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
A35538	An exposition with practical observations continued upon the thirty-eighth, thirty-ninth, fortieth, forty-first, and forty-second, being the five last, chapters of the book of Job being the substance of fifty-two lectures or meditations / by Joseph Caryl ...	Caryl, Joseph, 1602-1673.	1653 (1653)	Wing C777; ESTC R19353	930,090	1,092

that is the Lord marks and hits the fittest time to come in and help his out of trouble Thus as they who reserve things do it till a season of using them presents it self so God reserves the snow and h●il till he hath a season an opportunity to use them what that is himself as was said expresseth in the Text it is The time of trouble or of straits When trouble comes straits come 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ad tempus arctum vel Angugustiae and great troubles reduce us to great straits and compel us to say as that good King Jehosaphat did 2 Chron. 20. We know not what to do The Septuagint render The time of the enemies that is when I am resolved to punish or destroy my enemies The word signifies both trouble and an enemy 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in tempus hostis Sept. and both may well be comprehended under one word seeing no trouble is more troublesome nor can put us to greater straits than the appearance of a powerful enemy which was Jehosaphats case when in a time of trouble he cried out We know not what to do And this notion of the word as taken for an enemy falls in clearly with the latter clause of the verse Against the day of battel and war As if the Lord had said When my enemies come forth against me these are the Weapons this the Ammunition which I at any time can and often do make use of in the day of battel and war 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Praeliuci The word rendred battel signifies to a●proach because in a day of battel enemies or opposites approach one to another 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 à radice 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Vesci and charge each other The word rendred war springs from a root signifying to eat because the sword of war is a great eater and devours the bodies of men Now when God breaks forth in anger against obstinate sinners his enemies and brings any sore and destroying judgement upon them he is said to have war with them or to make war against them Who would set the briars and thorns in battel against me saith the Lord Isa 27.4 So then Both the time of trouble and the day of battel and war spoken of in this Text are the time and day of the Lords wrath and vengeance declared against his implacable and incorrigible enemies Snow and hail are treasured up and reserved against this time of trouble against this day of battel and war Hence Note First God hath a check upon all creatures He reserves or stops them as and as long as himself pleaseth He can prohibit snow and hail and command them not to come As they will surely come at any time if he commands them to come so if he commands them not to come till such or such a time they will not come till then The soveraignty of God is absolute over the creature When Nebuchadnezzars understanding returned to him then he praised and honoured him that liveth for ever Dan. 4.34 whose dominion is an everlasting dominion and confessed vers 35. that he doth according to his will in the army of heaven that is the Angels the Sun Moon and Stars as also the Meteors Snow and Hail c. all or any of these are the army of heaven an army raised in the heavens in this army God doth according to his Will as well as among the inhabitants of the earth Secondly Observe God is very patient he doth not presently take vengeance nor bring trouble though he be alwayes provided for it and able to do it As he retaineth not his anger for ever so he restraineth it long because he delighteth in mercy Mic. 7.18 As mercy moves the Lord speedily to receive repenting sinners into fav●ur so it prevails with him to be very slow in sending judgements upon those that are impenitent The Lord reserved or kept back the waters of the flood a hundred and twenty years from drowning the Old World though as they provoked and even dared him to do it every day by their presumptuous sinnings against his warnings so he was able to do it any hour or moment of the day Thirdly Note Trouble hath its time or season There is a time for every purpose under the Sun Eccl. 3.1 Men have times for their purposes and so hath God much more for his he hath his times for quietness and times for trouble And as sin is the cause and sourse of all trouble so when sin is ripe trouble is ready When men have filled up the measure of their sin then God pouts down trouble upon them or makes it a time of trouble that they may taste and see and be convinced how evil and how bitter a thing it is to sin against the Lord. The Amorites were full of iniquity when God spake to Abraham Gen. 15.16 but their iniquity was not full and therefore their time of trouble the time when their Land spewed them out to make room for the Children of Israel was not till a long time after Fourthly Note Times of trouble are specially known to and appointed by God As he reserves his stores of vengeance for those times so he knows those times Wise Princes reserve stores against that evil time of war c. yet when that evil time will be they know not but to God all times are known David said Psal 31.15 My times are in thy hand that is my times of peace and trouble of joy and sorrow are at thy dispose thou cuttest out my times not onely as to the length or shortness of them but as to the form and condition of them Now if the Lord disposeth and ordereth our times what they shall be whether troublous or prosperous then he must needs know what times will be times of trouble Fifthly Note Present impunity is no assurance of future indemnity to sinners Judgement is but reserved and the instruments of it snow and hail c. kept up for a while Prodigals and spend-thrifts may boast but the date of the bond will come out and then an arrest comes Let sinners remember the instruments of divine vengeance are only reserved they are not broken nor cast away and whosoever are found in sin their sin that is the punishment of their sin sooner or later will find them out Numb 32.23 As God sometimes defers to give out mercy to his faithful people but never denies it them so he often defers the trouble of the wicked but never they continuing to do wickedly acquits them from it The Apostle Peter prophesying of false teachers who shall bring in damnable heresies even denying the Lord that bought them and shall bring upon themselves swift destruction 2 Pet. 2.1 saith of them also v. 3. Whose judgement now of a long time lingreth not and their damnation slumbreth not Though all seems to be well with them at present and h●th been so a long time yet their misery is certain it neither

