Selected quad for the lemma: mercy_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
mercy_n	eye_n	lord_n	wait_v	2,901	5	9.3473	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A78423	The good man a publick good, 1. passively, 2. actively. As it was manifested in a sermon preached to the Honourable House of Commons, at the late solemne fast: January 31. 1643. By Daniel Cavvdrey, minister of the Gospell at Great Billing in Northhamptonshire, and one of the Assembly of Divines.	Cawdrey, Daniel, 1588-1664.; England and Wales. Parliament. House of Commons.	1644 (1644)	Wing C1628; Thomason E34_1; ESTC R12377	36,785	47

understood the miseries of his people and the Desolations of the house of God and of his City as in Nehem. 1. and 2. Chapters may easily appeare But the discovery of his publick spirit with neglect of all private interests is most remarkeable Nehem. 5.14 Twelve yeares together from the twentieth yeare even unto the two and thirtieth of King Artaxerxes that is twelve yeares I and my brethren have not eaten the bread of the Governour For the former Governours that were before me had been chargeable to the people and had taken of them bread and wine besides forty shekels of silver yea and their servants bare rule over the people as great mens servants use to doe but so did not I because of the feare of God But then it may be as he had nothing so hee did nothing but only oversee the people For that see what follows verse 16. Yet also I continued in the worke of this wall and all my servants were gathered thither unto the worke That is though neither I nor my servants had any allowance yet we were as active and diligent in the maine worke as they that tooke wages for their worke But perhaps hee had a great estate or revenue of his owne and improved that to his owne best advantage There were many poor Jews that were glad for necessity to sell their inheritances and so he made good bargaines for himselfe by buying land at the cheapest rate No sayes he We bought no land as some others did And lest any man should thinke though he did not get by the publicke calamities yet he might save his owne estate by living privately and below his estate and the dignity of a Governour he addes Moreover there were at my table an hundred and fifty of the poore Jewes and Rulers besides those that came unto us from among the Heathen that are about us verse 17. His charge and expences is set downe in the 18. verse to be very great Yet for all this required not I the bread of the Governour because the bondage was great upon this people All these considered you will hardly finde a man of so publicke a spirit in all the Scripture Only one we finde in the new Testament that comes something neare him in spirituall respects and that is Saint Paul 5. Of Paul first he sayes he had upon him the care of all the Churches Secondly he laboured more then all the Apostles spared no paines feared no dangers ran through many perplexities and hazards by sea and land by brethren and strangers c. Thirdly though he might have beene chargeable as an Apostle of Christ and had power to eat and drinke and to carry about a sister a wife as other Apostles did yet he used not this power but preached the Gospell freely and lest he might be chargeable he wrought with his own hands to supply his necessities and as he sought not his owne profit but the profit of many that they might be saved 1 Cor. 10. last so spent himselfe in the publicke service venturing his owne life for the Good of the Church I count not my life deare to me so that I may finish my course with joy Act. 20.24 Yea saies he and if I be offered powred forth as a drinke offering 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 upon the sacrifice and service of your faith I joy and rejoyce with you all Phil. 2.17 And to omit many things of like kinde that there might be an example and instance of one under the New Testament not inferiour to the highest in the Old heare what he saies like another Moses if not beyond him I have great heavinesse and continuall sorrow in my heart For I could wish that my selfe were accursed from Christ for my brethren my kinsmen according to the flesh Rom. 9.2 3. We need say no more we have given instances of all sorts Kings Priests Magistrates Ministers of eminently publicke spirits to make good our assertion That Good men are publicke Goods Actively as well as Passively That is men of publicke spirits active for the publick Good though passive in neglect of themselves Doe but take the Reasons 3. Grounded on Good Reasons of it and we shall hasten to the Application 1. Good men are made partakers of the divine Nature 1. They partake of the divine Nature 2 Pet. 1.4 and so made conformable to God their heavenly Father and to Christ their Head The Proverb is A Good the more common it is the better it is we may invert it The better any thing is the more communicative it is of it selfe God himselfe the best and greatest Good communicates himselfe to all his creatures with no respect of any profit to himselfe The eyes of all things wait upon thee O Lord and thou givest them their meat in due season Psal 145.15 Thou openest thy hand and fillest with thy blessing every living thing Thou art Good and doest Good Psal 119.68 The Lord is Good to all and his mercy is over all his workes Psal 145.9 He makes his Sunne to shine upon the Good and the bad and his raine to fall upon the just and unjust The Lord Jesus also is called the common Salvation Jude verse 3. He went about doing Good and healing every disease He gave himselfe for all his sheep and wholly for every one Who loved me and gave himselfe for me saies Paul as if he had loved and dyed for none but him O bone Jesu c. as that Father in a sweet meditation and Soliloquie of his O sweet Saviour Jesus who takest care for all of us as if we were but one man and so for every one as for all Christ pleased not himselfe sought not his owne profit his owne glory but the salvation of his people Let the same minde be in you that was in Christ Jesus Phil. 2.5 And so it is in some proportion the same nature the same mind and so followers of God as deare children and of Christ their Head and so communicative of their Goodnesse to others The ground of this in God is his Al-sufficiency partly hee needs not the Good of any creature and partly his Great Goodnesse whereof he is so full that as the Sea empties it selfe into the springs and rivers so doth he communicate his Goodnes to the creatures Good men then being made partakers of the Al-sufficient and Good God are like him in this to seeke the publicke Good with neglect of themselves and that 's the first 2. Grace enlarges the heart 2. Grace and Goodnesse enlarges the heart and hand and all So the Apostle 2 Cor. 6.11 12 13. O ye Corinthians our mouth is opened to you our heart is enlarged ye are not straitned in us but ye are straitned in your owne bowels Bee ye also enlarged As if he should say it is your fault that you have no more benefit by us you are not capable of what we are able and willing to give And so to his

