Selected quad for the lemma: mercy_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
mercy_n	hand_n	let_v	lord_n	8,430	5	4.2823	3	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A29155	A sermon preached at St. Catharine Cree-Church, on the 26th of November, 1691 being the thanksgiving-day, for the preservation of the King, and the reduction of Ireland / by Nicholas Brady ... ; printed at the request of his parishioners.	Brady, Nicholas, 1659-1726.	1692 (1692)	Wing B4174; ESTC R40295	11,416	32

A SERMON Preached at St. CATHARINE CREE-CHURCH On the 26th of November 1691. BEING THE Thanksgiving-day FOR THE Preservation of the KING and the Reduction of Ireland By Nicholas Brady M. A. Minister of St Catharine Cree-Church and Chaplain to his Grace the Duke of Ormond Printed at the Request of his Parishioners LONDON Printed for Samuel Crouch at the Corner of Popes-Head-Alley over against the Royal Exchange 1692. To my Worthy Friends The Parishioners of St. C. Cree-Church Gentlemen I Am so many ways indebted to you both for your obliging Election of me to be your Minister and for the several Civilities which I have received since my living amongst you that I could not refuse so small an acknowledgment as that of publishing the following Discourse at your Request tho I am not ignorant that besides its own defects the very subject matter of it will expose it to the Censure of some who will not allow others the liberty to speak well of the Government whilst they assume to themselves the priviledge of Railing at it and speaking evil of Dignities But since I proposed to my self no other end in it when I delivered it from the Pulpit than the instruction of my Congregation and the discharging of a good Conscience I am little concerned what Reception it may meet with abroad being abundantly satisfied by the desire you have testified to have it made publick that it has had its wish'd effect upon You who heard it and for whose use and advantage it was primarily designed As therefore I have consented to the Publication of it for no other reason but because I could not deny you the absolute disposal of that which is so justly your own so the only return that I expect or desire is that you will go on to exemplifie it in your practice and approve your selves in all things else as true Friends to the Government as you have done in your favourable acceptation of the following Discourse That it may please God to give you frequent occasions of Praises and Thanksgivings and to perfect the Deliverance which he has so happily begun shall be the constant Prayer of Decem. 4th 1691. Your Hearty Well-Wisher Obliged Friend and Servant in the Lord N. Brady A SERMON Preached on the Thanksgiving-day PSAL. XVIII The former part of the last Verse Great deliverance giveth he to his King GOD having rejected Saul from being King over Israel and having raised up his chosen Servant David to govern in his stead many were the Attempts against him of his potent and designing Enemies both by open Violence and by secret Practices But the Lord whose right hand has the preheminence and brings mighty things to pass whose Counsel shall stand let there be never so many devices in the heart of man gave Victory unto his King and shewed Mercy unto his Anointed and by signal and frequent manifestations of his Power established and quietly setled him in that Throne to which his good Providence had so remarkably conducted him In grateful Commemoration of these wonderful Deliverances the Royal Prophet composed this Psalm of Thanksgiving as we may clearly gather from the Preface of it where it is intitled A Psalm of David the Servant of the Lord who spake unto the Lord the words of this Song in the day that the Lord delivered him out of the hand of all his Enemies and out of the hand of Saul In it he gives us a large and eloquent description of Almighty Power and unbounded Goodness and shews us how eminently they had both been exerted in his own favour and being rapt up into a holy extasie upon a due contemplation of the Mercies which he had received he breaks forth into this passionate Acknowledgment in the words of my Text Great deliverance giveth he to his King In my following Discourse upon which words I shall insist upon these four particulars The two former of which are contained in my Text The two later are naturally deducible from it and fitly accommodated to the present occasion First I shall examine what it is to be Gods King and what qualifications are generally found in such a Prince as may justly deserve that Denomination Secondly I shall shew that to such a Prince as is God's King God will give great deliverance Thirdly I shall prove both from the qualifications generally found and from the deliverance given that his present Majesty does justly deserve the denomination of God's King Fourthly and lastly I shall enquire what Returns are due from us to God for the great deliverance which he has given to his King First then I shall examine what it is to be Gods King and what Qualifications are generally found in such a Prince as may justly deserve that denomination Great deliverance giveth he to His King It is indeed most undeniably true that in a large and unlimited sense every Sovereign Prince may be styled God's King since the most Arbitrary Tyrants and most forcible Usurpers are without question ordained by God according as he testifies of himself Is there any evil in the City and I have not done it But what we here mean by His King is such a King as is designed by God to be the instrument of signal Mercies and an extraordinary Blessing to the people which he governs And in such a Prince as we now speak of these three following Qualifications are generally found 1. A visible and more than common designation of him to the Government 2. A Course of Government advantagious to his People and tending to the Advancement of True Religion 3. A Life Exemplary and Unblameable in his private Actions and Conversation 1. Then in order to denominating a Prince God's King there is generally found a visible and more than common designation of him to the Government God in his ordinary Dispensation of common Mercies generally proceeds in a setled course he makes his Sun to rise daily his Rain to fall at its appointed Season and thus he dispenses his usual Blessings after a familiar manner in a regular way and ties himself up as it were to Rule and Method But when he designs to bless remarkably and to give extraordinary Instances of his good Will and Favour he then has no other bounds but his own Omnipotency and constrains us to confess that it is the Lord 's doing by making his proceedings appear marvellous in our eyes Thus if a Nation be to be rescued from Slavery a Moses shall be sent in the power of Miracles if a tottering Government be to be settled and confirmed a David shall be conducted to the Helm by a constant Series of most especial Providences if Idolatry be to be rooted out a Jehu shall be Anointed to it in a particular and solemn manner that so at the same time that we are sensible of the Mercy we may also perceive from whose hand it comes that God may not only give Blessings unto his People but may make unto himself also a glorious Name

