Selected quad for the lemma: enemy_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
enemy_n	sleep_v	sow_v	tare_n	1,022	5	12.2153	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A61206	Satana noēmata, or, The wiles of Satan in a discourse upon 2 Cor. 2. 11 / by William Spurstow ...	Spurstowe, William, 1605?-1666.	1666 (1666)	Wing S5096; ESTC R22598	68,825	114

stratagems many yet hath he never been able to make the Seed of Grace in its conception to prove abortive nor to destroy a Believer in his swadling-bands much less in his Armour SECT III. A Third Demonstration which may farther evince the abilities of Satan in Tempting is that it is the onely design and business that he hath propounded unto himself and hath prosecuted with most unwearied diligence ever since he hath become of an holy Angel an impure Devil First It is the grand and sole business in which he layes out himself and thereby becomes not onely more dexrerous in it but also more formidable It is an Italian Proverb Liberamea ab homine unius negotii Lord deliver me from a Man who hath but one business to do he will be sure to minde and tend it and thereby get many advantages against an incumbred adversary who can never obtain the least against him For it is with the powers and faculties of rational beings as it is with other things which become more or less active and vigorous according to the combination or division which they undergoe Many small wax lights which of themselves burn faintly when put into one Totch or Taper send forth a bright and shining flame many little Bells which tinkle together to the pleasing of Children when melted and cast into one great Bell do affect the ear with a more solemne and awfull sound and many single Threads which snap asunder with the least touch when twisted together make a strong Cable which can withstand the fury and violence of a storm So it is with the Mind the more it is scattered and divided through multiplicity of objects the more weak it is and the more it is fixed on one single Object the more masculine and strong are the operations of it either in good or in evil And therefore David who desires to excell in holiness makes it his Prayer Psalm 86. 11. that God would unite his heart to fear his Name Hierome reads it Unicum fac cor meum Make my heart one that is incline it onely to thy fear implying thereby that divided interests in the heart do both distract and weaken it When the Scripture likewise would set forth the wonderfull depravation of Mans estate it saith That every Imagination of his heart was onely evill continually Gen. 6. 5. There is not the least contrary Principle to check or to restrain those ebullitions of lust which slow and ascend from the heart as water from a Fountain and sparkes from a Furnace Now thus it is with Satan he is wholly bent to evil and makes it his onely study to dive and search into Men that he may the better fasten his temptations upon them It is the question which God puts to him Job 1. 8. Hast thou considered my servant Job or as the Septuagint renders it Hast thou attended with thy Minde In which is implyed what his practise and end is in going too and fro in the earth he doth not travel it as a Pilgrim but as a Spy that observes narrowly every person and thing as he passeth along He sets not forward a step but he doth as it were debate every Mans estate temper age calling company that so he may with the greater advantage tempt to evil and thereby bring Men into the same misery and condemnation with himself And indeed whosoever duly weighes the perfect antipathy that is in Satan both unto God and Holiness can hardly conceive in what other thing he should exercise himself then to tempt and solicit Men to sin For such is the greatness of his malice that as the Schooles determine it cannot admit any farther degree of augmentation his will being immovably fixed to evill as its ultimate end Needs therefore must his malice and hatred dispose him to the doing of such evills as may bear a proportion to the greatness of it And wherein can it in a higher way discover it self then in designing and effecting the ruine of the souls of Men by pernicious Counsells and devices If there be any one thing in which so discontented a Person as Satan is can take delight it is in his Trade of Seduction and Destruction in making others as irrecoverably lost and miserable as himself Secondly As tempting and ensnaring of Men is his onely business so his diligence in it is matchless He was going too and fro in the earth and walking up and down in it in Jobs time Job 1. 7. and in Peters time he was a roaring Lyon walking about seeking whom he may devour 1 Pet. 5. 8. The Beasts of the earth though they hunt after their Prey yet when the Sun ariseth and Man goeth forth to labour they gather themselves together and lay them down in their Dens Psalm 104. 22. But this infernal Lyon is restless in his motions and compasseth the earth with as much unweariedness as the Sun doth the Heavens It is true be tempts others to idleness but himself is never idle The Fowler is desirous that the flying Bird would alight upon the ground or perch upon some Tree but all the while he is in motion that when it so doth it may the better become his mark So the Devil he doth what he can to lull others asleep in idleness and sloth but he then ceaseth not to shoot his darts and to spread his snares When Samson was asleep on Dalilahs knees she caused his Locks to be cut off Judges 16. 19. and wrought all that mischiefe upon him that terminated not in the loss of his eyes but in the loss of his life While the Servants slept the enemy came and sowed his Tares Matth. 13. 25. Oh! how well would it go with Christians if the diligence of their Adversary would provoke them to watchfulness and kindle in them an holy industry unto all good that so they might approve themselves to be Dei Milites Gods Souldiers to sight against all evil and Operarii Dei Gods Workmen and Servants in doing all good Sure it is their complaints would be fewer and their comforts would be greater But alass what a sad complaint may I now take up and whilest I speak of the diligence of the Evill One mourn over the security and negligence of most Professors amongst whom a waking Eye and a working Hand are as rare to be found as a Sword and a Spear among all the People of Israel 1 Sam. 13. 22 How few are there that have taken the alarum though they be called upon so as to stand upon their Watch against temptations How hard is it to perswade Men that to walk circumspectly is a duty or that to be diligent in their Callings is one of the best Antidotes to preserve the Soul from the putrefaction of lusts and to fence it against the Incursions of an Affiduous Tempter It is a common Proverb that the Lyon is not so sierce as he is Painted and it it a received opinion that the Devil is not so hurtfull an