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
A86695	A dry rod blooming and fruit-bearing. Or, A treatise of the pain, gain, and use of chastenings. Preached partly in severall sermons, but now compiled more orderly and fully for the direction and support of all Gods chastened that suffer either in Christ, or for Christ in these dayes. By G. Hughes, B.D. pastor of the church in Plymouth.	Hughes, George, 1603-1667.	1644 (1644)	Wing H3308; Thomason E48_9; ESTC R14529	125,445	138

else to steere himselfe by nothing more cleare then this that God laieth himself a rule to his creatures in his Attributes and workes As in that t Levit. 11.44 Be ye holy as I am holy so in this u Luk. 6.36 Be ye mercifull as your heavenly Father is mercifull otherwise vaine creatures are apt to call heavie light and bitter sweet and put off thereupon all bowells towards the Lords chastened God saith chastenings are heavie yet we might know it and say so too and subscribe unto it and expresse sutable indulgent affections to our afflicted brethren 2 More speciall for his chastened ones and that is to bee a standing comfort to them at every crosse when lovers and friends may stand fa●re off and none regard their sad condition though creatures thinke our burdens nothing and shew no pity to the afflicted it is no small refreshing that God knowes our sorrows and judgeth them grievous sit for his compassions David was often put to the use of this and sound no little comfort when an exil'd pilgrim hee wanders heavily driven from house and home and sprinkles his steps with teares and yet no man pitying or taking him in then he is comforted with this thought v Psal 56.8 Lord thou tellest my wanderings and bo●llest up my teares Againe when his spirit is overwhelmed with grief and hee lookes on the right hand and beheld and no man would know him no man cared for his soule then he can see and say x Psal 142.3.4.5 O Lord thou art my portion and my refuge thou carest for me and countest my burthen heavie Thus therefore God sheweth his certaine judgement of his peoples chastenings that in case of creature comfort failing to shew himselfe to be above all that it might be a standing cordiall to the afflicted soule SECT VI. Some Corollaries or inferences for instruction VVIthin the bosome of this sentence past by God lyeth this usefull truth Vse 1. Inst 1. God indulgeth yet grieves his children As God that chastens his owne judgeth their sufferings grievous so he himselfe spares not to put his holy ones to griefe He knowes the rod is smart and yet he laies it on though he pity hee will not spare to grieve his children Hee that knowes its griefe himselfe inflicts it Hee chastens yet pitieth them for their paine he pities and yet he chastens and sets on sorrow It doth not gainesay Gods gratious indulgence to afflict his people Three things God eyes Their sinne Their profit His owne Covenant all which inforce the unin of Gods indulgence and correction 1. God indulgeth yet scourgeth sons with an eye unto their sin not for satisfaction this were a detraction from Christ who alone can make it And what can the pain of the body recompence for the sin of the soul but for correction having marked former errors and miscarriages in them It is no lesse then Atheisme to deny God such a sight of sin in his children testified by his chastenings and intended not so much to afflict the soul as sin as may appeare in these aims of God therein 1. Every chastening respects sin To render sin more evident to the creature which perhaps before lay hid and unobserved or mistaken to be better then it is but when the deserved rod comes and grieves the flesh this discovery is presently made All the grief is sin which either hath provoked this painfull chastisement or at least made a way for it that the glory of God may appeare in the manifestation of sins bitternesse by it None knowes the fire better then he that hath been scorched nor can any better tell what cold is then he that hath been frozen and benummed by it and no man can speak of sin so well as he that knowes it in the smart It is a truth unquestionable y Lam. 3.39 Man suffers for his sin sin then is his suffering and its malignity in the smart of this z Compare Gen. 34.30 and Gen. 35.1 Jacob never so smelt the stench of his sin in the neglect of his vow at Bethel as when it made him stink amongst the inhabitants of the land a 2 Chron. 