Selected quad for the lemma: mercy_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
mercy_n	good_a	lord_n	spare_v	2,870	5	9.3705	5	false

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A27364	Abrahams interment, or, The good old-mans buriall in a good old age opened in a sermon at Bartholomews Exchange, July 24, 1655, at the funerall of the worshipfull John Lamotte, Esq., sometimes alderman of the city of London / by Fulk Bellers ... ; unto which is added a short narrative of his life and death.	Bellers, Fulk, b. 1605 or 6.; La Motte, John, 1570?-1655.	1656 (1656)	Wing B1826; ESTC R18215	32,052	49

Jeremy his book of the Lamentations penned upon that dolefull occasion may abundantly declare The death of Jacob and Joseph before the oppressions came on and strange cruelties of the Egyptians made seisure upon their off-spring savoured of mercy and it was a great blessing for Augustine to bee taken away by a naturall death when Genserik had besieged Hippo that hee might not see the cruelties of the Vandalls that were breaking in upon the Church of God and for Pareus that hee should die at Heidelberg before the enemy was Master of it a place that hee so intirely loved Thirdly Is it not a great mercy to bee taken away from the tasting of evills in their own persons that they may not feel the smart of grievous and direfull Judgements he that is omniscient foresees calamities and judgements a coming which we cannot see He took notice of the deluge in his own decree before the Cataracts of Heaven were opened hee therefore snatches away those that he was minded to secure lest they should be in wrapt in the common calamity Our God rich in mercy deals as a prudent rich man when hee sees the fire come near his own habitation hee removes his Jewells or his treasures into another place where they may bee secured from danger or as a carefull Husbandman in catching weather in Harvest when hee sees the Heavens be clouded or a storm up hee will do his utmost to get his Corn into his barn if possible before it bee wet Wee read of the Egyptians when they heard that God would cause it to rain a grievous hail such as had not been in Egypt since the foundation of it to that present hee that feared the word of the Lord amongst the Servants of Pharaoh made his Servants and his Cattel flie into their houses so dealeth our God when hee sees a storm a comming hee driveth in his that as they shared not with others in their sins so neither shall they partake with them in their sufferings yea even that Heathen observed that when God brings on any remarkable destruction or Alteration in a Nation hee first takes away them that are good in it Vse I shall dismiss this Relative observation with this word of improvement Lay to heart the Lords taking away of any godly professors at any time for albeit the dispensation savours of mercy to them yet many times it proves ominous to them that are left behind when Swallows flie away winter is then approaching Their death indeed is a blessing unto themselves for blessed are they that dye in the Lord and not only they that die for him yet mostly it portends evill to survivers however it shall bee well with themselves as is here promised unto Abraham which leadeth mee to the second The Absolute consideration of the words which affords two soul cheering Cordialls 1 Thou shalt go to thy Fathers in Peace 2 And be buried in a good old age A couple of Promises or a couple of Branches of the same Promise that would require a couple of hours for the unfolding of them to view them exactly I must deal as a Travailer that is on his way who may glance his eye here or there but makes no stay till hee comes to his Journyes end no more shall I till through help from my God I shall have spoken something of both these as they lie before you And for the opening of the first we shall inquire Quest. 1 What is meant by his going to his Fathers Was hee to go back to Haran or Ur of the Chaldees in his life or bee carried thither to be interred after death or was hee to go to that place whither their soules went upon the dissolution of their bodies Sol. 1. Abraham was not to go to his Fathers first In Body the place of his locall Interment was to be Macpelah in Canaan and not any other place secondly Nor in Soul that removed to the immediate fruition of God in glory whereas many of his Ancestors were Idolators serving other Gods and doubtlesse many of them died in their Paganish condition 2 But the sense of this expression is Abraham shall die that 's the meaning of the Hebraism thou shalt go to thy Fathers that is corporall death shall arrest thee as well as it did do them Now if you compare these words with verse the sixt where wee read that Abraham beleeved in the Lord and it was counted to him for Righteousness though hee were a beleever in Christ yet hee must go to his Fathers that is hee must die as well as they this may inform us Doct. That albeit faith in Christ doth exempt Beleevers from the second yet it will not free any from the strak of the first death Abraham though a Beleever yea the highest in the forme of Beleevers being the Father of the faithfull yet hee must die and it is no wonder since the Decree is gone forth from God which is farre more irrevocable than the laws of the Medes and Persians