Selected quad for the lemma: mercy_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
mercy_n	great_a	pardon_v	sin_n	11,735	5	5.4658	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A65319	A lawyer's advice to the devil's agents: or, Some strokes at the unfruitful works of darkness, tending to their destruction made with a weapon taken out of the armory of the Most High. By William Watson, student in law.	Watson, William, student in law.	1693 (1693)	Wing W1150A; ESTC R220895	26,435	71

Persons called by them for they neither occasion their offending neither can they restrain them from it And whereas mention is here made of the sick's being saved and raised up and his sins forgiven through the Blessing of the Lord upon the Prayer of Faith we must understand that the Elders in the Apostolical Days were endued with miraculous Gifts as the Apostles themselves were so as to be able through the strength of their Prayers and Exhortations to heal the sick and take away the principal cause of Distempers from them which was their sins by procuring for them the forgiveness of them And the anointing with Oyl was used as the sign of this miraculous Gift of healing and obtaining the forgiveness of sick Men's sins by their Prayers which our Church has very judiciously laid aside as not necessary seeing healing the thing signified by it as well as all other miraculous Gifts ceased when the end for which they were designed which was a Confirmation and Establishment of the Gospel sufficient for its support encrease and further propagation without them was accomplished which was as some Church-Historians tell us about the end of the third or shortly upon the beginning of the fourth Century which is about thirteen hundred years since And those superstitious persons that still make use of this anointing the Sick with Oyl as the Elders in the Primitive times did unless they could in the like miraculous manner perform the ting signified by it and restore them to Health and obtain the Remission of their Sins without the use of other means as they did do but shew their folly and render themselves obnoxious to Ridicule and Derision amongst People of Understanding that have not renounced their Senses and imprudently yielded themselves up to fraudulent persons Impositions and captivated their Belief to the Conduct of Impostors and Deceivers which are forced to pretend to these and such like wonderful performances to bear up their Reputation amongst those they have so far deluded as in part to satisfie their Ambition and Covetousness by making Merchandize of them as the Apostle foretold of them 2 Pet. 2.3 And through Covetousness shall they with feigned words make Merchandize of you but let them read the remaining part of the Verse and see how fast Judgment and Damnation are coming upon them for it whose Judgment now of a long time lingers not and their Damnation slumbers not And these are the evil Men that by grosly abusing their power in the Church have made the People unwilling to allow the Reformed Churches so much power as Christ has given them and will scarce be induced to believe that they ought or that 't is to any purpose for them if their Consciences are loaded and disquieted through any grievous Crimes they have been guilty of to make confession of them to their Pastors and Teachers and ask their Advice and desire them to put them in the best and most effectual method towards the getting of their Grief removed and their sins pardoned and that they would help and assist them by bestowing their servent Prayers upon them towards the doing of it although the Apostle expresly commands us to confess our Faults one to another and pray for one another that we may be healed Jam. 5.16 and them gives an encouraging reason drawn from the powerful effect of Prayer The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous Man avails much And if we are obliged to confess our faults one to another and pray one for another towards the healing of them much rather to the Minister that he may pray for us towards the healing of our Offences Nor does the true and faithful Minister's power end here in hearing the Confessions of his people and praying for them but it extends further and authorizes him when he finds the Offender has performed those acts of Repentance which God's Holy Word requires to apply the merciful Promises of God to repenting Sinners in the forgiveness of their sins unto him and declare his Crimes pardoned through the great Mercies of God and the Merits of his dear Son Jesus Christ and so reconcile him to God as having received from him the Ministery of Reconciliation 2 Cor. 5.18 And all things are of God who has reconcited us to himself by Jesus Christ and has given to us the Ministery of Reconciliation Thirdly Some of you think them burdensome and that their allowance is too great and above their Deserts and hereupon argue that Tithes are not of Divine Institution and that you are no where commanded to pay them in the New Testament But in what part of the same Testament are you forbidden to pay them And although they are not ordained in express words in the Gospel by Christ yet he has ordained that they which preach the Gospel should live of it 1 Cor. 9.13 14. Do ye not know that they which minister about holy things live of the things of the Temple And they which wait at the Altar are partakers with the Altar Even so has the Lord ordained that they which preach the Gospel should live of the Gospel And can you find out any better way of raising wherewithal they may live upon than by giving of them Tithes And this I may say for the Lawfulness and Authority of them that our Saviour told the Scribes and Pharisees that they ought to pay them which I suppose he would not have done if he had intended to abolish them and that they should not have been paid under the Gospel Matt. 23.23 Woe unto you Scribes and Pharisees Hypocrites