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
A75620	Theanthrōpos; or, God-man: being an exposition upon the first eighteen verses of the first chapter of the Gospel according to St John. Wherein, is most accurately and divinely handled, the divinity and humanity of Jesus Christ; proving him to be God and man, coequall and coeternall with the Father: to the confutation of severall heresies both ancient and modern. By that eminently learned and reverend divine, John Arrowsmith, D.D. late Master of Trinity-Colledge in Cambridge, and Professor of Divinity there.	Arrowsmith, John, 1602-1659.	1660 (1660)	Wing A3778; Thomason E1014_1; ESTC R10473	267,525	319

in some wants but here is their comfort they have an inheritance laid up for them and that is a rich one They are now in their nonage when they come to heaven they shall have enough In all dangers let it be considered what care their Father taketh for them because they are his children Are they not all ministring spirits sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation An heir of a great family what shall he need to fear so long as he is conversing among his fathers servants All the creatures are such to God and thou being a child thou art amongst thy Father's servants and therefore needest to fear no danger from them Fourthly In case of spirituall faintings and fears and 4. In case of spirituall faintings fears and desertion desertions The soul of a believer sometimes fainteth away for fear David saith My heart and flesh fail me Here is now a swounding child consider what fathers are wont to do in such cases how they send out for help presently all the house is little enough to look after a child in such a condition God himself pittieth his swounding children and sendeth his Ministers yea his own Spirit to speak comfort to such and to administer some Aquavitae to them some water of life that he may fetch them again out of their faintings Sometimes fear possesseth a child of God perhaps of falling into desertion as it is possible such may befall the dearest of God's Saints as with Heman who thought himself free amongst the dead God sometimes doth this but sal 88. 5. still as a Father As a father that seeth his child ready to run into a river or into the mire he will take the child and make him believe he will throw him in but it is to make him fearfull of being thrown in So God makes his children believe that he will throw them into hell it self but it is for this very end and purpose that they may never come there for this fear will keep them from the waies of hell Yea sometimes God is pleased to desert his own children Sion saith My God hath forgotten me as it is in Isaiah but then it is no more but as when a father goeth behind a door and suffereth his child to cry after him and hideth himself on purpose to try the affections of the child to make him the more eager in the pursuit of his father which done then he discovereth himself Just so it is with God He withdraweth the light of his countenance not on purpose to keep it so for ever but to make it more endeared to his children As the Prophet speaketh In a little while I hid Isa 54. 8. my face from thee for a moment but with everlasting kindnesse will I have mercy on thee saith the Lord thy God and thy Redeemer Lastly Here is comfort in case of approaching death a 5. In case of approaching death time when men stand much in need of comfort when they are to leave all their outward comforts in this world therefore they had need of better Now if a man can say in assurance of faith as Christ did Father I commend my spirit Luk. 23. 46. into thy hands Here is an everlasting consolation a Fort that all the devills in hell cannot batter A man that in his life-time hath got acquaintance with God may with confidence commend his soul to God as to a Father when he dieth Other people may leave an estate behind them and men may look after that A man may commend his estate to his friend and his body to the grave and some may have so much charity as to interr that But whom shall he commend his soul to It is not for every man to think to commend his spirit to God with confidence Upon what acquaintance will God say can you do this Will we trust our Jewels to any but our best friends will we put them into the hands of those that we never saw in our lives No. But a man that hath known God for his Father he will with confidence say Father into thy hands I commend my spirit I do not onely lay my Jewell at thy feet but put it into thy hands that so it may be safe in thy custody I commend it into thy hands out of which all the devills in hell shall never be able to pull it With this confidence Paul believed Happy is that soul that is able to say as our Saviour did before his Ascension to his Disciples I go to my Father and to your Father and to my God and your God When a man is able to look his friends in the face though with a dying look and shall say Be of good comfort I shall be no loser I go to my Father and your Father Blessed are the people that are in Joh. 20. 