Selected quad for the lemma: mercy_n
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A32016
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Gods free mercy to England presented as a pretious and powerfull motive to humiliation : in a sermon preached before the honourable House of Commons at their late solemne fast, Feb. 23, 1641 / by Edmvnd Calamy ...
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Calamy, Edmund, 1600-1666.
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1642
(1642)
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Wing C253A; ESTC R19544
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47,198
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60
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Manoah If the Lord did intend to destroy England surely he would never have bestowed so many mercies upon England Eightly let us make these mercies as so many meanes and instruments of service Let us serve God with our health wealth and parts Let us serve him Cheerefully liberally thankefully fruitfully lest God send upon us that curse threatned Deut. 28. 47 48. Because thou servedst not the Lord thy God with joyfulnesse and with gladnesse of heart for the abundance of all things Therefore shalt thou serve thine enemies which the Lord shall send against thee in hunger in thirst in nakednesse in want of all things And he shall put a yoke of iron upon thy necke untill he hath destroyed thee Let us rend our hearts and not our garments and turne to the Lord for he is gracious O give thankes unto the Lord for his mercy endureth for ever There is mercy with thee O Lord and therefore thou art to be feared Let us feare to sinne against a God of such mercy Let us admire these mercies and admire him for his mercies And say with David Who am I O Lord and what is mine house that thou shouldest bring me hitherto and is this the manner of man O Lord God And let us pray that excellent prayer Domine da gratitudinem cum misericordia nolo misericordiam sine gratitudine Lord give us thankefull hearts with thy mercies Lord give us obedient hearts with thy mercies Rather let us be without mercy than not to have grace to glorifie thee with thy mercies The third part of the Text is the false reason of the mercy deposed and that by way of Proclamation Be it knowne unto you O House of Israel that it is not for your sakes that I doe this Nec per vos nec propter vos Neither by you nor for you It is I that doe it saith the Lord and for my owne names sake I doe it Not for your sakes This Proclamation is very often inculcated for feare lest men should ascribe mercies to their owne merits which all are very apt to doe It is said in the 22. verse of this Chapter Say unto the House of Israel Thus saith the Lord I doe not this for your sakes O House of Israel but for my holy names sake which you have prophaned among the heathen whither you went Thus Ezekiel 20. 44. And you shall know that I am the Lord when I have wrought with you for my names sake not according to your wicked wayes nor according to your corrupt doingâ—… O ye house of Israel saith the Lord Thus also Deuteronomy 9. 4. Speake not thou in thine heart for many will thinke so in their hearts though ashamed to speake it with their tongues after that the Lord thy God hath cast them out from before thee saying For my righteousnesse the Lord hath brought me to possesse this Land But for the wickednes of these Nations the Lord doth drive them out from before thee This is repeated againe at the 5 verse that it may not be forgotten Not for thy righteousnes or for the uprightnes of thy heart dost thou goe to possesse the land c. This is also againe repeated verse 6. Understand therefore that the Lord thy God giveth thee not this good land to possesse it for thy righteousnes for thou art a stiffenecked people And in the 7. verse he cals upon us to remember it and not forget it Hence observe That Nationall mercies come from free grace not from free will Not from mans goodnes but Gods goodnes My desire is that this Doctrine may be a third Looking-glasse for England If any shall aske How it comes to passe that England hath beene like Noâ—…s Aâ—…ke safe and secure when all other Nations have beene drowned with a sea of blood Why England is like Gideons dry fleece when all other Nations are like his wet fleece bedewed with miseries and lamentations No other answer can be returned but Gods free grace and mercy I will have mercy upon whom I will have mercy May I not doe what I will with mine owne May not a man that hath two debtors equally indebted to him spare the one and not the other as he pleaseth Be it known unto you O house of England It is not for your sakes for you are a stiffe-necked people but for my holy names sake But doth not God indent and Covenant with a Nation upon its repentance to shew mercy how then is Gods mercy free Repentance it selfe is of Gods free grace 2 Tim. 2. 25. In meeknesse instructing them that oppose themselves if God peradventure will give them repentance Repentance is Gods free gift and therefore Christ is said to be exalted by God to be a Prince and a Saviour for to give repentance to Israel and forgivenesse of sins Repentance is not the cause for which God spares a Nation but onely a qualification of that Nation which God will spare Repentance denotes the Persons whom God hath freely promised to pardon but not the câ—…se for which he promises to pardon as the Gnomon in the Diall is not the cause why the Clocke goes right or wrong but onely an Indication whether it goe right or wrong If Englands mercies come from Gods goodnesse and not our righteousnesse let us not thinke our selves more righteous than Ireland because wee are not wallowing in blood as Ireland Thinke you saith Christ that those eighteene upon whom the tower in Silce fell are sinners above all men that dwell in Jerusalem I tell you nay I that am the Judge of the world I tell you nay The nature of man is prone to censure Germany and Ireland as horrible sinners above others but I tell you nay saith Christ When the Barbarians saw the Viper skip upon the hand of Paul they concluded presently Sureâ—…y this man is a murtherer but they were Barbarians and in this they acted the part of Barbarians It is a barbarous action to censure them that are punished by God to be the greatest of sinners Judicia Deinm sunt tâ—…mere discutienda sed formidoloso silentio vener and a saith Gregory Be it knowne unto you O England it is not for your righteousnesse you are spared not because you are better but because I love you better not for your sakes doe I this saith the Lord for if Ireland be sinfull England hath a great share in this sinfulnesse because it hath taken no more care to bring those Popish Rebels to the knowledge of the Gospeâ—… of Jesus Christ Let England say as Lysimaâ—…hus did who was on a suddaine called forth out of a house where he was at supper by his good Genius as the Heathen say and as soon as ever he was out of doores the house fell down and killed them all which were within Good God saith he to what evill am I reserved So let Engâ—…and say Good Lord to what super-transcendent
