Selected quad for the lemma: mercy_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
mercy_n	let_v	lord_n	vouchsafe_v	2,838	5	10.6553	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A28822	A mirrour of mercy and judgement, or, An exact true narrative of the life and death of Freeman Sonds Esquier [sic], sonne to Sir George Sonds of Lees Court in Shelwich in Kent who being about the age of 19, for murthering his elder brother on Tuesday the 7th of August, was arraigned and condemned at Maidstone, executed there on Tuesday the 21. of the same moneth [sic] 1655.	R. B. (Robert Boreman), d. 1675.	1655 (1655)	Wing B3759; ESTC R32573	28,004	41

as appeared by his indefatigable actings for Master Sonds in his extremity I Freeman Sonds do hereby make my voluntary confession That I am most truly sensible of the horrid and detestable murther which I have committed against my late dear brother Master George Sonds in that most bloody and inhumane manner as I did act the same For which most detestable sin and murther I do from the bottome of my heart and soul beg of the Lord Jesus to pardon and forgive this my murther I confesse my sins O Lord and this my murther is ever before thy face O sprinkle my soul with some pretious drops of thy blood and wash away this my murther I confesse nothing but the instigation of the Devill did cause me to attempt this sin which if it were possible to be undone I should not dare to have such a thought again for a thousand worlds First because by this same cruell murther I have dishonoured my Heavenly Father whose Image I have killed and murthered in my Brother Secondly I have hereby destroyed so much as in me lyeth human societie And lastly I have broken the Lawes both of God and man For all which sins my heart is truly and penitentially sorrowfull and do beg at the Lords hand in and for his Son Jesus Christ his sake to make a greater manifestation of this my sorrow that I may weep day and night for this my sin and murther This is my confession and the very grief and sorrow of my heart desiring the Lord in mercy to pardon this my great offence for which from the bottome of my soul I am hereby truly and heartily sorrowfull and so Lord Jesus for thy infinite mercies sake look upon me in thine own most pretious blood and receive my soul into thy heavenly Kingdome when I shall depart this life and in the mean time continue in me a true and hearty sorrow for this my great sin and wickednesse against thee my Heavenly Father Freeman Sonds MAster Freeman Sonds August 13. 1655. did read the writing before set down in the presence of us confessing it to be for the main part pronounced by his own mouth and from his very heart sincerely though written by Master Edmond Crispe and subscribed the attestation in the end with his own hand and from his own minde desiring it may be taken as the overt act act of his penitent soul Theophilus Higgons Rector of Hunton in Kent and Ro. Yate Rector of Belsmire A prayer which I compos'd for his private devotions subscribed and daily used by him oft-times on his knees in which posture I often found him LOrd receive my soul when it shall take its flight out of my sinfull body and receive I beseech thee the humble prayer that goes forth out of the lips of a penitent sinner O Lord God merciful and Gracious my Creator and reconciled Father in the Lord Jesus when I call to mind the numberlesse abominations the vanities the frailties of my disordered youth shame and confusion with horrour and dread covers the face and perplexes the soul of thy poor servant and I cannot but look upon all those transgressions through the glasse of thy justice as clad with damnation and clothed with Hell and when I reflect upon that great host consisting of many thousand thousand sinnes headed with a Goliah-sin a sin of great magnitude a sin against nature the murthering of my Brother my soul is overwhelmed with grief and driven even upon the Rock of despair But when with the other eye of faith and hope I look upon thy mercy which is over all thy works upholding and sustaining them and above our sinfull works which thou usest to pardon upon an humble and hearty confession of them that mercy being infinite easily covers that which is finite when too I consider that great act of thy goodnesse in forgiving a Manasseh who had filled Jerusalem with innocent blood worshipt Devils and defied thee his God To this expresse of thy incomprehensible mercy when I adjoin the murther and adultery of thy Kingly Prophet David the perjurie of Peter the blasphemies and massacres vented and acted by Paul then Saul against thee and thy Church yet all received to mercy and crowned with forgivenesse I grounding my tottering soul upon these considerations and relying upon thy gracious invitation of sinners together with thy mercifull promises of admitting them into thy favour upon their unfeigned repentance presume to begge mercy of thee my God in the name of the Lord Jesus who came into the world to seek that which was lost and to save poor sinners of whom I confesse and acknowledge my self to be the chiefest Sweet Jesus make a bath of thy precious blood and bath my black polluted soul in it Wash me throughly from mine wickednesse and cleanse me from the guilt of disobedience to my Father and destroying my innocent Brother Oh let my prayers find the same successe as Manasseh his supplications did with thee they at once loosed him from his sins freed him from his chains and of a Captive made him a King and from the Dungeon of Babylon restored him to the Palace of Jerusalem Lord thou art the same for ever and ever thy essence is unchangeable thy power irresistible thy love inexpressible if thou wilt thou canst make me cleane Oh be pleased to adde a will to thy Almighty power and say unto my troubled soul by the still voice of thy blessed spirit Thy sins are remitted though I am now a loathsome and monstrous spectacle of wickednesse yet I shall be as white as snow being clothed with the long white robe my Saviour's imputed righteousnesse Lord first cleanse and then cloath my soul with this pure and precious garment of my Elder Brother in Heaven my Lord Jesus Let his blood shed for me on the Crosse which hath a purifying protecting and saving vertue in it let that expiate my bloody aime in shedding my elder Brothers on his bed It was done in his sleep I hope not to him in his sins however Lord forgive the guilt of this sinful circumstance attended with base cruelty and unmanly cowardise Lord when I am dead let me live in my example both of thy justice and mercy of thy justice in punishing me so deservedly for my rebellion against thee and of thy mercy in giving mee grace to repent by softning my obdurate heart and vouchsafing pardon upon my repentance for all my transgressions let my fall into this pit drive those that stand from presuming and let my rising again to thy favour keep others that shall sin against thee from despairing of mercy Oh let not the voice of my Brothers blood cry for vengeance against this Nation let the mouth of it be stopped with my breath and let the voice of my Saviours blood so outcrie that which I spilt that his intercession in Heaven and the prayers of thy servants on Earth may be heard for me who am thine by Creation Oh save me

