Selected quad for the lemma: woman_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
woman_n	bruise_v	heel_n	serpent_n	2,564	5	9.8176	5	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A27246	A sermon preached in S. Lawrence-Jewry Church on the fifth of November, Anno Dom. 1678 by Joseph Bedle ...	Bedle, Joseph, 1644 or 5-1692.	1679 (1679)	Wing B1675; ESTC R19388	10,966	31

Imprimatur Febr. 13. 1678 9. Guil. Sill R. P. D. Henr. Episc Lond. a Sac. Dom. A SERMON PREACHED IN S. Lawrence-Jewry CHURCH ON THE Fifth of November Anno Dom. 1678. BY JOSEPH BEDLE Vicar of Great Bursted in Essex and one of His Majesties Chaplains c. LONDON Printed by R. Everingham for W. Kettilby at the Bishops Head in S. Paul's Church-Yard 1679. A SERMON PREACHED On the Fifth of November 1678. Psalm VII V. 15. He made a pit and digged it and is fallen into the ditch which he made IT is the interest of Mankind to be just and good Righteousness hath a Reward it delivers from death a good man shall be satisfied from himself though the World does not much regard him or reward him though he hath hatred for his good-will and is persecuted because he will be just and good yet his inward peace and soul-contentment shall plentifully recompence him Whereas the backslider in heart shall be filled with his own ways Prov. 14.14 Every wicked man though his ways be never so secret and his contrivances never so subtle and his design carried on with never so much power and policy yet his success shall not only be fruitless but so cross and contrary to his purposes and plots that he shall have little cause to boast of his bargain This the Psalmist asserts in this Psalm he tells you that though he travelleth with iniquity and conceives mischief yet he brings forth a lye He makes a pit and digs it but he falls into the ditch that he made In the one we are told that he brings their wicked designs to nought in the other that he turns them to their own ruine and destruction In the words with their coherence you may find these parts 1. The labour of a wicked man he makes a pit and digs it 2. The end of his labour to ensnare the righteous and to lead captive men of the soundest principles and greatest integrity this you may gather from the body of the Psalm David being sensible of the enmity of the wicked provides for his own safety he flies unto God for refuge Verses first and second 3. There is the event of his labour he falls into the ditch which he made From the two first of these I represent this to your consideration That wicked men are very industrious they make it their business to destroy the Church and People of God they are said here to dig a pit to intrap them and that 's a laborious work Hence we meet with the unjust Steward venting himself thus to beg I am asham'd and to dig I cannot 'T is that I was never us'd to I was never brought up to it my body will not bear it This was part of Adam's Curse upon his transgression he was to get his living by the sweat of his brows and he was sent to till the ground And though it be tedious and painful yet men are willing to undergo it yea chuse it that they may thereby accomplish their wicked Designs Hence David prays deliver me from the workers of iniquity and save me from bloody men The wicked plotteth against the just and gnasheth upon him with his teeth 'T is not done in a passion that ariseth and vanisheth in a moment but 't is their deliberate act their work their employ their business He watcheth the righteous and seeketh to slay him The wicked oppress him Psal 17.9 12. Like as a Lyon that is greedy of his prey and as it were a young Lyon lurking in secret places Where the Prophet alludes to a hungry Lyon Now we know what an influence hunger hath upon our selves our Proverb tells us It will break through Stone-Walls Though man should be subject to and restrained by the Laws of Nations and of Nature too yet if these lye in hunger's way they become but Spiders webs The Rules of Nature are deserted to preserve Nature In the Famine of Samaria we meet with a Woman saying Give me thy Son that we may eat him to day and we will eat my Son on the morrow How many have forfeited their lives by endeavouring to satisfie their bowels when they cry'd for bread Now if hunger in man makes him break all Laws how ravenous must the beasts be that have no such tyes upon them how ravenous must the Lyon be when greedy of his prey Even such are the Enemies of the Lord and his Church And though man may at first wonder that man should be so cruel to man whom it becomes to practise Courtesie and exercise Civility yet upon second thoughts we may be satisfied that 't is true and the occasion may be this First The Corruption of his Nature For though he 's excellent as to his Original yet being corrupted he proves worse than any Those Parts and Gifts which should be employed to the Glory of his Maker and the working his own salvation are turn'd to his Dishonour and his own Eternal Ruine It happens many times that Scholars and men of great Learning have broach'd the greatest Errours Thus man though he hath more advantage than any other Creature and might support his Nature better yet many times bends all his strength to its subversion and shews his Wit and Knowledge in this only that he can be more cruel than any other Creature But the occasion of wicked mens hating the Church and People of God may proceed Secondly From the enmity that is between them There is an irreconcileable hatred between the Seed of the Woman and the Seed of the Serpent because the one must break the others head therefore the other will bruise his heel Gen. 3.15 The enmity is natural 't is hereditary Or if this be not the occasion the opposition may proceed Thirdly From the vast difference that is between them in their Customs and Habits in their Manners and Mode of living Wherefore did Cain hate his Brother but because his own Works were evil and his Brothers righteous What should we do say they with these men that are so much for Law and Gospel they are but Enemies to Nature and their business is to rob us of those Priviledges that we are born to Man is a free agent why should he be stinted says the Libertine let him gratifie his genius to the full wherefore were the Creatures made if not to be used Why for us if we may not use them as we please Am not I says another Master of my own body Am not I Lord of my self what can I else call mine Let 's says a third have Gods of our own making that we may worship them they being in our eyes may be familiar to us these extort less fear and require less obedience when therefore any person shall tell these men fitter termed beasts that man was not made for himself but for the promotion of the Glory and Honour of God his Maker they are but derided for their pains If they are directed to a right use of the Creatures and