Selected quad for the lemma: sense_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
sense_n	speak_v	understand_v	word_n	5,901	5	4.4514	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A60386	A sermon preached before the King at Mont-St.-Andre-Camp, June 29, 1694 by James Smalwood ...	Smalwood, James, d. 1719.	1695 (1695)	Wing S4007; ESTC R10098	13,536	42

not only fill their Purses and their Scrips but they must provide themselves too of Weapons nay they who had no Swords were obliged to sell even their very Garments and buy them By all this say these Learned Persons is nothing more meant by our Saviour than that his Disciples should Arm their Minds against all the Spiritual Oppositions and against all the Temporal Hardships they might meet with in the World This perhaps might have been the Figurative meaning of our Saviour That now he was going from the Head of his Disciples They should put on a greater firmness and resolution of Mind Arm their Spirits with an undaunted Courage and readiness to grapple with the severest Trials and to surmount all difficulties and the Sword here in my Text might possibly be used in the same Sense by our Saviour that St. Paul uses the Sword of the Spirit the Shield Ephes 6. of Faith the Helmet of Salvation or any of the other parts of Armory he there furnishes out his Christian Warrior with However admitting this Metaphorical acceptation of the Words I see no absurdity or false Doctrine in taking the Text in the more obvious and literal signification St. Augustine I am sure a Father of no mean Authority takes this very Text of Scripture in the plain and verbal importance and makes use of it for an Argument against the Manichees a whimsical Sect of People who decried all manner of use of Secular Arms as unjustifiable amongst Christian Men. And it may be presumed St. Peter that great Apostle understood our Saviour according to the Letter too for presently after the words were spoke when he saw his Master fall into the violent hands of the High-Priest's Servants he drew his Sword and with it gave a plain demonstration in what Sense he took the words Nay this was not only St. Peter's apprehension of these Words but 't is to be supposed of all the Apostles likewise for we find in the following Verse their joint Answer He that has no Sword let him sell his Garment and buy one says our Saviour And they said Lord behold here are two Swords And he said unto them it is enough However thus much certainly may very naturally and very agreeably too to the Doctrine of Christ be inferr'd from this Text That tho' Spiritual Arms are the Christians commendable Weapons in the Times of Persecutions and Oppressions and a fortified Mind is then always required yet even the outward Corporal Means of just Defence or Offence are allowed Christians as well as other Men. This is a Position that the strictest of our Saviour Christ's Precepts does not contradict or disprove for altho Patience in Persecutions long-suffering of Injuries love of very Enemies are recommended to us as the most sublime Christian Vertues altho by such Commands as this Unto him that smiteth thee on the one Cheek turn the other we are admonish'd to pass by all trivial and accidental Injuries in common Conversation altho the first Methods of the propagation of the Gospel were gentle and peaceable and the same Methods ought still to be practis'd in the Conservation of it Yet did I never meet with any so very Spiritualized a Casuist that carried on the Doctrine of self-resignation so high but that it was always allowed That when private Mens Lives are in danger and much more when the Publick Life of the State is in jeopardy and most of all when Christianity it self is in hazard of being subverted or corrupted that then the free use of all Means of both Personal and Publick Security were never Prohibited by our Saviour This slender Objection being thus removed I shall not scruple to take the Text in a Grammatical and Literal Sense and from it so considered I. First I shall lay down this for a Positive and Uncontestable Assertion That notwithstanding all the Doctrines of Humility Patience Submission Forgiving of Injuries Forbearance of Revenge which the Gospel of Christ and the Writings of the Apostles so much press upon us and which are the Spiritual Weapons of our Warfare here in this World yet still the Armour of the Body and the just use of material Weapons is and in all Ages of the World before and since Christianity was Lawful nay at some times and in some conditions of Affairs War is necessary and more the Duty of a Christian People than a slothful Peace II. Secondly I will enquire at what Opportunities and Seasons Arms may be taken up III. Thirdly I will make it appear that our present War is to be justified by all the Reasons and Arguments that can be required for the carrying on of any I. First I am to prove the warrantableness of War amongst Christian People and one would think I needed not to spend much time in making good that universal and avowed Opinion That all defensive and offensive Means of Safety which amongst all Men are allowable are equally so to Christians as to any other part of Mankind That War was both practised in the most ancient Seasons of the World and not only countenanced but directed and in a manner proclaimed too by God himself is a thing plainly to be seen in many Places of the Old Testament Moses was commanded to raise Forces and to form an Army by God's own special Order Abraham commenced a War for the rescue of his Brother Lot and many other Instances might be produc'd out of the Old Testament but let us look into the New the Precepts of which are far more obligatory to us Christians and there we shall find the Equity of Arms as much establish'd amongst the Christians as they were made use of amongst the Israelites For what did our Saviour intend by these Words If my Kingdom were of this World then would my Servants fight that I should not be delivered to the Jews what I say could our Saviour here mean but that the taking up of Arms at some Exigences of time was a thing not only practicable but warrantable If my Kingdom were of this World that is if I did really pretend to erect any temporal and material Kingdom in this World any more than a spiritual Soveraignty over Souls then as it is Customary with all earthly Princes in such Cases rather than be thus used by these Jews would I raise an Army to defend my Person and to revenge the Injuries I have unjustly received at their Hands then would I and my Army fight as it is the manner of all worldly Princes to do whenever their Dominions and Prerogatives are wrongfully invaded or their Persons ignominiously treated This seems to me to be the Meaning and Purport of that Text. But may not this Countenancing of War seem a most preposterous and surprizing Doctrine for the Prince of Peace to deliver How is this consistent with his own Life and Conversation which was nothing else but one continued Act of Suffering How comes He that endured all the Barbarous Usage Buffetings Spittings upon Scourgings