Selected quad for the lemma: mercy_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
mercy_n	holy_a	redeemer_n	sinner_n	4,656	5	9.6919	5	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A51916	Sermons preach'd on several occasions by John March ..., the last of which was preach'd the twenty seventh of November, 1692, being the Sunday before he died ; with a preface by Dr. John Scot ; to which is added, A sermon preach'd at the assizes, in New-Castle upon Tine, in the reign of the late King James.	March, John, 1640-1692.; Scott, John, 1639-1695.	1699 (1699)	Wing M583; ESTC R18158	123,796	330

and hinder the Execution of his wicked Designs Tho' he can strike the Sinner with a Thunderbolt into Hell before he accomplishes his mischievous Enterprises yet having made Man a free Agent as I said before he allows him to act according to the liberty he has implanted in his Nature Ratio non est absque libertate Arbitrii saith Damascen there can be no Reason where there is no liberty to act But tho' God does permit the heart of man freely to devise and accomplish its ways yet still by his Providence he rules and directs his Steps Indeed the wicked themselves are far from designing any good but yet God makes their blackest designs subservient to his glory They do at best but resemble those monstrous People in Pliny whose Feet stood contrary to their Faces or if you please to take a more familiar comparison like Watermen they are made by Providence to row one way whilst they look another To this purpose is the known observation of St. Austin Bonus Deus non sineret fieri mala nisi Omnipotens ex malis bona elicere potuisset God who is good saith he would never permit sin but that being Omnipotent he is able to extract Good out of the greatest Evils The Rod of Moses whilst it lay upon the Earth was an ugly dreadful and poysonous Serpent but in the Hand of God and Moses an Instrument of great and glorious wonders Such is the Power and Wisdom of God that he is able to bring Light out of Darkness and work great and glorious ends out of the most black devices and machinations of sinful Men. Some few Instances of this I shall give you in these following particulars 1st God does often take occasion from sin to glorifie the Riches of his Goodness and Mercy It is the Tradition of the Antients that the Skull of Adam was found on Mount Calvary the very place of our Saviours Crucifixion And there is not less Comfort in St. Ieroms Note on Mat. 1. Namely that no holy Women but such Notorious Sinners as Thamar Raab and Bathsheba are mentioned in the Genealogy of the Blessed Jesus and all this to denote thus much unto us that sin was the Cause which brought our Saviour into the World and gave God an opportunity to magnifie his Free Grace and Mercy unto Sinners So that now we may take up the ranting language of St. Gregory O felix culpa quae talem meruit Redemptorem O happy sin happy sure upon this account that it has through Gods good Providence obtained so great and so glorious a Redeemer The Whole saith our Saviour needs not the Physitian and where there is no Misery there is no need of Mercy Had there been no bitterness in the Waters of Marah Moses had not needed Sweet wood to have thrown into them So had there been no sin there had not needed the Tears of Repentance and consequently there had been no need of the Wood of the Cross to sweeten these bitter Waters 2dly As God has thus taken occasion from Sin to commend his Free Grace and Infinite Mercy to the World so he has also taken occasion from hence to glorifie his Holiness and Justice If bold sinners shall dare to run upon the Bosses of his Buckler and bid defiance to the great Majesty of Heaven If neither the Threats of his Law can drive them to Obedience nor yet the Promises of the Gospel invite them to their Duty there remains then nothing but a fearful looking for of Iudgment and fiery Indignation to devour these Adversaries Hence Solomon tells us ver 4 of this Chapter that God has made all things for himself yea even the wicked has he made for the day of Evil Tho' he may endure with much Long-suffering the Vessels of Wrath and employ them as Rods for the Chastisement of others yet at the last he casts these Rods into the Fire and magnifies his Power and Justice upon them when once they are ripe for destruction It is very observable that the first Hallelujah which we find in the Old Testament is in the Psalms where mention is made of the destruction of Gods Enemies and the first Hallelujah which is mention'd in the New Testament is where the overthrow of Antichrist is foretold in the Revelations Should God suffer sinners still to go unpunish'd it would reflect upon his Holiness and cast a stain upon his Justice Men would be apt to think God a Patron of Wickedness and would be very much encourag'd in the ways of Ungodliness God therefore to vindicate his Honour and deter Men from sin is pleased very frequently in this World to send signal Judgments upon the Workers of Iniquity Thus when proud Pharaoh had a long time withstood all the Miracles