Selected quad for the lemma: mercy_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
mercy_n	iniquity_n	lord_n	transgression_n	3,081	5	9.7813	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A19499	A mirrour of mercie or The prodigals conuersion briefely, and learnedly expounded, and full of comfortable consolations for all penitent sinners. By William Cooper, minister of Gods word, and B. of Galloway.	Cowper, William, 1568-1619.	1615 (1615)	STC 5928; ESTC S119161	51,916	283

vs eat and be merry Vers. 24. For this my sonne was dead and is aliue againe and hee was lost but he is found and they beegan to be meery My helpe is in the name of the Lord. THis Parable may properlie bee called A mirrour of Mercy for in it the Lord laieth opē vnto vs the bowels of his fatherly loue and compassion toward penitent sinners hee proclaimed once by word his name to Moses The Lord strong mercifull and gracious slow to anger aboundant in mercy and truth reseruing mercy for thousands forgiuing iniquity transgressions and sins By many proofes sensiue hath hee declared it heere most clearly he shadowes it Setting downe to vs one a most miserable sinner worthy to bee condemned yet vpon his repentance gratiously pardoned for an example of the like mercy to bee shewed vnto all who after this manner repenting of their sins shall returne vnto the Lord their God To this purpose hath our Sauior deliliuered before two Parables One of the wandring sheepe an other of the lost peece of mony and now hee adioynes the third of the Prodigall child It is not without great cause that our Sauior takes such paines to confirme vs in this point For it is a difficill thing yea a supernaturall worke to perswade a guilty sinner of Gods mercy the reason is because the law which threatens a curse against the transgressors of her commandements is naturally written in euery mans heart and the sentence of death due to sinne by capital letters is grauen in the conscience so that it is true of all sinners which the Apostle speaketh of one sort that they are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 such as haue within themselues against themselues pronounced a ditty of damnation and euery man may feele in himselfe a conscience armed not vn like that Cherubin with a sword of wrath shaking against him and telling him that his sinne hath made him vnworthy to enter in the paradise of God Whereof it comes to passe that miserable man abiding vnder the bondage of sinful nature perisheth in one of these two fearfull sickenesses of the soule atheisme or desperation The first is a most dangerous and deadly disease 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and opens a dore to all kind of impiety for what wickednesse will not that man commit who beeing blinded by the deceit of sinne is brought to thinke there is no God nor iudgement to come But against this dangerous and deuouring poison the Lord hath prouided most effectuall Antidots for besides the works and the word of God w ch cry out that there is a God hee preserueth euen in the most corrupt conscience such a light as forces the deepest contemner to feare that same God-head which he denies and so proues it true in all Atheists which Cicero spake of one Metrodorus Nec quenqnam vidi qui magis ea timeret quae timenda esse negaret I neuer saw any more feared for which he said was not to be feared at all And thus the Atheist being wakened out of the sound sleep of Atheisme and brought to some sense and feare of a Diuinitie is incontiuent sore oppressed with the other euill of desperation for the first thing that a guilty soule apprehends in God is iudgement and wrath the conscience sending out 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 accusing cogitatiōs which conclude within thē against themselues a condemnatory sentence and in this hee that hath escaped the first shall not faile to perish if ● doore of mercy be not opened vnto him And heere againe many are deceiued by presumption who thinke the way of mercy plaine easie well enough known and that they are sure they haue it But alas they flatter themselues with a conceit of it who had neuer the certainty of it All haue no faith who speake of it Many are called few are chosen The kingdome of heauen suffers violence If Adam after one transgression ran away from the Lord afraid at his voice and presēce in whō he delighted before what maruel his sinful children guilty of so many transgressions like perturbed and confounded men fearing his iudgements runne from him and fall into the gulfe of despaire And if Ioseph and Mary hauing lost the cōpany of Christ but for one day not regarding him as they should were three daies in seeking before they could finde him againe shal men who so long a time liued strangers from the life of God bee so foolish as to thinke it requires no paines no labour to seeke him to finde and to bee reconciled with him But if they can get onely in their ending day one word to cry for mercy they are sure to obtaine it Let vs not be so farre deceiued it is no wisdome to hazard so great a matter as is our eternall saluation vpon so small an aduenture To cure therefore these great euils specially the last two of desperation and presumption by many waies doth the Lord draw vs to an experience and sense of his mercy and then to a conscience of our dutie towards him for where before the Cherubin an Angell was set at the entry of Paradise with a shaking sword to hold out man wee haue now the Christ the Lord of Angels with the keies of Dauids house to open Paradise vnto vs and as conscience within vs cries condemnation to vs for sinne so the spirit of adoption sent into our hearts from the Father cries with a stronger voice absolution from sinne No condemnation to thē which are in Christ. And against the terrour of the Law and curses thereof wee haue the grace of the Gospell full of sweet b●essings both promised and practised toward penitent sinners And for this one purpose it is that our Sauiour here triples the Parable to make vp vnto vs the stronger preseruatiue against our naturall disease of distrust and desperation For so as Ioseph spake to Pbaroah of his doubled visiō The dreme is doubled to Pharao the secōd time because the thing is established by God God hastes to performe it May we also speake of this tripled parable Iesus hath done it to shew the heires of promise the stability of his Counsell for it is a decree established with God to shew mercie to the penitent and he will hasten to performe it Now as it is a great worke to make the soule guilty of sinne conceiue any sense of of mercy so the soule once hauing conceiued it is easily moued through the sense of mercy to return vnto the Lord as we may see in this example Many are the arguments whereby wee are mooued to repentance but among thē all none goes so neere the hearts of his kindly children to pricke them with a godly sorrow for their sins as the sense of Gods mercie when they consider how good the Lord was vnto them before they sinned Haue I

