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	lord_n	redeemer_n	2,002	5	9.8210	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A23760	The practice of Christian graces, or, The whole duty of man laid down in a plaine and familiar way for the use of all, but especially the meanest reader : divided into XVII chapters, one whereof being read every Lords Day, the whole may be read over thrice in the year : with Private devotions for several occasions...; Whole duty of man	Allestree, Richard, 1619-1681.; Fell, John, 1625-1686.	1658 (1658)	Wing A1158; ESTC R17322	270,574	508

of danger thou hast not the less but the greater cause to magnify God who hath by his protection so guarded thee that not so much as the fear of evil hat● assaulted thee And therefore omit not to pay him the tribute of humble thankfulness as well for his usual and daily preservations as his more extraordinary deliverances And above all endeavour still by the considerations of his mercies to have thy heart the more closely knit to him remembring that every favour received from him is a new engagement upon thee to love and obey him PRAYERS for NIGHT. O Holy blessed and glorious Trinity three persons and one God have mercy upon me a miserable sinner Lord I know not what to pray for as I ought O let thy Spirit help my infirmities and enable me to offer up a spiritual Sacrifice acceptable unto thee by Jesus Christ. A CONFESSION O MOST Holy Lord God who are of purer eyes then to behold iniquity now shall I abominable wretch dare to appear before thee who am nothing but pollution I am defiled in my very nature having a backwardness to all good and a readiness to all evil but I have defiled my self yet much worse by my own actual sins and wicked customes I have transgrest my duty to thee my neighbour and my self and that both in thought in word in deed by doing those things which thou hast expresly forbidden and by neglecting to do those things thou hast commanded me And this not onely through ignorance and frailty but knowingly and wilfully against the motions of thy Spirit and the checks of my own conscience to the contrary And to make all these out of measure sinful I have gone on in a daily course of repeating these provocations against thee notwithstanding all thy calls to and my own purposes and ●owes of amendmeut yea this very day I have not ceased to add new sins to all my former guilts Here name the Particulars And now O Lord what shall I say or how shall I open my mouth seeing I have done these things I know that the wages of these sins is death but O thou who willest not the death of a sinner have mercy upon me work in me I beseech thee a sincere contrition and a perfect hatred of my sins and let me not daily confess and yet as daily renew them but grant O Lord that from this instant I may give a bill of divorce to all my most beloved ●lusts and then be thou pleased to marry me to thy self in truth in righteousness and holiness And for all my past sins O Lord receive a reconciliation accept of that ransom thy blessed Son hath paid for me and for his sake whom thou hast set forth as a propitiation pardon all my offences and receive me to thy favour And when thou hast thus spoken peace to my soul Lord keep me that I turn not any more to folly but so establish me with thy grace that no temptation of the world the Divel or my own flesh may ever draw me to offend thee that being made free from sin and becoming a servant unto God I may have my fruit unto holiness and the end everlasting life through Jesus Christ our Lord. A THANKSGIVING O Thou Father of mercies who art kind even to the unthankful I acknowledg my self to have abundantly experimented that gracious property of thine for notwithstanding my daily provocations against thee thou still heapest mercies and loving kindness upon me All my contempts and despisings of thy spiritual favours have not yet made thee withdraw them but in the riches of thy goodness and long-suffering thou still continuest to me the offers of grace and life in thy Son And all my abuses of thy temporal blessings thou hast not punished with an utter deprivation of them but art still pleased to afford me a liberal portion of them The sins of this day thou hast not repayed as justly thou might'st by sweeping me away with a swift destruction but hast spared and preserved me according to the greatness of thy mercy Here mention the particular mercies of that day What shall I render unto the Lord for all these benefits he hath done unto me Lord let this goodness of thine lead me to repentance and grant that I may not only offer thee thanks and praise but may also order my conversation aright that so I may at the last see the salvation of God through Jesus Christ. Here use the Prayer for Grace and that of Intercession appointed for the Morning For PRESERVATION O Blessed Lord the Keeper of Israel that neither slumbrest nor sleepest be pleased in thy mercy to watch over me this night keep me by thy grace from all works of darkness and defend me by thy power from all dangers grant me moderate and refreshing sleep such as may fit me for the duties of the day following And Lord make me ever mindful of that time when I shall lye down in the dust and because I know neither the day nor the hour of my Masters coming grant me grace that I