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
A90701	Hierusalem bedewed with teares. A sermon preached at St. Mary Woolnoth London, upon the fast-day, Martii, 30. 1642. By John Pigott Curate of S. Sepulchers.	Pigot, John.	1642 (1642)	Wing P2221; Thomason E147_11; ESTC R1223	35,249	43

more circumspectly for the time to come to walke worthy of those great mercies which we injoy to bring foorth fruits meet for repentance no doubt he will accept of us still and receive us into favour againe what else is the meaning of those Parables 〈◊〉 Luc. 15. Of the Woman rejoycing with her Neighbours when shee had found her lost Groate of the Shepheards hugging this stray Sheep and bringing it home with joy of the Father welcomming and embracing his prodigall Sonne upon his submission but to intimate unto us the will ●gnesse of Almighty GOD to be reconciled unto sinners upon their true Repentance the Father doth not question with his Sonne Vbi fuisl●● ●ub● su●t ●●e tulisti● saith Chrysologus where ha●e you been What is become of all that portion you carried hence how is it that you are returned thus poore thus naked but he cals for the best Robe and Shooes for his Feete and a Ring for his finger c. Quis i●l● P●t●r saith Tertullian sweetly who is this Father that so lovingly entertaines his penitent Sonne who is this Father 〈◊〉 scilicet God is this Father we are these Prodigals let his enterteinment incourage us to returne to acknowledge our own vilenesse Father we have sinned against Heaven and in thy sight and are no more worthy to be called thy Children and he will receive us graciously a broken and a contrite heart he can not he will not despise ●i●ri● no● potest●●● siliv● istarum l●chrymarum ●percat● said Saint Ambrose to Monica bewayling her Sonne Austin be of good cheere Woman it cannot be that the Sonne for whom thou dayly sheddest so many Teares should perish so I dare say to every Soule that bedewes it selfe with the Teares of true Repentance Fieri non poi●st ut a●● ●●a istarum la●●rymarum pereat it cannot be that the Soule for which so many Teares are shed should perish it is a groundlesse expostulation that is taken up by them Malac 3. ●4 What profit is it that we have walked mournfully before the Lord of Hostes I answer very great profit for these Teares il they proceede f●om a truly broken and contrite heart they will prove like Sauls Sword or lonathans Bow they will never returne empty not one of these Cristalline Pearles fal's to the ground God puts them all into his Bottell Psalme 56.8 See how it fared with good Hezechiah Esay 38.1 The Prophet is sort to acquaint him that the time of his dissolution is at hand Set thy House in order for thou shalt dye and believe it Death is a grimme Surjeant that will not easily be staved off however the good man betakes himselfe to his Prayers and mingles some ●eares with his Prayers and see what this produceth Verse 5. Thus saith the Lord I have heard thy Prayers I have seen thy Teares I will adde unto thy dayes fifteene yeares and I will deliver thee and this City out of the hand of the King of Assyria I need not tell you that are Parents how far the Teares of your children will plead and prevaile with you though you be much offended and what saith the Psalmist Psal 103.13 Like as a Father pittieth his own children so is the Lord mercifull to his children when his anger is kindled against them their Teares will soon quench it again look in the 31. of Ieremy Verse 18. There you shall finde a breach between God and Ephraim Ephraim is stubburn God is angry at it and begins to correct him Ephraim feeling it smart fals a weeping he repents and smites upon his thigh Verse 19. And God presently takes notice of it I have surely heard Ephraim bemoaning himselfe and what followes at the 20. Verse Is Ephraim my deare Sonne Is he a pleasant child for since I spake against him I doe earnestly remember him still therefore my bowels are troubled for him I will surely have mercy upon him saith the Lord I can be no longer angry with him saith God now I see him weep my bowels doe even yearne towards him I will surely have mercy upon him c. It puts me in mind of that story of Esau Genesis 27. He brings in his venison and comes very confidently to his Father for a blessing before his Death the dimme old man amazed and perceiving at last how he was deluded for Jacob had cunningly supplanted him you know the story he tells him that he was come too late Thy brother came with subtilty and hath taken away thy blessing Verse 35. With that he falles a begging and complayning and is very importunate Hast thou not reserved a blessing for me blesse me even me also O my Father Isaac tels him I have given all his brethren to him for servants I have given him Corn and Wine to sustayne him what can I doe for thee my Sonne Hast thou but one blessing my Father saith Esau blesse me even me also and Esau lift up his voyce and wept Verse 38. And those Teares fetched a blessing presently his Father answered Thy dwelling shall be the fatnesse of the