Selected quad for the lemma: mercy_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
mercy_n	lord_n	people_n	spare_v	2,606	5	9.3833	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A04917	A godly letter sent too the fayethfull in London, Newcastell, Barwyke, and to all other within the realme off Englande, that loue the co[m]minge of oure Lorde Iesus by Ihon Knox; Admonition or warning that the faithful Christians in London, Newcastel Barwycke and others, may avoide Gods vengeaunce	Knox, John, ca. 1514-1572.	1554 (1554)	STC 15059.5; ESTC S108135	51,203	96

wil permitte doubte not / but his merciful hande shal releaf vs in moste vrgent necessite extreme tribulaciō Therefore such men as teacheth vs / that necessarely it is not required that we vnderstād not what we pray / because God knoweth what we nede wold also teach vs / that neither we honor God nor yet referre / or geue vnto hī thākes for benefites receiued / for howe shall we honor and prayse hī / whose goodnes liberalite we know not / how shal we know / oneles we receiue / and sometime haue experiens And howe shall we know that we haue receiued / onlesse we know verely what we haue asked The seconde thinge to be obserued in perfit prayer is / that standing in the presens of God / we be found such as beryes to his holy law reuerence / Prou. 18. earnestly repēting our iniquite passed and intēding to leade a new lyfe / for otherwise in vayne are all our prayers / as it is written / who withdrawes his ear / that he wil not hear the lawe of God / his oration or prayer shal be abhominable And also ye shall multeply your prayers / I shal not heare / because your handes are full of bloude / that is off all crueltie and mischeuous workes And the sprete of God appeareth by the mouthe of the blynde / Ioh. 9. whome Iesus Christ doth illuminate by these wordes / we knowe that God heareth no synners / that is such as glories / do continew in iniquites ¶ Whē sinners are not hard of God SO that of necessite true repētaūce most nedes be had / passe before perfitte prayer / or syncere inuocaciō of gods name And vnto these two presidēces must be annexed the thride which is the directiō of our selfs in godes presence Vtterly refusing castīg of own iustice with all cogitaciōs opinion therof / that nothinge proceding of our selfes / that we should be harde / for all suche as auaunce / boast or depende any thing vpon their own iustice / from the presence of his mercye / repellith holdeth with the hygh proude pharesey And therfore the moste holy men / we fynde in praiers most deiected hūble Psal 79. Dauid sayeth o Lorde our sauiour help vs / for the glory of thy own name deliuer vs / be mercifull vnto oure synnes for thy owne name Remēber not oure olde iniquities / but hast thou o Lorde / let thy mercy preuent vs. Ieremie sayeth yf oure iniquities beare testimoni against vs / do thou accordyng to thy owne name And behold I say / thou art crabbid / O Lorde / because we haue synned / are replenished with all wickednes Esay 64 And oure iustice is like a filthy clothe c. But now O Lord / thou art our father / we are claye / thou arte the worke mā / we the workemāship of thy hādes Daniel 9 Be not crabid O Lord / remember not our iniquities for euer And Daniel greatly cōmēdid of God / maketh in his prayer most hūble cōfessiō in these wordes / we be sinners / haue offeded / we haue done vngodly / fallē frō thy cōmaūdemēt / but not in our own righteousnes make we our prayers before the / but thy most rych great mercy brīg we forth for vs. O Lord heare / Lord be merciful / spare vs Lord / attēd / helpe cease not my God / euē for thy names sake / do it for thy people thy citie called after thy name Behold / that in these prayers is no mēciō of their own iustice / their owne satisfaction / or their owne merites / but most humble confession / procedinge frō a sorowfull and penitent harte / hauing nothinge wherupon it might depende / but the mercy of God alone / who had promised to be their God that is their help / cōfort / defendor / deliuerer as he hath also don to vs by Iesus Crist in tyme of tribulacion Note And therfore / they / dispayrid not / but after knowlege of ther Sinnes / callid for mercy obtayned thesame / wherfore it is playne / that suche men as in theyr prayrs / haue respecte to any vertue / proceding of them selffe / thinkinge therby theyr