Selected quad for the lemma: enemy_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
enemy_n	world_n	write_n	write_v	22	3	5.4486	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A30402	Reflections on a book entituled (The rights, powers, and privileges of an English convocation, stated and vindicated) by Gilbert, Bishop of Sarum.	Burnet, Gilbert, 1643-1715.	1700 (1700)	Wing B5848; ESTC R14762	22,012	34

REFLECTIONS ON A BOOK ENTITULED The Rights Powers and Privileges of an ENGLISH CONVOCATION Stated and Vindicated By GILBERT Bishop of Sarum LONDON Printed for RI. CHISWELL at the Rose and Crown in St. Paul's Church-Yard 1700. REFLECTIONS on a Book Entituled The Rights Powers and Privileges of an English Convocation c. IT is so natural for all Men to love Power and Authority that it was not to be wondred at if the Book published some Months ago asserting the Rights of a Convocation was received by many with great Approbation and much Applause Some things indeed it had in it agreeable enough but there was one thing wanting which was too evident not to appear both in the whole Contexture and almost in every Page That though the Author pretended to plead the Cause of the Church which is indeed the Cause of Christ himself who is the Head of the Body yet he had so entirely laid aside the Spirit of Christ and the Characters of a Christian that without large Allowances of Charity one can hardly think that he did once reflect on the Obligations he lay under to follow the Humility the Meekness and the Gentleness of Christ So far from that he seems to have forgot the common Decencies of a Man or of a a Scholar A Book writ with that roughness and acrimony of Spirit if well received would be a much stronger Argument against the Expediency of leaving a Convocation at full liberty than any he brings or can bring for it A meeting of Men of that Temper would give but too much occasion to renew all the Complaints that Nazianzen made of the Synods and Councils in his time and would I doubt be a greater prejudice to the common Concerns of the Christian Religion than could be ballanced by any thing that the best Men in it might promote When such a Spirit appears without doors what might be expected from Men covered by the freedom of Speech which must be allowed in all publick Consultations If the Writer had been provoked by any thing writ on the Subject in that Strain to which he lets himself loose then the great Liberties he takes had been capable of some excuse But the attacking of Men who had given him no colour of provocation in so petulant and virulent a Stile is somewhat new and I hope shall be so little liked that it shall not be much followed The Scorn with which he treats my self and the Malice that he pours out upon me in such a copious manner are things that I can very easily bear I have been long accustomed to them chiefly from some Men of one sort If Fame sixes this Book to the true Author I had no reason to look for such treatment from him unless the unsuccessfulness of my Attempts to serve him though managed by me with much care and zeal oftner than once does pass with him for so great an injury that upon it he thinks every thing may be justified that he can write against me He takes some pains to colour the blackness of his Spite but the Art is so course and the Venom is so malignant that it breaks through all disguises It is true I may be mistaken in the Author and for several Reasons I wish I were But certainly since those he levels his Wrath at have put their Names in the Front of their Books it had been reasonable that an Answer to these should have likewise been as publickly owned by its Author He writes on the Popular side but has many peculiar Maxims and this may be one of them Not to engage himself past retreat He might perhaps hope that this performance would be more effectual for his Advancement than my Endeavours had been This shewed what he could do yet still all was safe he might be taken off and then Altri tempi altri castumi But I leave him in his Covert to pursue his designs by what methods he pleases only for the Church's sake as well as for his own I wish he would more frequently carry those words of our Saviour's in his mind Learn of me for I am meek and lowly in heart It gives Scandal enough to the World when Lawyers Philosophers Physicians and Politicians happen to write one against another with Bitterness and Scurrility but it is much more Scandalous when Divines keep no Temper in their Writings but forget all Decency and shew themselves Enemies not only to the Opinions but also to the Persons of those they write against and that in such an open and visible Contradiction to the Words of our Saviour By this shall all men know that ye are my Disciples if ye have love one to another as if they affected a Reverse of them By this shall all men know your zeal to your Party if ye hate all those who are not of it Such practices as these do effectually obstruct the progress of Religion while an Age that is too much possessed against both us and our Holy Faith fails not to make a very wicked use of all those Advantages with which ambitious or ill-natur'd Zealots furnish them to represent us to the World as a Company of aspiring and factious Men who are ready to Sacrifice every thing to our own Humours and Notions not considering how much Religion it self suffers by the management These are Things that I hope good Men will lay seriously to heart and that they will watch over their own Tempers even after the highest provocation from those who seem to be in the gall of Bitterness and the bond of Iniquity not to return railing for railing nor to be overcome of evil but to overcome evil with good But after I have taken the liberty to admonish the Writer in a Strain that I think becomes me considering both the Post that how undeserving soever I hold in the Church together with my Age and the Services that I have endeavoured to imploy my Life in I shall in the next place acknowledge what I must needs commend him for He writes with just and due Respect of the King and of the present Constitution This has come so seldom from that Corner that it ought to be the more consider'd I will not give that scope to Jealousy as to suspect that this was an Artifice but accept it sincerely and do acknowledge that this which is so heartily express'd ought to make Abatements for the many severe Reflections that are made in it on the whole Bench of Bishops not excepting the Head of it and his carrying his Spite back so far as even to Bishop Bancroft I confess if he had taken a little more pains to have Vindicated King Charles the First and Archbishop Laud from that for which he falls so foully on the present Administration it had been more suitable to the respect that all the Lovers of the Church do pay their Memory If it does appear that We and They have acted upon the same Principle then a Wound and that a deep one