Earth and the dew of Heaven from above and thou shalt serve thy Brother and it shall come to passe that in processe of time thou shalt breake his yoke from off thy necke c. Teares are lowde Oratours with an Earthly Father much more with our Heavenly Father because hee is infinitely more pittifull then any Earthly Father If you beeing evill know how to give good gifts to your children 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 how much more shall your Heavenly Father Matthew 7.11 If you that have but a Rivulet of mercy bee so moved with Teares 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 how much more will your Heavenly Father who hath a boundlesse bottomlesse Ocean of mercie Wee may bee the more confident that the Teares which we shed upon Earth are regarded in Heaven because as the Apostle speakes wee have a mercifull high Priest there Hebrewes 4.15 For wee have not a high Priest that cannot be touched with the feelings of our infirmities but was in all points tempted like unto us sinne onely excepted Christ tooke not on him our nature onely a reasonable Soule and humane flesh but also condescended to take on him the infirmities of our nature the infirmities of the body as to be hungry to be thirsty to sleepe to be weary and the infirmities of the minde as to be angry to be sad to weepe c. Christ hath beene experimentall in all these hee hath tasted of every one of these Cups and therefore knowes how to pitty and to succour those that labour under any of these infirmities are wee sorrowfull so hath CHRIST beene a man of sorrowes and acquainted with griefe doe wee weepe so did Christ hee beheld the City and wept over it and though hee doe not weepe for our Hierusalem yet hee is sensible of our weeping and makes intercession for us at the right Hand of his Father and therefore heere is a great deale of comfort to those that mourne in Sion and a great deale of incouragement to those that have not yet beene Mourners if they shall now at length see the errour of their wayes and beginne to weepe for the abominations of Hierusalem Let us therefore all of us awake betimes out of our sinnes before that vengeance awake and the judgement which yet sleepeth seeke the Lord while hee may bee found whilest with the Father of the Prodigall hee is ready to meete us and to embrace us let us turne to him with all our hearts with fasting and with weeping and with mourning there is ●oy in the presence of the Angels over one sinner what joy will there bee over a whole Nation that repenteth Luc. 15.10 while God holdes his peace these things hast thou ●oue and I held my peace Psalme 50.21 Let us speake ●nd sue unto him for mercy and say spare us good Lord ●pare thy people whom thou hast redeemed with thy most precious bloud and bee not angry with us for ever And let the Priests the Ministers of the Lord weepe betweene the Porch and the Altar and say be favourable O Lord and give not thine heritage to reproach Joel 2.17 Wherefore should they say among the Heathen where is now their God FINIS Errata PAge 1. lin 15. for assad reade assaied p. 3. l. 2. for estalish reade establish p. 8. l. 2. for of death read of her death p. 9. l. 2. for ale read able p. 9. l. 25. for finde read feede p. 12. l. 43. for Daysar read daystar p. 13. 12. for did not knew his people read did not know his people p. 14. 20. for it read them p. 20. l. 33. for Domini read Domine p. 21. l. 31. which in his own mouth deleatur in l. 33. for these read the p. 27. l. 9. for Irelan read Ireland p. 28. l. 26. for have read hath p. 34. for this read his

great unthankfulnes and disobedience in the midst of so many binding mercies and you may justly wonder that Hierusalem was not long before this time made a heap of stones read over the Prophets and you shall find complaints in this kind without number doe ye thus requite the Lord Oh foolish people and unwise The faithfull City is become a harlot she was full of judgment righteousnesse lodged in her but now murderers Heare O Heavens and give eare O Earth I have nourished and brought up children but they have rebelled against me when I fed them to the fall then they assembled themselves by troupes in the harlots houses how shall I pardon thee for this As I live saith the Lord Sodom and her daughters have not done as thou hast done thou and thy daughters thou wast corrupted more then they in all thy wayes Ezech. 