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	spare_v	2,118	5	9.2354	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A00800	A godly sermon preached at Paules Crosse the 31. day of October 1591. By VVilliam Fisher, Master and keeper of the hospitall of Ilford in Essex. ... Seene and allowed	Fisher, William, student of diuinitie.	1592 (1592)	STC 10919; ESTC S117556	27,863	65

Palme trée psal 92. Which for all the froste of Winter and scorching of Sommer and blustering of windes and pressing downe of waightes yet it will still bee greene and florishe and rise vp against and aboue the burtheng and therfore was giuen to Conquerors in token of victorye If you would knowe the reason hereof go no further thēto the first promise The sedè of the woman shall bruse the Serpents head This is done by vertue of that seede Or go no further then the wordes of Elizeus They that are with vs be moe then they that be against vs 2. Reg. 6. And because Michaell and his Angels haue beene bee and shallbe to good for the Dragon and his Angelles for euer Appo 12. Therefore it suffiseth to resolue vs that it shall be so And heere as I haue spoken of the estate and condition of the Lordes flocke as it is in this lyfe present So if the time did not exclude me I had thought to haue laid before you the blessed prerogatiues thereof which it shall haue in the lyfe to come As first that it shall bee separated from all the noysome goates of this worlde Secondlye that it shal be scituate on the right hand of the Judge Thirdly that it shall be leased and possessed of that kingdome which was prepared for them before the foundations of the world Math. 25. But I come to the other thing which is gratiously warranted in this promise of the Lords protection which is specified in these wordes And I will spare them c. The like promise is made generally to all them that feare God Psal 103. Euen as a Father hath pittie on his children So hath the Lord compassion on them that feare him Indéed many Fathers haue béene vnkinde vnnatural to their children Saule made an odlawe when Ionathas his sonne was within the lurtch of it hee would haue cut him off had not the people stoode him in stead and rescued him 1. Sam. 14. Herode hauing but onlie two sonnes Alexander and Aristobolus vppon a false surmise strangled them both Whereupon Augustus said Melius est Herodis esse porcum quam filium It is better to bee Herodes hogge than his sonne Plutarch saith that in Rome rich men vsed to carry whelps and yong apes vp and downe the stréets in their armes which when Caesar sawe he would néeds know Ecquid apud ipsos mulieres liberos non parerent Whether women did not bring forth children with them But to let these monsters go which either praeter contra naturam haue thus rebelled repined against their own bowels do you but measure the tender affectiō of parents toward their children by olde Elie who hearing of the death of Hofni Phinehas his sons with very wo fell downe backward brake his necke 1 Sam. 4. Or by Dauid who at the death of that one sonne which was begotten in adulterie and after the death of that other sonne which letted not to cōmit adultery with his fathers concubines I meane Absolon did so take on that very sorrow had almost broken his very heart insunder 2. Sa. 12. 2. Sam. 18. 33. And to read in histories that Gordianus whē he heard of the death of his sonne strangled him selfe Or that Orodes king of Parthia hearing that his sonne Pacorus was slaine in war through extreame sorrowe fell madde Or that Pythias king of Bithinia when Xerxes had slaine his sonne left his kingdome to his wife and went to his sonnes graue and there ended his life with mourning Or that A●geus surmising that Theseus his sonne had béene slayne of Minotaurus leapt into the sea drownd himself To read of all these infinit other the like examples how doth it demonstrate the deare and tender affection of fathers towards their sons therefore in that the Lorde promiseth to fill and to poure out his compassion after this rate and measure what a comforte is this But indéede our heauenly Father doth so entirely tender his children that there is no ende or comparison thereof to bee made And therfore as Esay saith he is our Father cap. 63. And as Ieremy saith He will be called our Father Ier. 3. So whye our Sauiour Christ should forbid vs to call any other by the name of Father here in earth saying For one is your Father in heauen Math. 23. I knowe no reason but this for that no father on earth doeth so tenderlye loue his owne children as our heauenlye Father doeth affect and like of vs being but his adopted children He spareth vs in three respectes in two of them much lyke a naturall Father but in the third there is no comparison I am sure and so you