prayrs to be accepted / neuer prayd aright ¶ What fastinge almoses dedes are without praye ANd albeit to feruent prayer be Ioynyd / fastinge / waking and almos dede / yet are none of these the cause / that God dothe except our prayrs but they are spurres which suffer vs not to vary / but make vs more able to continew in prayr / Psal 38.86 which the mercy of God dothe accepte But here maye it be obiectid / Dauid praythe / kepe mi lyfe o Lorde for I am holy / o Lorde here my iustice and suffer me not to be confoundid / 4. reg 20 and Ezechius remēbre Lorde I beseche the / that I haue walked righteously before the / and that I haue wrought that which is good in thy sight These wordes are not spokē of mē glorious / neither yet trusting in ther owne workes Note we But here in they testefy them selfes to be the sonnes of God by regeneraciō / to whom he promisid alwayes to be merciful / at al tims to hear theyr praiers ¶ The cause of ther boldnes was Iesus Crist ANd so theyr wordes springe a wontyd / constante and feruent faythe / surely beleuinge that as God of hys infinitie mercy / had callid them to his knowlege / not sufferinge them to walke after theyr owne natural wickednes / but partly had through them to confirme them to his holy lawe / and that for the promised sedes sake / so mighte he not leaue them destitute or comfort / consolacion and defence / in so great and extreme necessite And so theyr iustice a leage they not to glory therof / or to put trust therin / but to confyrme and strengthen them selfes in Godes promyses / and this consolation I wolde wyshe to al Christians in theyr prayers / a testimony of good conscience to assure them of Godes promises / but to obtayne what they aske must depende vpon his mercy / al opinion and through of our own iustice layd aside And more ouer Dauid in the wordes aboue compareth hym selfe with Kinge Saule / and with the rest of his enemies / who wrōgfully did persecute hym / desyiringe of God that they preuayle not agaynste hym as who saye iniustlye doo they persecute me therfore according to my innocensi defende me / for otherwyse he confessith him self moost greuously to haue offendid God / as in the precident places he clearly testifieth ¶ Ipocrisie is not alowid with god THirdly in prayer is to obserued / that what we aske of God / that we moste ernistly desier / the same knowleginge vs to be indigent voyde therof / and that God allone may graunte the peticion of our hartes mark

those that peryshed for lack of admonicions / and yet shal the plague not a moment the longer be delayed / for the Lorde hath apoynted the daye of hys vengeaunce / before the whiche he sendeth trompettes and messingers / that hys electe / watchynge with prayers / and sobrietie / maye be hys mercye esscape the vengeaunce that shal come But now you wolde knowe the groundes of my certitude / God graundt that hearinge them / you maye vnderstande / and stedfastlye beleue the same My assurances are / not the maruailes of Marlynge / neither yet the darke sentēces of prophaine Prophetes / but the playne truthe of Gods holy worde The immutable iustice of the euerliuing God And the ordenary course of hys plagues from the beginning are my assuraunces groundes Gods worde threatneth distrucciō to the inobediēt Deu. xxvii Ierem v. Amos. iij. Hys immutable iustice muste require thesame The ordenarye punishmentes and plagues sheweth examples / What menne then hauynge vnderstandynge / can cease to prophecye The worde of God playnely speaketh / Deut ●9 that yf a man shal heare the curses of Gods law / and yet in his hart shal promys to hym selfe / felicitie and good lucke / thinckinge / he shall haue peace / albeit he walcke after the Imaginacions of hys owne wil and hart To suche a man the Lord will not be mercifull / but hys wrath shal be kyndled against him / and he shal destroye hys name frō vnder the heauen / how the Lord threathneth plagues after plague / and euer the last to be the fyrst / whill fynally / he will consume realmes / and nations / if they repent not / reade the .26 Chapter off Leuiticus / which chapter / oft I haue willed you to marke / as yet I do vnfainedly / anh thinke not / it apretāneth to the Iewes only / No brethern The Prophetes are the interparatours of the law / and they make the plagues off God commō to all offendore / the punyshment euer beginning at