Selected quad for the lemma: justice_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
justice_n	punish_v	punishment_n	sin_n	7,494	5	5.5732	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A94051	Mercy rejoycing against judgement: or, God waiting to be gracious to a sinfull nation. A sermon preached before the honorable House of Commons in Margarets Westminster, upon the solemne day of their publique humiliation and monethly fast, Octob. 29. 1645. / By John Strickland, B.D. pastor of the church at Edmonds in the citie of New Sarum, now preacher at Peters Poor, London, and a member of the Assembly of Divines. Published by order of the House of Commons.	Strickland, John, 1600 or 1601-1670.	1645 (1645)	Wing S5973; Thomason E307_21; ESTC R200349	19,186	32

was a type of Christ in whom God and man were reconciled God will now magnifie his mercy and patience so that * Multa in scriptura efferantur 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 quae tamen oportet intelligi 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Damasc lib. 4. de orth fide cap. 20. Saepe illa Hebraea particula 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 et graeca 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in bibliis usurpatur adversative pro quamuis licet Tarn Exer. Bibl in 1 Sam. 2.25 though man be as sinfull as ever he was and deserves that the ground should be cursed again with another floud as well as ever he did yet God to shew the riches of his grace and mercy will not again curse the ground any more for mans sake though the imagination of mans heart is evill from his youth which leads me to the grounds of reason holden out in the next place The reasons of such Gods wonderfull dispensations somtimes are given in the text And first why he suspends his Judgements so unexpectedly and extraordinarily somtimes Reasons when yet a people do still provoke him even because he will be exalted in his mercy And therfore will he be exalted that he may have mercy upon you exaltabit Exalted se he shall stir up him self that he may have mercy as intending to show mercy with all his might When the psalmist would have God help the Church to purpose he intreats the Lord to stir up his strength and help her Psa 80.2 so when he intends here to be mercifull to purpose he will stir up himself Or exaltabitur parcendo vobis God shall be exalted in pardoning it shall appeare to be grandis clementia Dei as Hierom cals it when he pardoneth unexspectedly he lifts up his mercy above mens thoughts as far as the Heavens are above the Earth So in the Prophet God speaks of himself when he pardoneth aboundantly Isa 55.7.8.9 I will nor trouble you with the many other interpretations that are made of this phrase as that it signifies the exaltatiō of Gods hand in fimilitudinem percussuri as Oecolampadius or Gods going up again into Heaven from whence he was come down out of his place to punish them and the like The two first interpretations give you as I humbly conceive the genuine sense and mind of the words which holds out the reason of the point even that God may be the more exalted and set up in his mercy There is an ordinary course or path holden out in Scripture wherein divine justice and mercy do commonly proceed in punishing or in pardoning When a people sinne against God they shall be punished when a people repent of their sinne God will repent of their punishment and they shall be pardoned thus it is generally in Gods dispensations and because God hath not tyed or limitted himself to walke alwaies though he hath tyed us alwaies to waite upon and expect him in the way of his word for the dispensation of his justice and mercy there is also a way of Prerogative as I may call it wherein God may and sometimes doth dispense his mercy in reserved cases above the common rule Videtur miscricordiae limites transilire Theodo Suepsius he somtimes repents of punishing a people before they repent of sinning against him as you have heard in the proofe of the point and when he walks in such untrodden paths God is singularly exalted in his mercy these foure waies How God is exaleed in his mercy by such dispensations First In the principle of mercy I mean the goodnesse of his nature whereby he is so strongly so invincibly inclin'd to mercy that he will not retaine anger he will not be provoked somtimes though he be provoked by the sins of his people and this sets him up so incomparable high in the admiration of his people Mica 7.18 Who is a God like unto thee that pardoneth iniquity and passeth by the transgression of the remnant of his heritage Mica 7.18 he retaineth not his anger for ever because he delighteth in mercy According to what the Lord declared of himself to Moses when he made his glory to passe before him Exod. 34.6 The Lord God mercifull and gracious Exod. 24.6 long suffering and aboundant in goodnesse what goodnes is it that God will forbeare to strike in the midst of provocations The Prophet wholly ascribes the praise of our non destruction to that Lam. 3.22 It is of the Lords mercies that we are not