Selected quad for the lemma: mercy_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
mercy_n	heaven_n	holy_a	miserable_a	3,408	5	10.1477	5	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A27231	The principles of the Quakers further shewn to be blasphemous and seditious in a reply to Geo. Whitehead's answer to the Brief discovery, stiled Truth and innocency vindicated / by Edward Beckham ..., Henry Meriton ..., Lancaster Topcliffe ...	Beckham, Edward, 1637 or 8-1714.; Topcliffe, Lancaster, 1646 or 7-1720.; Meriton, Henry, d. 1707.	1700 (1700)	Wing B1653; ESTC R34193	145,045	110

shalt Ecce Jehovam secialem ecce positam inimicitiam in cajus Exorcitio sundarur hoc quicquid est Militiae ecce primaevam belli istius denuntiationem quod ab Incunabulis mundi gestum est etiamnum geritur geretur ad sinem seculi inter Christum cum suis ex unâ parte Diabolum ex alterâ cum suis Asseclis Arrowsm l. 1. c. 1. Sect. 5. Tact. sacr bruise his Heel See here God himself denouncing the War that Enmity put which is the ground of our Warfare which began near the beginning of the World it self and has been ever since carried on and will be so between Christ and his Servants on one side and the Devil and his Angels on the other to the end of all things below And therefore we think it ill became W. Pen to deride Holy Men who carry on their Warfare by humble Confession and earnest Prayer which brings them Aid from Heaven 〈◊〉 saying Alas poor Souls are you not at Have Mercy upon us Miserable Sinners there is no Health in us from seven to seventy And was not this the Cry of penitent David and the humble Publican and shall these devout Supplicants be mocked by such a Wretch as Will. ●en But says G. Whitehead Alas is not sign of Laughter at them but of Lamentation and Pity over their miserable State Is then their State so miserable above all others when they open their Case to a Physician that can and will assuredly help them upon their earnest Application to him Thus God directs his People to take to them words and say Take away all Iniquity and receive us graciously which Hof 14. 2 4. is in effect to say Have Mercy upon us miserable Sinners and when done penitently and sincerely he has promised to shew Favour thereupon I will heal their Backslidings and love them freely So that 〈◊〉 this Case they were no Objects of his Pity and alas there is no sign of it as it comes from W. Pen who reckons such a Practice greatly Erroneous and grosly Ridiculous and let us ask W. Pen and G. Whitehead whether they would not take it as a bitter Sarcasin should we say Alas poor sinless Cater to fall a Whoring and Wenching after sixty years of Age it would be thought sure a jea● at their pretended Perfection so that Alas may sometimes be spoken by way of Contempt as well as of Pity What he adds that W. Pen pitied them because they were always confessing but never forsaking is an unworthy Reflection and base Falshood when 't is evident those who are oftnest in these Devotions make the greatest Progress in subduing and mortifying their Sins tho none of them can obtain so perfect a Victory as not to be troubled with the remains of Sin any more nor are we herein Sin 's Advocates as we are falsly charged we are far from pleading its Cause but mournfully complain of it as our Burden and long for that time in which we shall be free not from its Power but from its Presence How joyfully could some of us sing our Nunc Dimittas and welcome a Winding-sheet which can only wipe us perfectly clean To that of Edward Burroughs George Whitehead answers His meaning is that P. 1● is his common Refuge a Refuge that lies out of our Reach he meant well tho his words be never so blasphemous Well let us hear if his meaning be any thing better God doth not accept Men in their failings in Duty but by his leave tho God does not accept Men for their failings yet he graciously accepts them thro Christ whilst they are under them and to say he does not is not only to mean but to say the very same thing with Burroughs That God doth not accept any where there is any failing And to shew thou fully agreest with Brother Burroughs in this thou hast commended one of absolute Perfection to us for our Imitation who boasted when a dying to his Friends about his Bed that he was not conscious of any Action that he had done that he should be afraid of appearing before Almighty God it was Tudor Brain a Lad of about seventeen years old this was even the last Breath he drew and was it not sweet and edifying can you imagine how greedily Friends suck'd it in as a sweet smelling Savour how their Souls were refresh'd and nourish'd by it as a most heavenly Expiration Poor Child that had only learnt to parrot so presumptuously as he had been taught a little before by his Parents neither at Age God knows See Whitehead ' s Account of this Touth's Death p. 2. nor at years of Discretion yet this poor Boy is set forth by Whitehead as a Pattern for us to imitate A Doctrine that utterly cancels the Gospel Covenant and its gracious Terms laying a Milstone upon our Shoulders that the strongest Sampson is not able to bear Whitehead tells us there are some that complain their best Duties are sinful but upon the strictest search he will hardly find any among us who hold Duty to be a Sin i. e. that Duty is no Duty What we hold herein is That every Duty we perform to God is good because it is a Duty but for the manner of its performance it is not so well but it might be better some chilness of Zeal distraction of Thoughts make a great Abatement but yet we are accepted therein thro the Grace of the Gospel The old Covenant Terms were strict and rigorous but 't is the merciful Condescension of the Gospel since we are not sufficient to pay the whole Debt and if our Almighty Creditor should exact it we must all to Prison to compound with us and accept of what we can and forgive us if we pay what we are able Whitehead says Our Acceptance is in Christ which is very true but inconsistent with their Doctrine of Perfection for what need they a Saviour's Mediation who are not chargeable with any failing who fulfil the Law and answer every demand of Justice as Burroughs saith or God will not accept them their own Perfection shall speak for them St. Paul says Who shall condemn it is Christ that justifieth But if Burroughs say true and they can answer every Demand of Justice they may say 't is I that will justify my self my own Actions shall speak for me surely nothing can condemn if the Justice of God cannot In citing this Passage of Burroughs Whitehead complains we have dropt somewhat which might have done him a kindness viz. these words But those that love God keep his Commandments and they are not grievous All which we own but that his Commandments are not grievous and his Burden is light is owing not to our natural Strength and Ability but to the gracious Terms of the Gospel Covenant which imparts a larger measure of the Spirit to enable the Christian and also accepts Sincerity instead of Perfection which is directly contrary to what Burroughs asserts here