It is appointed unto all men Beleevers as well as unbeleevers once to die When the Scripture saith all none is exempted some indeed have had a writ of Privilege from some kinds of death yet none from death in the main Moses was freed from the bitings of fiery Serpents as Magistrates sometimes through mercy are privileg'd from death in times of common mortality yet death surprized them in the end for Moses the servant of the Lord died in the land of Moab Daniel was secured from being devoured by those hungry Lions yet his body became a prey to Death as well as the bodies of other Prophets Elisha was spared from being torn in peeces by the Shee-bears out of the Wood yet Death took him away in the end 2 This Decree hath made seisure in all Ages even where faith hath been in an eminent way as in Moses witness his undertaking that difficult Embassage to Pharaoh to deliver Israel out of Aegypt Faith in the end did eat up all his fears and engaged him in that difficult work yet Death at last did arrest him as was hinted before so in Job a great Practitioner in the life of faith that made him draw up this Resolution Though he slay me yet will I trust in him David a Beleever a man after Gods own heart and yet Death overtook him and Paul who professed I live yet not I but Christ lives in me and the life that I now live I live by the faith of the Son of God c. yet did not death surprise him I might be endless here to shew you how Death attached Beleevers both before as well as under the Law yea even in the time of the Gospel had the debt of Sin been taken off and the Decree rescinded that Pursevant of Death would not go on daily to Arrest Beleevrrs at Gods Sute Thirdly The holiest Beleever hath in his body the Principle of

and know not the day of my death only I desire to provide for it and is alwaies a pondering of it it was upon this account that Joseph of Arimathea built his own Monument and Barzillai when moved by David to turn Courtier and to go with him to Jerusalem hee humbly begs a dismission that hee may turn back to his own City and die there and be buried by the grave of his father and of his mother and that because that day hee was fourscore years old he minded more to provide for death than to injoy momentary Courtly delights so old Simeon waited for Christ the consolation of Israel and old Anna departed not from the Temple but served God with fasting and prayer day and night and all to fit themselves the more for their dissolution 3 Q. How it may be made out for a man to be buried in a good old age is a special favour and mercy of God S. To be buried at any time savours of some mercy as Jer. 22.19 it savours of Judgement to be buried with the burial of an Asse or to lye uninterred because of sin But to be buried in a good old age we cannot but look upon it as a choyse mercy because very few live to bee old look upon an Apple-tree in the Spring you may almost see it covered with Blossoms yet how many fall before they come to knit and if knit how many fall yet before they come to be ripe many are worm-eaten and they drop many are beaten down by violent Tempests scarce one of ten yea twenty yea sometimes not one of forty comes to its full maturity so it is in regard of man abundance of Children like blossoms seem to cover the ground but how few of them live to Youth fewer to Manhood fewest of all to old age but how infinitely farre fewer do live to a good old age it must needs therefore be a chief Mercy Is it not a Mercy when we have done our work then to be called home to receive our Wages Then to be gathered when here we are fully ripe then to come to the Grave in a full age like a shock of Corn comes in his season To conclude is it not a mercy then to be called to make your account when we have been long a preparing and making ready for it the accounting day to a just Steward is a glad day indeed when he can do it with joy and not with grief this fills the Soul with panting Come Lord Jesus come quickly because he hath now made his peace with God and hee can now lift up his head because his full redemption draws nigh being insured that the day is now drawing on apace when he shall hear Christ thus speaking unto him Come thou blessed of my Father inherit a Kingdom provided for thee from the beginning of the world But for the improvement of all take these three words Vse 1. To you concerned in this great this common loss wherein the Daughter hath lost a tender Father the Grand-children an indulgent Grand-father the Servants a good Master the Parish a worthy Parishioner the Congregation to which he belonged a vigilant Elder yea the City a great Ornament I know the loss is great to all related to him yet to alleviate your grief weigh with me 1 Gods great mercy to you in sparing him so long a Father a Friend a Master a Parishioner an Elder that he might be eyes to the blinde strength to the weak a cloather of the naked one that stood often in the gap to divert Wrath from you 2 Gods mercy to him in gathering him to his Fathers in peace admitting him to burial in a good old age 3 Ponder though we may mourn yet we must not murmure or mourn as them without hope for him that sleeps in Christ Lazarus our friend sleeps our deceased friend is only gone to sleep he will awake again in the Resurrection could