Selected quad for the lemma: mercy_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
mercy_n	endure_v	lord_n	wonder_n	2,875	5	10.7301	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A01014	Doctor Fludds answer vnto M· Foster or, The squeesing of Parson Fosters sponge, ordained by him for the wiping away of the weapon-salue VVherein the sponge-bearers immodest carriage and behauiour towards his bretheren is detected ...; Doctor Fludds answer unto M. Foster.	Fludd, Robert, 1574-1637.	1631 (1631)	STC 11120; ESTC S102376	121,816	230

deliuereth them from their graues let them confesse before the Lord his louing kindnesse c. Whereby it appeareth that it was his louing kindnesse and not his seuerity and vengeance which by his Word did heale and cure For he operateth vengeance in his seuerity or destructiue will by the organ of the Deuill And then of Salomon But the teeth of the venemous Dragons could not ouercome thy Children for thy mercy came to helpe them and healed them for neither herb nor plaister healed them but thy Word O Lord which healeth all things for thou hast the power of life and death and leadest downe into the gates of Hell and bringest vp againe c. Now I would know whether it ought to be any true Christians opinion that the Deuill can command the misericord of God and so be Master of his word at his pleasure as to heale Gods creatures nay one framed after his owne Image for any wicked stratagems cause I meane for the gaining of both body and soule of man from God to himselfe Doth not Iob say In the hand of God is the life of euery liuing creature and the spirit of all flesh To conclude as Saint Iohn doth truely auerre that in the Word was life So it is certaine that all healing and restoring power is from this viuifying vertue in the Word and not from the priuatiue power of the Deuill in whom contrary wise is death and destruction Moreouer I would haue you to note these words of the Apostle Now there are diuers gifts but the same Spirit and there are diuersities of operations but God is the same which worketh all in all but to one is giuen by the Spirit the Word of wisedome to another the word of knowledge to another is giuen faith and to another the gift of healing by the same Spirit c. Can any good Christian thinke that this one Spirit that onely worketh these things is the Deuill No verily For in the third verse the Apostle termes it the Holy Ghost What shall we say then That the Deuill doth heale by the gift of the Holy Ghost or that the holy Spirit will grant the euill spirit his good gift of healing to deceiue mankinde and to rob God of his right God forbid But with iustice giue that vnto God which belongeth vnto God and assigne vnto the Deuill that property which was allotted him by his Creatour from the beginning the first Spirit from all creations was ordained in his office to be a good viuifying and a quickning Spirit the latter a bad a killing and a mortifying spirit For it is said by the Prophet in the person of God Ego creaui destructorem ad disperdendum I haue created the destroyer to destroy I will boldly therefore conclude and finish my Pamphlet or petty discourse as I began it namely with this religious verse mentioned in the diuine Hymne of the Royall Psalmist to the honour of God and disabling of either Deuill or any other creature to worke essentially wonders of himselfe or by himselfe Benedictus Dominus Deus Israël qui facit mirabilia solus Blessed be the Lord God of Israël who onely worketh wonders Or as he hath it in another place Confitemini Domino Dominorum quoniam in aeternum miser●…or dia●…ius qui facit mirabilia magna solus Prayse the Lord for his mercy endureth for euer who onely doth great wonders And therefore if the Lord of Lords onely or alone then hath he not any mortall man to helpe him if he alone then not any Angel of Heauen and lastly if it be God alone and onely then not any Deuill of Hell nor Daemon or spirit of the fiery or aëry or watry or earthly element to assist him For the text saith It is the Lord of Lords alone and therefore not any creature to helpe him or that is able to doe this without him it is he I say onely and consequently not the Deuill who performeth wonders But by euery mans acknowledgement this manner of cure is wonderfull for as much as the manner of working in it passeth the capacity of worldly mens vnderstanding Therefore with Dauid I will say Benedictus Deus qui facit tale mirabile solus and consequently I may inferre thereupon and that iustly Maledictus homo qui diuina falsò attribuit Diabolo Wherefore