For indeed we are all too apt to sacrifice to our Net as the Prophet words it to ascribe our successes to our own endeavours than which we cannot offer a greater affront to the Almighty Author of them God therefore being willing to assert and vindicate his own Honour and being jealous of his Glory which he will not give to another interposes visibly in such remarkable occurrences and by so doing extorts a Confession that we were not delivered by our own strength neither did our own arm save us but his right hand and his arm and the light of his countenance because he had a favour for us When we find things go on in the common road and proceed forward in an unbroken course if any alteration happens for the better we are apt to impute it to Chance or Accident or the uncertain Vicissitude of Worldly affairs and seldom do we look up to a higher Cause But when in order to that end we see the current of Affairs unaccountably diverted from its proper Channel Ancient Constitutions abolished and new ones introduced and all this done as suddenly and surprizingly as a Scene is shifted in the Theatre when when we see the mighty against all manner of probability brought down from his seat and the humble and meek against all human appearance exalted to it we cannot then but discover his hand in it who raises up one and casts down another we cannot but acknowledg that our Salvation is of the Lord. This therefore is the first Qualification generally found in such a Prince as may justly be denominated God's King a visible and more then common designation of him to the Government But because this may be as well applied to Tyrants who are sent by God for Scourges to a Rebellious Nation as to those who are designed Protectors and Deliverers therefore A second Qualification of such a Prince as may justly be denominated God's King is a Course of Government advantageous to his People and tending to the Advancement of True Religion The two great Ends which God proposes to himself by sending a Blessing of so high a Nature are the benefit of those to whom he sends it and the Glory of his own great Name The former of these cannot be attained but by such a Course of Government as is advantageous to the People nor the later unless it tend to the advancement of God's Worship in its Purity and to the furtherance of true Religion But God neither lays his designs so shallowly nor executes them so weakly as to run any hazard of a disappointment and consequently his ends will assuredly be compleated and that probably by such means as I have already assigned And indeed this is the truest 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or touchstone by which we may at any time be able to distinguish whether God sends us a Prince in Mercy or whether he gives us a King in his Anger since those who are designed for the Executioners of his Vengeance are as discernably advanced by the Divine Assistance as those who are intended for the Instruments of his Favour It is not therefore the bare Accession to a Crown by an unbeaten Path that can denominate any one in the sense of my Text Gods King but such a management of Affairs during his Administration as may answer the intentions of unbounded Goodness God sometimes conducts one to the Throne and seats him in it and when he has so done abandons him to himself and then how different is the man from what he was before all the expectation that was raised by his unusual promotion is most unhappily disappointed his Lusts and his Passions hurry him to extremities Neither Law nor Conscience can set bounds to his Extravagancies and his Exit is generally as shameful and as miserable as his coming in was honourable and hopeful But when God has appointed one to be his King he does not only lead him to it by the hand and establish him in it but upholds him also with his Power and directs him with his Wisdom that he may be able to go in and out before so great a People Then the expectation which was at first raised by his signal advancement is happily kept up by his worthy performances then does Justice run down like waters and Righteousness like a mighty stream because God has given his Judgments unto his King and has poured out his spirit upon his Anointed This therefore is the second Qualification of such a Prince as may justly be denominated God's King a course of Government advantageous to his People and tending to the advancement of true Religion A Third Qualification by which a Prince may justly be denominated God's King is a Life exemplary and unblamable in his private Actions and Conversation A Prince that is designed for a Scourge and an Avenger is generally as ill a Man as he is a King since it is the usual method of God's Providence to burn the Rod after he has made use of it and Executioners we know are seldom chosen out of the best of men the basest and the worst are commonly thought good enough for such an Employment But where Blessings are dispensed they are always transmitted through the hands of Favourites The Mercy of God is his darling Attribute nor will he ever prostitute it so far as to impart it by the means of such who have themselves no title to it The greatest of all mercies the Covenant of Grace was conveyed to mankind by his best-beloved and so it is proportionably with subordinate Blessings Now we know without holiness it is impossible to please God and how shall he convey the refreshings of his goodness by such a One as is the object of his displeasure We cannot therefore look upon any one to be God's King where we do not see some Rays of the Divine Perfection breaking forth in his Life and Conversation And hence it is that the Royal Prophet who names himself his King in the words of my Text stiles himself in the Preface of this Psalm the Servant of the Lord. And certainly it is the greatest advantage imaginable towards drawing down Blessings of the first magnitude upon a Nation to have a Prince whose Actions are exemplary and unblamable since he is not only qualified thereby to be a fit Instrument for the conveyance of them but by the strength and power of so eminent an Example will probably influence his Subjects also and fit them for the reception and improvement of them This therefore is the third Qualification of such a Prince as may justly be denominated God's King a Life Exemplary and Unblamable in his private Actions and Conversation And indeed the Royal Author of this Psalm of Thanksgiving might justly apply that title to himself since he was signally qualified in these three particulars Through what an amazing labyrinth of Dangers and of Difficulties did the clue of Divine Providence direct him to the Throne How studiously did he consult the good