he now speak unto you he would doubtless say Weep not for me but weep for your selves 2 To you not only that are concerned in this loss but to all of you that knew him take notice of that light part of his Cloud which he held forth long before you there were many signal things in him worth your imitation 1 His constant attendance upon the Word which I observed to be in him these ten last Winters when so many went back in the late defection from Ordinances among us he spake in effect as Peter when the Disciples were questioned Will yee also go away Lord to whom shall we go thou hast the words of eternal life When others ●hrough sloathfulness would not rise how diligent was he in coming to the Morning Exercise especially on the Lords Day even in the sharpest Winter season when health would permit him 2 His real friendliness to all the Embassadours of Jesus Christ yea to all where he saw any thing of Christ he was both open handed and open hearted to all the needy Members of Christ and would more gladly do good than receive thanks for the good he had done 3 His sympathising with the Church of God in all her sorrows especially heretofore in the Palatinate and at present in Piedemont as Lots Captivity setled on the spirit of Abram so did the miseries of the people of God on his heart he seemed to be of Esays and Jeremies temper O the Rowlings Yernings compassionate Meltings for them that were Massacred and his bounty to them that did survive often saying of our Popish Adversaries in the Massacre of Piedemont we have only a pattern of that Stuff which our enemies would cut out for us all 4 His exemplary Piety he taking up the resolution of old Joshua I and my house will serve the Lord his known Meekness and Humility though God had cast in a great Estate upon him yet he was not lifted up a meek and quiet spirit in the sight of God is of great price I omit his walking in a way of private communion with God which was best felt in himself yet he gave many discoveries of it to all that came near him that were acquainted with the workings of the Spirit To all of you now that count upon or desire to come to the Grave in a good old age Q. It may be some of you may be inquiring what must I do that I may share in this branch of this Promise Sol. I shall only give a brief answer unto this and so dismiss you 1 If thou be young lay the foundation of a good old age in Youth Train up a Childe in the way he should go and he will not forget it when he is old A young Timothy will prove an old Mnason a young Disciple will become an old Disciple but can any man look for good fruit from that tree in Autumn wherein hee could not behold either Blossoms or Leaves in the Spring Remember therefore thy Creator

John La Motte Esq Cittizen of London borne j. May 1577 and Deceased July 13 1655. Abrahams Interment OR The good Old-mans Buriall in a good Old Age. Opened in a Sermon At Bartholomews Exchange July 24. 1655. at the Funerall of the Worshipfull John Lamotte Esq Sometimes Alderman of the City of London By FULK BELLERS M.A. Preacher of the Gospell Unto which is added a short Narrative of his Life and Death 2 KIN. 20.1 Set thy house in order for thou shall dye and not live JOB 21.22 Acquaint thy self now with God and be at peace thereby good shall come unto thee LONDON Printed by R. I. for Tho. Newberry and are to be sold at his Shop at the sign of the three Golden Lyons in Corn-hill 1656. TO THE Right VVorshipfull the truely Religious THE Lady Hester Honywood AND To her most hopefull Nephew Mr. Maurice Abbot of the Inner Temple Daughter Grand-son Co-heires of John Lamotte Esq c. Much honoured THe sweetnesse of Communion with God whereby Saints taste and see how good the Lord is is more clearly discerned by their own personall experience than can be declared by any verball expressions This was the highest pitch of Adams happinesse during his estate of concreated integrity that hee was admitted to the enjoyment of this grand priviledge what is it then for any of his fallen Off-spring to be restored to this great exaltation And yet we know that Beleevers by faith in Christ are reinstated in this advancement and are many times inabled to say and that feelingly truly our fellowshp or our Communion is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ. This is the Heaven of Heavens to Saints Triumphant and Heaven here on this side Heaven to Saints Militant Expectants of Heaven hereafter Vnutterable is the Contentment that man finds sometimes in his Cordiall acquaintance with an Antient Fast and Religious Friend to whom he may freely and fully unbosome himself and from whom he may receive suitable and seasonable advice with all candor and faithfullnesse upon all occasions Now if words cannot to the life hold out that satisfaction that man findeth in his converse with man like unto himself is it any wonder if I am not able fully to display that heart-ravishing delight which the renewed soul meeteth withall whilest it nourisheth humble and holy Communion with God the high and lofty one that inhabiteth Eternity It is agreed on by all that holy familiarity with him is full of spirituall solace though all my language be too short compleatly to describe before you how satisfactory and contentfull it is How sweet are those holy Parlies