Selected quad for the lemma: enemy_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
enemy_n	hand_n	lord_n	stretch_v	1,025	5	9.8952	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A60177	Diverse select sermons upon severall texts of holy scripture preached by that reverend and faithfull servant of Jesus Christ, D. James Sibald ...	Sibbald, James, 1590?-1650?	1658 (1658)	Wing S3718; ESTC R33841	162,247	196

these excellent vertues that were in him were as it were the savour of his Holines whereby it diffuseth it self for alluring and drawing men to him and that still nearer and nearer Thus his drawing of us continueth still while we are here Neverthelesse I am continually with thee sayeth David Psal 73. Thou holdest me by my right hand thou wilt guide me by thy counsell and afterwards receive me into Glory Thirdly This draught of us by God is in some sort reciprocall mutuall As he draweth us so in some sort we draw him We draw God to us by our prayers sighs and groans yea by them we hold and bind him in a manner Let me go said he to Iacob wrestling with him For the day approacheth Let me alone said he to Moses that my anger may vaxe hote Thus by every vertue patience chastitie mercy c. And by every good worke we draw God in some measure to us who the better we are draweth the nearer to us and delighteth the more in us But especially we draw him to us by love which GOD himself who is Love doeth alwayes accompany He that abideth in love abideth in GOD and GOD abideth in him sayeth S. IOHN If any man love me sayeth our LORD I will love him and my Father will love him and my Father and I will come and dwell with him Thus being drawn by God we draw him to us in some manner but yet absolutly we draw not him but by him are drawn to himself For it is he who giveth us all that strength of beauty vertue and love which pleaseth him he giveth it for this effect that we may be united more and more to Him wherein our Happinesse standeth Fourthly This draught of GOD is not a violent draught but most sweet motion of us wherby we who were before unwilling are made now willingly and gladly to come to Christ yea and to run after him The Manichees as CHRIGOST here reporteth affirmed that man was drawn to GOD violently and that his will was forced for which doctrine they alledged this place No man can come to me c. This was a foolish and absurd doctrine A man cometh not to Christ by bodily motion but by the beliefe of his minde love of his heart which cannot be against the will Thou may come to the Church saith holy AUGUSTINE against thy will thou may come to the altar against thy will thou may take the sacrament also against thy will but believe canst thou not against thy will for with the hear● man beleaveth unto righteousnesse and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation and againe If thou comest against thy will thou beleevest not and if thou beleevest not thou comest not at all Neither doeth the word of drawing necessarly import that violence is alwayes used toward the thing that is drawn Both in scripture and in other writes things are said to be drawn which are not forced Men are said to be drawn by their own desires and delights Trahit sua quemue voluptas said the Poet which testimony S. AUGUSTINE citeth here And if men sayeth he be truly said to be drawn by their own pleasure how much more may they be said to be drawn by truth and righteousnesse happines and eternall lise all which Christ is Thus in holy scripture Hos 11. The LORD sayeth That he drew the people of the Jews with the bands of men and with the cords of love meaning his benefits which he abundantly poured upon them which might have served as cords to draw them unto him But it may be yee will say if men be not forced to come to Christ why then is the word of drawing here used since properly it signifieth a moving of any thing be way of force I answer this word is used here not without great reason For first That Action of God wherby he bringeth us to himself is like to drawing in this that as when a thing is drawn the power is outward by which the thing draws is moved without which it should not be moved even so in the first drawing of us to God by his illustrations and inspirations the power is without us and independent from the liberty of our will This Calling of God preveeneth our will yea we are so farre from willing it that oftentimes we resist and strugle against it and would be gladly quite of these heavenly inspirations that we might the more freely follow our carnall joyes In this respect this Calling of God may Justly be called a drawing without which we can no more move toward GOD then a weight can move upward except it be drawn Secondly Our effectuall Calling is called a drawing to signifie the vehement and mighty power whereby GOD changeth the heart of man when it is his purpose to bring it home to himself drawing importeth vehemencie and strength and what is so mighty and strong as this change of the right hand of the most high Thereby somtimes suddenly hee so worketh upon the soul of man that he who was before drowned in vice and long accustomed to it beginneth now to abhore that which most vehemently before he loved and on the contrary to desire love that which before he abhored By this power he that before was the enemie persecutor it may be of Christ When the heavenly Light had shined about S. PAUL yea when it had shined within him and when God had stretched out his Hand and had taken hold of his heart he incontinent cryed out LORD what will thou have me to do Now he acknowledgeth him to he his LORD and the Law-giver whom before hee esteemed a Transgressor of the law Now he offereth himself to do his Will whom before he persecuted although he himself should therfore have been persecuted This Calling indeed was extraordinary yet some thing like thereunto we may find in every one that is effectually called This is shadowed forth in the parable of calling to the marriage Luk. 14. All were called indeed but some were but simplie called and after their refusall no more urged but others were not left untill they were brought in the king commandeth to compell them to come in So God dealeth with his elect he so calleth that he leaveth them not till they answer and follow him Till then he still urgeth by perswasions exhortations reprooffs benefits scourges illustrations and inspirations though they be blind he by calling giveth them sight to know the way to the banqueting house although they be halt and maimed he giveth them feet to walk unto it And in a word no lesse powerfully bringeth them unto himself then if he did use violence unto them Thirdly Albeit no violence be used to the soul of him that is converted when he is called yet there is violence used against satan from whose power he is drawn by the mighty Power of God that he may no more be the slave of satan but

