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	sin_n	transgression_n	3,082	5	10.1157	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A03717	Sermons preached at Pauls Crosse and else-where, by Iohn Hoskins, sometimes fellow of New-Colledge in Oxford, minister and Doctor of Law	Hoskins, John, 1579-1631.	1615 (1615)	STC 13841; ESTC S104239	117,511	248

watch and pray lest much blood be required at our hands we know it is a beame in the eye of the Church if wee bury and suppresse a Talent by not vsing it and it is likewise a leprosie in the face and forehead of the Church if we pollute and profane a Talent by abusing it for though we be Sonnes of thunder and be mistaken as was Barnabas for Iupiter yet if wee be but mistaken our loosenes of life will vtterly vndo our preaching as Iupiters adulteries euen among children doe altogether discredit his thundring To draw to concluson euery wise man among vs before hee suffer his eyes to slumber or his eye-lids to take any rest will make an Inuentory of Gods blessings whether they bee blessings generall or bleffings speciall blessings of nature or blessings of grace blessings that belong either to the soule or body or the outward estate as vnto some of vs in all these vnto all of vs in some of these much without question is giuen and then examine his owne heart vpon interrogatories how and to whose aduantage hee hath imployed them that hee may bewaile whatsoeuer is amisse and study to amend whatsoeuer he bewayleth When a Gentleman of Rome hauing concealed his broken estate died and his goods were set to open sale for his Creditors satisfaction Augustus himselfe sent to buy that bed for his owne vse wherein the man so farre in debt could possibly take his rest If we my Brethren who haue receiued much returned little knowing what God requireth and how deepe we are in his arrerages notwithstanding can find in our hearts to sleepe dead sleepe is is to be presumed we haue soft pillowes or is it not rather to bee feared we haue very hard hearts Otherwise me thinks the difficulty of our account at the last ineuitable Audit should awake vs for what shal we answer for the gaine and interest if we haue prodigally wasted and misspent the principall if our very receits were so great that we cannot reckon them how alas how shal we reckon for them But the terror if there bee any tendernesse left in our hearts the terror that shall vndoubtedly take hold of vs if wee be not good accountants must needs appale vs affright vs and astonish vs. Some of vs haue bin hedged about with outward blessings and increase of substance if we haue not vsed it or if we haue abused it the rich glutton in the Gospell may teach vs that though it breed security for a while our feare at the length will seaze vpon vs like fire on iron where though it be long kindling it hath more feruent and violent operation Many of vs haue enioyed strength of bodies if wee haue not vsed it to Gods glory the strongest shall be as tow if we haue abused it to intemperancy Woe vnto them that are mighty to drinke wine and to them that are strong to powre in strong drinke Esay 5. Most of vs haue knowledge but as knowledge doth raise and cleuate the soule so if it be not vsed or abused the fall must needs be greater from on high when the soule shall fall like an Anglell we then suffer the rust of our spirituall riches to be a crying witnesse against vs and can we endure that common exprobation to ring in our eares continually Surgunt indocti rapiunt caelum the vnlearned arise and take heauen by violence Neuer O neuer let our knowledge and learning be like Vriah his letters letters vnto vs of blood of death and of destruction only to condemne vs vnto Satan that last mercilesse Executioner with this deadly commendation Goe bind him hand and soote Egomet tabellas detuli vt vinc●rer Did I my selfe bring letters that I might be bound The foolish seruant in the Comedy spake it with indignation Wherfore if there be in vs any wisdom of the Spirit and Christian ingenuity let vs feare and bee ashamed to make our own learning and knowledge our owne Mittimus to hell and to change and turne our talents by suppression or profanation of them into milstones about our necks to sinke vs downe into deeper condemnation I conclude all with that which may bee the summe of all that may be spoken the end of all Sermons and as one calleth it the voice of all creatures Accipe Redde Cane If it bee obscure I open it thus Accipe receiue in the name of God receiue the blessings Redde returne for the loue of God returne the duties Caue beware in the feare of God beware of the punishments O Lord as