may be always ready that I may never live in such a state as I shall fear to dye in but that whether I live I may live unto the Lord or whether I dye I may dye unto the Lord so that living and dying I may be thine through Jesus Christ. Vse the same concluding prayer as in the Morning As thou art putting off thy clothes thi●k with thy self that the time approaches that thou must put off thy body also and then thy soul must appear naked before Gods judgment feat and therefore thou hadst need be careful to make it so clean and pure by repentance and holiness that he who will not look on iniquity may graciously behold and accept it Let thy bed put thee in mind of thy grave and when thou lyest down say O Blessed Saviour who by thy precious death and burial didst take away the sting of death and power of the grave grant me the joyful fruits of that thy victory and be thou to me in life and death advantage I will lay me down in peace and take my rest for it is thou Lord only that makest me dwell in safety Into thy hands I commend my spirit for thou hast redeemed it O Lord thou God of truth IN the ANCIENT CHURCH there were besides morning and night Four other times every day which were called HOURS OF PRAYER and the zeal of thos● first Christians was such as made them constantly observed It would be thought too great a strictness now in this lukewarm age to enj●yn the like frequency yet I cannot but mention the example and say that for those who are not by very necessary business prevented it will be but reasonable to imitate it and make up in publick and private those FOUR TIMES of PRAYER besides the OFFICES already set down for MORNING and NIGHT and that none may be to seek how to exer I se their devotions at these

that the God of all purity should vouchsafe to unite himself to so polluted a wretch O my God suffer me no more I beseech thee to turn thy grace into wantonness to make thy mercy an occasion of security but let this unspeakable love of thine constrain me to obedience that since my blessed Lord hath died for me I may no longer live unto my self but to him O Lord I know there is no concord between Christ and Belial therefore since he hath now been pleased to enter my heart O let me never permit any lust to chace him thence but let him that hath so dearly bought me still keep possession of me and let nothing ever take me out of his hand To this end be thou graciously pleased to watch over me and defend me from all assaults of my spiritual enemies but especially deliver me from my self from the treachery of my own heart which is too willing to yield it self a prey And where thou seest I am either by nature or custome most weak there do thou I beseech thee magnify thy power in my preservation Here name thy most dangerous temptations And Lord let my Saviours sufferings for my sins and the vowes I have now made against them never depart from my mind but let the remembrance of the one enable me to perform the other that I may never make truce with those lusts which nailed his hands pierced his side and made his Soul heavy to the death But that having now a new listed my self under his banner I may fight manfully and follow the Captain of my Salvation even through a Sea of blood Lord lift up my hands that hang down and my feeble knees that I faint not in this warfare O be thou my strength who am not able of my self to struggle with the slightest temptations How often have I turned my back in the day of battel How many of these sacramental vowes have I violated And Lord I have still the sa●e unconstant deceitful heart to betray me to the breach of this O thou who art Yea and Amen in whom there is no shadow of change communicate to me I beseech thee such a stability of mind that I may no more thus start aside like a broken bow but that having my heart whole with thee I may continue stedfast in thy Covenant That not one good purpose which thy Spirit hath raised in me this day may vanish as so many have formerly done but that they may bring f●rth fruit unto life eternal Grant this O merciful Father through the merits and Mediation of my Crucified Saviour A Prayer of Intercession to be used either before or after the receiving of the Sacrament O MOST Gracious Lord who so tenderly lovedst mankind as to give thy dear Son out of thy bosom to become a propitiation for the sins of the whole world grant that the effect of this Redemption may be as Universal as the design of it that it may be to the Salvation of all O let no person by impenitence and wilful sin forfeit his part in it but by the power of thy grace bring all even the most obstinate sinners to Repentance Inlighten all that sit in darkness all Jewes Turks Infidels and Hereticks take from them all blindness hardness of heart and contempt of thy Word and so fetch them home blessed Lord unto thy fold that they may be saved among the number of the true Israelites And for all those upon whom the Name of thy Son is called grant O Lord that their conversations may be such as becometh the Gospel of Christ that his Name be no longer Blasphemed among the Heathen through us O blessed Lord how long shall Christendom continue the vilest part of the world a sink of all those abominable pollutions which even Barbarians detest O let not our profession and our practice be alwayes at so wide a