consumed Lam. 3.22 because his compassions faile not What goodnes that the great God on whom all the creatures in Heaven and earth should waite should waite on his poore creatures Secondly by such extraordinary dispensations God is exalted in the freenesse of his mercy punishing lesse then we deserve is confessedly mercy Ezra 9.13 Ezr. 9.13 pardoning fully where punishment is deserved is yet more but how is mercy exalted when blessings are given instead of punishments I say not praeter meritum but contrameritum when there is not only nothing at all in the people to help forward but almost every thing in them that might hinder the exercise of mercy when all the arguments and motives to mercy must be drawn out of Gods own bowels God must needs be very glorious in the freenesse of it Thus God held out the gloriousnesse of his free mercy toward Israel when after their rejection he restores them what blessings he bestowes upon them Ezek. 36.11 Ezek. 36.11 I will setle you after your old estates and will do better to you then at the beginning The very materials of the blessings are large demonstrations of mercy even that he will do such great things for them but lest they should not see the full glory of his mercy toward them therein he presseth them to take notice that he would do these things freely ver 22. ver 22. Say unto the house of Israel thus saith the Lord God I do not this for your sakes O house of Israel but for my own holy Names sake which ye have prophaned among the heathen Thirdly God is hereby exalted in the richnesse of his mercy when a people continue in their provocations rebellions against God t is not a little mercy that can stand in the breach When Israel Num. 14.11.12 had very far provoked the Lord num 14.11.12 so that he spake of plaguing disinheriting them Moses prays ver 17.19 ver 17.19 That the Lords power may be great in pardoning and that he will pardon according to the greatnesse of his mercie the Lords great wrath was kindled therefore his power had need be great to keep it in When a man is thoroughly moved with anger there is much ado to keep in his passion that it break not out now nothing can be so provoking to stir up our anger as sin is to stirre up Gods displeasure against a people how great is that mercy then that can keep in divine wrath

him behold and be astonished Therfore the Lord will waite that he may be gracious unto you This inference holds out the freenesse and riches of divine goodnesse because God is gracious therefore he will waite that he may be gracious Some do make the inference from the Judgmēt denounced against the sin of the Jewes that since God had determined to bring evill upon them if they repented not for every threatning carries in it a tacite condition of impenitency and therefore till the time that the Decree bring forth The Lord will waite that he may be gracious unto you And this holds out the riches and bountifulnesse of his patience and longsufferance-spoken of Rom. 2.4 But I humbly conceive with others that the word therefore looks best inward into the text it selfe where we find the exaltation and glory of his grace and mercy the spring and as I may say the first mover of God to waite and the finall cause of this his waiting he will waite that he may be gracious and he will waite that he may be exalted in showing mercie and this Gods own design of advancing his goodnesse and patience towards these obstinate and sinfull Iewes offers the fairest and most genuine ground of inference And therefore will the Lord wait that he may be gracious Waite expectabit Waite which signifies locum paenitendo concedere others tell us that this doth not sufficiently expresse the force of the Originall word which signifies as much as a longing expectation 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 vehementer expecta vit in hiare vel anhelare as a hungry man waits for meat or as a theef doth waite for a man to rob him Hos 6.9 it may denote 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a looking after with neck stretched out rendred the earnest expectation of the creature waiting for the manifestation of the sons of God Rom. 8.19 Rom. 8.19 the summe is huc tendit in hoc totus est ut misereatur The Lord waits as being very desirous to be gracious unto you though the Iewes were unfit for mercie and fit for Judgement at the present the Lord in waiting suspends his justice and looks sot a time that he may be mercifull That be may be gracious He is so alwaies in himself Gracious but doth not alwaies appear such unto his people they are not alwaies capable of the sweet aspects of grace by reason that their sins do sometimes bind them overto his Justice so that he cannot be gracious salvâ justitiâ till they repent return to him then he will be that is declare himself to be gracious unto you in pardoning your sin in taking off your punishment in delivering you from the sentence gone out against you and in setting you at rest in your own land And therfore will the Lord waite that he may be thus gracious unto you _____ The point Sometimes God