17. such a case Blessed are the people whose God is the Lord. Blessed are the people that have received Jesus Christ aright and so are become sons of Adoption I have now done with that Point and shall go on Vers 13. Which were born not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man but of God This verse containeth a further description of them that received Christ They were described in the 12 Verse by their faith And in this 13 Verse they are described by their birth To them that believe in his Name which were born not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man but of God Their birth concerning which we are here told First what is not the efficient Cause of it Secondly what is First what is not the efficient Cause of it Three things are here removed 1. Blood 2. The will of the flesh 3. The will of man Secondly what is God and God onely I shall take the Clauses as they lye in order First I shall shew That Believers as such are not born of blood Secondly That they are born not of the will of the flesh Thirdly not of the will of man But Fourthly they are born of God First Believers as such They are not born of blood 1. Believers are not born of blood what is that Ye know in our ordinary manner of speech we are used to make mention of base blood Noble blood blood Royall and accordingly they are said to be born of blood to intimate that they have not grace from their Ancestors It doth not come to them by descent We say of many diseases that such and such come of a blood because they are derived from parents They are not born of blood to shew that the work of grace is not derived from one's Ancestors Therefore the word in the originall is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 we are not born of bloods We may think it on purpose to be put in to meet with that mistake of the bragging of the Jewes who still boast to be the sons of Abraham Joh.

of that term The Word which ye have twice in this Verse Let us now Apply it before we come to any of the Predicates First In that Christ is here called the Word in reference Vse 1 to the word conceived as being the expresse Image of his Father's Person as our thoughts are the image of the mind Let us learn from hence First to be helped here to understand something of that Eternall Generation What the Son of God is who of himself is inexpressible Who can declare his generation Isa 3. This may help us to conceive better of it than any expression in the world When we compare Christ with the conception of our own hearts there is nothing commeth so near the nature of that eternall generation of the Son of God The understanding that conceiveth a notion without difficulty without passion without agitation and stirring There is no conception no procession of any thing so purely inconcrete and simple and unmixt as the proceeding of the thoughts of our Understanding Such is the generation of the Son from the Father at least this of all things we can take into our imagination is the fittest to expresse Him And indeed if it were possible for a man to contract all his notions into one mark it if it were possible for him to conceive at once whatsoever he apprehendeth then that Conceit that he conceiveth in his understanding it would be that man's wisdom and that man's truth because it containeth whatsoever he hath in his heart Such a word is Christ in reference to his Father Whatsoever there is in the Father of wisdom it is expressed there whatsoever excellency is in God it is in the Son Thence it is that Christ is Christ both Wisdom and Truth so frequently called Wisdom and set forth by that name Prov. 8. And he is called Truth I am the way and the truth and the life And there would be the whole of a man's wisdom in that notion which will contain all his apprehension at once So it is in Christ which is the wisdom of his Father That is one thing It may help us something in conceiving the unconceivable and unexpressible Generation of the Son from the Father Secondly It may help us to conceive of the Father according to what we read of the Son and to conceive of the Son according to what we read of the Father because the Son is the expresse Image of the Father's Person Therefore it is of great use for poor penitent sinners that with the Publican stand afar off and dare not lift up their eyes to Heaven For howsoever they conceive some hope in regard of Christ yet they are affraid God the Father will never pardon them They look at Christ as a Saviour all of Bowells Many poor souls have strange apprehensions of God the Father as if he were altogether a consuming fire therefore no pardon to be expected from him But here is for thy comfort Christ Comfort to penitent sinners whatsoever he is is the expresse Image of the Father's Person therefore what thou findest in Christ thou maist find in the Father Was Christ so full and free-hearted