thou hast shewed vs much mercy both in giuing vs great blessings and forgiuing vs many sinnes and transgressions so let not our offences hinder the continuance of thy grace vnto vs but make vs more mindfull of our duties thankfull for thy benefits zealous for thy glory deuout in thy seruice confident in thy promises holy in our liues diligent in our vocations Heare O Lord c. A SERMON PREACHED AT PAVLS CROSSE ISAY 28.1 Woe to the Crowne of pride the drunkards of Ephraim for his glorious beauty shall be as a fading flower c. BEcause this argument is an argument of terror vttered in a ful sense without either preface ●ere or manifest dependāce vpon the former Chapters suffer me Right Honorable to trie the beginnings of my strength in a plaine and vnaffected interpretation that the words prouing first no strangers themselues may find that interest in your Iudgements as to recommend the matter to the readiest entertainment of your best affections Woe to the crowne of pride Though woe be a particle of bad aboade importing a curse to them that are threatned yet some Grammarians call it an inter●ection of sorrow Scholiasts reduce it to 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which signifying to grone can hardly bee pronounced without some sucking of the breath some sighing accent and Translators haue rendred it sometimes Alas as well as woe Let it therefore seeme no riddle if as out of the strong there came sweetnesse the threatner who thus roareth in the sinners eares appeare anon gracious compassionate quique dolet quoties cogitur esse serox The Crowne of pride some slightly passse ouer as standing barely for power and authority for honor and maiesty for any kind of eminency but I dare not rashly despise their coniecture who suppose that the Prophet sends vs by way of allusion to the common custome of drinking bankers wherein men of elder time crowned themselues with garlands I might trouble you with many profane Poeticall authorities in imitation whereof Clemens Alexandrinus plaieth the Poet. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 But all authorities to this purpose are super fluous amongst them that euer lookt backe vpon antiquities one reason of this vsage was no doubt necessity to preuent paine and amazement because wine doth in a sume first giue the braine a blow that like a subtil wrastler it may

or with his priuitie but against his consent and that eyther his full consent as by violence and oppression or his consent in part as in the practised exaction of couenanted interest from distressed debters who wish with all their heart that creditours would lend according to the nature of loane a contract of meere gratuitie their money according to the nature of mony which is an appointed instrument of exchange vncapable of such monstrous improuement All these may seeme comprehended in the Apostles exhortation 1. Thessal 4 Let no man oppresse or defraud his brother in any thing for God is an auenger of all such things the flying Booke doth houer ouer all their heads Whatsoeuer may bee spoken of this argument must suppose this plaine principle that euery man is not owner of euerie thing the principall right of all outward things God hath reserued to himselfe therefore the Israelites did not properly robbe the Aegyptians Deo ministerium praebuerunt God himselfe by a speciall commission entitled them therevnto yet hath hee committed to the sonnes of men a right of vse and dispensation agreeable vnto reason which asketh that things in nature perfect should serue creatures of more perfection wherun to for the auoyding of disorder a generall distinction of ownages was added by the Law of Nations For I reckon the Lacedemonians opinion of theft that it was an allowable exercise of Martiall discipline a paradoxe only of some men who withheld the truth in vnrighteousnesse which besides supposeth what euer I haue said because there can be no theft where there is no distinction of ownages afterwards as experience perceiued that the common Asse was neuer well saddled more speciall proprieties with designation of euery mans proper portion me us est hic ager ille tuus entred in by lawes positiue These bounds are ancient bounds the curse of the flying Booke must light vpon their houses who labour to remoue them whether they teach others so to doe as Anabaptists elder Heretikes called Apostolici or do it in their owne persons as theeues and oppressors For when the chiefe Lord hath beene no lesse carefull of fencing his Tenants possessions then in the maintenance of his owne homage and seruice writing downe Thou shalt not steale with the selfe same hand