Selected quad for the lemma: mercy_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
mercy_n	hear_v	lord_n	merciful_a	2,985	5	9.4011	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A68105	The way to well-doing. Or A sermon of faith and good vvorkes Preached in the chappell of Buntingford, in the county of Hartford, at the beginning of their publike lecture. By Iohn Gore, rector of Wenden-lofts in Essex.	Gore, John, Rector of Wendenlofts, Essex.; Gore, John, Rector of Wendenlofts, Essex, Summer sermon. aut; Gore, John, Rector of Wendenlofts, Essex. Winter sermon. aut	1638 (1638)	STC 12087; ESTC S116024	20,619	38

intercession to God against Israel Good men in former times were wont to make intercession to God For the people not Against them Abraham prayed for the wicked Sodomites Ieremy prayed for the Idolatrous Israelites till God forbad him and gave him a countermand Pray no more for this people for I will not heare thee Ier. 11. 14. The Husbandman in the Parable entreates his Master for the unfruitfull tree that he would spare it and not cut it downe and doth Eliah differ from all the rest and bend his prayers against the people and pray for the vexation and undoing of his Country How could this stand with that good Religion and that good affection which so holy a man should beare towards the people of God Answer Three things there are in my weake judgement that may seeme to warrant and beare out Eliah in praying for a judgement 1. Authoritas Prophetica Prophets might doe more then ordinary persons and Eliah had the spirit of Prophesie and knew by revelation from God that such a judgement was a comming therefore he might the more warrantably and unoffensively frame his desires to Gods appointments and fit his prayers to Gods purposes Thus must we conceive of those bitter execrations and imprecations wherewith David did so often in the Psalmes curse and banne his enemies Let their Table be their snare let their children be vagabondes and begge their bread c. A man would thinke it could not stand with the piety and charity of a godly man to wish such wicked events such uncharitable wishes to proceed out of his mouth but onely that we know he was a Prophet of God and did it per afflatum divinum by the direction and inspiration of the Holy Ghost he knew by the spirit of Prophesie they were such as were accursed of God being Gods enemies as well as his and therefore might the more warrantably and safely doe it It is not for us to use Davids curses unlesse we had Davids spirit David and Eliah had that gift which the Apostle cals 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the discerning spirits they knew by instinct from heaven who were blessed and who were cursed of God It is not so with us God hath hid those secrets from our eyes and therefore it is our part and duty to pray in love and charity That God would have mercy upon all men But what use then are we to make of those curses in the Psalmes that are read so often to us Answer Thus we may doe we may apply them to the enemies of the Church that seeke the ruine of the true Religion and professe an open enmity to the Gospel and faith of Iesus Christ Who is God blessed for ever we may safely take our Saviours part and curse all those that are enemies to him So let all thy enemies perish O Lord Iud. 5. 31. But for our owne enemies that have done us some private wrong or bare us some secret grudge to curse them and ban them in this kinde as the usuall manner of some is it is both unwarrantable uncharitable and ungodly But the best and safest use that we can make of those curses is to appropriate and apply them to our selves to acknowledge and adjudge our selves worthy to undergoe all those deadly evils and that God may justly doe so and more than so unto us if hee should deale with us according to our sinnes by this meanes we shall save God a labour and our selves a paine For as on the contrary to blesse our selves is the way to make God curse us Deut. 29. 20. Hee that blesseth himselfe when hee heareth the words of these curses saying I shall have peace though I walke in the imagination of my owne heart adding drunkennesse to thirst marke what followes The Lord will be revenged upon the soule of such a one his anger and his jealousie shall smoke against that man and all the curses that are written in this booke shall light upon him and the Lord shall blot out his name from under Heaven This a man gets by blessing of himselfe whereas if thou wouldst be blest of God I doe not say that thou shouldst curse thy selfe farre be it from any servant of Christ so to doe but this I would advise thee to doe even with a sorrowfull and a sad heart to say Amen to all the curses in the Booke of God to acknowledge and confesse that thou hast justly deserved and that it is Gods onely mercy that thou hast escaped them So much for the first reason that may warrant Eliahs prayer the next may be this 2. Convenientia temporis the fitnesse and order of time when this was done it was done in the time of the Law