the Church in all regiment and to cause it not to be in most blessed estate For where any Christian Princes are yea the greatest fauourers of the Church of God that euer were it could neuer yet aspire heereto But where they were not and are not there these Learned discoursers tell vs that the Church of God was perfect in all her Regiment and standes in such estate as is most blessed But where was this perfectiō in all the Regiment of it before Christian Princes And where standeth yet at this day in most blessed estate where the ciuill Magistrates are not the greatest fauourers May not the places be named that we might view thē Must we runne to Vtopia for to séeke them out Where was this in Sodome and Gomorra vnder Chedor-laomer where the ciuill Magistrates nor al the people were any great fauourers of the Church of god Where Lot being righteous and dwelling among thē in seeing hearing thē they vexed his righteous soule frō day to day with their vnlawfull deedes Was he his family in most or more blessed estate or the Church of God there better gouerned then in Salē vnder Melchizedeck or then in the Pilgrimage it made vnder Abraham Was the Church of God better vnder Pharao then vnder Moses vnder the tyrants that oppressed thē then vnder the Iudges that deliuered thē Was the Churches gouernment better vnder Saul then vnder Dauid vnder Ieroboam Achab Manasses other Idolatrous Princes then vnder Salomō Iosaphat Iosias Ezechias other godly Princes is it more perfect in all her regiment and standeth in more blessed estate at this day vnder the great Turke in Europe vnder the Sophie in Asia vnder the great Chan in India where also great partes of the Church are dispersed then vnder godly Christian Princes in Englande Germanie Scotlande Denmarke Suecia Polonia Hungarie and all other places where Christianitie is openly professed at this day Is the regiment of the Church of God better in more blessed estate in Italie vnder the Popes tyrannie or in France in Spaine in Flaunders c. where the Christian Princes are not the greatest fauourers of the light of the Gospell then here in England where her Maiestie fauoureth the same so tenderly and hath ventered her state life so often for it O vnthankefulnesse O blind what should I call it Malice No but selfe willed opinion the to deface the good estate of the Church of God wherin we are vnder such a right Defender of the faith defended sheilded from all our enemies in a farre more blessed estate then we deserue will make such an odious comparison as this is But as the old saying is itch and ease can no man please But if the Church be so imperfect in all her regiment vnder our most gratious and true Christian Prince here in England if our estate be so disordered and so little blessed in comparison of theirs at this day where the Ciuill Magistrates are not the greatest fauourers why do not these Learned discoursers take their course thether where the Church is so perfect in all her regiment euen as they would haue it in most blessed estate that they can wish it If this be a matter of such moment necessitie as they would beare vs in hande why go they not thether where they say it is euen at this day they may goe thether when they will No I warrant you they wil none of it on that price but will tarrie here stil trouble their brethren though they haue it not No no whatsoeuer is pretended to get that they would haue if they can-not haue it they haue learned this or they may easily doe if they trie experience that it is good kéeping themselues wel when they are well And welfare a good Christian Prince that fauors the Church of God and the Gospell of Iesus Christ when all is done But what meane they by these glaunces that the Church of God doth stande at this day in most blessed estate where the Ciuill Magistrates are not the greatest fauourers Do they meane by ciuill Magistrates as they did before where they sayd Whatsoeuer it please the Ciuill Magistrate to call or account indifferent c. Referring this terme to our most gracious Prince Soueraigne But I thinke they do not meane so for as they speak more at large saying Where the ciuil Magistrates are not the greatest fauourers noting many or more then one some other estates which they cōpare with ours so

to yéelde to it in the ende and in a byous manner to acknowledge it that the Ecclesiasticall gouernment order for ouerseeing the Churches which they pretend is not of anie necessitie by GOD commanded nor anie perpetuall order to all ages and Churches by Christ and his Apostles prescribed Which if it be not then our Churches state is not so corrupt as they exclaime Nay let them looke then vnto it how trulie they auouch it so to bee and make such a contentious rupture in the Church for it If it be howe can they héere giue anie extraordinarie and temporall order warrant or plakarde for anie meane time to the contrarie So that both wayes our Brethren apparantlie goe about héerein both to abuse themselues and vs. But now thinking that by this Interim wrought by all these foresayd meanes they should effect many and mightie matters our Bretheren waxing bolde procéede to aunswere euen to anie mannes thoughtes that shoulde doubt so much as anie difficultie in bringing about these things If anie man saie they thinke this is ouerhard to bee brought to passe let him consider that there was neuer woorke of more difficultie than to build vp the Church of God so that the necessitie cōmoditie of the work shuld cause