by the purenesse of thine hands Iob 22.30 The like or a yet lower condiscension we finde Jer. 5.1 Runne ye too and fro through the streets of Ierusalem and see and know and seek in the broad places thereof if ye can finde a man one man if there be any that executeth iudgement and seeketh the truth and I will pardon it Adde but one more and that is Ezek 22.30 I sought for a man but one man among them that should make up the hedge and stand in the gap before me for the land that I should not destroy it but I found none therefore have I powred out mine indignation upon them c. 2. 2. This is performed We finde the performances of this promise in many instances This was made good to Abraham in the preservation of his Nephew Lot and his family Gen. 19.29 God remembred Abraham that is his prayer and pleading with God that he would not destroy the righteous with the wicked Chap. 18. and sent Lot out of the midst of the overthrow Nay Lot himselfe had experience of this grace and favour that as he preserved Zoar so the City of Sodome and the rest could not be destroyed so long as he was in it See but the power he had with God For the first Lot did not directly petition for the sparing of that little City Zoar but for his owne safety yet God is pleased to spare it for his sake Thus he sayes See I have accepted thee concerning this that I will not overthrow this City for which thou hast spoken For the second Gen. 19.21.22 thus more strangely Haste thee escape thither for I cannot doe any thing till thou come thither Not only while Lot was in Sodome was it spared for his sake but all the while he was going to Zoar it was not destroyed The Israelites had manifold experiences in this kind in the wildernesse wherein they provoked God forty yeares Therefore he said that he would destroy them had not Moses his chosen stood before him in the breach to turne away his wrath the words of our Text lest he should destroy them Psal 106.23 And so verse 29.30 Thus they provoked him to anger with their inventions and the plague brake in upon them Then stood up Phineas and executed judgement and so the plague was stayed These were examples of favour for prevention or removall of judgements Take some for procuring of Good God blessed the Egyptians house for Josephs sake Gen. 39.5 And the blessing of the Lord was upon all that he had in the house and in the field And what a blessing he was to the whole land of Egypt for a blessing of plenty for seven yeares together is to be seen Gen. 41.47 Saint Paul also was thus highly honoured that he saved the lives of all that sailed with him in the ship two hundred threescore and fifteen soules beside himselfe Acts 27.24 Lo sayes the Angell God hath given thee all them that saile with thee Insomuch that he confidently tells them There shall be no l●sse of any mans life among you but of the Shippe verse 22. 3. This was ever a knowne and confessed truth 3. This is confessed by all both good and bad men have taken it for granted That they shall fare the better for Good peoples sake Hence it was that Bara● a good but a weake man desired Deborah an holy Prophetesse to goe with him to the warre yea professed he would not goe without her Judg. 4.8 as placing both his safety and victory in her presence And wicked Ahab solicites Jehoshaphat to goe to warre with him as hoping to prosper the better for his sake In a word for this reason wicked men have so often desired the prayers of righteous men as distrusting themselves and trusting more to finde mercy for their sakes then their owne 4. The same is further confirmed by grounds of reason 4. This is grounded on Reasons First Good men or Righteous men are Gods Favourites 1. Good men are Gods Favourites so they are called in the Hebrew 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 his Saints we render it the word signifies his Favourites from the root 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which signifies Mercy and Favour so his Saints are such as actually are mercifull The Good man is mercifull and lendeth but especially passively as received to the mercy or favour of God as the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is used in Greeke spoken of the blessed Virgin Lu. 1.28 that is graced with God or highly favoured of God They are Gods Favourites I say and therefore for their sakes much Good is done to others that have any relation to them Consider but what Eliphaz saies to Iob perswading him to humble himselfe and be acquainted with God Iob 22.21 c. and to turne unto him he uses amongst others this argument vers 27. Thou shalt make thy prayer unto him he shal hear thee and thou shalt pay thy vows Thou shalt also decree a thing and it shall be established unto thee ver 28. And last of all as before The Island shall be delivered by the purenesse of thy hands vers 30. Such grace and favour shalt thou finde with God It is very observable that the Psalmist hath delivered Psal 146.7.8 The Lord executeth judgement for the oppressed he giveth food to the hungry the Lord looseth the prisoners the Lord openeth the eyes of the blinde the Lord raiseth them that are bowed downe These are all common mercies to wicked men but what will he doe for righteous men Sure much more for them yet marke what he addes instead of all The Lord loveth the righteous as if his love were better then all those before named or rather because his love is the ground of all other favours and because he loves them he can deny them nothing for themselves or others So Psal 5.12 The Lord blesseth the righteous the Lord heareth the prayers of the righteous c. Insomuch that when God is resolved to punish a People or Nation he is faine to bid his Favourites not to pray for them Ier. 14. and 15. Chap. Pray not for this people Nay to intreat them not to intreat him but to let him alone that hee may destroy them as he did to Moses It is a very extraordinary case when such Favourites as Noah Iob and Daniel cannot deliver a Nation but only their owne soules Eze. 14.14 any ordinary favour they may procure for others as well as for themselves Secondly all Good things as they are promised to 2. All good things are intended for them so they are primarily if not only intended for the Good nothing for wicked men but as by reason of their vicinity and neare neighbourhood they fall upon them because they cannot well be separated All is yours saies the Apostle to his Corinthian Saints the world it selfe is yours 1 Cor. 3. last Our Saviour hath made a distribution of the whole world Matth. 5. Heaven