Selected quad for the lemma: mercy_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
mercy_n	father_n	heaven_n	miserable_a	4,608	5	10.4464	5	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A63913	A phisico-theological discourse upon the Divine Being, or first cause of all things, providence of God, general and particular, separate existence of the human soul, certainty of reveal'd religion, fallacy of modern inspiration, and danger of enthusiasm to which is added An appendix concerning the corruption of humane nature, the force of habits, and the necessity of supernatural aid to the acquest of eternal happiness : with epistolary conferences between the deceased Dr. Anthony Horneck and the author, relating to these subjects : in several letters from a gentleman to his doubting friend.	Turner, John, b. 1649 or 50.; Horneck, Anthony, 1641-1697.	1698 (1698)	Wing T3313; ESTC R5343	198,836	236

their purpose Man's wisdom is foolishness with God Thus in the Opinion of these Men we must shake Hands with our Reason resign up our Intellectual Faculties and become a sort of Idiots or insensible Statues and thus all Religion must be resolved into a Spiritual Delirium or Dotage a Sensless Stupidity whilst the Learned Man and the Divine the Christian and the Philosopher must be accounted Terms incompatible Whether the Name Enthusiast is derived from them or any other Pretenders to Revelation is not material but certainly as they are a People who above all other Religionists have abounded in Prophetic Rapts Predictions lamentable Expirations and Denunciations of Publick Woes Calamities and Judgments so have they for the most part if not all been miserably benighted and overshadowed with Darkness and there have been those amongst them who when the Cloud has been remov'd and their Imaginations freed from the Obscurity have confest to the Sense of a Deception and acknowledg'd the Delusion 'T is more then ordinarily remarkable it seems of Mr. M l that he scarce ever speaks amongst them but in a sort of frantic or wild transport he is delivering his Prophesies and Prognosticating the certainty of impending Judgments And indeed Mr. K th sometime ago took notice to me that among many hundreds he had heard him utter not one had ever come to pass I speak not this out of any Personal Prejudice neither yet with a desire that any Man shou'd ridicule and contemn them I have I must needs say too certain a Knowledge of the Honesty fair Dealing and Integrity of some in that Perswasion to tax their Morals And as for their Divinity their fundamental Hypothesis of the Divine Light if they knew rightly to explain it or to account for the same either rationally or intelligibly I am ready to believe it might prove both serviceable and solid The rest of their Principles have been deliver'd too loosely to pass for any Regular System and it may be thought designedly least they shou'd be found to clash and disagree Their late intestine Janglings their Divisions and Fewds with their separation into Parties give us reason without the help of Revelation to portend the likelyhood of their Extinction and as they started up at first almost imperceptibly so may they very probably within the Compass of another Century dwindle into nothing again However be that as it will this is certain They are not the People they were at their first Rise at least the greatest part of them their quitting some of the Marks and Badges of their Profession and their gradual Conformity to the Habit and Customs of other People which they now seem to think indifferent is an Argument of this and truly I believe I may not err if I take three parts of the younger People among them to be but nominal or to act only in compliance with the Commands of their Governours on which account I am induced to surmise Q sm may be but little longer liv'd than the Supports of their several Parties and Divisions It is not without some Reason that I impute your present Scepticism to the unhappiness of Circumstances attending your Education we do not often find that when Men shake of their first imbibed Principles they stick to any other the first remove is very commonly to infidelity and altho' I cannot think you are to be discommended for quitting what you find neither consonant to right Reason nor true Religion yet in this you are extreamly blameable and I hope may live to see the danger that from the madness and folly of some you shou'd take the Measure of Divinity in general and hereupon resolve all Religion into a pious Fraud The People of other Churches even the Church of England it self meet together you say habited fitter for the Theater than a place of Devotion They have their Prayer Books brought after them they fall upon their Knees cry Lord have mercy on them they are miserable Sinners they have done those things c. they proceed and say They believe in God the Father Almighty and cry out Our Father which art in Heaven c. and when this is over nay a great many of them in the time of repeating their Prayers and Petitions are viewing each others Dress taking notice of the Fashions and reflecting upon each others Deportment the elder sort are thinking of their worldly Business who will be their best Chapmen and how to dispose of their several Commodities and as soon as all is over instead of retiring into their Closets for the sake of private Devotion or Contemplation they enter into Consult where is the best Wine what Friends to visit and to make merry or where to walk that they may spend their time as they call it in some Recreation or Diversion All this I must needs say is too notorious to be evaded it is indeed as just as miserable a Complaint and therefore as I shall not go about to extenuate the Errors or Impieties of these Persons so neither does there seem to want any other Reply than this That Religion in it self is no more sullied by the Scandal of pretended Devotee's or Irreligious Proselytes than the truth of any other Science by the Impositions and Cheats of an In-intruding Impostor You must consider the People you are speaking of have no more Religion than your self they go to Church with their Neighbours whom they think wou'd otherwise take notice of and Censure them but for their own parts their Principles are to choose they never embraced any in such a manner as if they were certainly convinced of their Truth neither have they any thing to plead for their sometimes frequenting a Religious Assembly such as their Parish Church more than the Custom of their Country and the Necessity that there is of Securing their Reputation I question not however but you may find some sincerely Religious and truly affected with the Divine Service Men whose Piety is as conspicuous in their Lives and Actions as in their Words and Expressions such whose Hearts are fervently affected with the Love of God and whose whole delight it is as well as utmost endeavour to live Godlily Righteously and Soberly in this present World in order to the Securing of an Everlasting Happiness in a World to come In a word all that I have farther to say with reference to Reveal'd Religion that compleat and setled Standard of Divine Faith is this that how diffident soever you may be at present of its Authority let not the same by any means suffer from your impious Reflections You are no ways able to disprove the Matters of Fact they may be true and you have all the reason in the World to believe they are so However in the end I may securely predict this That it will be a much less trouble to you your never looking into those Sacred Volumes than your searching them with the foolish Patrons of Irreligion only to furnish your self with