of Moses and wrought his Heart at last to the highest degree of hardness God did then resolve to glorifie himself in his ruin and destruction And that he might leave some signal Monuments of his Wrath to succeeding Generations Orosius an Ancient Author tells us that the prints and footsteps of their Chariots were a long time after to be seen on the shoar and in the bottom of the Red Sea We may do well also to remember that Fire and Brimstone which was rained from Heaven on Sodom and Gomorrha Brochardus and other sacred Geographers inform us that that very Land does still mourn in Dust and Ashes and such dismal Clouds of Smoak continually ascend from it as make it represent nothing so much as the very Mouth and Entrance of Hell Nay farther yet that God might make abundant provisions for the Honour of his Justice as some have computed this one single Judgment is mention'd in Scripture above twenty times God's Providence so ordering it that these wicked Sodomites might be set forth for an Example suffering the vengeance of Eternal Fire And this is the second End to which Gods Providence direct sin namely the glorifying of his Justice 3dly God's Providence does farther make use of sin to humble his own People When David had murther'd his loyal Subject Vriah and committed Folly with his Wife God does afterwards make use of these sins to keep his Servant humble To this end we find Shimei one a kin to Vriah sent by a secret impulse of Providence first to Curse David as a Bloody Man and so to remind him of the murther and then to make him sensible of his Adultery by casting Stones at him a Punishment under the Law appointed to the Adulterer Now what Influence this piece of Providence had upon David we learn from 2 Sam. 16. 9 10. where when the Sons of Zerviah would have slain Shimei according to his deserts David returns a Negative Answer in these passionate words What have I to do with you ye Sons of Zerviah And then see his Humility in the next words Let him Curse because the Lord has said unto him Curse David He knew God by this piece of Providence had a design to call

Resolution Now tho' all this do abundantly shew a late Death-bed Repentance to be a thing most dangerous and in some sort impossible and yet seeing this is a Subject of most serious importance 5ly I will in the Fifth place add one Consideration more which will shew it yet to be more dangerous and in some sort impossible And pray let it be Consider'd that the Day of Grace may be lost before the Day of Death come Sure it is not possible that such sinners should repent without the assistance of God's Grace and yet before their death they may sin to such an height as to forfeit this assistance of God's Grace It is the vain fancy of such presumptuous sinners that the Day of Grace and the Day of Life run parallel and that as long as the one lasts the other will last too and therefore they encourage themselves in their wickedness thinking they shall have time enough to repent when they come to dye But if this Fancy of theirs be vain the delaying of Repentance till the Hour of Death must needs be a thing most dangerous and in some sort impossible Now it is very plain from Scripture that God has set bounds to his Patience and limits to his Mercy Tho' he bears very much with sinners and waits a long time to be gracious yet he has told us expresly Gen. 6. 3. My Spirit shall not always strive with Men We find in the following Verse that God allowed the Anti-Deluvians or Old World a long Day of Grace he promised to bear with them 120 Years now during this time he sent unto them Noah a Preacher of Righteousness Besides those Admonitions and frequent Calls the Holy Man gave them to repent his very building the Ark was a constant daily Sermon to them but when they would not hearken unto this Preacher but scoffed at his Discourses God did not tarry for the time of their death but with a dreadful Deluge swept them all away In Luc. 19. 41 42. we find our Saviour weeping over Ierusalem and declaring their wretched Condition in such like doleful Accents as these O that thou hadst known even thou at least in this thy Day the things which belong unto thy Peace but now are they hid from thine Eyes It seems the Day of Grace has an Evening before the Night of Death approaches The things of Peace were hid from the Eyes of Ierusalem before they were closed by the Hand of Death To this we may add what we read in Prov. 1. 