with God in praier and how pleasant their returns far pleasanter to a gracious than the returns of ships richly laden with rarest Commodities to a Carnall heart how delightfull are the droppings of the Sanctuary whereby the souls of Saints become as watered Gardens as so many Edens and whereby they come to hear of joy and gladnesse so that the bones which God at any time hath broken begin to rejoice How ensuring are the Incomes of the Spirit in that sealing Ordinance of the Lords Supper wherein the truely penitent and beleeving Soul looking up to Christ by the Eye of Faith whom hee hath peirced and being in heavinesse for him c. receives the pledge of the Remission of his sins and of all other Covenant-Mercies which more exhilerates him with heart reviving joy then the sight of a Pardon doth a condemned Malefactor It was upon this account that the heart of David was filled with such Pantings as the Hart after the water-brooks to come and appear before God in soul-reviving Ordinances and that Marquesse of Vico Galeatius that eminent Confessor when offered Golden Mountains of Honours and Riches how resolutely did he reply their mony perish with them that think all the honours of Italy c. to be worth one hours Communion with God at Geneva a place wherein Religion flourished Now how abundant that worthy and experimentall Christian was to whom you owe your extraction as branches to their root in nourishing communion with God and how sweet hee found it both in his life and at his death I need not relate to you in speciall who were full well acquainted with the manner of his holy Conversation in his Life and of his comfortable departure at his end My sute to you is Honoured Lady Who have made such Eminent progresse in Grace Labor yet more and more to imitate your deceased Father in walking in all the waies of holiest Communion with God treading dayly in his steps of Soul resignation Faith Patience Charity Zeal and all other Christian graces whereof he left an exemplary Copy to you and your hopefull Issue to write after I need not suggest that it is constancy which is the Crowning grace Honoured Sir Though you have attained as yet to a little more than a fourth of the days that your Indulgent Grand-Father arrived at yet hee hath left you as a Coheir of his Estate so I hope of his graces also strive therefore that hee may in all his soul-adorning endowments live in you that as hee and many others looked upon you with a hopefull eye whilest hee lived so the world may see you more and more to answer all those blooming hopes now he is removed from you To conclude my humble addresse to you both is that you would be mindfull of all the holy Counsells and savory advertisements wherein he abounded towards you and among others those that he communicated to you frequently by his letters and forget not that Letter added unto his life whereby being dead he yet speaketh to you and then doubt not but there will bee a full return into your bosomes of all the prayers which he so fervently and frequently darted up to Heaven in your behalfs which is the perswasion Of your Worships much Obliged in the Lord. FULK BELLERS Decemb. 24. 1655. ABRAHAMS Interment OR The good Old mans Burial in a good old Age. GEN 15.15 And thou shalt go unto thy Fathers in peace and bee buried in a good old age SOlomon tells us It is better to go into the house of Mourning than to go to the house of Feasting for that is the end of all men and the living the godly living will lay it to heart The Lord hath turned his own House into a House of Mourning unto us upon this sad account viz. the interment of him who as he was much esteemed of by the Citizens of this Renowned City in general so in special of this place whereof he hath been an ancient and worthy Parishioner and peculiarly by that great Congregation ●hereof he hath been a vigilant Elder near thirty years to●●ther one aged in grace as well as years unto whom ●his personal Promise to the Father of the Faithful was made good though not for the number of years that Abraham lived up unto yet for that time that Moses reckons up as

the ordinary term of the oldest age Promises passed of general Mercies to particular persons may bee fulfilled over and over again as that I will never leave thee nor forsake thee made first to Joshua extended by Paul to all Beleevers and in them daily fulfilled The like I may say of this Promise here in some sense there is somewhat that may be enlarged to all in Christ as to go to their Fathers in peace though for the latter branch of it it be only made good to some not to all as to be buried in a good old Age since all attain not to that period in the letter of it yet in both the Branches of it it may some way be accommodated to our deceased Brother as in the sequel of our Discourse will plainly by Divine assistance be made out unto you The words may be lookt upon with a double aspect 1. Relative 2. Absolute 1 Relative in reference to what goes before and follows after so they contain a cordial given to Abraham against a fainting fit that might surprise him God had passed many Promises to Abraham in the former part of this Chapter 1 I am thy Shield and thy exceeding great reward I am so and will continue to be so for the passage in the Hebrew is Elliptical and the Supplement may be made up by the future as well as by the present time or we may take in both I am and will be so unto thee 2 He will give him an Heir out of his own Bowels whence should arise an innumerable Issue as the Stars in Heaven for number or multitude vers 4 5. 