Selected quad for the lemma: mercy_n
Text snippets containing the quad
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A26711
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Heaven opened, or, A brief and plain discovery of the riches of Gods covenant of grace by R.A.
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R. A. (Richard Alleine), 1611-1681.
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1665
(1665)
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Wing A990; ESTC R8316
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222,212
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398
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of Canticles whose whole language is all love her heart is so full that her lips overflow with the mention of the excellencies of Christ My beloved is white and ruddy the chiefest amongst ten thousand His head fine gold his eyes Dove's eyes his cheeks a bed of spices his lips are lillies his hands are gold-rings his legs pillars of marble his countenance excellent his mouth sweet yea hee is altogether lovely this is my beloved and this is my friend O Daughters of Jerusalem Cant. 5. Who is a God like unto thee glorious in holiness fearful in praises doing wonders Great is the Lord and greatly to be praised in the City of our God Thy mercy O Lord is in the heavens thy faithfulness reacheth unto the clouds Thy righteousness is like the great mountains thy judgments are a great deep How excellent is thy loving kindness O Lord therefore the sons of men put their trust under the shadow of thy wings I will speak of the glorious honour of thy Majesty and of thy wondrous works 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 Let all thy works praise thee O Lord let thy Saints bless thee let them speak of the glory of thy kingdome and talk of thy power Let them abundantly utter the memory of thy goodness and sing of thy righteousness O my God thou art all love all goodness all grace all glory O let thy servant bee all praise Let this heart bee an altar and every service a sacrifice let this mouth bee a trumpet and every word a Psalm let my breath bee as incense and every member a censer Let all that is within mee my soul with all its powers let all that is without me my body with all its members shout for joy and sing forth the high praises of God This is the voice of Love And now you have another excellency of the new heart laid open to your view Love An heart to love Christians prize this precious grace prize it and you will write down this word also among the great and precious Promises and if you would prize it aright take your estimate of it from its worth and its want as we use to prize Jewels from their excellencie rarity 1. Prize it according to its worth and excellency Why what is the worth Cant. 8.7 If a man would give all the substance of his house for love it would bee contemned The whole world is not of that value to bee a price for love no it must come by gift it 's not to bee bought for money love is worth as much as a soul and that 's more than all the world What shall it profit a man to win the whole World and lose his own Soul love is as much worth as all Religion 't is the soul and the substance of all Religion all the Graces the Duties and Exercises of it are onely valued according to the love that is in them what is knowledge faith hope patience without love what is prayer fasting alms without charity They are worth nothing shall I say nay they are nothing If I had all knowledge and all faith and were all prayer and all labour and all suffering and had not charity I were nothing Love is worth as much as Heaven is worth as Christ as God is worth to us God is love and God is not if love bee not in us Dost thou prize thy substance Is thy house or thy mony or thy lands any thing to thee Dost thou value thy soul Is Religion is Heaven is Christ is God himself of any account with thee Then prize the love of God Without love God is no God to thee Christ is no Christ to thee Heaven is no Heaven for thee better thou hadst no soul no being than no love O prize the Love of God prize and seek prize and pray pray as for thy life as for thy soul as for thy everlasting Kingdome Lord let mee love thee Get love and get all love and thou wilt bee holy love and thou wilt be humble love and thou wilt bee fruitful love and thou wilt please praise and enjoy thy God love and thou wilt fear serve suffer and die for him love and thou shalt live prize love prize it according to its worth And 2. Prize it according to its rarity Things excellent are rated something the more for their scarcity scarcity raises the Market the VVord of God was precious in those daies 1 Sam. 3.1 that is when there was a Famine of the Word when there was no open Vision O were the love of God as precious as 't is rare what a spiritless carkass is the Religion of many Professours what 's become of the soul of it Oh! we freeze in our Duties we freeze in our Devotions wee are almost frozen out of them all if vvee have a Sacrifice left vvhat fire is there to offer it up The God that answereth by fire let him bee God said Elijah the heart that asketh by fire that ascendeth in fire let that bee the heart for God Behold the wood and the fire but where is the Lamb for the Sacrifice Wee may say behold the wood and the sacrifice but where is the Fire to offer it up our Spirits have taken a cold the chill of them appears in all our duties Rabbi where dwellest thou Love where dwellest thou Zeal of God where is thy abode how many houses must wee search how many hearts must wee walk through e're wee finde thine Habitation The Apostle tells the Romans Rom. 10.2 that they have a Zeal of God but not according to Knowledge wee have the Knowledge of God but oh where is the Zeal the Zeal of thine house saith the Psalmist hath eaten mee up but is not that eater eaten The house hath burnt up the fire or if there be any fire left is it not strange fire not the fire of Love but of Lust of Pride or Covetousness or that wilde fire of envy and contention that heats our spirits Jehu was all on fire against the house of Ahab Come see my zeal for the Lord of Hosts That fire was fury not love or if 't was love 't was self-love not the love of God that made all that flame such hearts are like the evil tongue James 3. set on fire of Hell Such heats are not from above but are earthly sensual devilish wee freeze still while wee thus fry our praeter-natural heats have extinguished the super-natural O! how little kindly warmth do wee find in our spirits do wee feel our hearts working upwards ascending in our flames wee all pretend to love but consider are our hearts making out in their strength after God Wee wish well to his Name and Interest wee wish hee were ours wee wish our selves his O if wishing were loving what Christians should wee be But doth the Kingdom of God suffer violence