28. Then shall they call upon me but I will not answer they shall seek me early but shall not find me There is a certain measure of Iniquity God is said in Scripture to allow Sinners to fill up and when this Measure is full they may call upon him in vain they may seek him early and late but he will not hear them And as is it thus plain from these Texts that the Day of Grace may be lost before the Day of Death so the same Truth may be evidenced by sundry Scripture Examples God allowed Cain a Day of Grace and during the Time of this Day Cain tho' he sinned again and again yet he heard nothing but this Still Voice if thou dost well shalt not thou be accepted but if thou dost ill Sin lieth at the door But when all the Means of Grace were lost upon him when notwithstanding the frequent Admonitions of his Father and solemn Remembrances of Heaven he added sin to sin till at last he fill'd up the Measure of his Iniquity by murdering Righteous Abel His season of Grace was then gone and God tells him in plain terms that he was then accursed from the Earth Now this hapned unto him some hundreds of years before his death Another Instance we have in Esau whom the Apostle styles a Prophane Person He was an idle unprofitable Fellow one who spent too much of his time in Gaming and impertinent Recreations and to all his other sins he added the felling of his Birthright on which were entailed all the Blessings of Heaven and this indeed shewed him to be a Prophane Person with a witness one that preferr'd his Sports and Recreations before God and his Religion Now this great sin fill'd up the Measure of his Iniquity so that his Day of Grace expir'd some 50 years before his death as Divines compute And tho' now he endeavour'd to regain his Birth-right tho' he sought the Blessing earnestly and with Tears yet he was rejected there was no place found for Repentance Heb. 12. 17. I shall add but one Instance more and it shall be the Example of wicked Saul God had striven with Saul many ways and many times He had given him Riches and Honours yea all the Glories of a Kingdom and which were more than all the gifts of his Spirit but when Saul multiplied his Transgressions and notwithstanding such signal Tokens of his Favour rebelled against the Lord God then cast him off yea he sent an Evil Spirit to torment him and would no longer hearken to his Cries as he sadly confesses to the Witch of Endor Now this Rejection hapned 36 years before he died according to Iosephus's Chronology Thus God does withdraw the Assistance of his Spirit from sinners long before they dye In their Life time he delivers them up to a Spirit of slumber and of giddiness He hardens their Hearts and sears their Consciences and gives them over to a Reprobate sense And since these things are so it will be too late for the Clinicks of the Age to Repent when they come to dye If they will obstinately go on in a Course of wickedness and multiply their Transgressions till the measure of their Iniquity be full then they are beyond the possibility of Salvation they have then forfeited the Assistance of God's Grace without which it is impossible they should repent It will therefore be safe for sinners to follow St. Pauls Advice To day if you will hear his Voice harden not your Hearts As the Prophets Exhorts Seek the Lord while he may be found call upon him while he is near Let not this present Discourse this present Opportunity be lost upon you for as the Apostle speaks Now is the accepted time now is the day of salvation Begin this very moment to resolve against thy sins come this day to the Holy Sacrament and there vow and swear that thou wilt hereafter keep all Gods Righteous Iudgments I shall conclude all with the excellent Advice of the Son of Sirach Say not God's Mercy is great and he will be pacified for the multitude of thy Sins For Mercy and Wrath is with him he is mighty to forgive and to pour out Displeasure and as his Mercy is great so are his Corrections also Therefore make no long tarrying to turn to the Lord and put not off from day to day For suddenly shall the Wrath of the Lord come forth and in thy security thou shalt be destroyed Humble thy self

us VVhat Plots and Descents has he detected and defeated How has he baffled the profoundest Policy of the subtilest Achitophel and made him prove according to his name in Hebrew no better than the Brother or Cousin-Germain to a Fool Oh then let us praise our God according to his excellent Greatness and being wonderfully delivered from the hands of our Enemies let us serve him without fear in holiness and righteousness before him all the dayes of our life This God of his infinite Mercy grant for the merits of his dearest Son c. SERMON XII Preached November 27. 1692. the Sunday before the Author died Heb. ii 3. How shall we escape if we neglect so great Salvation SAint Paul in the former Chap. displays the excellent Glory and Majesty of our Saviour He styles him ver 2. the Son of God the Heir of all things and Maker of the Worlds He tells us us farther ver 3. that He is the brightness of his Fathers Glory the express Image of his Person and the upholder of all things In the following part of the Chapter he shews how far Christ transcends all the Holy Angels These he says are but Servants and Ministring Spirits but Christ he is the Eternal and only begotten Son of God These are all commanded to fall down and worship Christ but He has á Throne a Scepter a Scepter of Righteousness yea the Scepter of his own Heavenly Kingdom Thus great thus glorious a Person is Christ Heaven it self has nothing greater and yet as great as glorious as He is his Father thought fit to employ him in the work of Mans Salvation O the wonderful