16.47 And when Christ came among them in person how did they entertaine him St. Iohn will tell you he came to his own but his own received him not Ioh. 1.11 Nolumus hunc regnare we will not have this man to raigne over us we have no King but Caesar nay not this man but Barabbas they preferre a publique notorious malefactour before him himself also will tell you Mat. 13.37 O Hierusalem Ierusalem howoften would I have gathered thy children together as a Hen doth her chickens under her wings but ye would not thus all the day long he stretched out his hand but it was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to a gainesaying people veluj noluistis how often would I but ye would not And yet how unwilling was God to unsheath his sword to powre out the full Vials of his fierce anger upon this rebellious Nation though their sins were so provoking that he knew not well how to pardon them How shall I pardon thee for this thy children have forsaken me and sworn by them that are no gods and shall I allow this shall I give my glory to another how shall I pardon thee for this yet so infinite on the other side was his mercy that he was unwilling to punish them Why will ye dye Oye house of Israel As I live saith the Lord I have no pleasure in the death of a sinner run thorough the streets of Hierusalem and seek for a man that executeth judgment that I may pardon i● and most pathetically in the 11. of Hos ver 8. How shall I give thee up Ephraim how shall I deliver thee Israel how shall I make thee as Admah and set thee as Zeboim my heart is turned within me my repentings are kindled together see what a conflict there seemes to be in God between his mercy and his justice how shall I pardon thee for this and yet how shall I give thee up how shall I make thee as Admah c. faine would I spare thee but thy sins cry to Heaven for vengeance thou art incorrigible in thy wayes and therefore thy sin is unpardonable I am forced to give sentence against thee though it be with teares in my eyes when he came neare be beheld the City and wept over it c. Christ might have insulted over Herusalem when he foresaw the cup of trembling that she was to drink of as wisdom threatens her contemners Pro. 1.24 Because I have called and ye refused I have stretched out my hand and no man regarded therfore I will laugh at your calamity and mock when your feare commeth when your feare commeth as desolation and your destruction as a whirle-wind when distresse ang ish commeth upō you so seeing Herusalem would not take warning by all former invitations admonitions judgments mercies Christ might justly have laughed at her calamity when he saw her feare comming as desolation and her destruction as a whirl-wind but our blessed Saviour came not to destroy mens lives but to save them and therefore when he came neare he beheld the City and wept over it In the words we have Christ melting into teares for hardhearted Hierusalem Nihil miserius misero non mis●rante seipsum there is not a more sad lamentable spectacle in the world then to see a man or a City or a Nation like Simon Magus in the gall of bitternesse in the depth of misery in regard of a wilfull persisting in heynous and crying sins yet themselves insensible of their own misery sleeping securely in their sins with Balaam driving o still in their wonted course of sinning and never take notice of the Sword that is drawen against them hugging and embracing sporting and delighting themselves with those Delilahs those lusts and corruptions which will prove their bane and destruction Quis talta fando temper●t a ●lachrymis who can behold all this with dry-Eyes The Poet hath a conceit that Heaven it selfe weeps for such Creatures Dic rogo cur toties descendit ab aethere nimbus Grandoque de coeso sic fine fine ruit What may be the reason why there fals such store of Rayne one shower after another Mortales quoniam nolum sua crimina flere Calum pro nobis solvitur in lachrymas Because hard hearted sinners will not bewayle their own faults H aven it selfe is dissolved into teares for them it is so in my Text Heaven it selfe or the heire of Heaven sals a weeping for Hierusalem and is not here a strange alteration when Hierusalem sometime the joy of the whole Earth Ps 48.2 shall not only make the Earth sad but even darken the Heavens cause him that was anoynted with the oyle of gladnes above his Fellowes to melt into teares And when he came neate he beheld the City and wept over it c. The parts are two the mourner and the causes of his mourning the Mourner is Christ and that in the middest of his jollity too as I may so speake as he was riding in state in triumph towards Hierusalem To shew that even in laughter the heart is sorrowfull that there is no worldly happinesse without a mixture of discontent when he came neare he beheld the City and wept over it The causes of his mourning are two two heavy spectacles for ea●h Eye one and either of them able to command a fountain of teares as the Propher speakes the one seen namely malum culpe the evill of sin If thou hadst knowen even thou in this thy day the things that belong to thy peace but now they are hid from thine Eyes thou knewest not the time of thy visitation the other foreseen namely malum poenae the evill of punishment For the dayes shal come that thy Enemies shall cast a trench abour thee and keep thee in on every side and shall lay thee even with the ground and thy children within thee c. Or if you please we have heer Hierusalems funerall where we have first the chiefe Mourner Christ he be●eld the City and wept over it saying if thou hadst knowen even thou in this thy day a broken speech a passionate expression the right Dialect of