which was used to such judgements they were then accustomed to more terrible wonders than are now sutable to the sweete and saving time of the Gospel observe the wonders that Moses wrought in Egypt what terrible what hurtfull what mischievous wonders they were he turned all their water into blood all their dust into Lice and spoyled all the fruits of the earth and undid the whole Land What a dreadfull wonder was that of Elisha 2 Reg. 2. when he cursed the children of Bethel that mocked him for his baldnesse One would have thought that a little discipline a little correction or sending to their Parents or Masters would have sufficed and beene a sufficient revenge for waggish unhappy boyes that did not know their duty to a man of God but hee lookes upon them with a direfull countenance and cursed and banned them in the name of the Lord and immediately two Shee-beares came out of the Wood and tare two and forty of them in pieces what a horrible what a terrible what a mischeivous wonder was this Of the same kind was that of Eliah 2 Reg. 1. When the Captaine came with authority to bid him come downe and come before the King he might have answered I cannot come or the Lord appointed me some other way to goe c. but the next word we heare is a word of Iudgement and Vengeance If I be a man of God let fire come downe from heaven and consume thee and thy company and so it did both them and the rest that came after on the same message Such wonders as these were usuall in the time of the Law But now looke to the Miracles and Wonders of our Saviour in the Gospell and you shall finde them to be of another nature all of goodnesse and mercy all mercifull all beneficiall all healing Miracles no way hurtfull or destructive of any mans life We read of many a mans life that he saved many that hee recalled and restored none that he destroyed no not one being so reviled as he was so persecuted so laid for so betrayed apprehended condemned and crucified yet what one man did our Saviour strike dead for all these haynous indignities Nay he was so farre from revenge that he prayed for their lives that sought

when a man doth stedfastly resolve by the assistance and grace of God to separate himselfe from every knowne sinne and to sanctifie himselfe in all holy duty and obedience to God striving by a holy desire and an hearty endeavour in nothing willingly to sinne against God but in every thing to please him and approove himselfe unto him if such a man chance to fall by occasion into a fault or be overtaken unawares as the Apostle speakes Gal. 6. 1. besides the purpose of his heart and the intention and desire of his soule that mans sinnes are sinnes of infirmity which by the mercy of God shall never be laid to his charge Contrarily when a man shall hang in equilibrio in an even ballance as it were betwixt wickednesse and goodnesse and shall be equally disposed to sinne or not to sinne as occasion shall offer it selfe or which is worse shall doe like him Psal 36. 4. shall set and settle himselfe in a way that is not good resolving with himselfe that this sinne fits my turne and pleaseth my humour and I will not part with it or which is worst of all when a man shall draw iniquity with cords of vanity as the Prophet speaketh as if the devill were backeward and sinne would not come fast enough upon him of its owne accord shall fish and angle for it and hunt after ill company and draw himselfe and others into sinne as Fish and Fowles are drawne into a net to their ruine and destruction this mans sinnes are farre beyond the sinne of infirmity for they are sinnes of iniquity and sinnes of obstinacy and such as will cost him many a sigh many a groane many a teare before ever he shall attaine to this comfortable perswasion that there is compassion with God and salvation with Christ for his soule 2. A sinne of infirmity is knowne by the consequents of it or that which followes after it it leaves such a sting behind it in the soule that a man can never be at quiet in his owne conscience till he hath made his peace with God by a sound and serious humiliation and reconciled himselfe againe to Iesus Christ Yea it never leaves a man till it hath brought him to that same 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that Indignation which the Apostle speakes of 2 Cor. 7. 