I wish euery zealous and religious person to haue this inuiolable Motto engrauen in his heart that by the vertue thereof he may fright away and banish from his thoughts all such irreligious perswasions as would moue him to derogate one Iota or tittle from Gods power who is Alpha and Omega the beginning and the end of all things to arrogate falsly vnto the vilest of creatures who in himselfe is nothing but what God is pleased that he shall be of himselfe hath nothing but what God pleaseth to bestow on him and by himselfe can doe nothing but what God is pleased to act in him and by him that he doth and not any thing else and therefore what God will not that he cannot doe Let this then be your Motto 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Finis omnium principium Deus God is the end and beginning of all things And for this reason Reuchlin in his Booke de verbo m●…risico saith Omne hominis miraculum cuius vera non imaginaria deprehenditur substantia tum grande tum mediocre tum minimum si ordo sacrorum prascriptus obseruetur referendum est semper in Deum gloriosum cuius nomen est benedictum in aeternum Is enim solus est qui vel seipso vel delegato non sine seipso velper substitutum exseipso talia facit qualia demiramur quorum causam adaequatam scire non possumus vel quod fiant vel quod hoc modo fiant Euery miracle of man whose substance is certaine ●…nd not imaginary or prestigious bee it great or meane or little if the prescribed order of Holy Writ bee obserued is alwayes to bee referred and ascribed vnto one glorious God whose Name bee euer blessed For it is hee alone who either of himselfe or by a delegat with whom hee is present or by a substitute of his owne and from himselfe that effecteth such things the true or plaine grounds whereof and by what meanes they are brought to passe wee neither can discerne nor comprehend Thus farre Iohn Reuchlin And therefore in the period of this Treatise I may iustly put home and allude vnto Master Foster and his Complices the woe of Isaias against such persons which I did mention in the beginning of it for as much as they presuming too too much on their worldly wisedome doe mistakingly and through their blindnesse ascribe the things of God vnto the Deuill the deeds of goodnesse vnto euill and the effects of light vnto darknesse ISAIAS 5.20 21. Woe vnto them that speake good of euill and euill of good which put darknesse for light and light for darknesse that

reducis manum tuam nihil potest effugere Thou hatst the power of life and death in thine hand thou bringest into the mouth of the graue and deliuerest or bringest backe againe Whereby it is manifest that it is onely God who eyther miraculously or by vertue of his creatures which he hath instituted for this or that wholesome purpose that cureth and againe woundeth by the meanes of his organicall ministers be they angelicall or humane As for example hee causeth his Angell Raphiel to make vse of the fish his Liuer and Gall for the chasing away of the destroying Fiend and to heale the blind Tobias Also the Angel did giue the vertue of healing vnto the Lake Bethesdas And againe the Psalmist saith Plag a non appropinquabit tentorium tuum nam Angelis suis praecipiet de te but that by any authority of Text hee made vse of Satan or any of his darke angels to accomplish any such deed of light or to employ any of Gods creatures as are the Fat Blood or Flesh to cure a wounded or vlcerous creature when I can finde it in Scripture I will in some sort beleeue it but because that will proue too long a search for Master Foster and againe I finde the precedent places of Scripture to be generally against it therefore I conclude that the mysticall curing by the Weapon-Salue is the mercifull gift of God only Wherefore vnto him wholly and vnto no diuell in hell be ascribed all vertue power and glory for his mercies in generall and for this vertue and property of healing by the weapon-salue in particular for euer Amen Blessed I say with the Prophet Dauid be the Lord God of Israel who onely worketh all wonders and therefore effecteth this wonderfull manner of curing which passeth mans vnderstanding To him therefore be ascribed for it all praise and honour for euermore CHAP. III. How by an abstruse inquisition made into the mystery of Sacred Philosophy the question proposed concerning the lawfulnesse or vnlawfulnesse of the Weapon-salues vsage is resolued and Mr. Fosters Sponge well squeesed IN this precedent Chapter I haue proued Thelogically and that by pure examples out of Scripture that the diuell was the