vs to staie nothing at the difficultie therof for with our faithfull endeauour wee shall not want the mightie assistance of God who will blesse our godlie labours with greater successe than wee can looke for How hard many of these things are we haue heard alreadie and easilie may coniecture Yea how dangerous and vnnecessarie some of them be and how some of them are alreadie in experience But nowe to our better incouragement to giue the onset on all these meanes wee must imagine that they are the building vp of the Church of God than the which nothing is more necessarie or commodious and therefore nothing should cause vs to staie at the difficultie thereof Verilie Fortis imaginatio can do much as we sée in our Brethren that imagine these presupposals and thereon dare aduenture to enterprise neuer so difficult attemptes to atchieue this their strong imagination But godlie and staied men must not run on such headstrong fantasies but vppon assured groundes Now when we should come to the ground-worke of this building and finde that which our Brethren imagine hath no better foundation on Gods word for the building vp of such a frame as they and not the word of God prescribeth withall that this their modill which they haue complotted is the manifest scattering and pulling downe of that which in the Church of God is alreadie builded and for the chiefest part is not so necessarie and in some pointes most dangerous besides the difficultie to bring the same to passe no meruaile though so many staie and dare not hazard to build on this platforme and in this manner as our Brethren call vpon vs. For as Saint Paul saith Gal. 2.18 If I build againe the things which I haue pulled downe I make my self a trāsgressor so If I pul down the things that I haue builded if they be wel builded vp I make my selfe also another trāsgressor And sith we haue alredie builded on the onlie foundation Iesus Christ and God hath alreadie blessed our building if now anie other will build thereon and turquise our building except he can bring better proofes that we build amisse and that God allowes not nor likes our building and shewe that not onelie we may more easilie and also with more beautie and profite build after another order that he wil teach vs but that we must and are bound to build on that fashion he presumeth too farre and offereth vs wrong and maye doe more hurt and hinderaunce to the building of the Church of GOD than euer for all his zeale hee shall doe good or bee able to further the same except to put it further off than alreadie it is But saie our Brethren with our faithfull endeauour wee shall not want the mightie assistance of God who will blesse our godlie labours with greater successe than we can looke for Verie true in all faithfull endeauours grounded on a good matter and proceeding by a good order GOD will blesse our godlie labours and his name bee blessed for it so he hath done notwithstanding all the stops both of our foraine enimies and of our owne brethrens domesticall impediments we haue not wanted the mightie assistaunce of God blessing our godlie labors and that with greater successe than they acknowledge or wish or we haue deserued or in these troubles wee could haue looked for So that in this behalf we may wel recomfort our selue● with that saying of the 124. Psalme If the Lord had not bene on our side maie Israel now saie if the Lord had not beene on our side when men rose vp against vs they had swallowed vs vp quicke when their wrath was kindled against vs. And in the 127. following Except the Lord build their house the labour is in vaine that build it And since God hath thus blessed our handie workes euen beyond all that wee looked for for although wee might well looke for no lesse of the professed aduersaries of the Gospell yet who would haue looked for such vnthankfulnesse to God and such hinderance of the worke of God among our selues at our Brethrens hands the professors with vs of Christs Gospel Shal we now also looke for new deuises and with them contemne and alter all that the Lord hath alredie so mightilie blessed and looke for him also to blesse the labours of our handes in the contrarie to that we haue begun to labour and wherein we haue so prosperouslie proceeded and which God hath alreadie blessed with such mightie assistance and successe But now our Brethren supposing these thinges might bee well compassed most confidenilie they auowe and saie If God therefore will graunt that these and such like meanes may take place by the high authoritie of our dreade Soueraigne the Queenes Maiestie and continue this comfortable peace which wee inioie vnder her most gracious gouernment we dare ieopard our liues that in lesse than halfe the time that is alreadie properouslie passed of her Maiesties moste honourable and glorious raigne the necessitie of learned Pastors shall be so well supplied as we shall haue no great cause to complaine for lack of them if we may vse like diligence to continue them if not wee will spend the rest of our life in mourning expectation of the heauie vengeance of GOD which must needes fall vpon vs for this manifest contempt of his expresse commandement and neglect of increasing the glorious kingdome of our sauiour Christ. In the meane time we may boldlie saie with the Apostle Act. 20. We testifie vnto you this daie that wee are cleane from the bloud of you all for we haue not failed to shew you the whole councell of God concerning the regiment of his