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
A13267	Iacob and Esau. Election. Reprobation Opened and discussed by way of sermon at Pauls Crosse, March 4. 1622. By Humphry Sydenham Mr. of Arts, and fellow of Wadham Colledge in Oxford.	Sydenham, Humphrey, 1591-1650?	1626 (1626)	STC 23567; ESTC S101842	26,538	44

Absit vt dicamus Iudicium luti esse sed figuli Why God doth to this man so and to that not so who dare expostulate and why to this man thus to that otherwise farre be it that we should thinke it in the iudgement of the clay but of the potter Downe then with this aspiring thought this ambitious desire of hidden knowledge and make not curiositie the picklocke of diuine secrets know that such mysteries are doubly barred vp in the coffers of the Almighty which thou maist striue to violate not open And therefore if thou wilt needs trespasse vpon deity dig not in its bosome a more humble aduenture sutes better with the condition of a worme scarce a man or if so exposed to frailtie 'T is a fit taske and imployment for mortalitie to contemplate Gods workes not sift his mysteries and admite his goodnesse not blurre his iustice And it hath beene euer the practice of primitiue discipline rather to defend a disparaged equitie than to question it for so that reuerend Father who euer mixt his learning with a deuout awe in his 3 booke cont Iulianum and 18 chapter Bonus est Deus instus est Deus potest aliquos sine bonis meritis liberare quia bonus est non potest quemquam sine malis damnare quia iustus est God is equally good and iust he can saue some without reference to desert because he is good he cannot damne any man without a due demerit because he is iust Nay had God deliuered all mankinde into the iawes of destruction we could not touch him with iniustice but rather admire so darke and inuestigable an equitie which we may illustrate by worldly passages and humane contracts If I were bankrupt of instance S. Augustine could relieue me A great man saith he lends two summes of money to two seuerall men who can tax him of obduratenesse or iniustice if at time of repayment he forgiue this man his debt and require satisfaction of that for this liues not in the will and disposall of the debtor but of the creditor So stands the case betweene frailty and omnipotencie All men which through Adam became tributaries to sin and death are one masse of corruption subiect to the stroake of diuine iustice which whether it be required or giuen there is no iniquitie in God but of whom required and to whom giuen 't is in such debtors insolence to iudge lest God returne their saucinesse with a Non licet mihi quod volo facere as the housholder did the murmuring labourers in his vineyard Is thine eie euill because I am good And indeed I display not a higher cause of election and reprobation than diuine goodnesse which that learned Schoole-man Part. 1. quaest 23. art 5. doth not onely illustrate but proue no lesse by similitude than argument For God saith he made all things for his goodnesse sake that in things by him made his goodnesse might appeare but because that goodnesse is in it selfe one and simple and things created cannot attaine to so diuine a perfection it was necessary that that goodnesse should be diuersly represented in those things and hence 't is that to the complement and full glory of the vniuerse there is in them a diuersitie of degrees required of which some possesse a lower and some a higher roome and that such a multiformitie may be preserued in nature God permits some euils to be done lest much good should be anticipated Voluit itaque Deus in hominibus quantum ad aliquos quos praestestinet suam repraesentare bonitatem per modum misericordiae parcendo illis quantum verò ad alios quos reprobet suam ostendi bonitatem per modum iustioiae puniendo eos God in those hee elects would shew his goodnesse by way of mercie in sparing these in others he reprobates his goodnesse too by way of iustice in punishing them And therefore our Apostle here not onely magnifies the riches of his glory vpon vessels of mercie vers 23. but his long parience too to vessels of wrath vers 22. So that in his house there are not onely those of gold and siluer but of wood and earth too and some to honor some to dishonor 2 Tim. 2.20 Of which if any mutinous or sawcy ignorant desires a reason beyond Gods will I haue no answer but that of Augustine in his 22 Sermon de verb Apost Turatiocinare ego mirer in disputa ego credam altitudinem video ad profundum non peruenio Dispute and reason he that durst while my thought and beleefe stand at a bay and wonder I see there is a height but cannot reach it and know this gulfe not fathome it For as in things naturall it is Aquinas similitude when all the first matter is vniforme why one part of it should be vnder the forme of fire another vnder the forme of earth there may be a reason assigned that there might be a diuersity of species in things naturall but why this part of matter should be rather vnder the forme of fire and that vnder the forme of earth depends only on the simplicity of Gods will as it hangs too on the wil of the Architect that this stone should be rather in this part of the wall and that in another although reason and art require that other stones should be in one part of the Edifice others in another Neither is there for this iniquity in God that he doth not proportion his gifts in a strict equality for it were against the reason and truth of iustice if the effect of Predestination should be of debt and not of grace for in those thing which are of an vnrestrained freedome euery man out of the iurisdiction of his owne will may giue to whome he will more or lesse without the least disparagement of iustice And therefore to those recoiling dispositions which mutter at a free hounty heaped on others without referēce to desert I wil vsurpe that of the Parable Tolle quod tuum est vade And yet notwithstanding though the will of God be the independent prime cause of all things so that beyond it there is no other cause and without it there is no reason of Gods actions yet it is not the sole and particular cause for there are many secondary concurring with the first by the mediation whereof the will of God brings his intendments to an issue As in matters of our saluation the will and working of man shakes hands with that of God for though without him we finde a Nil potestis facere Ioh. 15.52 Ye can doe nothing yet assisted by his will and the powerfull and effectuall operations of his grace our will cooperates with Gods Else how could Dauid pray to him to be his helper vnlesse he himselfe did endeauour something or how could God command vs to doe his will except the will of man did worke in the performance of it Lum●… lib. 1. 〈◊〉 42. It is true saith S. Augustine we