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
A89503	A practical commentary, or An exposition with notes on the Epistle of Jude. Delivered (for the most part) in sundry weekly lectures at Stoke-Newington in Middlesex. By Thomas Manton, B.D. and minister of Covent-Garden.	Manton, Thomas, 1620-1677.	1657 (1657)	Wing M530; Thomason E930_1; ESTC R202855	471,190	600

hath many Names a distinct consideration of them yeildeth an advantage in beleeving for though they express the same thing yet every notion begetteth a fresh thought by vvhich Mercy is more taken abroad in the vievv of Conscience This is that pouring out of Gods Name spoken of Cant. 1. 3. Ointment in the Box doth not yeild such a fragrancy as vvhen 't is poured out and Spices do not give forth their smell till they are chafed Nothing is more conducible to beget a trust then distinct thoughts and conceptions of Gods Mercy Let us take notice of some places vvhere 't is set forth See Psal 103. 8. The Lord is merciful and gracious slow to anger and plenteous in mercy The expression is diversified and I note it the rather because in other places the same notions of Mercy are punctually expressed see Nehem. 9. 17. so Psal 14. 5. 8. and in divers other places chiefly see that Exod. 34. 7. and you vvill find that this is the very description vvhich God hath given of himself Novv vvhat doth the Spirit of God aim at in this express enumeration and accumulation of names of Mercy but to give us an help in meditation and that our thoughts may be more distinct 1. The first notion is Mercy which is an Attribute whereby God inclineth to succour them that are in misery 'T is an Attribute that meerly respecteth the creature The Love and knovvledg of God first falleth upon himself but Mercy is only transient and passeth out to the creatures God knoweth himself loveth himself but he is not merciful to himself And then it respecteth the creatures in misery for misery is Mercy 's only motive Justice seeketh a ●it object but Mercy a ●it occasion Justice requireth desert but Mercy only want and need 2. The next notion is Grace vvhich noteth the free bounty of God and excludeth all merit of the creature Grace doth all gratis freely though there be no precedent obligation or debt or hope of recompence vvhereby any thing may accrue to himself only that it may be vvell vvith the creature Gods external motive is our misery his internal motive is his ovvn Grace and elective Love Am I in want there is mercy Am I unworthy there is grace Mercy respects us as we are in our selves vvorthy of condemnation Grace as compared with others not elected The ultimate Reason of the choyce is Gods grace The Angels that never sinned are saved meerly out of grace but men that vvere once miserable are saved not only out of grace but also out of mercy 3. The next notion is long-suffering or slowness to anger The Lord is not easily overcome by the wrongs or sins of the creature but easily overcometh them by his own patience and goodness He doth not only pity our misery that 's mercy and do us good for nothing that 's grace but beareth long with our infirmities Alas if God were as short and swift in the executions of revenge as men are God must create another World to raise up seed to Christ If he did not wait upon sinners there would be none made Saints We provoked him to cut us off long since but wrath is not easily heightened into rage and therefore he waiteth that he may be gracious Isai 30. 18. 4. Kindness or bounty plenteous in goodness BERAB CHESID Gods communications of his grace to the creature are every way rich and full You may say God is merciful gracious patient But will he be thus to me Yes he is plenteous in goodness kind and communicative Psal 119. 68. Thou art good and dost good therefore David goeth to him for grace Well then study Gods Name and answer all your discouragements out of the descriptions of his Mercy 9. Consider your own experiences We have not only heard that God is merciful but we have known it All men may speak of patience and common mercy and outward deliverances but few improve them to a spiritual use and purpose 1. Consider Gods patience How long hath he waited for your Conversion and he that hath spared you can save you 'T is said The wages of sin is death Rom. 6. 23. the word implyeth that God is bound to pay it by virtue of an implicite bargain and agreement between him and the creature But as yet the hand of God hath not found you out you are indebted to Justice but Mercy stoppeth the arrest of Vengeance Many others have been taken away in their sins by a sudden arrow and dart from Heaven Vengeance hath trodden upon the heel of sin As Zimri and Cosbi unloaded their lusts and their lives together The Angels for an aspiring thought were turned out of Heaven Gehazi was blasted with Leprosie just upon his lye and Lots wife turned into a stone for a look a glance upon Sodom and Her●d smitten with lice in the midst of his pomp and vain-glory and some have perished in the mid way Psal 2. in the very heat of some carnal and wicked pursuit God can do the like to you therefore reason thus If Mercy would not save me why hath Mercy spared me God might have sued out the Bond long since what is the meaning of the dispensation Is God weak or unjust or hath he a mind to be gracious Surely he would not have spared me all this while if he had not a mind to save my Soul Such reasonings as these many times give us the first encouragement to apply our selves to God Wicked men like Spiders draw other conclusions Psal 50. 