Heavenly Father and thine by redemption O most gracious Redeemer Lord Jesus Christ receive my soul at its departure out of my body and strengthen me O God the Holy Ghost the comforter that I may encounter with death cheerfully and tast of that bitter cup gladly of which my Saviour hath drunk deep before and for me and suckt the poyson out of it so that I believe it shall onely prove a wholsom potion to release me from the power of sin to redeem me from misery and to restore my soul to an everlasting life in Glory Which God of his infinite mercy vouchsafe unto me for the merits of my Lord Jesus This prayer is the very sense of my soul and the desire of my mournfull heart FREEMAN SONDS A Miscellanie of divers remarkable passages and practises of Mr. Freeman Sonds and others during his imprisonment Written by a Godly and learned Divine Mr. Theophilus Higgons Rector of Hunton nere Maidston and delivered to me Aug. 23. who have as he desired in his letter inserted some particulars to his observations Sect. 1. IT is generally reported in Maidstone concerning Sir George Sonds the Father of Master Freeman that no Religious duties have been performed in his Family Master Freeman Sonds told me that by this report his Father was greatly wronged for it was a constant course said he in our Family that after Supper my Brother read a Chapter in the Bible one night and I another by my Fathers appointment afterwards he said prayers himselfe all the servants being present This also is constantly affirmed since by Master Charnock Sir George his Setward who hath dwelt with him twenty years and saith farther that besides the former publick duty his Master prayed by himselfe privately Prayers also as he saith were often said before dinner So then we must not impute that bloody act of the young Gentleman so much to a want of Education in Religion as to a want of grace for the present which God did withdraw from him for a time when he was under a strong temptation and without which grace supporting and preventing us the Best may fall into the Worst of sinnes so that the most fortified Christian being weak if we respect his naturall condition may rightly and to Gods glory say with Saint Austin C. 6. Soliloq Tentator defuit et ut deesset tu fecisti locus et tempus defu●t et ut deessent tu fecisti Affuit tentator non defuit locus non defuit tempus sed ut non consentirem tu me tenuisti Lord the Tempter time and opportunitie of place was wanting and all these were so by thy grace and blessing The Tempter came and assaulted my infirmity I wanted not opportunity of time and place yet that I should not consent to him Thy goodness prevented me Blessed be the Lord for his grace and mercy Let him that thinketh he stands take heed lest he fall A proud presumption and want of pitty to others is the first step to ruine and miserie in our selves Item Whereas some in Maidstone reported that Sir George Sonds in his Letters to his Son Freeman being in durance at Maidstone did not reprove as he ought his sonnes great offence but daub'd it over c. This report is malitious and false for in his first Letter about August 13. and in his second August 20. the day before his Sons execution he wrote very sharply and fully to him about the greatnesse of his sin and stirr'd him to a very deep repentance with serious and hearty prayers to God in his behalf This appears by his words cited in the Epistle of this book S. 2. MAster Freeman Sonds hath been loaded here with many grievous calumniations It was reported that he being at first committed to the common Gaole August 8. Wine was sent for him and divers Gentlemen with him drank freely he shewing no signe of repentance or remorse for his great offence I charged him with it his answer was and it was true confirmed by some of the said Gentlemen that they had not one drop of Wine nor any Beer and that for his part he who was of the temper of those Rechabites Jer. 35.6 drank no Wine nor strong Beer at any time This is most true of him as the other report's most false comming from the father of lies who is too busie in the hearts and tongues of the men of this Age who reported likewise most falsely that the Devill appeared to Master Freeman Sonds in a visible shape and that he had a conference with him This was strongly denyed by the young Gentleman two howers before he dyed who said he was only overcome by a strong suggestion from that old Serpent the enemy of mankind Let those that report such things maliciously beware lest for their uncharitablenesse God give them up also to Satan who may tempt them to commit the like or a worse sin Item It was reported here that for the space of three or foure years he had never taken a Bible into his hands and had no sign of Religion I asked him of it his answer was as before Sect. 1. that every second night he read a Chapter in the Bible and surely he had it then in his hands besides many other times but to have it in the hands is nothing unlesse a man have it with delight and love in his heart And as he ever prayed with his Father at night so Master Charnock aforesaid assured me that when they went to bed in two severall Chambers his Brother and he did upon their knees at their bed-side pray unto God in private and this was their constant course by imitation or injunction from their Father And it is farther testified by George Guthbert of little Chart who had the custody of him at the house of Master Foster Keeper of the Prison and truckled under him every night from August 8. to August 21. when he dyed that Master Freeman Sonds did duly every morning as soon as he arose and every night before he went to bed fall down upon his knees at his beds-side and prayed by himselfe Also I testifie that I saw a very good Prayer-book which he brought in his pocket to Maidstone the Title of it is Crums of Comfort a book full of good instructions and divine meditations Printed the thirty sixth time and many can witnesse upon their knowledge that being in the Keepers house he did read the Scripture and the Practise of Piety every day especially that content of the joyes of Heaven S. 3. AND as touching his disposition I found that true which was commonly reported by his friends that as he was no Drinker so no sweater no curser no lyar nor prophane in his conversation He resolved to fast on every Tuesday so long as he lived because on that day his Brother was murthered and could hardly be induc'd to eate that Tuesday night which was before the Wednesday morning on which day he should have suffered if