spirituall Organ ordained by God in the creation for an vse cleane opposite vnto that of curing and healing and therefore it is vnlikely that now in his latter dayes after so many destructions committed by him in his former age hee can become a sauer and healer of diseases Now wil I proue in a more euident manner and that by Sacred Philosophy that Gods viuifying Spirit mouing in the ayry Organ of the World doth by his vertuous application or aspect to the weapon-salue effect the cure of such as are wounded And I call this manner of prouing Theo-philosophicall or belonging vnto Sacred Philosophy because it respecteth the nature of this manner of curing as it receiueth his essentiall act and being from God mouing and acting in and by his created Spiri●…uall Organs in and ouer all Of this manner of Philosophy St. Paul speaketh thus Videte ne quis vos decipiat per philosophiam inanem fallaciam secundū traditionem h●…minum secundum element a mundi non secundum Christum quia in ipso habitat omnis plenitudo diuinitatis corporaliter estis in illo repleti qui est Caput omnis principatus potestatis Beware lest there be any man that deceiue you through philosophy and vaine deceit according to the traditions of men according to the rudiments of the world and not after Christ for in him dwelleth the fulnesse of the God-head bodily and 〈◊〉 are complete in him who is the head of Principalities and Powers By which words hee seemeth to terme the Ethnick philosophy vaine and deceitfull forasmuch as it is framed out according to the rudiments of this world which doe ordaine many essentiall subalternate Agents acting and operating absolutely and simply of themselues without any consideration had vnto the Catholicke and supreme Power of God the Father of all things from whom radically all essentiall actions proceed which are afteward effected by our Lord Iesus Christ by whom all things haue their being and not from any subalternat agent or efficient creature For though they ferue as organicall ministers yet they are but dead except God apeareth and opperateth in them by his Spirit and therefore is all act and operation attributed vnto God as it is proued before by the Apostle saying One God operateth all in all And againe he saith Though there be that are called Gods in heauen and in earth yet vnto vs there is but one God who is the Father of whom are all things and we in him and one Lord Iesus Christ by whom are all things and wee by him For this cause is God called Alpha and Ome●…a the beginning and the end namely as in himselfe he decreeth all and by his Word he essentially operateth and effecteth all and that immediately Now that his very Spirit is in all things the wise Salomon doth intimate expressely saying that the incorruptible Spirit of the Lord is in all things and that from the Spirit of Gods mouth proceedeth the vertues of all things as the Prophet Dauid telleth vs which being so it must consequently follow that the essentiall forme or life of euery Creature in this world must depend on this Spirit and haue his centrall seate of Actiuity in proportion more or lesse from this Agent of Agents who as it acteth in the Center of all things so is it euen continuat vnto the circumference that is from Alpha or the Center vnto Omega or the Circumference for else would there bee a diuision of the diuine Essence which is impossible And for this cause is God said to fill all and to operate all in all wherefore the Apostle concludeth as before that the Ethnick Philosophy framed out by the tradition and inuention of mans wisdome is false and deceitfull but that which is founded onely vpon Christ is to bee embraced because that in him dwelleth the fullnes of Diuinity which operateth all in all according vnto the will and decree of his Father who is the head of all Potestates and principalities and consequently of all Angels And therefore Angels can effect nothing but as he acteth in them and by them as his spirituall Organs Loe this is therefore that Theosophicall subiect whereby I make my strickt Inquisition into the mystery of this manner of healing by the Weapon-Salue And thus much for a preamble to the discourse Now to the purpose Wee must obserue in the cure done by this Weapon-Salue three principall things namely the partie wounded the Oyntment curing and lastly the occulte actiuity which raigneth in the blood and issueth from the blood vnto the Oyntment The party wounded may rightly be compared to the world and therefore is called a little world he is composed of heauen and earth namely of spirit and body