Selected quad for the lemma: mercy_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
mercy_n	anger_n	lord_n	slow_a	2,036	5	9.7827	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A25801	The practical rule of Christian piety containing the summ of the whole duty of a true disciple of Christ. Written originally in Latin by Benedictus Aria Montanus, and translated into English by A. Lovel, M.A.	Arias Montano, Benito, 1527-1598.; Lovell, Archibald.	1685 (1685)	Wing A3679A; ESTC R214868	74,341	284

pure then peaceable gentle and easie to be intreated full of mercy and good fruits without partiality and without hypocrisie We are also plainly and largely taught by our Lord and Master how grievous a sin the sin of hatred is and how great an impediment it lays in our way to salvation not only when it appears outwardly in evil deeds but even when but conceited inwardly in the heart Mat. 5. I say unto you that whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the Judgment and whosoever shall say to his brother Raca shall be in danger of the Council but whosoever shall say thou fool to wit moved with anger and with design to hurt him shall be in danger of hell fire Wherefore our Lord and Master in his divine wisdom that he might shew how expedient it is to be free from that vice and perturbation of mind plainly tells his Disciples that he who hath not first satisfied this command of Charity must not think to obtain the favour of God by any Sacrifice or other Religious performance Therefore if thou bring thy gift to the Altar and there remembrest that thy brother hath ought against thee leave thy gift before the Altar and go thy way first be reconciled to thy brother and then come and offer thy gift In many other passages he confirms the same saying Luke 6. Be ye merciful as your Father also is merciful forgive and ye shall be forgiven give and it shall be given unto you Blessed are the merciful for they shall obtain mercy Now the charity which our Lord so much commendeth is not a cold and ordinary but a burning and fervent charity ready to do good whereby he bids us to become like unto God who makes his Sun to shine upon the good and the bad and causeth it to rain upon the just and the unjust And when our Saviour taught his Disciples to pray he enlarged more upon the Subject of Charity Mercy and Beneficence than upon any other as being of all others the chief and most convincing argument of Piety which by the Apostle also is called the bond o● perfection seeing all the commands and duties whatsoever of the Law are easily obeyed and performed by those who are so quickned by Charity as not so much to seek their own as the things of others according as it is written 1 Cor. 13. Charity suffereth long and is kind Charity envieth not Charity vaunteth not it self is not puffed up doth not behave it self unseemly seeketh not her own is not easily provoked thinketh no evil rejoyceth not in iniquity but rejoyceth in the truth beareth all things believeth all things hopeth all things endureth all things Whereas 1 John He that hateth his brother is in darkness and walketh in darkness and knoweth not whither he goeth because that darkness hath blinded his eyes The summ then of all The summ of the rule common to all Men. that a Scholar of Christ ought to know hold meditate upon and practise is briefly comprehended under these three Heads to wit the Fear of the Lord Repentance and Charity Now Charity is not here considered only as it relates to God whom we ought to love above all things but also as it is to be practised towards Men. 1 John 3. Hereby perceive we the love of God because he laid down his life for us and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren But whosa hath this Worlds good and seeth his brother have need and shutteth up his bowels of compassion from him how dwelleth the love of God in him My little children let us not love in word neither in tongue but in deed and in truth And hereby we know that we are of the truth and shall assure our hearts before him 1 John 4. Let us love him because he first loved us If a Man say I love God and hateth his brother he is a liar for he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen how can he love God whom he hath not seen and this commandment have we from him that he who loveth God love his brother also Whoever therefore shall carefully observe these three heads will by experience find the mercy goodness and clemency of God towards him the excellency whereof the thought of Man is not able to conceive and far less his tongue to express For the gracious God is always ready to fulfill the promises of salvation which have been made and often confirmed to Believers as it is written Jer. 18. At what instant I shall speak concerning a Nation and concerning a Kingdom to pluck up and to pull down and to destroy it if that Nation against whom I have pronounced turn from their evil I will repent of the evil that I though to do unto them Ezek. 18. And if the wicked