33.11.12 Manasseh never thought sin so burdensome as he found it by the iron chains in Babylon b Psal 38.3 So David seeth his sin to be the racker of his bones And c Rom. 7.24 Paul acknowledgeth it his death Thus sometime God teacheth men the knowledge of sin by its bitter evils d Iudg. 3.16 as Gideon taught the Elders of Succoth with thorns 2. To render sin more odious to his people doth God put them to grief He that loves wine its likely he doth not love poyson and if one cannot be had without the other if reason be left in the man the loathsomnesse of this will marre the pleasantnesse of that and make both equally odious It is usuall with God to put gall and wormwood upon sins desired Teat to wean his peoples affections from it that they might feel it the bitternesse of their soules and hate it e Hos 2.6.7 When thornes and adulterating seducing lovers are bound together the Church forsakes both these and them when Idols have no better companions but f Isai 30.20.22 bread of adversity and water of affliction they shall have a quick dispatch from the chastened souls with indignation they shall say Get ye hence 3. To render sin lesse pernitious or destructive and to give the speedier and the surer death unto it God grieves the soule which he so much tenders Flesh and sin are so neerly related and united that one cannot be but the other must be also neither can that lie weakned or afflicted but the other likewise suffers when the chastening hand of God laieth on the corrosive upon the Flesh when this weakens flesh it weakens sin and when it kills flesh it kills sin that it may save the soul from sins malignity in reigning and in killing It is the Apostles sure word g 1 Cor. 11.32 We are chastened of the Lord that we should not be condemned with the world The life and power of sin brings condemnation in the world Gods chastening kills that life and prevents that condemnation in his own afflicted See then indulgence and severitie in Gods rod towards his own in respect to sinne it is great mercie to lance that he may not kill With these purposes did God intimate his care of correcting the promised seed h Psal 89.30 31 32 33. If his children forsake my Law c. then will I visit their transgressions with the rod and their iniquitie with stripes yet I will love them too though I make it smart See chastening and yet indulgence love and yet the rod laid on 2. God puts his children to grief though he count it grievous Chastening looks to childrens profit with an eye to their further profit the full successe is given in that expression

A DRY ROD BLOOMING AND FRVIT-BEARING OR A Treatise of the Pain Gain and Vse of Chastenings Preached partly in severall Sermons but now compiled more orderly and fully for the direction and support of all Gods Chastened that suffer either in CHRIST or for CHRIST in these dayes By G. Hughes B. D. Pastor of the Church in PLYMOVTH Legi apud quendam sapientem Non est vir fortis cui non crescit animus ni ipsa rerum difficultate ego autem dico Fideli homini magis inter flagella fidendum Bern. Epist 256. Ad. D. P. Eng. It is good for a man that he bear the yoke in his youth Lam. 3 27 My yoke is easie and my burden is light Mat. 11.30 London Printed by T. Paine for John Rothwell at the Sun in Pauls Church-yard 1644. TO THE RIGHT VVORSHIPFVLL the Major Recorder and Aldermen of the Town of Plymouth with all that love the Lord I sus in sincerity even unto deepest sufferings in that place Honored and Beloved GOds Furnace of affliction and refining Fire hath beene visibly set up among you as in other parts of this distressed Island the furnace hath beene as hot and the flame as great as in any of Gods work-houses in the land Me thinks pity should be shewed to you so deepely afflicted and tossed with tempest by your friends Your enemies and the Churches oppressers wil not spare to add to your afflictions persecuting you as evill doers and charging you with Disloialty a Crime more bitter than your sufferings were the charge but just unjust aspersions will turne to greater honour at the last therfore may be present comforts I pray both for my selfe and you the abhorring of that Sinne next to Rebellion against the Lord of Glory I trust we shall strive equally against it be approved before the Reproacher in the latter end But why disloyall if I may a little reason because obedient to the lawfull commands of the true fundamentall power ordained by God over us such obedience cannot be Treason unlesse that power bee Traiterous and before this Age it was never known that a true Parliament was a subject capable of the crime of Treason and truer than this rais'd according to the fundamental constitutions of this Kingdome never was any let the enemy himselfe be Judge In this case it is safer to be accounted a Traitor for obedience to such a power then to bee one indeede by resistance of it To the accusers returne The Mystery of Iniquity as it covers sinne in poysoning so it hides the cause in persecuting It pretends Christ when it would convey into the Soule the very Hell of Antichrist and it cries out Faction Treason when it would murther outright Christ in his Members And this devise is too well knowne now than that Gods chosen should bee deluded by it wish them againe to leave calling Traitors and waite for the Chronicle in the next Generation which will more truely tell the generations to come who have beene indeede Traitors in this Age And tell them once more it little concerns the Saints in this matter to be indged in mans day or of mans judgement Gods day and judgement are hasting on unto which alone doe we appeale