21. But should not his patience c. Rom. 2. 4. 2. Consider Gods goodness in giving thee food and clothing and honour and gladness of heart and all this without thy desert say Certainly all these benefits are but so many baits to catch my Soul I see the Sun riseth every day with a fresh countenance and shineth upon the fields of just and unjust to what purpose but to shew that God is gracious without hire This bodily Sun is but an obscure type of the Sun of Righteousness that is willing to display his beams and wings over a poor languishing Soul Common mercies are the tastes of Gods love while you are sinners and the common fruits of Christs death that you may be invited to come for more Why hath he given me the unrighteous Mammon but that I may look after the true Riches What a vile unthankful heart should I have if I should be contented with Mammon without Christ and be like Judas with the bag in my hand and the Devil in my heart Gods children are wont to make these gifts a step to higher dispensations they know God like the good housholder bringeth forth the best at last therefore they must have something above and beyond all these things Common hearts are contented with common mercies but they are still waiting when the Master of the feast will bid them sit higher I may have this and be damned Where are the arguments of

So 1 Tim. 5. 8. If any provide not for his own house he hath denyed the Faith that is done an act incompatible with the Christian Faith of which he maketh profession which is Interpretative a denying the Faith For the more clear opening of this consider these Propositions 1. An empty profession of Christ is not enough Now Christ is every where received 't is easie to profess his Name To be a Christian in ●eart and Conscience was far more easie to them in the Primitive times then be so in Name and Profession the Powers of the world being against that way whereas the difficulty on our part lyeth on being Christians in heart 't is no disgrace now to be a Christia● outwardly that opposition and scorn which was then cast upon Christianity would now be cast upon Judaism or Turcism or Paganism The winds blow out of another corner and that which was their discouragement may be our Motive to wit The Countenance of Civil Powers all advantages lie this way If in Christ's time they followed him for the loaves now they may much more Quandoquidem panis Christi jam pinguis factus est saith Gilbert tractatur in Conciliis disceptatur in Judiciis di●putatur in Scholis Cantatur in Ecclesiis quaestuosa res est nomen Christi The world is well altered since the first flight of Christianity abroad the Kings and Princes and Wise men of the World were then against it every where was it hooted at as a novel and improbable Doctrine but since by long prescription of time it hath gotten esteem in the world and is made the publike profession of Nations and Kings and Princes have brought their glory into the Church now Christ is handled in Councils disputed of in the Schools and preached of in the Assemblies so that the general profession of Christianity is a matter of no thanks 'T is easie to be good where there nothing to draw us to the contrary and therefore when Christ cometh to judgement Paganism and loose profession of Christianity shal fare alike for loose Christians are but Pagans under a Christians name see Jer. 9. 25 26. The days shall come that I will punish all them that are uncircumcised with them that are circumcised Egypt and Judah and Edom and the children of Ammon and Moab for these Nations are uncircumcised in flesh and the house of Israel are uncircumcised in heart 'T is no advantage to bear Gods mark in our Bodies and to hove no fruit of it in our Souls This is but to cloath our selves with the leaves of the Vine without partaking the sap What difference is there between those who in a loose Christian profession are addicted to Luxury wantonness quarrelling prodigious lusts and the Votaries or Worshippers of Mars Venus Bacchus and Priapus Only the one appear in their own colours and shew what they are and the other though they are as low and brutish in their practises pretend to an higher Name even to the sacred and excellent name of Christians Alas your Circumcision shall be reckoned Vncircumcision when you have not the fruit of it 2. Profession of Christianity without answerable practise maketh us in worse case than an Heathen that is ignorant of Christ and salvation by him see 1 Tim. 5. 