distance Let not the Disciples of the Holy and Immaculate Jesus be of all others the most profane and impure Let not the subjects of the Prince of Peace be of all others the most contentious and bloody but make us Christians indeed as well as in name that we may walk worthy of that Holy Vocation wherewith we are called and may all with one mind and one mouth glorify thee the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Have mercy on this languishing Church look down from Heaven the Habitation of thy Holiness and of thy glory where is thy Zeal and thy strength the sounding of thy bowels and of thy mercies towards us Are they restrained Be not wroth very sore O Lord neither remember iniquity for ever but though our backslidings are many and we have grievously rebelled yet according to all thy goodness let thy anger thy sury be turned away cause thy face to shine upon thy Sanctuary which is desolate for the Lords sake and so separate between us and our sins that they may no longer separate between us our God Save and defend all Christian Kings Princes Governours especially those to whom we owe subjection plead thou their cause O Lord against those that strive with them and fight thou against those that fight against them and so guide and assist them in the discharge of that office whereunto thou hast appointed them that under them we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty Bless them that wait at thine Altar open thou their lips that their mouth may shew forth thy praise O let not the lights of the world be put under bushels but place them in their candlesticks that they may give light to all that are in the house Let not Jeroboams Priests profane thy service but let the seed of Aaron still minister before thee And O thou Father of mercies and God of all comfort succour and relieve all that are in affliction deliver the out-cast and poor help them to right that suffer wrong let the sorrowful sighing of the prisoners come before thee and according to the greatness of thy power preserve thou those that are appointed to dye grant ease to those that are in pain supplies to those that suffer want give to all presumptuous sinners a sense of their sins and to all dispa●ring a sight of thy mercies and do thou O Lord for every one abundantly above what they can ask or think Forgive my enemies persecutors and slanderers and turn their hearts Powre down thy blessings on all my friends and benefactors all who have commended themselves to my Prayer Here thou maist name particular persons And grant O merciful father that through this blood of the crosse we may all be presented pure and unblameable and unreprovable in thy sight That so we may be admitted into that place of purity where no unclean thing can enter there to sing eternal praises to Father Son and holy Ghost for ever A Prayer in times of common Persecution O BLESSED Saviour who hast made the crosse the badg of thy Disciples

among us there being nothing more common then to see men make large professions to those who as soon as their back are turned they either deride or mischief Fifthly it casts out all mercenariness and self-seeking 't is of so noble and generous a temper that it dispises all projectings for gain or advantage love seeketh not her own 1 Cor. 13. 5. And therefore that huckstering kind of love so much used in the world which places it self only there where it may fetch in benefit is very far from this charity Lastly It turns out of the heart all malice and desire of revenge which is so utterly contrary to it that it is impossible they should both dwell in the same brest 't is the property of love to bear all things 1 Cor. 13. 7. To endure the greatest injuries without thought of making any other return to them then prayers and blessings and therefore the malicious revengeful person is of all others the greatest stranger to this charity 'T is true if this vertue were to be exercised but towards some sort of persons it might consist with malice to others it being possible for a man that bitterly hates one to love another but we are to take notice that this charity must not be so confined but must extend and stretch it self to all men in the world particularly to enemies or else it is not that divine charity commended to us by Christ. The loving of friends and benefactors is so low a pitch that the very Publicans and sinners the worst of men were able to attain to it Mat. 5. 46 And therefore 't is not counted rewardable in a Disciple of Christ No he expects we should soar higher and therefore hath set us this more spiritual and excellent precept of loving of enemies Mat. 5. 44. I say unto you love your enemies bless them that curse you and pray for them which despitefully use you and persecute you and whoever does not thus will never be owned by him for a disciple We are therefore to conclude that all which hath been said concerning this Charity of the affections must be understood to belong as well to our spitefullest enemy as our most obliging friend But because this is a duty to which the froward nature of man is apt to object much 't will not be amiss to insist a little on some considerations which may inforce it on us And first consider what hath been already toucht on that it is the Command of Christ both in the Text above mentioned and multitudes of others there being scarce any precept so often repeated in the New Testament as this of loving and forgiving of enemies Thus Eph. 4. 