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
A77677	A soliloquy of the soule, or, A pillar of thoughts with reasons proving the immortality of the soule / written by Sir Richard Baker, Knight.	Baker, Richard, Sir, 1568-1645.	1641 (1641)	Wing B512; ESTC R42576	24,998	195

but for himselfe and not love my selfe but only for him And yet O my soule that thou couldest love God but as David did though but onely for his Benefits for then at least thou mightest bee a soule after Gods owne heart as David was And why my soule shouldest thou not Alas why dost thou not love him as David did seeing thou hast as great Motives as David had For what was his Motive but that God heard his supplication and what was his supplicatiō but that God would defend him from his Enemies from Sin and Satan and doe not these assault thee as strongly as they did David And have they not overcome thee at least had they not overcome thee if God had not defended thee O my soule It is the great mercy of God that sinne hath not already swallowed thee up and that thou hast not long since beene made a prey to Satan If therefore my soule thou canst not apprehend the greatnesse of Gods mercy by considering it in it selfe then take a view of it by considering the greatnesse of thy sin For as they that cannot looke upon the brightnes of the sunne as it is in it selfe doe by looking in the water come to discerne it in some measure so though thou canst not apprehend Gods mercy as it is in it selfe yet by viewing it as it were in the water of thy sinnes Alas in themselves a filthy puddle but for this purpose a cleare streame thou maist come to apprehend it at least in some proportion For according to the greatnesse of thy sin is the greatnesse of Gods mercy in forgiving thy sinne But in considering thy sinne let this be a part of thy Pillar of Thoughts that as Christs wounds were remaining on his body at his Resurrectiō so the wounds of thy sinne will remaine upon thy soule at the day of Judgement and least thou shouldest thinke in so long a time they might all be forgotten let this also be added to thy thoughts that there will then bee kept a sessions where al the circumstances of thy sins will be summoned to meet together to give Evidence against thee and then Time it selfe will come in and tell the very houre when Place it selfe will come in and shew the very roome where the Persons themselves will come in and present the very faces of them with whom or against whom thou didst commit any sinne in the whole course of thy life al as visibly as when the sinnes were a doing and even thy evil thoughts which yet never came further then the cloyster of thy heart will then come forth as fresh as when they were a thinking and all thy prophane words as audible as when they were a speaking and all thy filthy writings as legible as when they were a writing and lest there should want an accuser as there did to the Adultresse in the Gospel Satan himselfe will take that Office upon him and doe it most spitefully in such sort my soule that it cannot be said whether thy shame or thy Horrour will then be greater thy shame to see thy filthines discovered and laid open before all people or thy horrour to finde thy case desperate and past all hope or possibility of relieving And is it not time before this time to thinke of that time a fearefull thing to thinke of I confesse but without thinking of it now there will be no helping of it then and therefore thinke of it my soule but thinke of it to prevent it and as desperate as thy case may be yet doe not despaire Never yeelde how great so ever thy sin be or be made appeare to be that it can be greater or any thing neere so great as Gods mercy For compare them my soule together Thy sin is great because a transgression of Gods law but Gods mercy must needes be greater because a law to himselfe Thy sinne is no more then thou art able to doe but Gods mercy is more then thou art able to think thy sin is but a Plot of Satans to entrap thee but Gods mercy is his owne purpose to relieve thee thy sin is but infinite in Relation but Gods mercy is infinite in it self and absolutely thy sin is but an Accidentall thing in thee but Gods mercy I may say is his very substance that as much as himself is greater then thy self so much his mercy is greater then thy sin and indeed if thy sin could be greater then Gods mercy there should be somthing in thee greater then that which is greatest in God for of all the things that humane capacity conceiveth to be in God there is none greater then his mercy none so great as his mercy at least as greater and lesser may be conceived where all are Infinite But though Gods mercy bee greater then any mans sinne yet any mans sinne may come to bee greater then Gods mercy if either despaire reject it or presumption slight it for both these are of force to make Gods mercy of no force at least of no force to forgive because they leave no capacity to be forgiven For all capacity of Forgivenesse is then clean barred up when either Despaire or Presumption stand at the En●rance In all other cases Gods mercy hath the Pre●eminence and makes the greatest sinnes become like ●loudes either blowne away as with the wind of his goodnesse or else dissolved as with the sunne of his kindnesse And now my soule thy ●houghts me thinkes are come to some fashion of a Pillar they are solid and firme and want but Erecting but all the difficulty is to erect them for though Gods mercy if once attayned bee greater then any mans sinne yet it is no easie matter to attaine it seeing there is no attaining it but from his Mercy seate and his Mercy seate is the highest part of all his Arke and this must needes bee a great height farre higher then wee of our selves are ever able to reach No my soule there is no way to reach it no meanes to climbe up to it but onely by Iacobs ladder which ladder is Christ and if in climbing up this ladder there bee not the greater heede taken in stead of raysing thee up it will but cast thee down give thee the greater Fall Thou must not therefore doe as the Apostate Angels did ascend first and then descend ascend first in Presumption and then descended in Despaire Ascend first in scorning this ladder as thinking their owne nature more worthy for the Sonne of God to take then the seed of the woman and then descend by falling off the ladder and have their heads broken by the seed of the womā no my soule thou must take a contrary course Descend first and then Ascend Descend first in Humility thē Afcend in Hope Descend first into a serious confideratiō of thy sin and then Ascend to a stedfast apprehension of Gods mercy Descend first with Christ into Hell by Patience in Adversity and then Ascend up

