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	son_n	trinity_n	3,075	5	9.9329	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A20769	Certaine treatises of the late reverend and learned divine, Mr Iohn Downe, rector of the church of Instow in Devonshire, Bachelour of Divinity, and sometimes fellow of Emanuell Colledge in Cambridge. Published at the instance of his friends; Selections	Downe, John, 1570?-1631.; Hakewill, George, 1578-1649.	1633 (1633)	STC 7152; ESTC S122294	394,392	677

so pleased haue vsed some other meanes for the appeasing of his wrath Yes doubtlesse for he had abundance of spirit wisdome But he chose this as the best course for the declaration of his iustice and mercy justice in the rigorous exacting of satisfaction for sinne yea even from his owne sonne mercy in the free pardon of sinne by the death and passion of his sonne Excellently to this purpose Cameracensis God in the beginning gaue vnto man truth to instruct him iustice to direct him mercy to preserue him and peace to delight him But he rebelling against his creator they all fled from him returned vnto God Where iustice called vpon him for satisfaction and truth required performance of his word but Peace sought mitigation of wrath and mercy sued for pardon In this difficulty wisdome interposed her selfe and found out a meanes to content all namely by the incarnation and suffering of the sonne of God Wherevnto the Father yeelding all were soone accorded and so mercy and truth met together and justice and peace kissed each other For further ratification whereof it pleased the Father solemnely and vnalterably to decree that his sonne should suffer in the flesh Wherevpon our Saviour saith it was so determined and the Scriptures as they foretell it so they affirme that thus it must be and that Christ ought to suffer And according to this determinate counsell and fore-knowledge of God when the houre appointed was come he was delivered and taken and by wicked hands crucified and slaine Of which great worke being now to speake and to enquire into the Punishment fore appointed vnto him by his Father because some extenuate it too much as if he seemed only to suffer or suffered not what indeed hee did others againe too much aggravate it as if he suffered the very paines of the damned in hell wee will as warily and as carefully as we can steere betweene that Scylla and this Charybdis And to this end wee will diligently enquire foure things the species or kinde of punishment he suffered the extention the intention and the duration thereof And of each of these briefely in a word The kind of punishment was that which was due to sin and every way equivalent for the expiation thereof howbeit so farre forth and no further then was convenient for such a person First therefore he suffered not that Punishment of sinne which is sinne for God many times and that iustly punisheth one sinne by another The reason for that then he should haue beene a sinner either by inherent or actuall sinne and so could never haue made sufficient satisfaction for the sinnes of others Neither secondly did he suffer the personall punishment of this or that man as the gout the stone the dropsie and the like For he tooke not the person but the nature of man into him and so made himselfe subiect not to Personall but to Naturall infirmities only To say nothing that those paines are many of them so contrary and repugnant one vnto another as they are incompatible in the same person Nor yet thirdly did he suffer those punishments which proceede either from the conscience of inherent sinne or the eternall continuance of sinne such as are Remorse and despaire For in him was never any sinne whether Originall or Actuall Only it was imputed vnto him inasmuch as he vndertooke to satisfy for it These foreprised and excepted all other sorts of Punishment were laid vpon him And because in Sinne there is a double act an Aversion or turning away from God the chiefest good and a Conversion or turning vnto that which is only a seeming good and consequently the desert of a double Punishment the one of losse to be depriued of the true good in regard of the Aversion the other of sence to feele smart both in body and soule in regard of the Conversion our blessed Lord and Sauiour suffered both The Punishment of Losse being in regard of present comfort and ioy left vnto himselfe and in a sort forsaken of his Father of which againe anon in the due place The punishment of Sence for he felt during the while extreame both torment and paine outwardly in the body and horror and anguish inwardly in the Soule The Extension whereof was also exceeding generall for he suffered from all that any way could afflict him and in all whatsoever belonged vnto him From his Father therefore he suffered who for a time abandoned him and delivered him into the hand of sinners from the powers of darknesse who laid vpon him whatsoever their malice could devise from the Iewes who stumbled at him and despised him from the Gentiles who made a game and laughing-stocke of him from Magistrates who convented and condemned him from the people who arrested and accused him from the Clergie who charged him with cozinage and blasphemy from the Laity who cryed out crucifie him crucifie him from his enimies who cruelly persecuted him from his friends who in his greatest need started aside from him from