8. He is worse then an Infidel Poor Pagans are not so well enlightned instructed and acquainted with such rich and glorious mercy with the great things of Eternity with the assistances of God the Spirit they have not such Rules as we have nor such Advantages as we have nor such Obligations as we have nor such Encouragements as we have If a man on Horseback cometh slower then a man on Foot we blame him the more because he had more help So are Carnal Christians in worse case then the Heathen because God may justly expect more from them To be brought up in a Princes Court and to be still of rude and servile conditions is worse in them then in those that follow the Plough all days of their lives So to be trained up in the Courts of Christ and to come short of the Heathens in Morality and strictness of conversation 't will be worse taken of us then of those that never heard of Christ The more we profess the Truth the more we condemn ourselves in our evil practises and therefore must needs be worse then Heathens for we practise that by voluntary choise and perverse inclination which they practise by education they know little better So that the more excellent the Religion is which we profess the more vile and base is our disobedience for our profession will be a sore witness against us that we knew better and had encouragements to do better we justifie the Heathen but we condemn ourselves as Israel justified Sodom Ezech. 16. 5● but by her profession so much the more disproved her own carriage see vers 63. time will come when you will wish you had never known the way of righteousness and as Job cursed the day of his Birth so will you the memory of that day wherein you were added to the Church 3. Profession accompanied with some rash and fond affection to Christ is not enough to acquit us from denying him Many in an heat and humour will be ready to die for their God and yet deny him ordinarily in their lives as a quarrelling Ruffian will stand up for the honour of his Father who yet by his debauched courses is the very grief of his heart it may be he wisheth his death to enjoy the Inheritance yet if any other should speak a disgraceful word of him he is up in Arms presently and ready to fight with him So some ●●● pretend much affection to their Religion and are ready to ●● him that shall question it or to venture their own lives in the quarrel and yet none do this Religion so great a despite and dishonour as they do themselves by their ungodly conversations The Apostle supposeth that some may give their Bodies to be burned that have not Charity 1 Cor. 13. 1. for all this ado is not for their Religion but their humour If their Religion were rightly understood they would not endure it because it altogether disproveth such practises as they delight in and all that they do is no more then they would do for an Idol if they were born there where Idols are worshipped The Blasphemies of a Pagan or an open Enemy to Religion do not touch Christ so near in point of honour as the scandalous Behaviour of a Christian when Pagans declaim against him 't is but the malice of an enemy Dogs will bark 't is their kind but your disobedience to his Laws and unsuitable carriages doth far more dishonour and represent him as an ulcerous Christ to the world because you pretend so much affection to him and can live in such a fashion you would be taken for his greatest friends and so in effect you make the world believe

11. 21 Briars and Thorns may be intricated and infolded one within another but when a devouring flame cometh amongst them they do not hinder but increase the burning Universal evils are above mans punishment but not Gods there is no safety in following a multitude to do evil So that nothing will serve as a fit screen to interpose between wrath and you but only Christ Thirdly I observe that in all these instances there was some preceding mercy more or less The Angels had the dignity of their Nature the Israelites had the Testimony of Gods presence and were delivered out of Egypt the Sodomites had Eternal Blessings and the preaching of Lot Gen 19. 9. It 's Gods usual course to give a people a taste of his mercy ere he di●cover the power of his anger Judgment is his last work there is some mercy abused before it cometh which doth abundantly clear God in the judgements that come upon the sons of men Their ruine may be sad but never undeserved God hath not left hims●lf without a witness but we are lest without ●xcuse Fourthly Once more I observe that in all these Instances God had still a care to put a distinction between the just and the unjust the race of ●srael was not destroyed but only them that believed not The good Angels were preserved the bad only fell from their first estate Sodom perished in the flames but Lot escaped when the multitude is so corrupt that we know not how they shall be punished and the rest preserved let us think of these instances let us refer it to God he knoweth c. 2 Pet 2. 