the houshold of God The wicked protestatiō of the late duke off Northuberlād / at the hour of his death / agaynste hys owne conscience in hope off ●yfe Esai xiij xv.xviij.cvij.xix Ieremi l lj Ezech. xxv xxvi ●7 And here I must touche a poinct off that deuillishe confession made a late by that miserable man / whose name for sorow I can not recyte This argumēt he vseth to proue the doctrine of late yeres done / taught amongest you / to be wicked / Trobles and plagues sayth he hath folowed the same / not only here in England / but also in Germany / as he willeth you to marke This fragill / and vaine argument at this tyme / no otherwyse will I labor / to confute / then by plaine scriptures declaring / that plagues apertayneth to all inobedient / beginninge firste / where Gods mercies hath bene offered / and obstinatly refused / that may aunswere the blynde rage of ignoraūces The Prophetes Esai Ieremi Ezechieli after they had proclaymed plagues to fall vppon the people off Israel / and vpon the house of Iuda / prophecyeth particularlye againste certeyn nations and cyties / not onely adiacēt in circute about Ierusalem / but also againste suche / as were far distant / as against Moah Ammon Palestina Aegipt Tirus Damascus and Babilone And in conclusion generall prophesies / are spoken against all inobedient / and synfull natiōs / as in the .24 chapter off Esaye plainly apeareth / Ierem. xxv as also the Lord commaunding Ieremye / to geue the cuppe off hys wrath / to al nations / one after another / who sholde drinke off the same / although they refused it of his hand / That is albeit / they wolde not beleue the voyce off the prophet / yet sholde they not escape Ierem. ● The plagues that he spake For euery nation lyke vnto this / shal I punisshe saith the Lord of hostes / with thesame agreeth Amos saing Amos. ix The eyes of the Lord are vpon euery sinfull nation to roote it out of the earthe These and many mo places euidētly proueth that plagues spoke in the law of God / apertaineth to euery rebellions people / be they Iew / or be they Gentile / Christians intytel / or Turkes in professiō / And the grounde off the Prophetes / was thesame / The iustice of God whiche before I haue rehersed for my assuraunces / that Englande shall be plagued / which is Godes immutable and inuiolable iustice / whiche can not spare in one Realme and nation / those offences that moste seuerally he hath punisshed in another / for so were he in equall and made differēs / as touching executiō off his iust iudgementes / betwixte parson and parson / whiche is most contrarious to the integritie off his iustice / for thus he speaketh by Ieremy his prophete Behold Ierem. xxv I haue begōne to punisshe in the house where my name is incalled / and shall I spare the rest as the Lorde wolde saye / howe can my iustice permit those crymes vnpunished in proude contemptnors / that neither regardeth me / nor yet my lawe / seing I haue not spared my own people / that externally beareth some reuerēs to my name Englande synfull That God hath punished other realmes nations / men of smal vnderstāding / wil easly confes But whether that lyke crymes hathe ben / and yet are committed within the realme of Englande / as were before the laste plagues of God among those nations / that is to be inquyred / in this case can nothing better instruct vs then Gods plaine woorde / rebuking the vices / whiche raigned in those dayes / And omitting all such as prophesied before / it shal suffice for this tyme / to reherse some places of Ieremye The tyme of whose prophecie wel consydered / shal make the matter more sensible He beginneth in the .13 yeare of the raigne of king Iosias and contine with tyll after the destrucciō of Ierusalem / whiche came in the .11 yeare of Zedechias / Longe preached this godly man to wite .39 yeares and sixe monethes / before the vttermost of the plagues apprehēded this stubborn nation and that he did with much troble and iniurie susteined / as in his prophesyes / is to be sene Be all lykelyhold then / there were some Cob Carles / that were not pleased with the proffit / neither yet with hys preachinges And yet plaine●t is / that no Kyng so truly turned vnto God with all hys hart / with all hys soule / and with all hys strength / accordinge to all the law of Moyses / as did Iosias / yet as sayd is The prophet of God was trobled / not by no smal number / for I fynd hym complain / vniuersally generally vpon the peoples iniquitie / for thus iudgeth he Gods speakinge My people haue committed dubble iniquitie Ierem. ij They haue forsaken me / the