as to be ready to help every poor soul in the daies of his flesh He is but the Father's Image and thou maist find the same disposition in the Father Thou maist go to God as to Christ if he were here in the flesh On the other side If any man Terrour to stubborn sinners be a stubborn and presumptuous sinner that dareth go on to walk in the lust of his eyes and pride of his heart and flatter himself with these thoughts Lord have mercy upon me will save him on his death-bed Howsoever there may be some rigour expected from the Father why Christ will have mercy upon him Christ dyed for him and will save him And he needeth make no question of the love of Christ of his affection and readinesse to help him though he walketh in the stubbornnesse of his wicked heart Let such a one know That God as he will by no means clear the guilty so nor will Christ too Mark that place for this Exod. 23. 20. Behold saith God there I send an Angel before thee to keep thee in the way and to bring thee into the place which I have prepared That Angel was Christ for it is said that they provoked Christ in the Wildernesse Therefore it was Christ Now mark Beware of him and obey his voyce provoke him not for he will not pardon your transgressions Why for my name is in him Christ is just as I am saith God the Father here and as severe to sinners as I am Therefore provoke him not he will not pardon Kisse the Son lest he be angry The Son can be angry as well as the Father Though he be the Lamb of God yet that Lamb will turn Lion against them that disobey him and refuse to obey the Gospell of Christ The Lamb will be so angry as to make the great ones of the earth to cry Who shall deliver them from the wrath of the Lamb Rev. 6. Secondly In that Christ is called the Word in reference Vse 2 to the word uttering because he is the Interpreter of his Father's will and declareth the Father's mind to the sons of men Let us learn from hence to blesse Christ for all the knowledge we have of God and the things of God it is from him we have it he is the Word that hath declared it The onely begotten Son in the bosome of the Father he hath declared him Joh. 1. 18. If men think themselves so much beholding to their Tutors and School-masters that discover to them the hidden things of Arts and Sciences If Alexander was so much bound to his Master his School-master Aristotle his Instructor that he made a question Whether he were more bound to him for his teaching of him than to Philip his father for begetting of him Then what do we owe to Jesus Christ the great Tutor to whom we owe all our Learning Tutors and Fathers too for all Relations meet in him and all Duty is due to him And if He be the word uttering let none be ashamed of that work of the Ministry Some Gentlemen think it scorn to make their sons Ministers God the Father made his Son a Minister ye see and setteth the Lord Jesus Christ his onely Son to be a revealer of his will to the sons of men And if so something else may be learned from it Let us all take heed to what we hear It is Christ that is the word uttering What we find in Scripture and hear delivered according to the Scripture it is the word of Christ Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom The power of the Word Preached Col. 3. 16. Ye must give me leave to tell you when men speak Scripture to you rightly interpreted and ye refuse to hear ye do not refuse men that speak from the

Text In the beginning was the word The Lord possessed me in the beginning of his waies before his works of old I was set up from everlasting from the beginning or ever the world was When there were no depths I was brought forth when there were no fountains abounding with water Before the mountains were setled before the hills were brought forth c. Another testimony ye have of Christ's Eternity it is in the Type of Melchisedeck Heb. 7. 2 3. King of Righteousnesse and King of Salem which is King of Peace Without father or mother or without descent having neither beginning of daies nor end of life but made like the Son of God which abideth a Priest continually What cause have we to adore as Tertullian speaketh not onely to admire but to adore the fulnesse of the Scriptures The very silence of the Scriptures speaks deep Mysteries The Apostle arguing from the Scriptures the Eternity of Christ speaketh nothing of Melchisedeck's father or mother Moses speaking of the Worthies in Scripture he is wont to speak of their parentage when they began and when they dyed But the Apostle when he speaks of this Priest saith He was without father or mother Another place of the Eternity of Christ ye have Mich. 5. 