forrainers who disdainfully shooke the head at him from those of his owne houshold who most treacherously betraied him and in a word from all sorts both of men and women yea from the Heaven which denied to giue him light from the aire which refused to vouchsafe him breath from the earth which would not so much as beare him frō what not And as from all so hee suffered also in all In his goods being stript even of his raiment and lots cast thereon in his good name being esteemed a deceiuer a blasphemer a drunkard a glutton a magitian a traitor to Caesar in his friends who were scattered as soone as the shepheard was smitten in his mother through whose heart a sword was driuen in his soule by strong feare before his passion and extreame sorrow in his passion in all the parts of his body his head being crowned with thornes his face spit vpon his cheekes buffited his hands feet nailed his sides peirced his backe armes scourged and the whole vpon the crosse barbarously stretched and racked in all his sences the touch by wounds the tast with myrre and vineger the smell with the loathsome savour of Golgotha the hearing with shamefull taunts and revilings and the sight with mowes and disdainefull behaviour finally in the whole person by death the separation of the soule from the body The Intension of all which was likewise exceeding vehement even proportionable vnto the desert of sinne wherefore he sticketh not to say Behold and see if there be any sorrow like vnto my sorrow And againe the sorrowes of hell compassed me round about Not that he felt the flames of hell fire or the same kind of torment which the damned suffer in hell farre bee such impiety from our thoughts but that which is equivalent therevnto Had he suffered only the death of the crosse and no more his martyrs might seeme to haue endured more bitter paines

betweene themselues This spirituall punishment is the greatest of all iudgements in this life and is vsually attended with eternall shame and confusion of face in the next And reason it is that they who sleight that which God holdeth so deare should themselues be sleighted of him and seeing they disdaine to glorifie him that he by iust vengeance should glorifie himselfe vpon them So dealt he with Pharaoh Nabuchadnetzar Antiochus Herod and other proud tyrants and so will hee one day deale with all those that set so light of his Glory Is then the glory of the Father so deare and pretious vnto him Is he so iealous and charie of it that he will not haue it in any case touched or blemished Then surely that which maketh for his Glory and without which the Sonne cannot glorifie him may not bee denied him And so much for the Maior The Minor Proposition is But by my glorification I shall glorifie thee and without it I shall not be able to glorifie thee This though it be as true as the former yet the truth thereof is not so evident as of that For it may bee obiected that our Saviour now praying for his Glorification implies therein that he was not as yet glorified For wee vse not to sue for what we are already possessed of but only giue thankes for it Yet by and by he saith Ego glorificauite I haue already glorified thee on earth As he was God he had from all eternity glorified him in heauen As he was Man he had here on earth glorified him by his doctrine life obedience miracles And if wee as yet vnglorified doe glorifie him how should not the Sonne much more be able to doe it Vnto all which I thus answer breifly that glorifying is double either Inchoate or Compleate As touching the Inchoate it is true that as the Father had in part already glorified him as in particular by the raising vp of Lazarus so had the Sonne also in part glorified the Father But as touching that which is Compleate neither had the Father as yet so glorified the Sonne nor the Sonne the Father Wherefore as our Saviour is to be vnderstood here to pray for his perfect Glorification so are we to conceiue it also of the Fathers as if hee had said more fully vnlesse the Father perfectly glorifie the Sonne neither can the Sonne perfectly glorifie the Father For as God declared the glory of his power in deliuering Israel out of Egypt by a mighty hand with many signes and wonders yet had his mercy and truth yea his power also beene much impeached had hee not proceeded according to promise to settle them safely in the land of Canaan so the Father although he had begun to shew his glory in the incarnation of his Sonne and all other his noble acts yet if he did not goe on to cōsummate and perfect his Sonnes glory by supporting him in his last combate raising him from death taking him vp into heaven and setting him at his right hand with all power and authority the glory of his goodnesse wisdome mercy iustice and omnipotence would bee exceedingly blemished But when once the Sonne shall be so glorified then shall he by vertue of the power giuen him powre forth of his spirit vpon the sonnes of men subdue the world vnto his obedience trample all his enimies vnder his feet and recover the kingdome vnto his Father Whereby it will manifestly appeare that hee is the eternall Father very God the author of life and saluation sweet in his goodnesse true in his promise iust in retribution wise in all his actions and most powerfull also in his executions And so much likewise of the Minor The vse whereof may serue first for confutation For