Ierusalē escape the punishmēt of God Bevvare ●●● dissembling gospelers vvhich for the safegarde off ●oure vvorld lij pelfe defile four selfes vvith all popishe abhominacions Shall we then beleue that England maye auoide the vengeaunce that is threatned / No deare brethren Yf Idolatrie continew / as it is begonne / no more can England escape Gods vengeaunce / then God hym self may lease his iustice And therfore dearly beloued in our sauiour Iesus Christ Yf profit to your selfe or to your posteritie can moue you any thinge / then muste ye avoide and fle Idolatrie For if the Lordes messengers / that shal be sente too execute hys wrath / fynde you amongst fylthie Idolators / your bodies committing lyke abhomination with them Ye haue no warrant that ye shall escape the plagues / prepared for the wicked But rather it is to be feared that ye shall be plagued with them Iudi. 20 The hole trybe of Beniamin perished with the adulterers / yet were they not all adulterers in faict 1. Reg 15 Hole Amalek was commaunded to be destroyed / yet was not one of those lyuīg that trobled the Israelites / in their passage from Egipte Pharao was not drouned alone as in another letter / I haue more plainly writtē neither yet foūd Ionathas mercy / as touchinge lyfe corporal / in the daye when Gods vengeaunce punished Saule the repobater / and why the Apostle aunswereth Rom. 1. Because men knowing the iustice of God sayeth he and doing the cōtrary are worthy of death / not only those that doth wickedly / but also suche as consenteth to thesame Who cōsenteth And no man can be excused / but that he consentes / who dayly frequenting in the companye of wicked men / geuinge neither signe in woordes nor in dede / that iniquitie displeaseth hym And therefore yet I saye / yf profyt may moue vs. c. most profytable shall it be euen for the body in this present lyfe too auoide Idolatrye / for so doinge / As we shal esscape the plagues / whiche the vngodlye shall suffer / so is God by hys promis oblished vnto vs to be our father / our portiō / Esai 49. Zacha. 2. our īheritaūce defence / he promiseth wil not disceaue to cary vs vppon hys owne wynges from all daunger Psal lij Psalm c.xlvi. Psalm c.xl. To plant vs our posteritie in euerlasting memorial To feade vs in the tyme off hūger / and fynally to fight for vs / and to saue vs from all miseries and mischaunces But now to the subsequent As it is most profytable for body and soule to auoyde Idolatry / so is it so necessary / that onles we so do / we refuse to be in leage with God What we doo when we ioyn our selfs with idolaters Exo. xx We declare ourself to haue no faythe / we ●enye to be Gods witnes / and so muste he of this iustice expressed in his worde denye vs to apertaine to hym or to hys kyngdom And then alas what restith for vs / but perpetuall death ordeined for those that wil not continew in leage with God The leage betwene God vs conteyneth these conditions / that God shall be our God / and we shal be his people / he shal communicat with vs / of his graces goodnes we shal serue hym in bodye soule / he shall be our sauegarde from death and damnacion / we shal sticke too hym / and fle from all straunge Goddes This is the leage in making whereof we swear solempnedly / neuer to haue felowship with any religiō / except with that which God hath auctoris●d by hys manifest worde Yf by Gods scriptures these presydents be so playne / that reasonably no man can de●ye any point therof Then haue I good hope that ye wil admitte it to be necessarie / that you auoide Idolatry / yf the leage betwene God and you shal be kept sure And fyrst it is to be obserued / that Goddes iustice / beyng infinite in matters of religion / requireth lyke obediens of al those that be within hys leage at all tymes / that he requireth of any one nation / or particular mā in any one age / for al that byde with ī his leage / Deu. 29. are one body as Moyses doth witnes recompting men / wemen / chyldren / seruauntes / prynces / priestes / officers / and straungers within the couenaunt of the Lorde Then what God requireth of one as touching this leage he requireth of all / for hys iustice is