11. that a man shall even fret and vexe and fall out with himselfe for offending and provoking so good so gracious a God It will make a man upbraid himselfe for a very beast and a foole as David did Psal 73. So ignorant was I and so foolish even as a beast before thee And it is a sure rule that of Saint Augustine Peccata non nocent si non placent if a mans sinnes doe not please him they will never hurt him Whereas on the contrary when a man can carry away his sinnes as lightly as Sampson carryed the gates of Azza that they are no burthen to his soule or if they doe beginne to trouble him shall doe as Saul did betake himselfe to musicke and sport and merry company to drive it away as if one sinne could drive out another and not rather drive it further in beleeve it this mans sinnes are no sinnes of infirmity but they are sinnes of an higher nature and such as will cost a man deare ere he can be acquitted of them in the sight of God And this I dare confidently affirme that there is no man that sinnes of infirmity but he is afterward the better for his sinne it makes him the more jealous of himselfe the more watchfull over his wayes the more carefull to serve and please God than ever he had beene in former times Whereupon saith Saint Austin upon those words of the Apostle Rom. 8. Omnia cooperantur c. All things worke together for good to them that love God Etiam pecata Domine Even our very sinnes O Lord for by sinne wee have experience of our infirmity our infirmity brings us downe to humility humility brings us home to God and in God every man hath his quietus est a happy discharge from all his sins This being done one thing onely remaines and that is this A man that hath sinned of infirmity will labour to bring forth that same 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which Iohn Baptist speakes of Mat. 3. 8. The worthy fruites of repentance for you most know that repentance is one thing and the fruit of repentance is another it is not enough to repent and be sorry for what a man hath done so did Iudas so did Ahab but he must honestly and unfainedly endeavour to bring forth the fruit of repentance and that is the reformation and alteration of his life and conversation in the sight of God and men If it be thus with thee take comfort in Gods name from this comfortable Doctrine that thou art no other then Eliah was a man subject to passion It followes Eliah was a man subject to passions yet he prayed Hence we may learne never to be so dejected at the view of our frailties and imperfections as to forbeare our resorting to God in prayer For no man living hath so much neede to pray to God as a man subject to passions It was one part of Solomons request to God 2 Chron. 6. 29. When any one shall perceive and feele his owne sore his owne griefe and the Plague of his owne heart as he termeth a mans owne corruption what shall hee doe Shall he despaire shall hee be driven backe from God as Iordan was driven backe at the presence of the Arke no let him doe this let him downe upon his knees to God and spread forth his hands to Heaven and the Lord which dwelleth in Heaven will heare him and when he heares have mercy It was an amazed and unadvised prayer that of Simon to our Saviour Luke 5. 8. when hee cryed out Lord goe from me for I am a sinfull man as if a Patient should say to the Physitian depart from mee for I am sicke The sicker a man is the more neede he hath of the Physitians presence and the sinfuller he is the more neede to draw neere to his Saviour as a man that shivers of an Ague creepes nearer and nearer to the fire You know our Saviours gracious call Come unto me all ye that are weary and heavy laden and I will ease you Now as Saint Bernard saith every Christian is Animal oneriferum a burden-bearing creature not a Christian upon earth but hath some crosse or other to clogge him some corruption or other to burthen him at times and lies heavy upon his heart what then is to be done Shall hee lye downe like Issachar and couch betweene his burthen Shall hee be disheartened and discouraged from resorting and approaching to God God forbid let him in Gods name come to Iesus Christ that cals him with teares in his eyes with true griefe and godly sorrow in his heart with humble confessions and prayers in his mouth and he

and wrought his death The most terrible wonders that ever our Saviour did were but two and those no wayes prejudicious to the person or life of any man woman or childe The one was his cursing and blasting of the barren Figge-tree and this was but symbolicall not done in any spleene to the poore tree but onely to shew his indignation against all unfruitfull profession when men make an outward shew of piety to God but when the poore and hungry come to them as Christ came to that Figge-tree hoping to pull some fruite of charity and mercy from them there is nothing to be found but leaves good words perhaps and that is all beleeve it such men are nigh unto cursing and it is Gods infinite mercy if he doe not blast their estate as Christ did the Fig-tree that it shall never prosper to them nor theirs The other wonder of Christ that did any hurt was that Matth. 