9. I come now to the words in which you have a preface and the first instance of Gods judgement which was on the unbelieving Israelites In the Preface you may take notice of his purpose I will put you in remembrance his insinuation though ye once knew this I begin with the first part his purpose I will put you in remembrance from thence ob●erve That it is a great part of a Ministers duty to be a Remembrancer We are remembrancers in a double sense 1. From the people to God to put God in mind of his peoples wants so 't is said Isa 62. 7. Ye that are t●e Lord's remembrancers Christ is the Church●s advocate but we are the Churches Solicitors to represent the s●d condition of the Church to God 2. From God to the people and so we are to put them in mind of the being of God the riches of his grace the necessity of obedience the preciousness of their souls the many dangers that lye in their way to Heaven c. These are standing dishes at Christs Table That this is a great part of our Office appeareth by those places 1 Tim. 4. 6. I● thou put the Brethren in remembrance of these things thou shalt be a good Minister of Jesus Christ And Paul speaking of his Apostleship saith Rom. 15. 15. As one that putteth you in remembrance through the grace given to me See 2 Tim. 2. 14. Tit. 3. 1. 2 Pet. 1. 12. 13 14. 2 Pet. 3. 1. So there are two Psalmes that bear that Title A Psalme of David to bring to remembrance Psal 38 and Psal 70. The great use of Sacraments is to put us in remembrance of Christ 1 Cor. 11. 24. Yea one great employment of the Spirit is to bring things to our remembrance Ioh. 14. 26. all which intimateth 1. Our forgetfulness and incogitancy Truths formerly understood are soon forgotten or not duly considered and kept in the view of conscience 2. The benefit of a good memory A bad memory is the cause of all mischief but a lively remembrance of truths keepeth the mind in a good frame 3. That however it be with natural yet spiritual knowledge is a reminiscence or reviving the seeds infused in the New Creation 4. That a Minister dischargeth his duty when he teacheth his people things vulgar and already known as well as those which are rare and less known if he be but a remembrancer t is enough we are to bring forth things both new and old we count him a wanton prodigal that only furnisheth his Table with rarities neglecting wholesome meats because they are usual 5. The necessity ●f a standing Ministry if not to instruct yet to keep things in remembrance because the most necessary truths are few and soon learned men presently begin to think they know as much as can be taught them and so neglect Ordinances whereas one great use of the Ministry is to keep truths fresh and savory in the thoughts and memory the Heathens ●oon lost the knowledge of God because they were without a publike Monitor that might keep this knowledge still on foot the sound of the Trumpet infuseth a new courage so doth every Sermon beget new affections though we knew the Truths delivered before Coals will die without continual blowing so will graces languish without often warnings and admonitions The next thing in the Preface is the Insinuation though ye once knew this That word once needeth to be explained his meaning is not that formerly they had known but now forgotten it neither is once to be referred to 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as if the sense were I will once put you in remembrance but by once is meant once for all that is ye have certainly and irrecoverably received this as a Truth This clause will yeild us these Notes 1. That it is the duty of every Christian to be acquainted with the Scriptures the Apostle presumeth it of these Christians to whom he wrote Now this is necessary in regard of our selves that we may know the solid grounds of our own comfort every man would look over his charter Search the Scriptures for in them ye think to have eternal life John 5. 39. Particular and distinct Scriptures are a great advantage in temptations Sic scriptum est is Christ's own argument against Sathan Matth. 4. No Christians so unsetled in point of comfort or opinion as those that are unskilful in the word Heb 5. 14. In regard of others 't is necessary that we may discharge our duty to them Let the word d●●●ll in you richly teachi●g and admonishing one another c. Col. 3. 16. None but full vessels will run over Ignorant Christians are barren and sapless in discourse Private Christians must be full of knowledge not only to have knowledge enough to bring themselves to heaven but to admonish others see Rom. 15. 14. Well then do not put off this care to others as if it were proper only to Scholers and men of a publike calling this is every mans work that hath a soul to be saved 't is popish ignorance to be contented with an implicite belief you may best trust your own eyes when the Sun shineth every man openeth his windows to let it in we busie our selves in other books why not in the Word Austin was pleased with Tully's Hirtensius but he cast