immutable / what he dampneth in anye one that he muste dampne in others / for he is righteous without parcialitie Then let vs consider what God hath requyred of suche as hathe bene in leage with hym / and what he pronounceth dampnable Deu. xiij Moyses the mouth of God to his people of Israel speaketh as foloweth Yf thy brother the sōne of thy mother / or the wyfe of thy own bosome / or thy neyghbour / whom thou louest as thy own lyfe / shal priuely solyst the / Sayng let vs go and serue other Goddes whome thou hast not knowē c. Obey hym not / hear hym not / neither yet let thy eye spare hym / be not merciful vnto hym / nor hyde him not / but kyll hym / let thy hand be the fyrst vpon hym / that suche a one maye be kylled / and then the handes of the holy people stone hym with stones / vntil he dye And likewise commaundeth he to be donne with a hole citie / if the indwellers therof turne backe to Idolatrie / addinge also / that the citie and the whole spoyle therof shal be brent That no portiō shal be saued / nor yet that the citie shal be buylded foreuer again because it is accursed of God Here is a playne declaracion / what God requyreth of them that wil continew in leage with him / and what he hath dampned by his exprest wordes And do we esteme beloued brethren that the immutable God will wincke at our Idolatrie / as that he saw it not seing he commaundeth iudgement to be executed so seuerly against Idolators / and againste suche as onely prouoked or solisted others to Idolatrie / that neither should blood nor affinitie neither multitude nor ryches / saue suche as offendeth / neither yet that we should coūsayll their offences / but that we should be the fyrst that should accuse brother / sonne / doughter / or wyfe / and why because he entendeth saith Moyses to bring the frō the Lorde thy God / Who led thy furth from the land of Egipte / and therfore let hym dye / that all Israel hearing / maye feare / and presumed not after too commit the lyke abhomination Let nothing apertayninge to suche a man or citie / cleaue vnto thy hande / that the Lord may turn frō the furor of his wrath be moued ouer thy with most tender mercy and affeccion /

scriptures are not written in vayne / but too certefye vs / that God of hys natiue goodnes will metigate by our prayers offered by Iesus Christ / although he hath threatened to punish or presently by punishing / which he doth testefye by his owne wordes saying Ierem. 18 Yf I haue propheried against any nacion or people / that thei shal be destroyed And yf they repent of theyr iniquitie / it shall repent me of the euel / which I haue spoken agaynst them ●a●enes in praier This I write lamenting the great couldnes of men / which vnder so longe scorgis of God / is nothing kyndled to prayer by repentaunce / but carkese slepe in weked lyfe / euen as though their continuante warres / vrgent famyne / cotidian plagues off pestilence / and other contagious insolent and straunge maladis / were not the present signes of Gods wrath prouoked by our iniquite ¶ A plague threatned too Englande O Englande / A plague threatened to Englāde let thy intestiue batteries domesticall murther / prouoke the to purety of lyfe / according to the worde / whiche openly hath bene proclaymed in the / other wise the cuppe of the Lordes wrathe / thou shalt shortly drinke of The multitude shall not escape / but shall drynke the dregges / and haue the cuppe broken vpon their heades / The godlye punisshed for iudgement beginninge in the house of the Lorde / commonly the least offendor is fyrst punished / to prouoke the more weked too repentaunce But O Lorde / infinite mercye / yf thou shalt punishe / make not consumacion / but cut awaye the proude luxuriant braūches / which beare no fruyte / and preserue the cōmon wealths / of suche as geue succour herber / to thy contempned messengers / which lōge haue suffred exile in deserte / so be it FINIS ¶ Here after foloweth a Confession OMnipotent and euerlasting God father of our LORDE Iesus Chryste whoo be thy eternall prouidence / disposes kyngdoms / as beste seameth to thy wysdom / we acknowledge and confesse thy iudgemētes to be righteous in that thou hast taken frō vs / for our ingratitude and for a businge of thy most holy worde / our natiue Kyng earthlye comforter / iustly maye thou poure forth vpon vs the vttermoste of thy plagues / for