Selected quad for the lemma: mercy_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
mercy_n	glory_n	vessel_n	wrath_n	3,740	5	9.3244	5	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A02029	The blinde-mans sermon: or confutation of the blinde Pharises. By Thomas Granger, preacher of the word, at Botterwike nere Boston in Lincolnshire	Granger, Thomas, b. 1578.	1616 (1616)	STC 12176; ESTC S112830	26,167	74

eloquence what dost thou with thy wealth what vse dost thou make of thy friends assistants what doth thy soule work with those instruments the members of thy body Let not the sword boast it selfe of the good mettall the curious workmanship and sharp edge but rather who doth vse it and to what end Whether the Magistrate doth vse it to the terrifying of the wicked and the comfort of the godly in their preseruation or the tyrant doth vse it to shedde innocent bloud therewith as King Manasses did Whether the true man doth weare it for his defence or the robber to spoyle and kill If thou beest an vngodly person and settest thine heart to doe mischiefe then all these excellent parts are but as a sharpe edge or whetting whereby Sathan spoyleth and deuoureth but yet so as the will of the Lord which is cleane contrary to thy will and Satans will shall be executed by thée and him to the punishment of the wicked to the triall of the godly to the destruction of thy selfe and to the glory of God and good of his elect Fourthly the Lord doth grant the wicked their desires as they are vessels of wrath Because he will magnifie his power and iustice in their iust ouerthrow which is altogether their owne séeking For all that they desire aske wish and séeke for is is against themselues and so they bring euill vpon their owne heads Rom. 9 22. 23. What and if God would to shew his wrath to make his power knowne suffer with long patience the vessell of wrath prepared to destruction and that hee might declare the riches of his glory vpon the vessels of mercy which hee hath prepared to glory An example hereof in the Amorites Gen. 14. 13. 16. The Amorites and Canaanites c. must be spared 400. yeares till their wickednesse and strength were come to the full They must be strong for their multitude the Giant-like Anakins must be multiplied their walls must be mounted vp to heauen their munition good the land affording store of iron and brasse and then will God magnifie his power and iustice in casting them out by a weake people that were but as Grashoppers in comparison of them and his mercy in planting them in and the glory of his name in both So Goliah must be a strong Giant trained vp in feates of warre from his youth bold and couragious able to handle a speare and to tosse a pike as thicke as a Weauers beame and therefore so confident in his strength and skill as that hée durst oppose himselfe against the whole host of Israell and euen bid defiance to all men Contrarily Dauid must be a Shepheard the yongest and meanest of all his brethren not able to handle speare shield or sword or to weare harnesse but with a little stone in a sling must hee deliuer the people of God and destroy their enemies that the power of God might be made manifest in the ouerthrow of his enemies and his mercy in the deliuerance of his seruants The like wee sée in Nebuchadnezzar in Senacherib in the foure Monarchyes in Antichrist in our owne obseruation euery where The vse If thou dost excell other men in naturall gifts and worldly prerogatiues and that the world and all things concurre together for thy desired aduancement looke well to thy heart and to thy affections what thou aymest at what thou séekest for and feare take héede that thou oppose not thy selfe inwardly or outwardly against God his Church his Gospell and professors thereof least thou proue a vessell of wrath on whom God will shew forth his power and iustice when thou art at the height and in most safety trusting in thine owne strength and his mercy in deliuering his out of thy oppressing hand Examples hereof wée haue in Pharaoh Haman Antiochus and others before mentioned For it is the glory of the Lord to catch the wise in their own craftines 1 Cor. 3. 19. To bring downe the high lookes of the proud to cast downe Princes from the Throne into the dust and to raise the poore out of the dust to sit with Princes Psalm 113. Therefore if thou béest high and eminent in the world be humble and lowly in heart disrobe thy selfe of all earthly royalty and set the Lord alwaies before thine eyes that so thou maist with Dauid be eminent in the Church and kingdome of Christ Then mayest thou and shalt thou with ioyfulnes and with a good conscience inioy the blessings of God Moreouer séeing that God suffereth the wicked to waxe great that in their humiliation deiection the glory of his name may be more manifested to all people that they may feare him and praise him this teacheth the godly being oppressed by their might to be patient till the Lord come which is a sure deliuerer of his Seruants for as Dauid saith The patient abiding of the meeke shall not alway be forgotten The consideration heereof also affoordeth great comfort to them that feare God that whiles the vngodly triumph saying who is Lord ouer vs who shall controll vs wée will tread downe on euery side all that withstand vs that whiles they are thus digging pittes to bury the children of God in and with Haman making gallowes to hang them on themselues shall fall into the same destruction Marueile not therefore if one be made rich or if the glory of his house be increased as Dauid saith III. He illustreteth his doctrine by the contrary But if any man be a worshipper of God and doth his will him he heareth Héere he sheweth whom God heareth to wit the godly which is opposed to the sinner The godly man hee describeth by his fruits of sanctification He is a godly man that is a worshipper of God and doth his will Herein obserus two things First he saith not that doth worship but that is a worshipper which word implieth a continuance in worshipping or habite whereas hypocrites worship God by constraint by fits and in outward shew and are therefore vnconstant not being firmely setled on the foundation as the graft is vnited to the stocke growing together with it but rather loose and tottering as things ioyned together called contigua and not as things vnited called continua which haue one spirit or common forme He that worshippeth God in spirit without hypocrisie and in truth without will-worship is one spirit with the Lord and there is none vnrighteousnesse in him 1 Ioh. 3. 9. Secondly note that these words must be taken collectiuely not distributiuely that is they must not be parted but goe together The reason is because that worshipping of God without obedience is formall hypocrisie obedience without workes is but ciuill honesty and both are sinnes The former is false worship and hypocrisie for disobedience discouers it to be so the latter are false workes or beautifull abhominations for prophannesse shewes it and God will heare neither the false worshipper nor prophane liuer Concerning the former worship without