wonderfully suspends his Judgments Doct. and waits upon a provoking people that he may be mercifull to them What the Poets faine of their Jupiter that he never throws his Thunder-bolts but when furies wrest them out of his hands in a sense is true indeed of God he never takes his rod in hand unprovoked nor alwaies when he is provoked by the sinnes of a people Si quoties peccant homines sua fulmina mittat Jupiter exiguo tempore inermis erit God is provoked every day yet is he slow to anger Yea somtimes when he has determined to bring evill upon a people and put himself into a posture of Judgement drawn out the sword and smitten them though they cease not to provoke him he ceaseth to punish them as a tender Father in correcting a rebellious and graceless child holds his hand somtime before the child begg for mercie and of meere grace forbears so God did w th Israel Psa 78.38 Psa 78.38 Notwithstanding their dissembling with their flattering tongus covenant breaking hearts He forgave their iniquity and destroyed them not yea many a time turned he his anger away and would not stir up all his wrath Multus in co suit ut averteret iram suam Musc The words are He multiplyed to turne away his anger as they multiplyed to provoke it he multiplyed to turne it away and so at length overnumbred their sinnes with his mercies that they were not destroyed And when the same people of the Iewes elsewhere seemed to confront Gods Judgements with their obstinacy by persisting in their sins as if they meant to contend with God whether he should prevaile in punishing or they in sinning yea when in all reason if we look upon it with humane judgement their punishment should have been increased rather then mercy should have been extended to them Behold how admirably the Lord breaks out into a way of mercy Isa 57.17 18. Isa 57.17.18 For the iniquity of his covetousnes was I wroth smote him I bid me was wroth and he went on frowardly in the way of his heart I have seen his waies and I will heale him I will lead him also and restore comforts unto him and to his mourners What Logick can draw an argument of mercy from this Topick I have seene the frowardnesse of his waies Their sinne was a foul sin committed against their experience of the evill of sinne he had made them tast of the fruit of their doings and Gods eye is a pure eye and cannot behold iniquity so that one would have thought God would have concluded I have seen his waies and I will punish him but that he should conclude I have seen his waies and I will heale him is an astonishment As it was the commendation of Theodosius his clemency sweet disposition Theodosius that it was to him as if he received a benefit if he might have an opportunity to forgive an injury So it is the excellency of divine bowels that the Lord is very desirous to forgive be cause mercy pleaseth him and will rather somtimes make an occasion then want one to take up his displeasure when it is incensed against his people if they be not in themselves yet in a capacity of mercy he will waite til they be that he may be mercifull to them It is observable upon what ground the Lord seems to take up a resolution never to destroy the world any more by a floud Ge. 8.21 Gen. 8.21 I will not again curse the ground any more for mans sake for the imagination of mans heart is evil from his youth He drowned the world before Gen. 6.5 because the imaginations of mans heart were evill Gen. 6.5 and will he now spare it because the imaginations of mans heart are evill Gen. 8.21 what riddle is this is the evill in mans heart any lesse then it was or is it lesse hatefull in Gods eye then it was neither so nor so but the Lord having now smelled a sweet savour in Noahs sacrifice Gen. 8.21 which

And as he prayed that the power of the Lord might be great so he prayes that his mercy may not be little their great sinnes will need the greatnesse of his mercy Eph. 2.4.5 So the Apostle Eph. 2.4.5 when he mentions Gods reconciliation with man who was by nature a child of wrath and had nothing to pacifie but all in him rather to provoke God farther he presents God as rich in mercy and of great love that could love or think of being reconciled to him while yet he was dead in sinnes and trespasses whereby God may be the more exalted Fourthly God is hereby exalted in his faithfulnes that he doth performe his promisses of mercy to his people even when there lye so many and great obstructions and impediments in his way by the greatnesse of his peoples sinnes as many times there do This is the exaltatiō that some Expositors think is meant in the text Moller in locum ut fides eius in promissis testatior fiat apud omnes illustrior that God will break through all opposition to relieve his people with mercy when they are under the strongest holds of sin when he hath entred a Covenant with his people once though they be unfalthfull 't is his glory that hee abideth faithfull 2. Tim. 2.14 2 Tim. 2.13 if they turn aside into spirituall whoredome and Apostasie and well enough deserve a bill of divorce he will not cast them off but recover