will turn from all his sins that he hath committed and keep all my statutes and do that which is lawful and right he shall surely live he shall not die All his transgressions that he hath committed they shall not be mentioned unto him in his righteousness that he hath done he shall live Have I any pleasure at all that the wicked should die saith the Lord and not that he should return from his ways and live So that the Oracles of God do often confirm the Promimises of life and salvation made even to wicked Men who turn from their ways to those I say who turning from the evil of their way and following a course of true Repentance make it their care and study to obey the commands of God and to do Judgment and Justice for whoever do so shall live not by an idle lasie and unactive Faith which is also called a dead Faith but through the righteousness which they have wrought they shall indeed obtain life and salvation from God the author and fountain of life which he hath promised to all who believe in him and obey his world according to that infinite mercy of his which the Scripture celebrates in many places Psal 145. The lord is gracious and full of compassion slow to anger and of great mercy The Lord is good to all and his tender mercies are over all his works And therefore he bears with the sins of men that he may bring them to Repentance Wisdom 11. For he loveth all the things that are and abhorreth nothing that he hath made for never would he have made any thing if he had hated it And therefore it is that he freely offers and promises his mercy unto all who with a true heart and purpose of mind desire to be converted and to return to him as it is written Ezek. 33. As I live saith the Lord God I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked but that the wicked turn from his way and live turn ye turn turn ye from your evil ways for why will ye die O House of Israel For the Lord is most gracious and desirous of our

and merciful slow to anger and of great kindness and repenteth him of the evil Nevertheless we must always be upon our guard and take diligent heed lest securely trusting to past Pardons and the confident expectation of Gods future mercy we never cease to do evil and learn to do good that is not the use but the abuse of divine Clemency and Mercy The Mercy of God is indeed from Generation to Generation but upon those that fear him and I will hear saith the Psalmist Psal 85. what God the Lord will say for he will speak Peace unto the People and to his Saints but let them not return again to Folly Again Isai as saith Isa 30. Therefore will the Lord wait that he may be gracious unto you The Lord will wait that he may be gracious saith he not that they who are waited for should heap sin upon sin and return unto the vomit but because he hath promised mercy to them who with their whole heart so turn unto him that they stand in awe and greatly fear any more to offend him otherwise as the same Prophet saith Therefore will the Lord be exalted that he may have Mercy upon you for the Lord is a God of Judgment who denies not his promised Mercy to any that rightly seek it but withall does not for ever delay but in due time inflict the punishments which are appointed to those whose heart is not right and stedfast with him There is no time with God void of Mercy towards those who hinder not their own Mercy Now they do hinder it who after the hardness and impenitence of their heart treasure up to themselves wrath against the day of wrath Isa 66. To this Man will I look saith the Lord even to him that is poor and of a contrite spirit and trembleth at my word But concerning those who are not truly poor of a contrite spirit and tremble at his word he hath pronounc'd this Sentence He that killeth an Ox is as if he flew a Man he that Sacrificeth a Lamb as if he cut off a Dogs neck he that Offereth an Oblation as if he Offered Swines Blood he that burneth Incense as if he blessed an Idol 1 Kings 8. they have chosen their own ways and their Soul delighteth in their abominations They therefore that have committed sin for as Solomon saith there is no Man that sinneth not must constantly keep in the way of Repentance and denying themselves hear and follow him who hath said Not he that beginneth but he that endureth to the end the same shall be saved They must from their whole heart and Soul Renounce the Devil and all his works the pomps and vanities of this wicked world as they have promised and vowed in their Baptism otherwise Jer. 8. thus saith the Lord shall they fall and not arise shall he turn away and not return why then is this People of Jerusalem slidden back by a perpetual back-sliding The Lord calls it a perpetual back-sliding when men in their manners retain and follow that wicked course of life which in word or thought they may have condemned and falsly professing and boasting of their Repentance do not conscientiously perform the duty of it but belying their own hearts deceive themselves and not God nor