Lord of Heauen and earth because thou hast hid these things from the wise and men of vnderstanding hast opened them vnto babes It is so O Father because thy good pleasure was such Héerein the Disciples might learne First that the Gospell cannot be comprehended with mans vnderstanding and reason Secondly that there is no power disposition or inclination in mans will to receiue the Gospell being not onely not congruous but flat contrary to the same For these Cities though they were not such brutish sinners as the Sodomites but ciuilly honest or naturally vertuous yet they were as vnbeléeuing and more vnbeléeuing then the Sodomites would haue béene therefore they shall receiue the greater condemnation Thirdly the Disciples héereby might learne that to repent and beléeue is the meere mercy and grace of God Fourthly that this mercy and grace méerely procéedeth of the good pleasure of his will Fiftly that God being absolute Lord of all the world and maker of all men respecteth not persons but hath mercy on whom hée will and passeth by whom he will Rom. 9. 15. Therefore séeing that these old rotten rags our darke hearts cannot retaine the new péece neither that these olde corrupt vessels can conteyne the new wine of the Gospell there must a new heart be giuen vs and a new spirit put within vs Ezech. 36. 26. 27. We must be borne againe before we can enter into the kingdome of grace and of glory Iohn 3. 5. Now this second birth is not of flesh and bloud nor of the will of man but of the spirit of God who regardeth not persons ages sexes worldly prerogatiues 1 Cor. 1. 26. 27. 28. Brethren you see your calling how that not many wise men after the flesh not many mighty not many noble are called But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the mighty things and vile things of the world and things that are despised hath God chosen and things that are not to bring to nought things that are Christ chose not nor called any of the Politicians or Péeres of Ierusalem to bée the planters and builders of his Church and Kingdome nor yet any of the Pharises Scribes or Lawyers for they were not fit nor apt to make Disciples of those rotten tattered garments and fusty vessels were too farre worne and spent and too much corrupted with fleshly wisdome worldly policy and craft sensuality bodily pleasures pomp vanities of naturall life So far were they ouergrowne throughly corrupted herewith as they could not empty themselues nor lay aside these things to prepare themselues for Christ vnlesse they should lay their whole selues aside But hée chose simple and silly Fishermen which hauing their businesses and getting their liuing by sea had least fellowship and smallest dealings with men which were men of no imployment little acquainted with the subtilty craft of the world and were as babes in comparison of Citizens and such as deale in great and many matters These and such like as are least infected with the world and whose bodies are broken and tamed with labour and trauell hunger and cold are fittest instruments for the holy Ghost to worke in They are the fittest by whom God might shew forth his sauing wisedome and by and in whom his goodnesse mercy and grace might be most clearely manifested to the world And this is the glory of his mercy and grace to exalt honour and glorifie the foolish weake and contemptible things of the world by calling them to be the greatest in the kingdome of grace to whom the honour glory and wisedome of this world must stoope and yéeld it selfe in homage yea the least in this kingdome is aboue all principality and power Another example hereof there is in the poore family of Lazarus of Bethania whether Christ often resorted to dinner to supper and to lodging and where he had his heartiest intertainement Why was not Ierusalem the most conuenient place for the Lord of Heauen and earth the King of glory to be intertained in Was it not more fitting that Herod the King that Pilate the Romaine president or rather that Caiphas the high Priest or that some of the Princes or at the least-wise that some of the Elders should haue giuen him royall intertainment according to the maiesty of a King Where were the Scribes and Pharises that sit in Moses chaire whose Disciples they boasted themselues to be How could they be better imployed then in receiuing and glorifying the Sonne of God before all the people teaching all men by their owne example to reuerence to fall downe and worship him Why doe they not with all submission and prostrate humilitie as their Maister Moses commanded them heare this Prophet that the Lord their God hath raised vp vnto them which is greater then Moses than Elias than Salomon being the Lord of life the Prince and Sauiour of the world If Christ had appeared in earthly royalty worldly ostentation pompe power dignity then would Annas and Caiphas the high Priests the Elders the Pharises haue gathered to him and giuen him royal intertainment because they would haue hoped by him to haue béene freed from the tributes taxations and seruitude of the Romains from the pollage and pillage of the Publicanes and Officers because that by him they might be honoured and graced in the sight of the Commons and because that by him they might be promoted to worldly dignities But because his appearance was spirituall not worldly hée hath neither forme nor beauty Esa 53. 2. they saw nothing in him wherefore they should desire him They saw onely out of their proud couetous and enuious hearts matter of contempt because that for the endlesse comfort of the meanest and basest estate he appeared in forme of a seruant And though the brightnesse of the glory of the Father together with his mercy compassion and goodnes towards man more manifestly shined heerein yet they looking on him with fleshly eyes iudge of him according to the outward appearance Ioh. 7. 41. Therefore as a seruant they estéeme him and vse him And because he wholly did the workes of God in gathering together and sauing the Elect to the onely honor and glory of God and not to the honour of himselfe and of them especially therefore do they condemn him for the most wicked man and handle him like the vilest creature of the earth Let our litterall teachers that are so ripe headed but dead-hearted and all common Protestants commonly carnall Gospeliers thinke and consider well of this and apply it to the present times and their present selues if so be that in séeing they can perceiue and in hearing they can vnderstand For as Christ the head was receiued intertained and vsed then so shall his true members be to the worlds end among them that professe his name For this is the mistery of iniquity And the Apostle testifieth that the afflictions of Christ are accomplished in his members And all that are in