There shall they answer Christ and us and untill then wee will patiently beare and wait for sentence from our Iudge Your great suffering in the eyes of others both God and Men will finde I hope better acceptance and draw sweeter expressions for returne God hath not hid his face from you in yours deepest darknesse in the flame he hath kept your Bush from burning and in the furnace your selves and substance yet from consuming All that I pray for you is ye may not be found unthankful nor unfruitful but that ye may tread in the steps of Gods bosom-sonne to learne obedience by all that ye have suffered and returne unto the Lord according to mercies received For your helpe in this course I am bold to present this worke to your eyes and hearts to be seene and studied My first conceptions of it I confesse were occasioned by my owne afflictions for my owne use which though bitter to the flesh I hoped to sweeten by the Spirit of these truths bound up in this Apostolicall advertisement to the Christian Hebrewes and I blesse God my hope did not altogether faile nice in this matter Afterwards my thoughts were inlarged to some Sermons upon this subiect with desire not to keepe close these reviving cordialls but to impart them in measure for the comfort of Gods afflicted The desire of some of these to have those words under their eyes which did but touch their eares hath prevailed with me to compose all in this Treatise now to make it of publike use Yet in sending it abroad my hearts desire is to give it a speciall direction unto you and my prayer to God that it may abundantly be profitable to your soules To the love and care wherof as I am ingaged by the more speciall bonds of Christ so if you may better prosper under chastenings by this first fruit of my labour on you it will be my full rejoycing I present this worke to you and the afflicted Church the rather at this season to bee both a remedy against present pressures and an Antidote against the malignity of future troubles in the flesh which the Holy Ghost seem's to bid us to expect in these last dayes of testifying against the Antichrist and his vassal creatures if we be the Saints of God he points at our time and all that space remaining to the harvest of Antichrist Revel 14.12 with that finger Here is the patience of the Saints Here and now trialls enough shall be raised to exercise the patience of Gods Saints but no cause to undervalue Saintship for this Blessed Saints in this time that store up patience that keepe the Commandements of God and the faith of Iesus The victory and Kingdome shall be theirs If any afflicted soule may by this Treatise be directed to its due exercise under the rod and help't on to the receiving of the desired fruit it is all I aime at that God may be glorified in it Vpon you dearely beloved and longed for J cast this seede with a great hope of a sweete returne of a treble fruit toward the rod toward your God toward your selves which I beseech the Father of mercies by the word of blessing to perfect you by your obedience to helpe on that we be not ashamed 1. Towards the rod I shall long and hope for your returne of patience in a sweete bearing of it that ye neither faint under it nor despise it of obedience in a due hearing of it that like the Bee yee may worke hony out of every netle and of diligence or watchfulnesse to be conformed to Gods Covenant for which the Rod pleads that it may be as the thorne at the Nightingales breast your constant Awakener unto God 2. Towards

argues small strength for the heart to faint in the day of affliction so it no lesse evidenceth great power not to be shaken 3. There is a reward certainly following after and that a sweet and full one Jer. 31.16 It was Rachels consolation Refraine thine eyes from teares thy worke shall be rewarded No worse the issue of all Gods chastenings It is sweet to live the life of God above afflictions It is honorable to be of the Worthies and mightie ones of God to doe excellently Its greatest gaine to have Gods reward Himselfe is the returne I am thy Shield Gen. 15 1● and thy exceeding great reward was his word to travelling Abraham and no lesse his voice to the soules labouring faithfully under his rod. Be comforted then ye chastened of the Lord life and honour and riches are yours if God can satisfie you your worke shall be well rewarded then be comforted 4. The promised end and certain issue both of the fathers scourging and of thy laborious exercise under the rod conclude infallibly sweet consolation to thy soule Three expressions in the text which carry in them the gaine of affliction are very cordiall and worth applying to the heavy heart 1. Fruit is intailed upon Gods rod and thy worke which issuing from God in this line is a notion of good not of evill and sounds abundance not scanty measure of this sweet that doth arise from bitter It is some comfort to know a mans end shall be good though his beginning and way be darke and evill Woe to him whose good shall end in evil and joy in