3 He will bestow the Land of Canaan for their Revenue and that by Covenant vers 7.18 a large income for to support them Abraham seems astonish'd at the hearing of these things and Questions Whereby shall I know that I shall inherit it vers 8. a question that sprang not out of diffidence or a●●solute unbeleef but out of an holy Admiration as one extasied with joy and desiring more fully to be informed about it Sol. To this God gives a double answer 1 Visional 2. Verbal 1 Visional They should have it when they had been first grievously afflicted many of them slain many chopt in peeces which seems to be something of the Mystical meaning of those Ceremonies in that Sacrifice by which the Covenant should be confirmed vers 10. viz. the dividing of the Sacrifice and laying each pe●ce one against another and when the Birds of Prey should come down i. e. Pharaoh and the Aegyptians fall on to devour them the Lord would raise up one of Abrahams Seed implicitly Moses to fray them away and to deliver his Off spring vers 11. they should not want protection 2 Verbal vers 13 14. which make out the former Mystery Know of a certainty thy Seed shall bee a stranger in a Land that is not theirs viz. Egypt and shall serve them and they shall afflict them four hundred years and also that Nation whom they shall serve will I judge and afterwards shall they come out with great substance Probably the Searcher of all hearts saw Abraham in some doubt why livery and seisin or peaceable possession of that Land should be deferred so long Hee therefore assigns the cause in the Verse after the Text for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet full He was minded to root them up and that none might in after times censure his proceedings as injurious he will suffer them to fill up the measure of their iniquitie that they might be without excuse and the mouthes of all stopped at the beholding of their total extirpation Q. It may be yet some scruple might rest upon the spirit of Abraham what shall become of me when all these evils betide my posterity A. The Lord bids him rest satisfied for before all these evils surprise thy Seed thou shalt go to thy Fathers in peace And hence the best Expositors render the Hebrew Particle translated by ours as copulative discretively yet thou shalt go or but thou shalt go to thy Fathers in peace This Relative consideration of the words may yeeld unto us this profitable instruction That Doct. The Lord in his abundant Mercy sometimes takes away his by death from the beholding of future evils This we see is promised here to Abraham Lest his heart should rend in peeces upon the sight of all the miseries that should befall his Off-spring in future times hee shall first go to his Fathers in peace The like for substance was promised to pious Josiah long after when evils were approaching apace the apprehension whereof did much scare and deject him God cast in this Promise for his support Behold I will gather thee to thy Fathers and thou shalt be gathered to thy grave in peace neither shall thine eyes see all the evil that I will bring upon this place and the inhabitants of the same the bare sight of which had he lived to have seen it would probably have broken his heart viz. the sight of Religion ruined his Sons captivated his Kingdom rooted up c. God therefore removes him by death from the beholding of any of these Now that it savours of abundant mercy to take away the righteous from beholding evils to come let us consider First Is it not a great mercy that a man shall be removed before he come to be a spectator of other mens sins the seeing and hearing of all the unlawful deeds of those wretched Sodomites amongst whom Lot lived was a trouble of heart unto him and keeps him as it were upon the rack This drew not a few but many brinish tears yea rivers of them from the eys of holy David professing that rivers of tears ran down his eyes because men kept not Gods Law This filled the hearts of those Mourners in Ezekiel with heart-rending sighs and their tongues with heaven-peircing cries for all the abominations that were done in the midst of Jerusalem the more grace the more sighing and sobbing weeping and wailing for other mens sins God snatches away a gracious Father Master Husband or Prince from the beholding of the gracelesse practises of his Issue Servants wife or subjects that would bee a corrosive unto him Secondly Doth it not savour much of Mercy to be taken away from beholding of other mens punishments was it not upon this account that the long liv'd Patriarches were taken away by death before the flood came yea Methuselah the year of the deluge if that Chronologer bee not out lest his eyes should see that dismall sight the drowning of all flesh I perswade my self that when Abraham lookt upon the smoak of Sodom and the Country about it ascending as the smoak of a furnace it did occasion no little grief of heart unto him and what the beholding of the miseries of Jerusalem in the besieging sacking and ruining of it did create to Holy