for ye pay Tithe of Mint and Anise and Cummin and have omitted the weightier matters of the Law Judgment Mercy and Faith these ought you to have done and not to leave the other undone And here observe that this Woe is not denounced against them because of their exactness in paying Tithes even to the very Herbs but because of their Hypocrisie in not being as exact in things of greater concern as making right Judgment in deciding of Controversies shewing Mercy and relieving the oppressed and being as faithsful in the performance of their Promises as they were in paying of Tithes both which ought to have been done with the like exactness And this may serve to admonish us as well as let us know that our Saviour allowed of paying Tithes in his time against the folly and errour of such Hypocrites as will be very exact and careful in things of less moment and remiss and careless and apt to pass over those things that are of far greater concern And the reason of the Apostle's not requiring Tithes may be this because they would not hinder the progress of the Gospel by giving them the least occasion of thinking they preached it more for their own profit and advantage than for their Good And hereupon the Apostle says he wrought with his own hands that he might not be chargeable to any of them not but that he had power to forbear

'll rather continue in them and presume upon the Mercies of God for pardon but the Mercies of God are conditional and you have no right to them unless you perform the Condition The wicked must forsake his way and the unrighteous Man his thoughts and return unto the Lord if he will have mercy and pardon ontherwise he cannot have it for Christ came not into the World to maintain people in sin but upon their Faith and Repentance to forgive them their Sins this is the only way in which he will be a Saviour unto you as you may learn from hes own Words Luke the 7th Chapter at the last Verse This you 'll say you know very well and that you must part with your sins or lose Heaven but you vainly think it's time enough yet and so defer it from Day to Day from Week to Week and form Year to Year 'till you are habituated to wickedness and so make it the more difficult to cast it off and what if by deferring it thus from time to time you should be suddenly as many are taken out of the World where are you then I shall not speak my thoughts but leave you to judge what your place and your Portion must be for ever very miserable I fear For I must tell you 't is a great presumption and very dangerous for any one to think of doing that in time to come which God bids him do presently 't is as if he knew better when it were to be done than God And if God says To day if you will hear his Voice harden not your Hearts and tells you That this is the day in which you should begin to seek after Salvation 2 Cor. 6.2 Behold now is the accepted time behold now is the day of Salvation How dare you defer seeking after it 'till to Morrow much less for a longer time as hereafter as you call it Is to this the ready way to provoke God to anger and to make him Swear in his Wrath as he did to 〈…〉 stubborn Israelites Psalm the 95th at the last Verse That you shall not enter into his Rest And then you are undone to all Eternity For although God's Mercies are great yet we must not carelesly and wilfully forget his Commands and rely so much upon his Mercy as to forget his Justice for as he is merciful so he is just and a Man may run on in Wickedness so long till he becomes merciless and then God's Justice will take hold on him and destroy him Jer. 13.14 And I 'll dash them one against another even the Fathers and the Sons together says the Lord I will not pity nor spare nor have mercy but destroy them And if you will prevent the passing of this dreadful Sentence upon you now is the time Seek ye the Lord whilst he may be found call ye upon him whilst he is nigh Consider you have a whole Eternity to labour for and you have many of you lost a great deal of time already therefore make the better use of what is to come it may be shorter than you are aware of Ask Forgiveness forthwith under all the Circumstances of Humility on your bended knees for all the Sins you have hitherto been shamefully guilty of for those Knees which are now too strong to ply in God's Service will be too weak one day to stand in his Presence and keep a strict Account of all your Thoughts Words and Actions for the time to come and every Night before you compose your selves to sleep bestow a little time in considering how you have spent the day and see what evil you have committed and what good you have omitted that you may certainly and sincerely crave Forgiveness for it which is the properest and most likely method for getting into a Habit of Vertue and Goodness especially if you are careful to return Thanks to God in the Morning for preserving of you from the perils of the Night and earnestly desire that his Favour and Blessing may attend you throughout the whole Day and that he would prevent your evil Actions and bring your good ones to perfection And not adventure to lie down in the Sins not only of that Day but of many Years as too many careless People do 't is much to be feared lest you should sleep the sleep of Death spoken of in Psalm 13.3 and the Wrath of God should seize upon you and cast you into the dismal place of eternal misery But immediately fix your Resolutions for the glorious Kingdom of everlasting Happiness and let Piety be your continual practice which is the certain way of attaining of it Cease to do evil learn to do well and be not weary of it but be diligent Followers of them that through Faith and Patience inherit the Promises and in due season you shall reap your Reward and be owned by Christ when he comes in the Glory of the Father with the Holy Angels and appears to those that look for him the second time without sin unto Salvation FINIS