sorrow but blessed he whose sorrow shall be turned to joy and teares finished in laughing Good much good is reserved for thee in the latter end thou afflicted of the Lord doubled sweet had Job for all his sowre and so shalt thou Job 42.12 let not present sorrow swallow up thy hopefull comforts 2. Righteousnesse the speciall kinde of this fruit if serious thoughts work on it must inlarge thy heart and heighten thy joy against all smart whatever it cost thee It is of the kinde of spirituall and heavenly good not low visible and earthy all which must perish This is a piece of Gods holinesse whereof by chastening he intends to make us sharers with himself this is fruit this is good indeed This heavenly rectitude helpt on in mans heart by chastenings is the face or Image of God in a mirror the divine nature carrying in it the whole Set of Graces answering to the Graces of Christ and Attributes of God none so neer God as these in reality of nature and dignity of place These are in the Spirits expresses the heavenly Gold Pearles Diamonds Agats Carbuncles Rubies c. Blessed soule that is fraught with such riches what will one scruple of saving faith of true holinesse c. be worth when God comes to seek his Jewels Beggarly world shall then be shut out no worth in the Gold of Havilah or Ophir only excellency will be in the Gold of Heaven a little righteousnesse more worth then a world and thou poore chastened of the Lord shalt have fruit a whole crop and abundance of this whilest thou labourest in the fires to glorifie the Lord He will inrich and honour and comfort thee 3. If there be not good enough in that heavenly kinde of fruit to comfort thee excellent because it is righteousnesse the face of God a spark from heaven take in it's adjunct or sweet associate Peace that clings unto and kisseth the righteous soule This is the blessing that cannot be denyed thee thou chastened of the Lord Peace be unto thee The Lord himselfe speaks it unto thee John 14.27 the God of Peace Christ bequeathes it the Prince of Peace My peace I leave with you my peace I give unto you even to his troubled and afflicted Disciples and the Spirit of peace seales it upon your hearts designed the only Comforter in Christs stead to be alwayes present quieting and comforting the hearts of his distressed members Nay the Rod it self speaks peace and not evill nay if thou wilt look up and see the goodnesse of God in his scourge thy heart must and shall say truly It is peace God smiles on me whilest he whips me my smart is allayed my feares are gone perfect love shines forth in chastening Why should I be afraid God ownes and holds mee though his hand be heavie upon me he calls mee darling childe of his delights when he seems to cast me off he rebukes mee indeed sharply yet hee remembers mee hee strikes yet his bowels are troubled for me he hath afflicted but hee will sure have mercy on me I will therefore cheerfully beare his hand because it is good and comfort my self in my sorrowes and sing to my God in the very fires for the fruit of righteousnesse and peace shall be with me for ever My God and Father saith so my Redeemer saith so my Comforter saith so yea my afflictions say so and therefore my heart is perswaded to assent and say Surely it is so Peace is my solace in the midst of sufferings though the world see it not Consider and be comforted yee chastened ones SECT XIII Cases arising from the premises resolved AGainst closing with these comfortable considerations I know the troubled hearts of Gods dearest are disswaded that upon some seeming ground of reason which unlesse removed must make their conditions comfortlesse and their burthens doubly burthen-some Let us heare then what they can say and weigh that strength of pretended reason to see if it be forcible to keep out comfort in this condition if not to take it out of the way that it may perplex no more 1. Case 1. Our soule refuseth comfort and concludes nothing but wrath from God in it's affliction being moved thereunto from the greatnesse of the evill lying upon the flesh It argues like Gideon my misery is too great to admit a dram of love or mercy in it As he to the Angel J●dg 6.13 If the Lord be with us why then is all this befalne us No no God cannot be favourably with a people in such extremities as are b●falne us Never say the Lord is with mee or upon my side or like that widow-Jerusalem Lam. 1.12 Was ever any sorrow like unto my sorrow therefore a token of the day of Gods fierce anger and who can comfort against this Surely none can beare up when God puls down Answ nor comfort when he speaks displeasure if he be not graciously present with poore soules in their afflictions no reason indeed is there at all to be comforted The inference is good thus far but stay now Doth the greatnesse of our outward evill argue infallibly the absence of Gods love or the presence of his wrath This is the question which to take for granted is a great mistake the Negative part of it is Gods known Truth otherwise cast Job and