32. Be ye kind one to another tender hearted forgiving one another and again Col. 3. 13. Forbearing one another and forgiving one another if any man have a quarrel against any even as Christ forgave you so also do ye So also 1 Pet. 3. 9. Not rendring evil for evil nor railing for railing but contrariwise Blessing A whole volume of Texts might be brought to this purpose but these are certainly enough to convince any man that this is strictly required of us by Christ and indeed I think there are few that ever heard of the Gospel but know it is so The more prodigiously strange is it that men that call themselves Christians should give no degree of obedience to it nay not onely so but even publickly avow and profess the contrary as we daily see they do it being ordinary to have men resolve and declare that they will not forgive such or such a man and no consideration of Christs Command can at all move them from their purpose Certainly these men understand not what is meant by the very word Christian which signifies a Servant and Disciple of Christ and this Charity is the very badg of the one the lesson of the other and therefore 't is the greatest absurdity and contradiction to profess themselves Christians and yet at the same time to resist this so express Command of that Christ whom they own as their Master If I be a Master saith God where is my fear Mal. 1. 6. Obedience and reverence are so much the duties of Servants that no man is thought to look on him as a Master to whom he payes them not Why call ye me Lord Lord and do not the things that I say saith Christ Luk. 6. 46. The whole world is divided into two great Families Christs and Satans a●d the obedience each man payes signifies to which of these Masters he belongs if he obey Christ to Christ if Satan to Satan Now this sin of malice and revenge is so much the dictate of that wicked spirit that there is nothing can be a more direct obeying of him 't is the taking his livery on our backs the proclaiming whose servants we are What ridiculous impudence is it then for men that have thus entred themselves of Satans Family to pretend to be the Servants of Christ Let such know assuredly they shall not be owned by him but at the great day of accompt be turned over to their proper Master to receive their wages in fire and brimstone A second consideration is the example of God this is an argument Christ himself thought fit to use to impress this duty on us as you may see Luk 6. 35 36. where after having given the Command of Loving enemies he incourages to the practice of it by telling that it is that which will make us the Children of the Highest that is 't will give us a likeness and resemblance to him as children have to their Parents for he is kind to the unthankful and the evil And to the same purpose you may read Mat. 5. 45. He maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust And sure this is a most forcible consideration to excite us to this duty God we know is the fountain of perfection and the being like to him is the summe of all we can wish for and though it was Lucifers fall his ambition to be like the most high yet had the likeness he affected been onely that of Holyness and Goodness he might still have been an Angel of light This desire of imitating our Heavenly Father is the especial mark of a child of his Now this kindness and goodness to enemies is most eminently remarkable in God and that not onely in respect of the temporal mercies which he indifferently bestowes on all his sun and rain on the unjust as in the Text forementioned but chiefly in his spiritual mercies We are all by our wicked works Col. 1. 21. Enemies to him and the mischief of that enmity would have fallen wholly upon our selves God had no motive besides that of his pity to us to wish a reconciliation yet so farr was he from returning our enmity when he might have revenged himself to our eternal ruine

and pitiful eyes with which thou didst once behold Peter that great Shepherd of thy Church and forthwith he remembered himself repented with which eyes thou once didst view the scattered multitude and wert moved with compassion that for lack of a good Shepherd they wandered as sheep dispersed and strayed a sunder Thou seest O good Shepherd what sundry sorts of Wolvs have broken into thy sheep cotes of whom every one cryeth Here is Christ here is Christ. So that if it were possible the very perfect persons should be brought into error Thou seest with what winds with what waves with what storms thy silly ship is tossed thy ship wherein thy little flock is in peril to be drowned And what is now left but that it utterly sink and we all perish Of this tempest and storm we may thank our own wickedness and sinful living we espy it well and confesse it we espy thy righteousness and we bewail our unrighteousness but we appeal to thy mercy which according to the Psalm of thy Prophet surmounteth all thy works we have now suffered much punishment being sousted with so many wars consumed with such losses of goods scourged with so many sorts of diseases and pestilences shaken with so many flouds feared with so many strange sights from heaven and yet appears there no