more than a bare rebuke here was a blow given and that a sore one The Lord deals gently with some sinners that none may despair and severely with others though his servants that none may presume Only let us remember that when the Lord at any time doth chasten and rebuke his servants for sin with great severity he doth not drive them away nor discourage them but would have them look to him for pardon and healing When he judgeth them as the Apostle speaks 1 Cor. 11.32 he doth not condemn them or if we call it a condemnation yet he doth not condemn them with the world nor as he condemns the world God condemns the unbelieving world to destruction but he condemns his servants only for their humiliation The goodness of God appears much in these two things First In his flowness to anger his mercy doth even clog his justice and gives it leaden feet it comes slowly Secondly In his readiness to show mercy The Scripture saith he is slow to wrath and ready to forgive his goodness doth even adde wings to his mercy causing it to fly swiftly to the relief of sensible and humbled sinners or as one of the Ancients expresseth he sharpneth the sword of his justice with the oile of his mercy and so it becomes a healing as well as a wounding sword Secondly In that the Lord himself gave this direction Take unto you seven bullocks and seven rams c. Observe God against whom we sin sheweth us the way to get peace and the pardon of our sins When man sinned at first or when the first man fell into sin there he had lain for ever if the Lord had not shewed him a way out Had it been left to man to devise a way to recover himself when he was fallen his fall had been irrecoverable he had never found how to get at once his sin pardoned and the justice of God satisfied This was the Lords own invention and it was the most noble and excellent one that ever was in the world he shewed fallen man at first how to get up and here he gave direction to these fallen men what to do that they might The Lord who was their Judge was also their Counsellor Thirdly Consider the particular way of their peace-making it was by sacrifice Take unto you seven bullocks and seven rams c. Hence note Sacrifices for sin were appointed and commanded by God not devised by man Sacrifices have been from the beginning Cain and Abel brought their offerings unto the Lord Gen. 4.3 4. Noah also builded an altar unto the Lord and offered burnt-offerings on the altar Gen. 8.20 Abraham offered the ram for a burnt-offering Gen. 22.13 Now though the law for sacrifices was not formally given in those times yet it was really given All those elder sacrifices were of the Lords appointment and by his direction as well as those in and after the days of Moses There is no expiating of sin against God by the inventions of man Heathens offered sacrifices to their Idol-gods imitating the worship of the true God The Devil is Gods ape Typical sacrifices were of God for the taking away of the sin of man And so was the true sacrifice the Lord Jesus Christ when he that is Christ said sacrifice and offering and burnt-offering and offering for sin thou wouldst not that is thou wouldst not have those legal sacrifices nor didst ever intend to have them as satisfactions to thy offended justice ultimately to rest in them then said he that is Christ Lo I come to do thy will O God Heb. 10.8 9. It was the will of God that Jesus Christ should be the expiatory sacrifice for the sin of man by the which will v. 10. We are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all The sacrifice of Christ himself had not saved us if it had not been of Gods appointment nor could any sacrifice have so much as shadowed the way or means of our salvation if God had not appointed it Fourthly Consider the purpose for which the Lord commanded Eliphaz c. to offer their sacrifice it was to make an attonement for their sin Hence Observe Sin must have a sacrifice There was never any way in the world from first to last to help a sinner but by a sacrifice and who was the sacrifice Surely Jesus Christ was the sacrifice it was not the blood of bulls and goats of bullocks and rams that could take away sin as the Apostle argueth at large in the Epistle to the Hebrews these could never take away sin these only pointed at Jesus Christ who alone did it by bearing our sins and by being made a sacrifice for them To typifie or shew this we read in the law of Moses that the sin of the offender was laid upon the sacrifice and a sacrifice for sin was called sin by the Prophet long before Christ came Dan. 9.24 He shall make an end of sin that is when Christ shall come in the flesh he shall make an end of all sacrifices for sin and so the Apostle called it after Christ was come and had suffered in the flesh 2 Cor. 5.21 He made him to be sin that is a sacrifice for sin for us who knew no sin that we might be made the righteousness of God in him The sacrifice was called sin because the sin of the person who brought it and in whose behalf it was offered was laid upon the sacrifice there was as it were a translation of the sin from the person to the sacrifice In which sence Luther is to be understood when he said Jesus Christ was the greatest sinner in the world not that he had any sin in his nature or any sin in his life but because he had the sins of all that are or shall be saved laid upon him as the Prophet spake Isa 53.6 The Lord hath laid upon him the iniquity of us all or as our Margin hath it He hath made the iniquity of us all to meet on him And there is no atonement for sin but by a sacrifice So the Lord ordained the offering up of a whole burnt-offering for the taking away of sin that sinners might see what they had deserved even to die and not only so but to be wholly burnt and consumed in the fire of his wrath Impenitent sinners shall be consumed in fire that shall never be extinguished nor ever extinguish them they shall abide in an ever-living death or in an ever-dying life They who rest not upon the sacrifice of Christ once offered must be a sacrifice themselves alwayes offered to the justice and wrath of God Here it may be questioned why the Lord commanded them to offer seven Bullocks and seven Rams what could the blood of seven do more than the blood of one I answer First This being a great sacrifice possibly the Lord commanded it thereby to intimate the greatness of their sin Two things chiefly shew the greatness of a