Selected quad for the lemma: heaven_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
heaven_n	father_n	mercy_n	sinner_n	3,674	5	9.2994	5	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A31933	Englands looking-glasse presented in a sermon preached before the Honorable House of Commons at their late solemne fast, December 22, 1641 / by Edmund Calamy ...	Calamy, Edmund, 1600-1666.	1642 (1642)	Wing C236; ESTC R206351	35,591	72

Nationall It must be personall for so saith the Text If that Nation against vvhom I have pronounced turn from their evill A malitia sua Every man hath some sinne vvhich is his peccatum in delicijs his dilectum delictum his beloved sin the sin of his constitution Let us turne from that sin vvhatsoever it is and if vve know not vvhat that sin is let us turne from every sinne and so vve shall be sure to turne from that sin This the King of Niniveh commanded that every one of his Subjects should cry mightily unto God and not onely so but every one to turne from his evill way and from the violence that is in their hands Thus must we vve must be able to say vvith David I have kept my selfe from my sin We live in times wherein there vvas never more turning Some turne like the Dogge to the vomit and like the Sow to the wallowing in the myre Some turne Atheists some Papists some Socinians some Arminians Some turne like the weather-cock which way the winde bloweth which way soever preferment goes that way they turne Many turn Neurers Many turne from Christs side to be of Antichrists side Many turne cold and Icy for God and his Church Some are like unto the Chamelion that will change it selfe into any colour but white So many will turne to be any thing but good If times turne ill they will be naught but if times turne good they will not be good But I beseech you let all us here present before the Lord this day turn sincerely unto the Lord our God from all iniquity Let us strip our selves stark naked of all the rags of the old Adam Repent of your pride dust and ashes doth better become you Repent of your gluttony and drunkennesse let weeping be your drinke and fasting your meate Repent of your swearing Condemne your selves out of your owne mouths that God may justifie you Repent of your covetousnesse If ever you expect to gaine Heaven looke not after the earth so much Repent of your Adultery that God may marry you unto himselfe and least you be married to eternall flames Repent of your security that you may live securely No way to escape damnation but by Repentance and no man that ever repented aright but did escape damnation Oh that this day might be the conversion of some sinner that they may be able to say From such a fasting day I began to turn unto God! Oh that this Fasting-day might be a Festivall-day to the Angels in Heaven who rejoyce at the conversion of a sinner Oh that some Zacheus would make restitution this day That some Prodigall childe would return to his Heavenly Father God Almighty exceedingly delights to shew mercy to a penitent sinner As a husband-man delights much in that ground that after long unfruitfulnesse proves fruitfull and calls his friends and neighbours to behold that ground As a Captain loves that Souldier that once fled away cowardly and afterwards returns and fights valiantly Even so God is wonderfully inamoured with a sinner that having once made shipwrack of a good conscience yet at last returns and swims to Heaven upon the plank of Faith and Repentance This is a notable provocation to all wretched hard-hearted sinners to turn unto God by true Repentance God is so farre from refusing you that he rejoyceth in your conversion and is more ready to receive you then you are to come And I may safely adde That in some sense God delights more in a penitent Prodigall then in one of his righteous children As the good Shepheard rejoyced more in his lost sheep then in his 99. sheep And the good Woman in her lost groat And the good Father in his lost sonne more then in the sonne that went not astray It is true that Innocency of life is better simply and absolutely considered than Repentance And it is more to be desired to live without sin than to have grace to repent after sin As a whole Garment is better than a rent Garment and yet a rent Garment may be so handsomely pieced together that there shall be little difference between that and a whole Garment A penitent sinner that feelingly apprehends the great mercy of God in pardoning so great a sinner as he was the sense of this distinguishing love of God towards him raiseth up his heart to a higher pitch of zeal and enables him to draw neer to God with more affection and fervently to be more tender of sin and to do and suffer more for God many times than those that are more righteous than he is As suppose two men at Sea the one comes safely to shore without danger the other escapes to shore not without great hazard and perill of life He that comes without hazard hath more cause simply to be thankfull yet ordinarily he that had the greater danger out of sense of his danger will return more praise than the other Saint Paul laboured more than all the other Apostles because he was a greater sinner than all the other Apostles and had obtained greater mercy Therefore Mary Magdalen loved much because much was forgiven her We never reade that the blessed Virgin ever came to wash the Feet of Christ with her tears But Mary Magdalen a great sinner she did it and she comes first to the Sepulcher and afterwards as some report she spent 30. yeers in Gallia Narbonensi in weeping for her sins Gregory brings the example of David who after he had obtained pardon for murdering Vriah and committing adultery with Bathsheba fell a longing after the water of Bethlehem But when the water was brought He poured it forth before the Lord and would not drink of it because it hazarded the lives of his men Observe how tender of sin David was after his Repentance He that before had spilt innocent blood is now troubled in conscience for putting the lives of his men in jeopardy He that before longed for another mans wife doth now repent for desiring another mans water Bernard brings the example of Peter who before his denyall considently told Christ Though all forsook him yet he would not Yet afterwards when he had repented of his denying of Christ he was so tender that when Christ purposedly asked him three times Lovest thou me more than these he answers not comparatively as before but positively Onely Lord thou knowest I love thee And this is another provocation to exhort all sinners to lay hold upon this holy Anchor this wrath-charming Repentance Come all ye prodigall children all ye lost sheep that have gone astray Behold your Heavenly Father is not onely ready but joyfull to receive you and if rightly understood more joyfull than in his faithfull Children Was there ever mercy like to this Oh that we had hearts to embrace it And the greater any man is in estate and parts the more honour God shall have if such a man will turn to God this day Great men are