it answeres a vaine quarrell of the Arrians against the coequalitie of the Sonne with the Father The Father say they must needs be greater then the Sonne because the Sonne saith Pater clarifica filium father glorifie thy sonne and he is greater who giues then he who receaues glory Wherevnto I answer in the words of S. Augustin Quòd si ille qui glorificat c. If he that glorifieth be greater then he whom he doth glorifie let them grant that they are equall who glorifie one the other For it is written that the Sonne also glorifieth the Father I saith hee haue glorified thee on earth So also elsewhere saith our Saviour the spirit shall glorifie me And there being in the holy and blessed Trinitie such an 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Circuminsession as whereby each Person dwelleth in other it cānot be but each of them should knowe and knowing mutually and eternally glorifie one another Secondly it serues for information that as Christ our head referred his owne Glorification vnto the glory of his Father so we that are his members should doe the like and in all things seeke to glorifie our Father Nay if Christ to the praise of the glory of his Fathers grace was content to become sinne and a curse for vs how much more are wee bound in euery thing to intend his glory of whom hee exacteth no such thing It is the rule of the Apostle S. Paul Whether yee eat or drinke or doe any thing else doe all to the praise and glory of God All whatsoeuer either we are or haue we haue receiued of him and it is he who by Christ hath redeemed vs both bodies and soules let vs therefore glorifie him both in bodies and soules for they are his Thirdly and lastly seeing our Saviour vrgeth his desire to glorifie his Father as a speciall argument to perswade him to grant his request it may serue for singular comfort vnto vs that as long as our actions respect Gods glory and are ioined therewith they cannot but be accepted He will surely blesse them and giue them good successe sith his glory cannot be divided from them A holy life glorifying God is a vitall prayer Though wee heare no speech from it yet it cryeth aloud in the eares of God and saith Father thou maist not deny to glorifie me for through the whole course of my life I study nothing more then to glorifie thee And thus much of our Saviours second motiue drawne from the highest and most soueraigne end of all the Glory of his Father Vers. 2. As thou hast giuen him power ouer all flesh that he should giue eternall life to as many as thou hast giuen him His third reason is drawne from the Power bestowed vpon him by his Father thus Thou hast giuen him power over all flesh to the end he should giue eternall life to as many as thou hast giuen him Ergo thou oughtest to glorifie thy sonne The Antecedent of this Enthymeme is deliuered in the Text in expresse tearmes The Consequence is only insinuated implied For clearing whereof it may please you to obserue with mee first that the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 here translated as is not a

expresly thus saith he we iudge that if one died for all thē were all dead that he died for all that they which liue should not henceforth liue vnto themselues but vnto him which died for them and rose againe You will say how are we to liue vnto Christ I answere as the body liueth vnto the Soule The Body liueth vnto the Soule when it is serviceable and obedient therevnto especially when it followeth not the sway of inordinate passion but the direction of right reason In like manner we liue vnto Christ when we serue and obey him not living after the flesh but after the spirit For not they that walke after the flesh are in Christ but they only who are lead by the spirit of Christ. S. Peter expresseth it by liuing not to the lusts of men but to the will of God And by and by setteth down the Iusts of men to be the will of the Gentiles namely lasciviousnesse lusts excesse of wine revellings banquetings abominable idolatries and the like Vnto all which he opposeth liuing according to God in the spirit Fourthly and lastly hence we may learne humility to ascribe nothing to our owne selues For what are wee in nature but stinking carkasses If we liue it is by the meere grace of Christ. Come vnto him of our selues to be quickned by him we could not It was his Father that drew vs vnto him Not vnto vs therefore not vnto vs but vnto the Father through Iesus Christ bee ascribed the whole praise and glory thereof for evermore And thus much of the second point Vnde whence this life is The third point is Quibus vpon whom it is conferred and bestowed Vpon those saith my Text and all those whom his Father hath giuen him Who are they For of them Christ very often speaketh All saith he that my father giueth me shall come vnto me And againe This is the Fathers will which hath sent me that of all which hee hath giuen me I should loose nothing And yet againe My Father which gaue them me is greater then all And so also sundry times in the sequele of this present Chapter For clearer vnderstanding hereof therefore we are to knowe that there is a double donation by which men are said to be giuen vnto Christ the one Common the other Singular The Common is that whereby the Father hauing given vnto the Sonne all power both in heauen and earth deliuereth all things also into his hand giuing as it were liverie and seizing