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
A13515	The vnnaturall father, or, The cruell murther committed by [one] Iohn Rowse of the towne of Ewell, ten m[iles] from London, in the county of Surry, vpon two of his owne children with his prayer and repentance in prison, his arrai[gn]ment and iudgement at the Sessions, and his execution for the said fact at Croydon, on Munday the second of Iuly, 1621.	Taylor, John, 1580-1653.	1621 (1621)	STC 23808A; ESTC S1148	10,295	21

a gall to the Conscience a corrosiue to the heart turning mans wit into foolish madnesse the bodies bane and the soules perdition it is excessiue in youth and odious in age besides God himselfe doth denounce most fearefull threats against Fornicators and Adulterers as the Apostle saith that Whoremongers and Adulterers shall not inherit the Kingdome of Heauen 1. Cor. 6. 9. And God himselfe saith that he will be a swift witnes against Adulterers Mal. 3. 5. And the Wise man saith that because of the whorish woman a man is brought to a morsell of bread and a woman will hunt for the precious life of a man For saith he can a man take fire in his bosome and his cloathes not bee burnt or can a man goe vpon hot Coales and his feete not be burnt So hee that goeth in to his neighbours Wife shall not be innocent Prou. 6. 27 28 29. Abimelech one of the sonnes of Gedeon murdered threescore and ten of his Brethren and in reward thereof by the iust Iudgement of God a woman with a piece of a Milstone beate out his braines after hee had vsurped the Kingdome three yeeres Iudges the 9. Our English Chronicles make mention that Roger Mortimer Lord Baron of Wallingford murdered his Master King Edward the second and caused the Kings Vncle Edmund Earle of Kent causelessely to bee beheaded but Gods Iustice ouertooke him at last so that for the said Murders hee was shamefully executed Humphrey Duke of Glocester was murdered in the Abbey of Bury by William de la Poole Duke of Suffolke who afterward was beheaded himselfe on the Sea by a Pyrat Arden of Feuersham and Page of Plimmouth both their Murders are fresh in memory and the fearefull ends of their Wiues and their Ayders in those bloudy actions will neuer bee forgotten It is too manifestly knowne what a number of Stepmothers and Strumpets haue most inhumanely murdred their Children and for the same haue most deseruedly been executed But in the memory of man nor scarcely in any History it is not to be found that a Father did euer take two Innocent Children out of their beds and with weeping teares of pittilesse pitie and vnmercifull mercy to drowne them shewing such compassionate cruelty and sorrowfull sighing remorcelesse remorce in that most vnfatherly and vnnaturall deede All which may be attributed to the malice of the Diuell whose will and endeuour is that none should be saued who layes out his traps and snares intangling some with Lust some with Couetousnesse some with Ambition Drunkennesse Enuy Murder Sloth or any Vice whereto hee sees a man or a woman inclined most vnto as hee did by this wretched man lulling him as it were in the cradle of sensuality and vngodly delight vntill such time as all his meanes Reputation and Credit was gone and nothing left him but misery and reproach Then hee leades him along through doubts and feares to haue no hope in Gods Prouidence perswading his Conscience that his sinnes were vnpardonable and his Estate and Credit vnrecouerable VVith these suggestions he led him on to despaire and in desperation to kill his Children and make shipwracke of his owne Soule in which the diligence of the Diuel appeareth that he labours and trauels vncessantly and as Saint Bernard saith in the last day shall rise in condemnation against vs because he hath euer been more diligent to destroy soules then wee haue been to saue them And for a Conclusion let vs beseech God of his infinite mercy to defend vs from all the subtill temptations of Satan IOHN ROVVSE his Prayer for pardon of his lewd life which hee vsed to pray in the time of his imprisonment GOD of my Soule and Body haue mercy vpon mee the one I haue cast away by my Folly and the other is likely to perish in thy Fury vnlesse in thy great mercy thou saue it My Sinnes are deepe Seas to drowne mee I am swallowed vp in the bottomlesse Gulph of my own transgressions With Cain I haue beene a Murderer and with Iudas a Betrayer of the Innocent My body is a Slaue to Satan and my wretched Soule is deuoured vp by Hell Blacke haue beene my thoughts and blacker are my deeds I haue beene the Diuels instrument and am now become the scorne of men a Serpent vpon earth and an Out-cast from Heauen What therefore can become of mee miserable Caitiffe if I looke vp to my Redeemer to him I am an Arch Traitor if vpon Earth it is drowned with Blood of my shedding if into Hell there I see my Conscience burning in the Brimstone Lake God of my Soule and Body haue mercy therefore vpon mee Saue mee O saue mee or else I perish for euer I dye for euer in the world to come vnlesse sweet Lord thou catchest my repentant Soule in thine Armes O saue me saue me saue me IOHN ROVVSE of Ewell his own Arraignment Confession Condemnation and Iudgement of himselfe whilst he lay Prisoner in the White Lyon for drowning of his two Children I Am arraign'd at the blacke dreadfull Barre Where Sinnes so red as Scarlet Iudges are All my Inditements are my horrid Crimes Whose Story will affright succeeding Times As now they driue the present into wonder Making Men tremble as trees struck with Thunder If any askes what Euidence comes in O'Tis my Conscience which hath euer bin A thousand witnesses and now it tels A Tale to cast me to ten thousand Hels The Iury are my Thoughts vpright in this They sentence me to death for doing amisse Examinations more there need not then Than what 's confest heere both to God and Men. The Cryer of the Court is my blacke Shame Which when it cals my Iury doth proclaime Vnlesse as they are summon'd they appeare To giue true Verdict of the Prisoner They shall haue heau 〈…〉 set Such as may 〈…〉 uens debt About me round sit Innocence and Truth As Clerkes to this high Court and little Ruth From Peoples eyes is cast vpon my face Because my facts are barbarous damn'd and base The Officers that 'bout me thicke are plac't To guard me to my death when I am cast Are the blacke stings my speckled soule now feeles Which like to Furies dogge me close at heeles The Hangman that attends me is Despaire And gnawing wormes my fellow-Prisoners are His Inditement for Murder of his Children THe first who at this Sessions lowd doth call me Is Murder whose grim visage doth appall me His eyes are fires his voice rough windes out-rores And on my head the Diuine Vengeance scores So fast and fearfully I sinke to ground And wish I were in twenty Oceans drownd He sayes I haue a bloudy Villaine bin And to proue this ripe Euidence steps in Brow'd like my selfe Iustice so brings about That blacke sinnes still hunt one another out 'T is like a rotten frame ready to fall For one maine Post being shaken puls downe all To this Inditement holding vp my hand Fettered with Terrors mor● then Irons stand And being ask'd what to the Bill I say Guilty I cry O dreadfull Sessions day His Iudgement FOr these thick Stygian streams in which th' ast swom Thy guilt hath on thee laid this bitter doome Thy loath'd life on a Tree of shame must take A leaue compeld by Law e're old age make Her signed Passe-port ready Thy offence No longer can for dayes on earth dispense Time blot thy name out of this bloudy roule And so the Lord haue mercy on my Soule His speech what hee could say for himselfe OWretched Caytiffe what perswasiue breath Can call back this iust Sentence of quicke death I begge no boone but mercy at Gods hands The King of Kings the Soueraigne that commands Both Soule and Body O let him forgiue My Treason to his Throne and whilst I liue Iebbits and Racks shall torture limme by limme Through worlds of Deaths I le breake to fly to him My Birth-day gaue not to my Mothers wombe More ease then this shall ioyes when e're it come My body mould to earth sinnes sinke to Hell My penitent Soule win Heauen vaine world farewell FINIS