8. The drowning of the Swine and yet that was the devils doing Christ onely gave way to these evill spirits which seeke the destruction of man and beast to carry them headlong into the sea as they would carry us too but that God above who stiles himselfe The preserver of men is pleased in mercy to keepe out of their clutches and this was symbolicall too to let us understand how God hates all those that are of a swinish disposition that is all drunken sots that like swine have neither wit nor grace to moderate themselves in the use of Gods creatures and all lazy beasts that minde nothing but their bellies as you know a Swine is one of the laziest creatures that a man can keepe it doth him no worke nor service at all or lastly All hoggish worldlings and miserable mucke-wormes of the earth that never doe good till they come to dye let all such tremble and feare and call to God for mercy least in his just judgement he deliver their soules into the hands of those hellish Fiends to carry them headlong as they did the Swine into the lake that burneth with fire and brimstone for evermore there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth These are the two severest wonders that ever our Saviour did or suffered to be done as for all the rest looke into the Stories of the Gospell which are the Acts and Monuments of Iesus Christ you shall finde to be all gracious all beneficiall all healing and saving wonders Never any man came to him for sight that went away blind never any came to him for hearing that went away deafe never any came to him for health that went away sicke In a word you shall never finde that ever any man or woman came to our Saviour for any helpe or mercy that ever went away confounded or disappointed of their hopes Now beloved Christ is the same Iesus still that then hee was Coelum non animum as wee say though hee have changed his place he hath not changed his nature but is still as favourable as indulgent to mankind as ever he was if we doe but as truely seeke unto him for our soules health as they did for their bodies So you see the nature of these wonders is altered from that they were in Eliahs times the severity of the Law suites not with the lenity of the Gospell and wee must now imitate our Saviour in workes of mercy and not follow Eliah in prayers for judgement Wee see Luke 9. 54. When the Disciples fingers itched to be revenged on the Samaritans for their base discourtesie in not entertaining our Saviour Master saith they wilt thou that we command fire from Heaven and consume them as Eliah did Wee have a president for it it is a booke case Eliah did so let us doe the like these men deserve it as bad or worse than they with whom Eliah had to doe No saith our Saviour the case is altered ye know not of what spirit ye are the spirit of the Law required severity the spirit of the Gospell requires meekenesse and mercy Farre is it from the good Spirit of Christ and of God to stirre up any mans heart to private revenge not an Eagle but a Dove was the shape wherein that holy and healthfull Spirit made choise to appeare Let us therefore all that are called Christians follow no other president but our Saviour Christs whose onely lesson that ever he set us to learne of him was this to be humble and meeke and so doing we shall find Requiem animabus rest and peace to our owne soules The third and last reason that may warrant Eliah in praying for a judgement was 3. Necessitas rei the necessity of the thing it selfe that holy Prophet had spent his strength in vaine Sermon upon Sermon warning upon warning threatning upon threatning and when he saw that nothing would worke them to goodnesse then he prayes for a judgement not in a vindictive way to be revenged upon them but as a desperate remedy knowing that that or nothing would bring them to good as it is said 2 Chron. ult God sent his Prophets rising early and sending them and used all gentle meanes to reclaime them till there was no remedy then he sent destruction In this sence if a man have a child or a friend or any one that he wisheth well to his soule if he be growne to that passe so hardned in sinne that no perswasions no warnings no threatnings will worke upon him I am perswaded it were neither uncharitable nor unpleasing to God if a man should pray Lord smite him correct him lay some medicinall some healing punishment upon him that hee may see the errour of his wayes and may returne and repent and so be saved Vpon these and the like grounds I suppose Eliah might with a safe conscience pray for a judgement but then the next questionis Why he should make choise to pray for this kind of judgment of drought and dearth for want of raine rather then any other I will tell you what I thinke the reasons may be 1. Because it was an uncontrouleable a convincing judgement if Eliah should have brought any earthly or visible judgement as Sword or Pestilence c. they would have imputed it presently to some secondary meanes and causes now this was a heavenly an invisible judgement the stoppage of the clouds the detaining of Raine and the burning and scorching of the Sunne was a judgement from heaven and such as they must needes confesse to be Digitus the finger of God not Aliquid humani no handy worke of any mortall man For this was the fallacy which the Scribes and Pharisees put upon our Saviour Math. 16. 1. When they had seene all the miracles and wonders of Christ how he cured the sicke c. they conceited that these things might be done by slight of hand by Art of Magicke by Beelzebub or by Conjuration c. but say they Shew us a signe from heaven and then we will beleeve They knew that a Magician or