will say First as a naturall Father will not Kill or destroye his childe when he is sicke and feeble and cannot eat his meat or aborreth such things thorow infirmity as should be a mean to recouer his health So our heauenly Father will spare vs and not cōdemne vs or confound vs for euer although we be sicke in spirite and weake in faith do euen loath often times his heauenly woord which is the health and saluation of our soules Secondly like a natural father he spareth vs in respect of our wilfull prodigalities and wastinges of his blessinges and graces not vnlike that same louing Father in the gospell who forgaue his sonne which had so leudlye consumed his fathers substance and his owne portion Our race we haue as wilfully runne Our tyme we haue as vainely spent His fauours we haue as ilfau●●rdly bestowed and his displeasure we haue as desperatly incurred But yet come home to his mercy by repentaunce and say father we haue sinned against thee c. and then you shall finde that he wil spare you and embrace you in the armes of his mercifull compassion c. But now to speake of that respect of the Lords gratious fauour which is without comparison What naturall Father euer did as he hath done to spare vs which were but his adopted children hee hath not spared his onelie begotten Sonne Christ Jesus So that to vs ward he was woorth his promise heere made but hee hath laide it vppon his naturall sonne with a witnesse 〈◊〉 our sakes He was faine to resigne a royall kingdome to come to an Asses cribbe to relinquish the sweete societie of Angels to liue among malitious rakehels the Scribes and Pharisees to surrender a throne of glory for a cursed crosse of wood to yéelde vp a crowne of blisse for a crowne of thornes to loose the fauour of his heauenly father to pleasure his deadly foes and to suffer death that miserable wretches might be spared and saued aliue O kind and tender Sauiuiour to spare and to saue vs thou hast suffered thy selfe to become a very spoile for the malice of Sathan I graunt you Fabius Maximus was verie desirous to spare and saue the Romane Captiues when hee solde all his patrimony to redéeme them But our Sauiour Christ hath suffered himselfe to be solde to redéeme vs his very enemies in respect Mithridates was wondred at for his tender affection toward Leonicus his deere frend because hee gaue all the Rhodian captiues to redeeme him but yet he gaue his enemies to redéeme his friend But Christ Jesus our blessed Sauiour hath giuen himselfe to redeeme his enemies To bee short when there was in Rome a sodaine gaping gulph which they could by no meanes fill vp and the Oracle had signified that except the chiefest thing and that which the commons loued best were cast into it it could not be stopped Curtius vnderstanding that he himselfe was their onely Jewel without any more adoe threw himselfe into it and so it was fild vp presently Yet this was done for his country that loued him so well that they accounted nothing better or more worthy thē hée But when y e gaping gulph of Gods most dreadfull vengeance was to bee stopped our blessed sauiour cast himselfe into the middest of it and died a most bitter death this he did for the people which thought they had nothing worse or more vile than hee no not Barrabas that arrant cutthroat What shall I say then of this so rare so royall so vnspeakeable and so incomparable loue of his towards vs I can say no lesse than Barnard said Opus sine exemplo gratia sine merito charitas sine modo Such a worke as hath no example a fauour without desert and loue without measure The Lord therefore graunt that such bottomles compassion in him may presently work some thankfull compunction in you And that as the vaile of the temple rent in sunder from the toppe to the bottome when these thinges were performed So the consideration of the extreame miserie which hée endured that hée might spare and saue our forlorne soules may ransacke euery vaine in our hearts in all due remorse And y ● as the very earth did quake in horrour of so great violence wrongfully offered to him and méekely suffered for you So our heartes and consciences may quake and tremble considered that an innocent person hath endured the same to spare our guilty and damned soules To him therefore which hath so entirely oued vs that he hath not spared his onely begotten Sonne to saue vs and to him which hath so dearely bought vs that hee hath layde downe his life to redeeme vs and to him that hath so wonderfully purged and sanctified vs through the Lauer of regeneratiō that hee hath thereby sealed vs vntill the day of Redemption id est to God the Father God the Sonne and God the holy Ghost three distict persons and one euerlasting God bee al praise power and dominion world without end Amen FINIS