with which hee wrote Thou shalt haue none other Gods but me What singular ingratitude raigneth in them who reioyce in the spoiles one of another The verie Law of charitie being trodden vnder foot seemes in a greeuing accent to demand Si sterilitas in ignem mittitur rapacitas quid meretur Nor are the lawes of men written in bloud which in the censure of this vngratefull and vncharitable sinne exceed the punishment of Moses Indicials amongst a multitude of offenders which is caused not only by the fiercenesse of a wilde Nation but by the wantonnesse of a peaceable Nation For the latter is no lesse powerful then the former to quicken our originall corruptions in whose iudgements stolne waters are sweet Aliena nobis nostra plus alijs placent It is high time for the grand Cacus of this Westerne world to looke about him how he may defend himselfe and all his Italionated emissaries from the curse of this flying Booke For not to mention that spiritual sacriledge whereof good Doctor Taylor complained in a dreame Theeues theeues robbe God of his honour nor yet to pursue the manifest Leger-demaine of all their Diuinity whereof the fittest title inscription in my conceit may be that of the Apostle 1. Tim. 6.5 Vaine disputations of men of corrupt mindes destitute of the truth who thinke that gain is godlines because it emptieth it selfe frō point to point into the Churches treasure their vnequall exchange of lead for gold which the French Lawyers account no better then robbery and the practise of Priests and Iesuites who like the two Neopolitane theeues Pater noster and Aue Marie vnder pretence of long prayer deuoure widdowes houses might tell them that their iudgement and damnation sleepeth not The flying Booke shall enter into the house of the thiefe Thus farre while a Preacher walks in the generall describing the nature of theft declaring the equitie of the Lawes against it or otherwise declaming against strange theeues abroad euery man can be master of his owne patience descend hence vnto conclusions and applications Thou art a theefe thy trade is a theeuish trade Kings Courts and great Cities will quickly report that the Preacher did forsake his Text cleane mistake his Auditory giue mee therefore leaue for mine owne part to professe that no childe of the Prophets should be lesse troubled with Ionabs passion would Gods mercy make me this day a liar and your innocency my speeches all impertinent It was an honest opinion of antiquitie that theeuery should lurke altogether among the brethren of base degree without preferment as I could proue by the speech of Iarchas out of Philostratus in the life of Apollonius which Saint Ierome vpon the second to Titus ascribeth to a namelesse Author whosoeuer he were when a Magistrate was cōmended in his presence for being no theefe A good commendation said hee for a seruant if besides he be no runnagate To which relation Saint Ierome addeth this Epiphonema of his owne In tantum furti suspicio ab omni libero debet esse aliena so farre must euery free-man be from all suspicion of theeuery We may likewise say what men should be supposing them for the present farre otherwise Without flattery to paint men as wee find them the lamentable ruines of many decayed estates in this Land bid mee make an humble suite to freemen and rich men and Gentlemen to Lawyers and Iudges and Magistrates that they would thinke it no scorne to be no theeues If all theeues lurke in corners or onely scowre the plaines what meanes my Prophet why doth hee mention such a one as dwels in a house and that house his own It shal enter into the house of the thief Without all question the selfe same sinne as the selfe same riuer passing through diuers regions receiueth diuers appellations In the Church t is Sacriledge and Simony in the place of Gouernment t is oppression and tyranny in the place of Iudgement t is corruption and briberie and when the Riuer swels vp to the banke t is Vsurie Consider and compare these aright and I dare vndertake they that lie in ambushment betweene Ierusalem and Iericho shall be iustified as no theeues in comparison Alas these be trifling Treuants scarce their owne crafts-masters quickly discouered apprehended committed and fettered in chaines of iron while the greater abide at Ierusalem stalking about the streets in chaines of gold As this glorious port was purchased either in the Country by racking Tenants improouing Leases inclosing Commons or in the City by diminishing quantities corrupting qualities or taking opportunities by obseruing the seasons of dearth and scarcitie by lessening measures and falsifying ballances by mixtures and