tempts them with the loue of the world what is it thou canst offer to me comparable to that which thou wouldest steale from me When wee come to age of perfect men we laugh at those things we were wont to doe when we were children They build to themselues in the streets houses of shels stones clay and such like wherein they delight for a time no lesse then wiser and more ancient men doe in the building of their sumptuous Palaces but they rush to the ground as soone as they are raised yea albeit they could continue yet are they vnprofitable and when we come to riper vnderstanding wee set light by them as childish trifles of no importance so is it with the childe of God as he growes in the age of Christ he growes also in a contempt of the world and all the perishing pleasures thereof hee will haue nothing for his portion that cannot continue with him all the works of God cannot content him the desire of the soule is vpon the Lord to enioy him And truly happy is that soule which is like vnto the house of Iacob Beata anima quae est instar domus Iacobi in qua nulla simulachra nulla effigies vanitatis Wherein there is no image no representation of vanity For doubtlesse it is a miserable thing so to bee bewitched with the shadowes of good that we lose the substance Fugiamus hine vbi nihil est vbi inane est omne quod magnisicum putatur Let vs flie from this world wherein there is nothing but vanity yea that which is most magnificke after triall is found most impotent Nihil siquidem a somni vanitate dissert rerum praesentium sigura siue illae tristes sint siue prosperae The most excellent shews of this life are but dreames which may affect for a time but doe vanish so soone as the man awaketh let such as know no better and haue no hope but in this present life reioice in that which they haue let vs endeauour to that which is to come Oh saith Dauid if I had the wing of a Doue then would I flee away and rest So long as we abide fixed in our affection to the earth wee shall finde no rest All the workes done vnder the Sunne said Salomon are but vanity vexation of spirit Hee searched all he found them so what then Let vs goe aboue the Sunne let vs flie vpward towards the Lord let vs goe vp after the Eagle who hath ascended on high he calles and cries vpon vs to follow him Arise my loue my f●ire one and come thy way Why linger we what should we doe heere Now the Lord who calles vs draw vs that wee may runne after him so shall we finde ioy and peace and rest vnto our soules So he deuided vnto them his substance That the Father heere in this Parable giueth to his childe that which he seeketh and lets him goe his way figures vnto vs how God for a time leaues his children to themselues suffering them to doe what they will not of purpose to let them perish in sinne but that by the experience of the bitter fruit of sin hee may draw them out of their sinnes and make them the more humble in thēselues when they look to their former folly and the more thankefull to God who of his mercy hath recouered them Seeing earthly parents will not giue a Scorpion to their children whē they seeke bread shal wee thinke our heauenly father will doe it No indeed If hee permit them to fall into sinne it is for a respect which God hath to good which out of euill hee can worke to his owne glory and their saluation Potentius melius esse iudicans etiam de malis benefacere quā mala esse non sinere For so wonderfully wise and good is our God that euen by sinne he can destroy sinne in his owne as by the bussets of Satan hee subdued pride in the Apostle Saint Paul Thus the Apostle considering how hee had his conuersation in time past in fulfilling the lusts of his flesh no lesse then other children of disobedience and wrath and that he was a blasphemer a persecutor and an oppressor doth so much the more magnifie the Lord who receiued him to mercy whose grace was exceeding aboundant toward him with faith and loue in Christ Iesus For in this that elect men before their calling walke with the reprobate in the course of disobedience it manifestly appeares that it is not by nature but by grace that they are saued and the Lord in making a difference by his grace where there was no difference by nature vindicates vnto himselfe the praise and glory of saluation in all such as are saued And this grace of God declared vpon his owne shal the better appeare if we consider the elect and reprobate to bee like vnto two men walking in one way with one mind of one purpose to one proposed end and God suddenly comes in and sundres them causing the one to come back againe letting the other goe forward till he fall into the pit so in his iust iudgements hee giues the wicked vp to their own harts desire he lets thē fulfill the cup and measure of their iniquity he lets down the loose reines vnto them and suffers them without controlment to doe what they will Then man commits sinne with greedinesse and drinkes in iniquity like water making out a iust ditty of his own damnation Peccata cum impunita dimittit Deus tunc punit infestius When the Lord lets sinne be vnpunished then hee punisheth most seuerely Vides quia tunc magis irascitur Deus cum non irascitur God is then most angrie when he he is not angry Let vs say with Bernard Miserceor diā hanc nolo such a mercy I will not haue or rather from such a misery the Lord deliuer vs that he neuer suffer vs to go on in the course of our sinnes till wee perish So not long after This younger son as yee see beeing left vnto himselfe incontinent manifests his owne weakenesse and in him all of vs may see what a fearefull thing it is to be forsaken of God and left vnto our selues for then quickly wee become a prey vnto our enemy As a staffe if a man takes his hand from it fals incontinent to the ground so man if he bee not sustained by grace cannot stand in a good estate All the benefites which God created for Adam in sixe daies hee lost them in six hours Augustine and Theophilact thinkes that he fell the sixth houre Thomas Aquinas that he fel the ninth houre others the twelfe most of all agree that hee fell the same day hee was made What cause then hath his sinfull posterity to distrust themselues to pray earnestly with Dauid Direct me in the path of thy Comm●ndements stablish me that I