his Minister to whom they promised a serious amendment of life This the Lord finds fault with by the same Prophet They hold fast deceit they refuse to return I hearkned and heard but they spake not aright no Man repented him of his wickedness saying what have I done Every one turned to his Course as the Horse rusheth into the Battel The Lord indeed waits that he may have mercy upon us and uses patience not willing that any should perish but that all should come to Repentance Come to Repentance saith that Apostle who knew that Repentance was necessary to sinners for appeasing the wrath and obtaining the mercy of God Now the Holy Spirit does plainly tell us that the long-suffering of God is not everlasting tho we believe and confess his Mercy to be infinite Psal 7. God Judgeth the Righteous and God is angry with the Wicked every day if he turn not he will whet his Sword he hath bent his Bow and made it ready he hath also prepared for him the instruments of death He ordaineth his arrows against the Persecutors When God Almighty was about to destroy the old World because of sin he allotted them a certain time to repent in as it is written Gen 6. And the Lord said my Spirit shall not always strive with Man for that he also is Flesh yet his days shall be an hundred and twenty years At the end of which all Mankind perished in the Flood save only the Family of Noah who in that Age was found Righteous in the sight of God The People of Niniveh being warned by the Prophet that after forty days they should be destroyed delayed not their Repentance until the last day but set about it so soon as they heard the denunciation all that time I say was employed and spent in fasting and prayer for averting the wrath of God imploring divine mercy and amending their sinful lives as it is written Jona 3. And Jonah began to enter into the City a days Journey and he cried and said yet fourty days and Nineveh shall be overthrown So the People of Nineveh believed God and Proclaimed a Fast and put on Sackcloth from the greatest of them even to the least of them for word came unto the King of Nineveh and he arose from his Throne and he laid his Robe from him and covered him with Sackcloth and sate in Ashes and he caused to be proclaimed and published through Nineveh by the Decree of the King and his Nobles saying let neither Man nor Beast Herd nor Flock tast any thing let them not feed nor drink water But let Man and Beast be covered with Sackcloth and cry mightily unto God yea let them turn every one from their evil way and from the violence that is in their hands Who can tell if God will turn and repent and turn away from his fierce anger that we perish not and God saw their works that they turned from their evil way and God repented of the evil that he had said that he would do unto them and he did it not The Men of Nineveh will rise in Judgment against those who having been warned not once but often yet have not turned from their evil ways or who have delayed the duty of a serious Repentance to the last day of their life living in the mean time wickedly and following the Vanities Lusts Ambition Pride and Vices of the World whereas no Man ought or can say that he is allowed to put off the exercise of Repentance to the extremity of life since upon the first call and admonition all Men are commanded to turn and be converted unto the Lord. To day saith the Holy Ghost if you will hear his voice harden

Call by Faith alone unless we also pay Obedience to him that hath called us What Man is he that will say that it is enough for him to enter into the Kingdom of Heaven by Faith that is by believing tho he never attain to the actual fruition and enjoyment of the Kingdom of God Did God do so with the Israelites and the Seed of Abraham that the Promises which they laid hold on by Faith were never made good unto them No for the blessing of God whom they believed and obeyed they obtained the enjoyment and possession of the earthly Promises Of Abraham a great Nation was really made and from one Isaac in whom God would have his Seed to be called there sprang so great a People that Moses confessed Deut. 1. I am not able to bear you my self alone The Lord your God hath multiplied you and behold you are this day as the Stars of Heaven for multitude The Lord God of your Fathers make you a thousand times se many as you are and bless you as he hath promised you The People that were brought out of Egypt who continued in Faith and Holy Obedience did actually obtain and possess the promised Land of Canaan as it is written Josh 1. Arise go over this Jordan thou and all this People unto the Land which I do give to them even to the Children of Israel Every place that the sole of your foot shall tread upon that have I given unto you as I said unto Moses From the Wilderness and this Lebanon even unto the great River the River Euphrates all the Land of the Hittites and unto the great Sea toward the going down of the Sun shall be your Coast God not long after confirmed