tremble Suppose all the people of the world conspired against thee these three words stedfastly believed the Lord reigneth is enough to give thee comfort and courage Whatsoever injuries are done this Lord seeth and will redresse and revenge in his own time The Lord reigneth saieth that same DAVID Psalm 93. His throne is established the floods haue lifted vp O Lord the floods haue lifted vp their voice the floods haue lifted vp their waves The Lord on high is mightier then the voice of many waters yea then the mightie waves of the sea But it may be thou will say to me how cometh it to passe th● that the servants of this great King are so many wayes afflicted and troubled Consider I beseech thee that in al thy afflictions he hath a supreame hand Now all that thou hast is his he may do with his own what he will Thy wealth thy promotion thy children yea thy life is his he gave all he may take back againe all when he will These things he hath but committed unto thee reserving stil the dominiō of them to himself therfore may require them back againe at his pleasure Beside I appeale thy own conscience did ever any thing befal thee so grievous in thy life but thy sinnes deserved as much yea a thousād times more lastly consider that as he is a most absolute so he is a most Gracious Lord and most wise who dealeth with us so here as he knoweth is most fitting for our eternall well He looketh not only to that which is present but also to eternitie and afflicteth us here that hereafter it may be well with us for ever We are Iudged by the Lord that wee perish not with the world Secondly the consideration of this great dominion of God it giveth us confidence to put up the second petition of the PROPHET and to say with him turne thou us O Lord and we shal be turned This great Lord and King hath power of the soule spirit aswel as the body can work upon it no lesse then upon the body the power of earthly kings reaches no further then the body they cannot draw the heart effectually and infalliblie but God can subdue the heart unto his scepter and can make them that were averse and unwilling to be a willing people Psalm 110. He can enlighten the minde create a clean heart and renew a right spirit He can take away the hert of stone and give us a heart of flesh he can put his spirit within us and cause us to walk in his statutes and keep his Iudgements Paul was a persecuter but no sooner did the heavenly light of this great Lord shine upon him no sooner did his hand touch his heart but he cryed out Lord what will thou haue me to do Before he was his enemie persecuter now his obedient servant and acknowledgeth him to be the Lord and seeketh no more but to know what he would haue done or what he would have him to suffer professing that he was ready to obey So albeit thou have turned away from this Lord yet dispaire not he is so infinitely good and powerfull that he can and will turne thee back againe to him if thou seek it of him as thou ought Which the Lord grant unto us and that for the merits of Christ Iesus To whom c. SECOND SERMON UPON Lamentations of JERIMIAH Chap. V. Vers 19. Thou O Lord remainest for ever and thy throne from generation to generation Vers 20. Wherefore dost thou forget us for ever And forsake us so long time Vers 21. Turne thou us unto thee O Lord And we shall be turned renew our dayes as of Old The holy Prophet in these words as we said before presenteth to God a fervent prayer for his church of whose distresse he had made a most pittifull complaint in the words preceeding He prayeth for two things first that God would restore his favour and the former fruits thereof unto his people This he seeketh first secretly by a loving expostulation wherefore dost thou forget us for ever c. And thereafter expresly and directly renew our dayes as of Old The second thing which he prayeth for without which the first could not be had is their conversion or turning againe to God Turne thou us unto thee O Lord And we shall be turned The ground of these petitions of his confidence to be heard in them is set down in the first verse and it is Gods own nature and the perfections thereof Thou O Lord c. Here three things are ascrived to God First immutabilitie Secondly a dominion and kingdome Thirdly eternitie which belongeth to himself and to his kingdome Thou O Lord saieth he remainest for ever and thy throne c. Of the second and first we haue spoken already let us come now to the third Which we shall handle in this order first we shall show what this eternitie is Secondly that it belongeth both to God and his kingdome Thirdly we shall give you the uses of this doctrine To come to the first yee are to understand that the eternitie of God which is the only and properly so called eternitie is not a thing diverse from his nature or essence There is nothing in God which is not God and one and the same with his divine nature So the eternitie of God is nothing else but this own divine essence or existence considered as it abideth persevereth indeficiently unmeasurably without beginning or end Wee cannot conceive this indurance of God but with a reference to the time of indurance of the creatures as we cannot conceive the immensitie of God but with a reference to a bodily space wherein the creatures are or may be and therefore the eternitio of God as conceived by us includeth a reference to the duratiō continuance of other things whereas in it self it differeth from them infinitelie For the more particular understanding of this point ye are to consider that the eternitie of God hath three notable properties First it is such a duration that hath neither beginning nor end but is altogether unmeasurable time may be measured and is measured by our minds and used as a measure of the continuance of other things It had a beginning and since the beginning of it 6000. years are not a● yet past But if we should go beyond this time 100000. years yea millions of ages we should come infinitely short of Eternitie which hath no beginning at all So time shall haue an end but if we go beyond that end as many millions of ages as there are stares in heaven pickles of sand on the sea shoar drops of water in the ocean yet are we infinitely short of the length of eternitie which hath no end at all So it is an indurance simplie and altogether unmeasurable The second propertie of it is that it is such an indurance as hath no fluxe in it no