against Gods patience God was not patient towards them but as soone as ever they sinned hee cast them into hell Deus non expectabat Angelos as Bernard saith but we sinne against the blood of Christ and the patience and long-suffering of God which is very great towards mankind 3. The Devils never sinned against any example For they were the first that sinned and were made the first example but wee have had divers examples of Gods wrath against sinne the example of the Devils and of the punishment of the old world of Sodom and Gomorrah many hundred such like and yet we sin notwithstanding al these examples In these three respects to sin against the mercies of God is more than diabolicall It is a sinne that takes away all excuse and will so confound a man at the day of Judgement that it will make him speechlesse This is excellently set out in the 9 chapter of Ezra the 6 7 8 9 10. verses O my God saith Ezra I am ashamed and blush to lift up my face to thee O my God for our iniquities are inâ—…reased over our heads c. For we were bondmen yet our God hath not forsaken us in our bondage but hath extended mercy to us c. And now O our God what shall we say after this for we have forsaken thy Commandements What excuse shall we bring What shift shall we plead What shall we say That is we have nothing to say This interrogation is an emphaticall negation Had I not come unto you saith Christ ye had had no sinne but now ye have no excuse Had not God shewne such mercies to England it might have had some Apology to plead for its contempt of the Gospel for its pride for its adultery and drunkennesse but now it hath no excuse To sinne after mercy shuts up all defence What shall we say after this O our God for we have forsaken thy Commandements This Doctrine is a blacke bill of indictment against all those that are not ashamed to sinne against God notwithstanding the mercies they have received from God God hath done mighty things for this Nation he hath heaped deliverance upon deliverance We have had more deliverances than there are Commandements And yet notwithstanding are there not many of us that sinne in the midst of mercies That are like the Horse and Mule that have no understanding Psalme 32. As a Horse the more it is pampered the more it kickes against the rider so there are many the more they are fed to the full with mercy the more they rebell against the God that feeds them Like unto the thicke vapours which are first exhaled by the Sunne and afterwards when they come into the Aire stop the light of the Sunne from shining upon us There are many such vapours whom God hath exalted and lifted up in â—…nour above others that make no other use of their honour but to darken the glory of God and to hinder the light of God from shining upon us Let conscience speake Are we not as proud as covetous as blasphemous as adulterous as ungodly as ever notwithstanding all that God hath done for us May I not say to you as Moses to the Israelites Doe ye thus requite the Lord O ye foolish people and unwise Is not he thy father that bought thee Hath he not made thee and established thee Is not he the God that hath multiplyed mercies upon us The Lord humble us this day for this sinne There are divers sorts of men come under this reproofe 1. Such as sinne notwithstanding mercies 2. Such as sinne under mercies at the same time when God is shewing mercy unto them Of these David speakes Our Fathers understood not thy wonders in Egypt they remembred not the multitude of thy mercies but provoked him at the Sea yea even at the Red Sea This was a great aggravation They sinned at the very place where they were delivered and at the very time when they were delivered at the Sea even the Red Sea And as it is at the 13. verse They soone forgat his workes the word in the Hebrew is they made haste to forget his workes This is our condition God hath brought us into the schoole of mercy but are there not many among us that turne this schoole of mercy into the schoole of iniquity that remaine irreformable in a yeare of Reformation that not onely hate to be reformed but hate the very Reformation it selfe that sinne under mercies even under mercies 3. Such as sinne with the mercies of God that like the Spider sucke poyson out of those flowers out of which a Bee suckes honey that sucke their damnation out of those mercies out of which the godly sucke their salvation that make a golden calfe of the jewels of mercy and sacrifice their sonnes and daughters unto devils that turne the grace of God into wantonnesse that improve their honours learning wealth parts to make themselves more active to sinne against God to be Ingeniose nequam facundi sed malo publico As Basil saith of Eve That God gave her to be a helper to Adam and made her of the rib of Adam but the devill tooke this rib and made a dart of it and with this dart shot at Adams heart and wounded him to death Per costam petit cor so God hath bestowed mercies upon us to helpe us to serve him more chearefully more liberally but there are many that play the devils part and that take these mercies and make darts of them to shoot against God and his cause Non hoâ—… quae situm munâ—…s in usâ—… There are thousands in the world that are worser for the mercies they receive from God that are like unto a dunghill the more the Sunne of mercy shines upon them the more they stinke and putrifie in all sin And as the clay is hardned by the Sunnes shining upon it so there are many the more health the more wealth the more honour the more mercy they receive from God the more they harden their hearts against God like Elies two sonnes the kindlier their father dealt with them the worser they were like Absalom that as soone as ever his Father received him into Jerusalem then he began to conspire against him Of these David speakes Because there are no changes in their lives therefore they feare not God because they meet with no crosses and Psalm 73. 5 6 7 8 9. Because they are not plagued like other men therefore pride compasseth them about as a chaine they have more then â—…eart can wish therefore they speake wickedly and loftily and set their mouthes against the Heavens c. like Dionysius that because he prospered in his voyage by sea after he had robbed a Temple boasted and said Behold how the gods love sacriâ—…edge I beseech you Right Honorable let us examine whether we be not guilty of these sinnes â—…or they are such sinnes which we are all very prone