the truth of all this Josh 24. I have given you a Land for which ye did not labour and Cities which ye built not and ye dwell in them of the Vineyards and Oliveyards which ye planted not do ye eat David also believing the promise that he should obtain the Kingdom endured and overcame the hardest of times and dangers and having at length obtained the Kingdom thus did sing Psal 116. I believed therefore have I spoken I was greatly afflicted I said in my hast all Men are liars What shall I render unto the Lord for all his Benefits towards me c. So that all these Ancients not only by Faith laid hold on the earthly Promises but really obtained them through the blessing of God that promised to fulfil them to those who believed and obeyed him And therefore they obeyed the Law-giver not by Faith and in words only but with all care and dutifulness they also practised true Piety and performed the Precepts and Commandments nor did any of those who expected the desired Promises think or say it was enough for him that his fore-fathers Predecessors or Friends had obeyed the Commands and Precepts of God unless he himself did his duty in obeying and fulfilling the Law Abraham himself being called went out David being anointed King and having obtained a Promise of the Kingdom believed did and suffered all those things which we read with admiration So also that we may return to our selves if we desire as we ought to do to be truly and indeed made partakers of the Spiritual Promises if we have a real love for our selves and aspire to everlasting bliss we must not only believe the Promises but likewise in all sincerity practise Piety and perform our several duties in obeying those things that are enjoyned and commanded us Nor must we think it enough that Christ hath fulfilled for us the Law and all Righteousness unless believing in Christ we also submit to that part of the Law which belongs to us to wit the Precepts and Commands of the Decalogue wherein is comprehended the summ of the Will of God and Law of Nature and to whatsoever may be lawfully deduced and inferred from thence and so obey the Law that we may not be called Hearers only or Readers Interpreters or Expounders thereof but rather Doers of the same and become like to those of whom it is written Luke 1. And they were both righteous before God walking in all the Commandments and Ordinances of the Lord blameless Rom. 2. For not the Hearers of the Law are Just before God but the doers of the Law shall be justified Wherefore whosoever being called to the Marriage of the Son desires to approve himself faithfully to him that calleth him He is chiefly to mind that there is nothing hidden from him who searcheth the secrets of the heart and reins and knoweth the thoughts of Men afar off And therefore let him seriously set about the duty of true and unfeigned Repentance and being grieved for all the offences of his ill-spent wicked past life let him with a contrite and humble heart sincerely confess his sins and plead guilty in the presence of God and his Church that i● of the lawful Ministers of the Church Piously and Religiously obey the Counsels Admonitions and Instructions that are given him and having received Ecclesiastical Absolution from the sins and wickedness which he hath promised to God and to his Minister as a Witness and Judge upon Earth to forsake let him turn with all his mind and might from that wicked life and filthy conversation from all impure thoughts all Guile Malice and corrupt Manners and then having shaken off and overcome the Temptations of Pride Vanity Covetousness Lust Earthly delights and Pleasures and of whatsoever may and is wont to turn Men from God let him constantly persist in the right way and by diligent and frequent Prayer call upon God and beg his favourable and gracious assistance whose Mercy and provident care over him he will to his experience certainly find if from a pure and holy heart he earnestly craves the same For no less hath been offered and promised to all sinners by him who willeth not nor desireth their death but that rather they may repent and live Jer. 3. Return ye back-sliding children and I will heal your back-slidings Jer. 4. If thou wilt return O Israel saith the Lord return unto me and if thou wilt put away thine abominations out of my sight then shalt thou not remove O Jerusalem wash thine heart from wickedness that thou mayest be saved How long shall thy vain thoughts lodge within thee Jer. 29. For I know the thoughts that I think towards you saith the Lord thoughts of peace and not of evil to give you an expected end Then shall ye call upon me and ye shall go and pray unto me and I will hearken unto you And ye shall seek me and find me when ye shall search for me with all your heart And I will be found of you saith the Lord. And again Joel 2. Turn ye unto me with all your heart and with fasting and with weeping and with mourning And rent your heart and not your garments and turn unto the Lord your God for he is gracious