Condescentions of Heaven We may be sure God is most willing to save poor Sinners seeing he sends to them and that his own Son to beseech and entreat them to accept of Salvation Hence is that of St. Paul in the beginning of this Epistle God who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the Fathers by the Prophets hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son Had God spoken to us by the meanest of his Prophets it had been strange and wonderful Condescension but that he should send his own Son to preach the Gospel and intreat Rebel sinners to be reconciled to Heaven and accept of Eternal Happiness this is such an instance of stupendious Love and Mercy as does as much exceed our imaginations as it does our Deserts St. Paul having thus dispiayed the Excellent Majesty of Christ and the infinite Riches of Gods Free Grace and Mercy in that he sent his Eternal Son to be the first Preacher of the Gospel and tender Salvation to lost and undone sinners he begins the 2d Chapter with a serious and passionate Admonition We therefore saith he ought to give the more earnest heed to the things which we have heard lest at any time we should let them slip If God had conveyed the Gospel to Christians as he did the Law unto the Jews by the Ministry of Angels we could not have slighted it without gross ingratitude and our Disobedience as we are told ver 2. would have received a just recompence of reward Of how much sorer punishment shall we now he thought worthy seeing the Eternal Son of God condescended to be of the Order of Predicants seeing Christ Jesus himself vouchsafed to be the first Preacher of the Gospel how should we then honour and value this Gospel What earnest heed should we give to the things contained in it or preached from it Whatever Admonitions Exhortations or Reproofs Ministers give us out of these Sacred Oracles should not be look'd upon as the Words of frail Men but as they are in truth the Words of God and Christ. Christians therefore will be most inexcusable They of all men will deserve the severest Punishments if they shall neglect so great Salvation And because the danger is thus great our Apostle is the more earnest and passionate in his Exhortation He employs all his Divine Rhetorick to make Christians sensible of their greater Priviledge and consequently of their greater Obligations to obey the Gospel How shall we escape if we neglect so great Salvation Having by this short Preface led you into the very Bowels of the Text I shall fetch from thence these Three Observations First That the Salvation which is published by the Gospel is exceeding great Secondly That those Christians which neglect this great Salvation must expect the severest Punishments in Hell Thirdly That Ministers may very well be allowed to be mighty earnest and passionate in their Exhortations of Obedience to the Gospel First I begin with the first of these namely to shew you that the Salvation which is published by the Gospel is exceeding great It is called Great Salvation in the Text yea the Apostle puts an Emphasis upon it and calls it So great Salvation Learned Men render it Eximiam ut mire magnam salutem i. e. Most admirable and most excellent Salvation And it will appear at large to be so from these following Considerations 1st The greatness of this Salvation will appear if we consider the greatness of the Price that was paid for it The worth and excellency of a thing is usually measur'd by the greatness of its price Now how great was that price which was paid for this Salvation St. Peter tells us we were not redeemed with such corruptible things as Silver and Gold but with the precious Blood of the Son of God Had we offer'd a thousand Rams and ten thousand Rivers of Oil Had we given the fruit of our Bodies for the sin of our Souls yea had it been possible for us to have sacrificed whole Hecatombs of Angels to the Justice of Heaven they would not all have been sufficient to atone for our Sins and purchase this Salvation Nothing could purchase it but the Blood of Iesus and that not only as he was Man but as he was God too Hence we are said expresly to be purchas'd with the Blood of God Act. 20. 28. We see an Infinite price was paid Heaven to purchase this Salvation And therefore we may well allow the Apostles Emphasis of so great Salvation 2ly The greatness of this Salvation will yet further appear if we consider the greatness of those evils it delivers us from It is an excellent saying of Seneca Lenocinium est gaudii antecedens metus the greatness of the danger uses to commend and inhance the greatness of the deliverance Now how great was the danger we were in how great those Evils we were exposed to The Prophet Esay gives us a most Tragical Description of the Infernal Tophet which was to be the Portion of the Rebellious Sinner Chap. 30. 31. Tophet saith he is prepared of old the Pile thereof is Fire and much Wood and the Breath of the Lord like a stream of Brimstone doth kindle it continually See how each word is arm'd with Terror It seems there is an eternal Tophet prepared for all