them by repentance and show mercy unto them according to his promise when he married them unto himself Ier. 3.14.15 Ier. 3.14.15 Turne O backsliding children saith the Lord for I am married unto you and though you have broken Covenant with me I will make good my promise unto you I will take you and give you Pastors according to my heart How glorious is the exercise of mercy when this his faithfulnes takes hold of the Almighty if his people provoke him how is mercy exalted in the conflicts that are between justice and mercy in the turning of divine bowels Hos 11.8.9 Ho. 11.8.9 How shall I give thee up Ephraim how shall I deliver thee Israel how shall I make thee as Admah how shall I set thee as Zeboim mine heart is turned within me my repentings are kindled together I will not execute the fiercenesse of mine anger I will not return to destroy Ephraim for I am God and not man the holy One in the midst of thee The second Reason showes you why God waits upon a provoking people and doth not cut them off in his Justice because the Lord is a God of Judgement 1. Some take Judgement for Justice here and put the Emphasis upon the word God the God of Judgment Alvarez in locum Judicii Dominus saith Alvarez he may remit the punishment of sinne without showing a reason and spare the guilty if he please without offence to any Voluntas divina suprema lex The Judg of all the earth cannot but do right he is judicii Dominus the God of Judgement whereas if a man Judge should acquit the guilty and let them passe unpunished he should sinne against the Common-wealth and violate his own duty quia non est Judicii Dominus sed Domini vicarius 2. Some take Judgement here for moderation in punishing of sinners in a way of opposition to severity and wrath as Ier. 10.24 O Lord correct me Ier. 10.24 but with Judgement not in thine anger lest thou bring me to nothing God therefore waiteth upon sinners not only because he is slow to anger but also he moderates the execution of his Judgements I will correct thee in measure and will not leave thee altogether unpunished saith God to Iacob Jer. 30.11 Ier. 30.11 that his people may not be consumed under his correcting hand Gods wisdom to improve his waiting upon a sinfull people 3. Some take Judgement here for wisdome or spirituall prudence and discretion in God he waits upon a provoking people sometimes because he knowes when to apply mercy and how to improve all opportunities to the best advantage of his owne glory in his administrations to a sinfull and provoking people First He can discerne when a people are fit for mercy and distinguish between penitent and impenitent sinners the deceitfull heart though it be desperatly wicked shall not deceive him but he will give to every man according to his waies Jer. 17.9.10 Ier. 17.9.10 Like a wise Physitian he knows when to purge when to give cordials so that as in mercy he looketh for an opportunity that he may do good so he knows how to take it and when and hence it is that sometimes he waits very long till a people be brought into desperate straits and out of all hopes ere he deliver them because the Church was not in tune for mercy till then he waits Isa 33.8.9 The high waies lie wast the wayfaring man ceaseth Isa 33.8 9. the earth mourneth Lebanon is ashamed and hewen down Sharon is like a wildernes c. and then will he be gracious ver 10. Now will I rise saith the Lord now will I be exalted now will I lift up my self And yet he is not like Carolus King of Sicily and Jerusalem who was surnamed Cunctator because he was wont to stay til opportunity was lost but rather like Fabius Cunctator so called because he would alwaies stay till opportunity and then would be sure to take it 2ly He waits because he knows how to take his times seasons to prevaile upon and bring in a rebellious people toward mercy who yet are very far from and unfit for it A mans wisdom showes it self much in discerning seasons The Lord spake unto Manasseh but he would not hear and therefore he waites because he knew there would come an opportunity when Manasseh would hear and hearken after the Lord 2 Chro. 33.10.12 in afflictions 2 Chro. 33.10.12 and he waited not in vaine for so it came to passe when he was in afflictions he besought the Lord his God and humbled himself greatly before the God of his Fathers So when the Lord had to do with Israel he complained of their contumacy that they were untractable like a wild Asse in the Wildernesse that snuffeth up the wind at her pleasure Ier. 2.24 Ier. 2.24 In her occasion who can turn her away as good seek to take a hare with a Taber as we commonly say yet the Lord knows how to meet with her though for the present all that seek her will not weary themselves in her moneth they shall find her when this wild creature shall be great with young not able thus to run about in the wildernesse then a man may talke with her so when Israel hath made up their iniquity a full burden and that Judgment begins to take hold of them then in their moneth God will find them and as God knows his seasons so he knows by what means to