of them that from thenceforth hee may dispose of them at his pleasure And thus all men whatsoeuer both elect and reprobate are giuen vnto him But this is not here meant as by and by shall appeare Another donation therefore there is more speciall and singular whereby the Father deliuereth vnto the Sonne some of the creatures as vnto a head to be his members or to persist in our present similitude giueth them as a body to the soule to be acted and quickned by him that is to be ruled and ordered not only by the Scepter of his Power but of his Grace and sanctifying Spirit Now who are these Surely not all flesh for all are not vnited to him and so liue not by him Who then They that are elected and chosen vnto life of whom it is said Multi vocati pauci verò electi many are called but few are chosen And that these are here meant plainely appeareth by and by where he saith I haue manifested thy name vnto the men which thou gauest me out of the world that is not to all but some only selected and culled from the rest And againe Thine they were and thou gauest them mee How thine By free election and now mine by speciall donation And yet againe I pray not for the world but for them that thou hast giuen me for they are thine Where you see the world distinguished from them that are given him and excluded from being the Fathers together with them Whence it followeth necessarily that the donation here meant is not of all but those only who in speciall sort are the Fathers namely his chosen and peculiar ones For the better vnderstanding hereof and that you may knowe how and in what order the Father is pleased to proceed in this gracious worke thus I take it you are to conceaue thereof First the Father seeing all mankind by the fall of Adam to bee corrupted and in the state of damnation out of his meere mercy and loue decreed not to loose the whole race of man but to renew and repaire againe his image in some of them to the praise of the glory of his grace prouided yet alwaies that his iustice for sinne be fully satisfied Secondly for the satisfaction of his iustice he further decreed to send his sonne into the world that taking our nature vpon him he might therein suffer whatsoeuer was due to sinne and so mediate a peace betweene God and vs. Then thirdly out of the corrupt Masse of mankinde he selecteth and chuseth some particulars even such as he pleaseth with a purpose infallibly to bring them to everlasting life And in regard of this act it is that our Saviour saith tui erant they were from al eternity thine and againe tui sunt by the constant continuation of the same purpose they are still thine In the fourth place those that are thus elected the Father giueth vnto the Sonne to accomplish his purpose vpon them and by vertue of the power and life giuen him to quicken them vnto eternall life Being thus giuen wee are now Christs Wherevpon also the Church is bold and saith My welbeloued is mine and I am his and S. Paul directly affirmeth that we are Christs And being Christs fiftly lastly he actually enliues quickens them raising them vp from the death of sinne and convaying into them the spirit of life in such sort as wee haue formerly declared But doth Christ bestow life vpon all them that are so given him yea verily my text expressely affirmeth it that he should giue eternall life to as many as thou hast giuen him This was the very end wherefore the Father gaue them to him And shall we thinke that the Father tooke not order sufficient for the attaining of his end God forbid For because he would not faile of his end therefore did he giue so great power vnto his Sonne Such power that nothing except he would could plucke them out of his hands and so much life that if hee would hee might giue it in abundance Shall we say that the Sonne though he hath power yet wants will Farre be such blasphemy from vs. For he testifieth of himselfe that hee came downe from heauen with this resolution not to doe his owne will but the will of him that sent him and now that he is come that he seeketh not his owne will but the will of the Father

were crept into the Church as needed Reformation and many worthy men that feared God earnestly wished and longed for it yet because it could not be obtained at the hands of those that then swayed in the Church it is true some Heroicall spirits of our side not without the singer of God attempted it and by Gods blessing effected that which the Saints of God reioyce to see and none but Superstitious and Idolatrous Papists greeue and repine at Howbeit they never tooke vnto themselues the name of Reformers but ascribed the whole worke vnto God and wee blesse his holy name for vsing them as instruments therein In regard whereof I see no reason why wee hauing reiected and pared off all those errours wherewith you had corrupted the true religion may not tearme our selues Reformed Catholikes as well as you still retaining them and resoluing to settle vpon your dreggs call your selues by the name of Roman Catholikes But a Roman Catholike you say you meane to keepe your selfe during life and it is likely you will doe so indeed First to avoide the imputation of inconstancie if you should returne to vs againe secondly because I see how obstinately you refuse to beleeue whatsoever wee say though never so strongly proved You adde that so doing if otherwise your life hinder not as you hope it