that we haue not knowen the dayes and tyme of oure mercifull visitacion / we haue contempned thy worde / and dispised thy mercies / we haue trāsgressed thy lawes / for deceytfully haue we wroughte euery man / with oure neyghbours oppressiō and violēce we haue not abhorred / charitie / hath not apeared amonge vs as oure profession requireth / we haue littel regarded the voyces of thy prophetes / thy threatninges we haue estemed vanytie and wynd / so that in vs / as of our selfs restes / nothinge worthy of thy mercies / for all are founde frutles / euē the princes with the prophetes / as wythered trees apt and mete too be burnt in the fyre of thy eternall displeasure But o Lord / behold thy own mercy goodnes / that thou may purdge and remoue the moste fylthye borden / of oure moste horrible offences / let thy loue ouercome the seueritie of thy iudgemētes / euen as it did in geuing to the world thy onely sonne Iesus / when all mankynde was lost / and no obediēce was lefte in Adam nor in his sede Regenerate our hartes o Lorde by the strength of the holy ghoste / conuert thou vs / and we shall be conuerted / worke thou in vs vnfayned repentāce / and moue thou oure hartes too obey thy holy lawes Beholde our trobles and apparant destruction / and staye the sworde of thy vengeaunce before it deuoure vs. Place aboue vs o Lorde for thy great mercies sake / such a head with suche rulers and maiestrates as feareth thy name / and willeth the glory of Christ Iesus to spred Take not from vs the light of thy Euangely / and suffer thou no papistrie to preuaile in this realme Illuminate the harte off our soueraigne lady quene Marie / with prignant giftes of thy holy ghoste And inflame the hartes of her coūsayl / with thy trew feare and loue / represse thou the pryde of those that wolde rebelle And remoue frome all hartes the contēpte of the worde / let not our enemies reioyce at our destruction / but loke thou too the honor of thy owne name o Lorde / and let thy Gospell be preached with boldines in this realme / if thy iustice must punish / then punish our bodies with the rodde of thy mercy But o Lorde let vs neuer reuolte / nor turne backe to Idolatrie agayne Mytigate the hartes of those that persecute vs / let vs not faynt vnder the crosse of oure sauiour / but assist vs with the holy ghoste / euen to the ende Here after foloweth the Table of this boke A. A confession of Christes moste sacred Euangely / vpon the death of that moste verteous moste famous kyng Edward the .vi. fo xvi A plague threatened to Englande fo xvi A poynted places to praye in maye not be neglected fo xv Aungels maye not be mediators fo x. Agaynste suche as wolde haue mediators too Iesus Christ fo xij B. Better it is to obey God then man fo xiij By whome we must praye fo ix C. Corporall thinges fo xij Comforte to the afflicted fo xiiij D. Dayly bread fo vi F. Fleshe striueth agaynste the sprete fo xiiij For whō at what tyme we should fo xvi G. Gods sentence may be chaunged fo xvi God deliuereth hys chosen from fo vi H. How the sprete maketh intercession fo iij. I. Iesus Christ / God man is mediator fo x. Impedimentes commeth of the weakenes off the fleshe fo xiiij Intercession to sainctes fo x. Ipocrisie is not alowed with God fo v L. Let euery man iudge hys owne hart fo iij. N. Not to pray is synne most odious fo vij O. Obedience of Christ fo xi Obseruacion in godly prayer fo ix Of necessite we must haue a mediator fo ix R. Reddines of God to heare synners fo vij S. Sporris stire vs to prayer fo vi T. Turkes and Iewes / fo ix The hope to obtayn our peticions / should depende vpon the promises of God fo vij The cause of theyr boldnes was Iesus fo v. The peticion of the sprete fo xiiij W. What prayer is fo ij Who prayeth not in tribulation fo vi When synners are not harde of God fo iiij Why we shoulde praye / and also vnderstande what we do praye fo iii. What fasting / almose dedes are fo v. When we be not herde fo x. What is to be gathered in the name fo xv Who maketh other mediatours then Ihesus Christ taketh ouer from hym fo xi What shoulde be prayed for fo xiij When and for whom we should praye fo xv Why God differreth or prolongeth to graūt vs oure peticion fo xiij Where constaunte prayer is / there is graunted peticion fo vij Who prayeth not fo iij. What is to be obserued in prayer fo ij ¶ Here endeth the Table GOD IS MY HELPER