2. where he speaketh both of the temporall and eternall Generation of the Son of God Thou Bethlehem Ephrata though thou be little amongst the thousands of Judah yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me that shall be Ruler in Israel Out of thee shall he come forth That is of his temporall Government Here he speaketh of his eternall Generation Whose goings forth have been from everlasting In the beginning was the word That is Christ was from everlasting He had a beeing before the greatest began to be And this may serve briefly for the Explication of that Proposition I now come to the Application because I intend to be as brief as may be What ye have heard of Christ's Eternity of having a being before the creatures were made will afford you First matter of Comfort Secondly matter of Duty First Matter of Comfort from hence because this lets Vse 1 Of Comfort us see that our happinesse standeth upon an everlasting foundation upon one who was in the beginning before any creature began to be And what shall overthrow that Building whose foundations are laid in Eternity Shall the Creatures which are but of yesterday What can they do to undo what the eternall God hath ordained before the world was That is the foundation of all Ephes 1. 4. According as he hath chosen us in Christ before the foundation of the world that we should be holy and without blame before him in love Our salvation beareth date before the world was therefore there is nothing in the world shall prejudice it much lesse overthrow it It resteth upon him who was in the beginning and who will be after the end upon him who is Alpha and Omega more antient than the beginning and more lasting than the end of the creatures Alas poor creatures time was when they were not but then was He In the beginning was the word and there will come a time when they shall not be but no time wherein it can be said Christ is not The Devill is a creature Shall he be able to undo what the Eternall hath appointed He was not when Christ was and though he shall now live for ever to be in torment yet the time shall come when he shall not be a Tempter Then Christ shall be a Saviour be sure Hab. 1. 12. See what a spring of consolation doth arise from this consideration of Strong Consolation from the consideration of Christ's Eternity Christ's Eternity Art thou not from everlasting O Lord my God my holy One art thou not from everlasting we shall not die Certainly we that have an everlasting Saviour shall be freed from everlasting death we shall not die This is the lot of as many as lay hold on him by faith Our eternall Saviour loveth to do all things like himself Lest you should fear either want of love or might both his love and power are eternall even as Himself is He hath everlasting kindnesse in him and intendeth to shew it unto us Isa 54. 8. In a little wrath I hid my face from thee for a moment And from his Love and Power but with everlasting kindnesse will I have mercy on thee saith the Lord thy Redeemer And his Power is as everlasting as his Love Isa 20. 4. Trust ye in the Lord for ever for in the Lord JEHOVAH is everlasting strength The consideration of these two should fill us with everlasting consolation as Paul speaks 1 Thess 2. 16. Everlasting consolation and good hope through grace He that was in the beginning will be with us to the end I and in the end of our daies too It is a great comfort when a man commeth to die to think Whom my Salvation dependeth upon why upon an everlasting Redeemer that dyeth not There is a time when we must go out from all the creatures and have no more to do with those things that are so pleasing to us in the world There is a time when we must go into Eternity and there is Christ The creatures we delighted in they remain not I but the God we go to He remaineth From everlasting to everlasting thou art God Here is a living Comfort for a dying Creature Secondly Here is matter of Duty as well as matter of Vse 2 Of Duty Comfort If Christ were in the beginning before all the creatures then let him not come after any of them in our esteems That is one Lesson we learn from hence It is expresly said of Christ Col. 1. 17. He is hefore all things and by him all things consist He is before all things in regard of his own beeing Let him be before all things and above all things in our esteem He was before all the creatures O let him not come after them in our hearts In the beginning was the word when no wealth no profit no pleasure no preferment such as men now dote upon Christ is before all these things Why should he go after them in the esteem of men As it was amongst the Heathens they placed their happinesse in the exercise of vertue and yet some of them cryed Virtus post nummos quaerenda pecunia primùm Let Lib. 1. Epist Horat. ad Moecenatem vertue come after wealth They first laboured to get a good estate and then look'd after good qualities and dispositions So it is with many Christians who in their Doctrins and Professions place their happinesse and fellowship with Christ after riches let Christ come after Which of us doth not wonder and cry shame of the Gadarenes that preferred their swine before Christ rather let him go out of their coasts than part with their heards Certainly we in effect do the same when we prefer our swinish