shall not you shall enioy everlasting life after this Wherein I Will not be your Iudge You are servant vnto another and for me you shall stand and fall to your owne Master Only I would advize you not to be too confident For first whatsoever your life bee as I haue said it is as hard for you to attaine everlasting life in a Church so fearfully infected with so many pestilent and deadly heresies as it is for a man to escape with his life in a pest-house Secondly adhering vnto the Church of Rome conforming your selfe vnto the practise thereof you must needs make your selfe guilty of horrible idolatries many waies Whereof vnlesse you timely repent it cannot be but such a life must needs hinder your salvation Lastly although perhaps to many simple people that liue in Spaine or Italy where such meanes of knowledge cannot so well be had it may please God to be mercifull and gracious if they hold the Foundation and bee willing to know if they had the meanes yet I feare much of our English Recusants who liue in the bright sunshine of the Gospell and haue the meanes daily offered vnto them least their obstinacy in reiecting thereof and refusing to see worke vnto them in the end everlasting destruction Certainly if any of you be saued it is not by those doctrines wherein you differ from vs but those only which you hold in common with vs. Especially for that when you lye vpon your death-beds and perceiue that shortly you must yeeld an account of all whatsoever you haue done in the flesh you then thinke it good with all speed to turne Protestants that is to renounce all your owne works as insufficient to iustify you before God and to put your whole affiance vpon the mercies of God through the merits and obedience of Christ alone both for Iustification and Salvation For indeed this is a sure and a safe way even by the confession of Bellarmine himselfe By reason saith he of the vncertainty of our owne righteousnesse and the danger of vaineglory it is the safest course to set our whole affiance on the mercy and goodnesse of God alone And the like safety doe others of your side yeeld vs in other things also as namely in forbearing to make any image of God in worshipping none but the holy Trinity in praying vnto none saue only God in Christ in the marriage of Ministers and other such things as it is easy to demonstrate but that it is now high time to come to a conclusion Only I would haue you carefully to obserue that even they who perswade you to stick close vnto the Popish Faith sticke not themselues to acknowledge the Protestants Practise both in life and death to be many waies the more safe And thus much in Answere vnto this second Schedule It remaineth that I earnestly intreat you in the name of the Lord Iesus and as you tender the everlasting salvation of your soule that you would please to bethinke your selfe a little better of your present estate then heretofore you seeme to haue done You haue suffered your selfe now a long time to be lead vp and downe in the mist of I know not what generalities a path which they that loue to deceiue vse much to tread in They tell you of Vniversality Antiquity Succession Consent and the like and you presently beleeue them But what security haue you in so doing for infallible they are not If they bee matters of so great consequence it were good you knew thē yourselfe that you need not trust the vncertaine reports of others Know them your selfe you cannot vnlesse you acquaint your selfe with all the records of former times and search into them with much diligence and attention for otherwise you may herein also soone bee deceiued But this would proue too long and tedious a course for you and alas the well is deepe and you haue not wherewith to draw What then Surely you haue a shorter way if you would follow it For as Moses saith The commandement is neither too high for you nor farre off You need neither to mount vp into heaven nor to passe beyond the seas for it It is very neere vnto you For you haue at hand the Scriptures of God search them and therein shall you surely finde eternall life By them and no other did the ancient Fathers confute all the heresies of their times vnlesse happily they had to deale with such Hereticks as reiected the Scriptures And to this end were they written that the man of God might bee made perfect and wise vnto salvation Yea but they are obscure darke equivocall ambiguous subiect to divers constructions and each sect pretendeth to confirme their errours by them Strange that they should be the testament of our Father and the instrument of contract betweene Christ and his Spouse and yet they should bee drawne vp so perplexedly and doubtfully that by them neither can the children certainly know what legacies are bequeathed to them nor the Spouse what conditions are agreed vpon betwixt her and her husband But marke what farther followeth hereof For if the Scriptures bee indeed such as you say then haue not Papists any certain ground at all for their Faith Yes will you say the Church But shee speaketh not by her selfe but her heralds and particular messengers and I would faine know what assurance you can haue that they passe not beyond their commission or deliuer not some other errant besides that they are charged withall The Authority also and Vnerring power of this Church had neede to bee most soundly demonstrated I doubt of it how can you