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
A40084	The principles and practices of certain moderate divines of the Church of England (greatly mis-understood), truly represented and defended wherein ... some controversies, of no mean importance, are succinctly discussed : in a free discourse between two intimate friends : in three parts.	Fowler, Edward, 1632-1714.	1670 (1670)	Wing F1711; ESTC R17783	120,188	376

he will have mercy and whom he will be hardeneth i. e. From hence I conclude that God may without the least injustice have mercy at his pleasure on some wicked persons that have deserved the contrary and harden others By Gods hardening in Scripture we are not to understand any positive action of his whereby he putteth wickedness into men or intends and increaseth that which is already in them for then would he be the author of sin which to assert is the highest blasphemy Neither have we any cause to believe that it is to be understood of Gods withdrawing all manner of necessary helps whereby sinners may be mollified For the Signes that were wrought upon Pharaoh were in themselvs very proper to soften him and most of them while they continued had that effect but Gods still removing of them seems to be the great cause of his induration as among others is observed by Origen And I remember he saith that it is usual for fafathers to speak after this manner to their disobedient children 'T is I have hardened you 't is I that have made a Rogue of you for had not I been so indulgent towards you you would not behave your self as you do towards me So that by Gods hardning we are to understand no more than his doing such things to wicked men which are not in their own nature but accidentally through their wickedness the occasion of their farther hardening And so and no otherwise did he harden the Jews nay chiefly were they hardened by the divine forbearance to punish them for their rebellion and unbelief by which means most of them came to be through their own naughtiness more and more obstinate and so rendred themselvs the more fit objects of that vengeance that forty years after our Saviours death according to his prediction brake forth upon them That notwithstanding this induration each particular person of them was not in an absolutely hopeless condition as to their eternal state appeareth in that many of them were converted to the faith by the Apostles preaching though it is certain that the rejection of them considered as a Nation was inevitable and the decree concerning their being deprived of those priviledges whereby they were for a long time distinguished from other people irreversible In the next words a reply of the perverse Jews is brought in to what the Apostle had said to them in those foregoing which 't is like they had sometime made upon the like occasion V. 19. Thou wilt say then unto me Why doth he yet finde fault for who hath resisted his will i. e. Why doth he still accuse us for and upbraid us with not believing in your Jesus when he hath as it seemeth from what thou hast said hardened us and is resolved to reject us for his counsel shall stand who hath ever resisted his decree though we should now believe the Gospel it will be to no purpose Nay now he would not have us believe it that his decree concerning us may take effect To this he answers V. 20. Nay but O man who art thou that repliest against God shall the thing formed say unto him that formed it Why hast thou made me thus i. e. Nay but O man who art thou that thou darest tax the wisdom of God upon the account of his so doing as if he could do foolishly And as for his dealing in such a manner with you as that you become by that means more hardned and averse to obey his Gospel you may thank your selvs for it and therefore have no cause to object against Gods justice neither and besides 't is onely long of your own wickedness that you become more hardned by any of his providences For you therefore to talk after this rate is as arrogant as if the thing formed should say to him that formed it why hast thou made me after this fashion V. 21. Hath not the potter power over the clay of the same lump to make one vessel to honour and another to dishonour i. e. If you think that God hath dealt unjustly with you I pray answer me this Question Hath not the Potter power over his clay to make of it what vessel he thinks good And when a piece thereof is marred upon the wheel to make a meaner vessel of it than otherwise it might have been and shall not your Creator have as much power to deal with you as he pleaseth and if he thinks good to harden some of you when he converts others seeing you have rendered your selvs as liable to his wrath as is the clay to the Potters pleasure By Ieremiah 18. 4 5 6 and the following verses will this Exposition be made very plain and clear to which place the Apostle in these words doth very probably allude and you will by those verses understand that the onely use God himself makes of this similitude is the very same with that which you now heard Then he goes on thus V. 22 23 What if God willing to shew his wrath and to make his power known endured or will endure here being 't is like an Analage of the Tense with much long-suffering the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction and that he might or that it may please him to make known the riches of his glory on the vessels of mercy which he hath before prepared unto glory i. e. What if God doth not presently punish you according to your desert but goeth on for some time to bear with you and while he doth so findes fault with you for your unbelief What if he doth not immediately destroy those that have long provoked him to it and by their continued Rebellions made themselves most worthy and fit objects of his wrath but is pleased still with great gentleness and patience to bear with them as he did with Pharaoh to chide and threaten them as he also did him that so he may the more severely proceed against those that shall be more hardned by his forbearance and continue refractory notwithstanding his threats and punish them in the more exemplary manner as he did that wicked King I pray what shew of injustice is in this But much less can God be taxed with unrighteousness in having mercy on some as ill-deserving Jews and even wicked Gentiles see the next verse by preparing them by a true and effectual faith in Christ for eternal blessedness to demonstrate in the most signal manner the riches of his grace and goodness Observe that the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction are such as the Apostle saith God endured with much long-suffering and therefore they were not made so by any absolute Decree of his but made themselvs so by their wilful and free sinning For what long-suffering can it be to bear with the sins of those that could never have possibly been avoided Philal. That verse alone is enough to warrant the truth of the Paraphrase you have given of those foregoing at least as to the substance of