where any Haven or Port unto us being thus-tired for lorn among so strange evils but still every day more grievous punishments and more seem to hang over our heads We complain not of thy sharpness most tender Saviour but we espy here also thy mercy forasmuch as much grievouse● plagues we have deserved But O most merciful Jesu we beseech thee that thou wilt not consider not weigh what is due for our deservings but rather what becometh thy mercy without which neither the Angels in heaven can stand sure before thee much less we filly vessels of clay Have mercy on us O redeemer which art easie to be intreated not that we be worthly of thy mercy but give thou this glory unto thine own Name Suffer not that the Jews Turks and the rest of the Panims which either have not known thee or do envy thy glory should continually triumph over us and say Where is their God where is their Redeemer where is their Saviour where is their Bridegroom that they thus boast on These opprobrious words and upbraidings redound unto thee O Lord while by our evils men weigh and esteem thy goodness they think we be forsaken whom they see not amended Once when thou sleptst in the Ship and a Tempest suddenly arising threatned death to all in the Ship thou awokest at the outcry of a few Disciples and straightway at thine Almighty word the waters couched the winds fell the storm was suddenly turned into a great calm the dumb waters know their makers voice Now in this far greater tempest wherein not a few mens bodies be in danger but innumerable souls we beseech th●e at the cry of thy holy Church which is in danger of drowning that thou wilt awake So many thousands of men do cry Lord save us we perish the tempest is past mans power yea we see that the endeavours of them that would help it do turn clean a contrary way It is thy word that must do the deed Lord Jesu Only say thou with a word of thy mouth Cease O tempest and forthwith shall ●he desired calm appear Thou wouldst have spa●ed so many thousands of most wicked men if in the City of Sodo● ●ad been found but ten good men Now here be so many thousands 〈◊〉 men which love the glory of thy name which sigh for the beauty 〈◊〉 thy house and wilt thou not at these mens prayers let go thine an●r and remember thine accustomed and old mercies Shalt thou ●ot with thy heavenly policy turn our folly into thy glory Shalt thou ●ot turn the wicked mens evils into thy Churches good For thy mer●y is wont then most of all to succour when the thing is with us past ●medy and neither the might nor wisdom of men can help it Thou ●one b●ingest things that be never so out of order into order again ●hich art the only Author and maintainer of peace Thou framedst ●hat old confusion which we call Chaos wherein without order with●ut fashion confusedly lay the discordant seeds of things and with a ●onderful order the things that of nature fought together thou didst ●ly and knit in a perpetual band But how much greater confusion is ●is where is no charity no fidelity no bonds of love no reverence either of lawes nor yet of rulers no agreement of opinions but as 〈◊〉 were in a misordered quire every man singeth a contrary note A●ong the heavenly Planets is no dissention all four Elements keep ●●eir place every one do their office whereunto they be appointed And wilt thou suffer thy Spouse for whose sake all things were made ●hus bycontinual discords to perish and go to wrack Shalt thou ●●ffer the wicked spirits which be authors and workers of discord 〈◊〉 bear such a swing in thy Kingdome unchecked Shalt thou suffer ●e strong Captain of mischief whom thou once overthrewest again 〈◊〉 invade thy tents and to spoil thy souldiers When thou wert here man conversant among men at thy voice fl●d the Devils Send forth 〈◊〉 beseech thee O Lord thy spirit which may drive away out of the ●ests of al them that profess thy name the wicked spirits masters of ri●● of covetousness of vain-glory of carnal lust of mischief and of dis●ord Create in us O our God and King a clean heart and renew thy holy ●pirit in our breasts pluck not from us thy holy Ghost Render unto us ●e joy of thy saving health and with thy principal spirit strengthen ●y Spouse and the Herdmen thereof By this Spirit thou reconciledst ●●e earthly to the heavenly by this thou didst frame and reduce so ●any tongues so many nations so many sundry sorts of men into 〈◊〉 body of a Church which body by the same Spirit is knit to thee ●●eir Head This Spirit if thou wilt vouchsafe to renew in all mens ●earts then shall also these foreign miseries cease or if they cease ●ot at least they shall turn to the profit and avail of them which love ●ee Stay this confusion set in order this horrible Chaos O Lord ●e us let thy spirit stretch out it self upon these waters of evil wa●ering opinions And because thy spirit which according to thy Pro●ets saying containeth all things hath also the sience of speaking make that like as unto all them which be of thy house is all one light one Baptisme one God one Hope one Spirit so they may also have one voice one note and song professing one Catholick truth When thou didst mount up to heaven triumphantly thou threwest out from above thy precious things thou gavest gifts amongst men thou dealtest sundry rewards of thy Spirit Renew again from above thy old bountifulness give