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	zion_n	1,188	5	9.7879	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A87595	A sober word to a serious people: or, A moderate discourse respecting as well the Seekers, (so called) as the present churches. Wherein the difference between them touching visible administrations, is discovered and discussed: and may serve as a plea for the nations ministery. / By a lover of truth and peace.	Jackson, John.	1651 (1651)	Wing J78A; ESTC R202618	52,789	71

7.19 20 21 22 and had accordingly effected in process of time as appears in the Captivity by Zedekiah and in the Lamentations Chap. 2.6 7. He hath violently taken away his tabernacle as a garden he hath destroyed his palaces of the assembly the Lord hath caused the solemn feasts and sabbaths to be forgotten in Sion and despised in the indignation of his anger the king and the priests the Lord hath cast off his altar he hath abhorred his sanctuary he hath given up into the hand of the enemy the walls of her palaces they have made a noise in the house of the Lord as in the day of a solemn feast Notwithstanding which dealing of his towards them he caused them to return at the time appointed to build their walls and to restore their Worship according to the Word which he had spoken by his holy Prophets because as yet the full time was not come wherein the Entail was to be cut off from this people That which I would have observed in this Circumlocution is this Viz. First That although God had promised that his eyes and his heart should be upon that house which Solomon had built perpetually yet that time was a prefixt and limited time Secondly That before the time limited wherein there was to be a cessation of the Temple and Temple-Worship there was a Discontinuance as to the enjoyment and exercise of it which befel that people through their transgressions and sin insomuch that it may be said They sinned themselves into a difuse of their Mercy which befel them for a time during their Captivity till their restoration Thirdly That whereas it was by divine intendment that at the time appointed the daily sacrifice should cease the Temple-work and Worship should be at an end of which expiration God himself would be the author and procurer yet these people beforehand by their sins procured themselves a Separation Banishment and Captivity for the space of seventy yeers though then at the end thereof God graciously returned their Captivity So would I that it were considered touching the promise of our Lord Jesus to the Apostles or to the Christian Ministery Lo I am with you all the days unto the end of the world First That there is a time limited for the continuation of his presence with them as a Ministery at which time there is to be a cessation thereof as to a Ministery when the work for which the Ministery was given is fulfilled according to Eph. 4.11 12.13 14. and this according to divine purpose and fore-appointment of God Till we all come to the unity of the faith c. Secondly That it 's possible for the Successors of the Apostles in the work of their Ministery to make shipwrack of faith and a good conscience to prove false Teachers and privily to bring in damnable doctrines and through covetousness to make merchandice of men proving spots and blemishes sporting themselves with their own deceivings having eyes full of adultery that cannot cease from sin beguiling unstable souls exercised with covetous practices cursed children which have forsaken the right way and gone astray following the way of Balaam the son of Bosor who loved the wages of unrighteousness Nay all this the holy Apostles of our Lord did foretel should be as may particularly be instanced in the Epistles of Paul Peter Jude and this iniquity began to work in a Mystery before the Apostles left the earth and afterwards mightily prevailed as the History of time will evidence and most eminently that learned Discourse of Master Mede called The Apostacie of the last times and Clappam's Brief upon the Bible and became as that Scripture saith Isa 28.8 The priests and the prophets erred through strong drink they are swallowed up of wine they are out of the way through strong drink They erre in vision they stumble in judgement for all tables are full of vomit and filthiness there is no place clean And this will be found to have been the condition of the Ministery soon after the Apostles time and so forward ever since that pretended Vicar of Christ that false Vice-Christ hath as God set himself in the temple of God and hath sent forth his Angels Messengers or Apostles viz. Nuntio's Cardinals Legats and what not whereby he hath darkened the counsel of God by feigned and devised words and Ministeries From which we may expect to be delivered when the most High shall send his great Angel to enlighten the earth with his glory The fields being now grown almost white to the harvest the Lord of the harvest will in mercy to the ignorance of his poor people thrust forth labourers into the harvest Oh turn again our Captivity also as the rivers of the south who are fallen under a disuse of our mercy our first Ministery which our Lord ascending on high gave as gifts to men for the perfecting the number of the Saints and edifying the body of Christ which though discontinued because of our and our forefathers sins yet may be restored to us again when we are brought to see a want of them and can cry unto God for them Isai 30.18 19 20 The Lord is a God of judgement blessed are all they that wait for him And though the Lord give you the bread of adversity and the water of affliction yet shall not thy teachers be removed into a corner any more but thine eyes shall see thy teachers But whom shall he teach knowledge and whom shall he cause to understand doctrine Them that are weaned from the milk and drawn from the brests Isa 28.9 Therefore as in the former times there hath been a discontinuance of the true Ministery for a long season by reason of transgression yet may there be a glorious restoration thereof also in God's due time For as the Apostacie began at the Ministery both in the former and later times as is witnessed by the Apostle 2 Pet. 2 There were false prophets among the people even as there shall be false teachers among you who shall privily bring in damnable heresies even denying the Lord that bought them and bring upon themselves swift damnation And yet from the former the Lord in his good pleasure set his people of old free For these reasons why may it not also be hoped that in due time he will again return in mercy and visit the dark corners of the earth causing the people that sit in darkness and in the shadow of death to hear the joyful sound that they may walk in the light of his countenance The rather considering that the Ministery was given to continue till the number of the Saints were perfected Eph. 4.12 or as the former Translation renders it For the gathering together of the Saints Now if the number of the Saints be not perfected nor their gathering together compleated How is the end for which Christ ascended and for which he gave gifts to men accomplished if the work of the Ministery be not again restored unto