from Adam Et natis natorum qui nascentur ab● illis seeing as the soule was then Tota in toto tota in qualibet parte all in the whole and all in every part of Adams body so it is still in every one of ours Or lastly if this also be refused Is it not then that we are all borne of that ●cursed seed upon which ●e sentence of Morte mo●eris was for the sinne of ●isobedience justly pro●ounced and though the ●oule be not Ex Traduce ●om the parents yet when 〈◊〉 once joynes with this ●ccursed seed and is made ●ne with it it justly be●omes both guilty of the ●inne and subject to the ●urse and shall so continue untill the seede of the woman take both the guilt of the sinne and the curse of the Law upon himselfe to free us from both and now if you will say It is hard measure in God to lay the penalty of one mans offence upon all his posterity you must withall say it is great mercy in God to impute the merit of one mans righteousnesse to all his followers that as the most you can say in that case is that God is a just Judge so the least you can say in this case is that he is a Mercifull Redeemer and now and ever a Faithfull Creatour If the soule did die with the body why should it not as well be sicke with the body and grow old with the body But this is found by daily experience that in the sicknesse of the body the soule is commonly best in health and in the age of the body the soule is yet yong still or rather hath the greatest vigour in these two seasons the sensitive part indeed because it useth bodily Organs must needes decay with their decaying but the intellectuall part which neither useth any nor hath use of any continues to be it selfe still what ever they be corrupted perhaps in her quality but not made corruptible in her substance and even when it is at the very point of disbanding and leaving the body yet then she exerciseth the operation of her Faculty in as great vigour as ever understands as much knowes as much apprehends as much as at any time before And could it doe so if it depended upon the body which is then all out of frame and in confusion It is indeed plainly to be seene that while the vegetative Facultie is in the greatest vigour all that while wee use the sensitive but little the Rationall not at all as is seen in Infants and little Children and while the sensitive Faculty is in the greatest vigour all that while we use the Rationall but little which makes youth commonly so intemperate as it is but when the sensitive and vegetative Faculties grow to decay as in old age they doe then comes the Rationall to be in greatest force which makes old men commonly to be of soundest judgements and therefore seeing the Rationall Faculty decayes not with the body as the other doe neither is it possible it should be extinct with the Body as the other are If the soule perish together with the body then it perisheth before the body for the body reteines its proportion and shape at least for some time after the soul hath left it but the foule if it perish then reteines nothing at all of all her Faculties they are all extinct and gone and so by this reckoning the body should be a longer laster than the soule which though it be true in Beasts whose soule is perhaps nothing but the life yet it is false in man whose soule is a substance subfisting by it selfe and separable from the body But though by these words of Salomon Who knoweth the Soule of a man that goeth downward or the soule of a man that goeth upward It may be gathered there is Aliquid imperceptibile in the soule of man something so obscure and hidden that makes it impossible to be thorowly understood and therefore no demonstrative Arguments can bee drawne from thence to make a peremptory conclusion of its immortality yet there are Arguments enow some drawne from the nature of the soule it selfe and some from forraigne circumstances that evidently evince it against all opposition to bee immortall For the soule of man can apprehend immortality which Beasts cannot and shall it not bee capable of immortality though Beasts are not And more then this the soule of man can discharge the Function of immortality which is to make of all times one reducing the time past and that which is to come into the present and is it possible it should doe the worke of immortality and not bee immortall If the soule of man bee not immortall then neither are the Angels immortall for they are all made of the same immateriall mettall which if it be durable in the one why not as well durable in the other must not those creatures be needes of the same nature and condition which do all alike the same actions insist all alike upon the same object have all alike the same Summum bonum but all these are common alike to men and Angels to both which the Summum Bonum is to enjoy Gods Presence the chiefe Object is the blessed Face of God the Finall actions are to glorifie God if then Immortality be granted to the Nature of Angels how can it be denyed to the Soule of man The Soule of man can apprehend God who onely is immorall and can that be mortall which apprehends him that is immortall and more then this the soule of man is the onely Creature in this inferiour world that can praise God and seeing Gods praise shall never cease can that cease which is to praise him And so it is for the glory of God that the soule be immortall Hath not God made the Heavens and the Earth for the use of man therein to glorifie him and shall he use them no longer than this life and longer he cannot use them if the soule be mortall and so it is for the glory of God still that the soule be immortall If the soule be not immortall when is it that God punisheth the wicked and rewardeth the godly seeing not in this life if not in another and not in another if the soule be mortall and so it is for the Justice of God that the soule be immortall If the soule bee not immortall what good is it that In memoria aeterna erit justus the Righteous shall be had in everlasting remembrance of which hee can neither be sensible nor intelligent and so it is fo● the Justice of God stil that the soule bee immortall If the soule be not immortall how shall the places of the Angels that fell be filled up againe Or shall they stand empty for ever as though God had not power to fill them up and so it is for the Power of God that the soule bee immortall If the Soule be not immortall how is God the God of Abraham the God