in the wilderness they were our Types 1 Cor. 10.11 In their Temple-state they were our Types and what God spake to them then was as typing out the state which was to come after 2 Cor. 6.16 In the state of their Captivity they were the types of the Captivity of the present Israel of God Jer. 50. Revel 11.8 Revel 18.2 4. Therefore what is recorded of them and what befel them according to the Divine wisdom of the most holy God is written for us and for our learning that we might fear with a holy fear Now it appears by the testimony of Divine Truth that there were some parts of Worship which the people were to perform to their God in the Temple at Jerusalem and not elsewhere Deut. 12.6 7 11 13 14. But there were some other parts of his Worship which they might perform to him when they were at the greatest distance from the Temple even in the Land of their Captivity When they were in their own Land they were to perform their Temple-work and Temple-worship at Jerusalem the place where God had chosen to put his Name But in case the Lord should deliver them into the hands of their enemies and they should be led captive into a strange Land inasmuch as they could not come to Jerusalem to worship before the Lord there yet if they did but remember the Lord in the land of their captivity and did humble themselves and pray unto him looking towards his house he would hear in heaven c. That the Lord 's Israel might be put past Temple-work and worship read 1 Kings 8.44 46 47 48 49 50 51. and yet in this their condition when they could not come to Jerusalem if they did but look towards it and repent and pray God would have mercy hear and forgive That these people were carried captive appears 2 Chron. 36.17 to the end of vers 21. Now the Sion of God became a plowed field Now the ways of Sion mourned none came to her solemn Assemblies and for their part they could not sing the songs of Jehovah in a strange Land Now the Lord had broken his two staves of Beauty and Bands Zech. 11.9 10 14. Now was Israel given up to the Robbers Isa 42.23 24 25. Quest Well Quest but what do these people do in the Land of their Captivity Answ They seek the Lord by Fasting and Prayer Answ looking towards his House they hang their Harps upon the willows and fall a mourning and weeping at the remembrance of Sion Read these Scriptures Psal 137. Dan. 9.2 3 4. Dan. 6.10 Zech. 7.3 5. Zech. 8.19 21 22. Ezra 8.23 Quest Quest But did the people ever pray together during the time of their Captivity Answ Answ Yea besides what other places of Scripture may hold out for the clearing of it without doubt it lies clear in the face of this Text Esth 4.3 16. Go gather together all the Jews which are in Shushan and fast ye for me If ever this were the case of this people and they were herein as well as in other things Types in respect of what was to come methinks we are taught to consider that which was afore-time written for our learning according to Rom. 15.4 Rom. 11. That in the Christian Church-state there is something so peculiar to it as that it may not elsewhere be administred as the power of Binding and Loosing in the Name of the Lord Jesus together with the Administration of such Ordinances as are peculiar to a Church wherein the Primitive Churches were exercised for their season contending earnestly for the faith once given to the Saints the woman wearing her Brides attire her goodly cloathing Revel 12.1 until the Dragon made war against her and put her to flight pursuing her with floods of water in which condition of hers she hath lien in the wilderness of the world in the rubbish and confusion of Babel among the pots unpolished growing up as a lily among thorns here one and there another like an Army routed like Sheep unfolded according to that Scripture I saw all Israel scattered upon the mountains like sheep having no shepherd 1 King 22.17 Oh that we could read with affection those passages Psal 80. and Psal 81. Oh how is the Sion of the Lord become a plowed field indeed How is the Vineyard of the Lord spoiled Once it was not so but at this day how do the poor people of the Lord rend and devour and tear and eat up one another what sharp and bitter words How great is the company of spear-men the mother eating up the children of a span long Could this be if the Veil were taken away and our Bondage removed What may be the reason Truth is so miscalled so mistaken one pretends to have it and another to have it Is it not because night is to us for a vision We say we see and we think we see but know not that we are as men that dream The Builders are at oddes among themselves and the stones in the building rise up one against another Can Christ be thus divided If that his true Ministery were on foot would not that rectifie that great Confusion which is among the Builders Would not a Trowel be a Trowel and Brick be Brick and Mortar be Mortar Would not the language of Truth be distinctly understood Would he suffer one of his own servants to throw down what another most dear to himself hath been a building up and a third to destroy the work of them both Oh how great is the desolation if we were but sensible of it and affected with it And when we think to mend our selves and to become Repairers of the breaches behold in stead of a girdle a rent in stead of well-set hair baldness This this is the condition of the Lord's people to them that see it and surely unless the Lord of hosts had left us a remnant we had been like Sodom But blessed be the Lord our Rock who hath given us the valley of Achor for a door of hope Hos 2.15 Ier. 31.16 17. Zeph. 3.8 9 17 18. Now the condition of the Lords Israel being thus routed thus scattered they ought to be afflicted deeply with this their desolation and scattering yet not to mourn as men without hope Jer. 31.15 16 17 but cry mightily unto the Lord and give him no rest Isa 62.1 6 7. Luk. 18.1 7 8. To beare one anothers burthens To inquire of the Lord and one of another the way to Sion Jer. 50.4 5 6. To inquire after the true Lord Jesus Cant. 6.1 Thus according to this order and pattern of a poor captivated people ought the scattered Israel of Jehovah to go mourning and weeping and seeking the Lord and not to go about to build and set up wayes by their own mistaken miscalled and misunderstood gifts But to wait upon the Lord lest it be to them in stead of a girdle a rent Isa 3.24 Quest Seeing God hath