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	sinner_n	spare_v	2,152	5	9.6527	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A91813	King Solomons directory: or, The reformed Catholicks rubricke: shewing a Christian how to demeane and behave himselfe both in prosperity and adversity: / as it was set forth in a sermon at St. Peters Pauls-wharfe, London, July the 8. 1649. By Fran: Riddington, a loyall subject, and long sufferer for fearing God, and honouring the King.	Riddington, Francis.	1649 (1649)	Wing R1438; Thomason E565_16; ESTC R206142	14,454	20

confesse and forsake our sinnes correct and amend what ever is amisse in us redeeme the time we have vainly spent and work out our salvation with fear and trembling Fear God honour our King and love as Brethren and then we need never fear what man can doe unto us Luke 12.4 5. Let all of us in the fear of God in this day the latter day the day of Adversity thus consider and God it may be may be intreated and once againe restore unto us the former day the day of Prosperity wherein we may lawfully yea must and ought thankfully to be joyfull and merry To which purpose let us pray This Prayer was omitted because the Glass was run and the Season then almost as hot as these 8. years persecution but being it was really intended it is therefore here verbatim inserted O Lord God of Hosts God of the spirits of all Flesh who for a long time hast sorely afflicted us with the devouring scourge of a most unnaturall War And in the depth of thy displeasure hast suffered us to proceed to that height of impiety as unsatisfied with the bloud of our fellow-members to cut off Him who was our Head and to take away His Life for the preservation whereof we ought all of us both by the Lawes of God and Man to have sacrificed our own O Lord we do confesse that we be even astonished and confounded with the apprehension of our most sinfull and most miserable condition O who can lay his hands on the Lords Anointed and be guiltlesse Had He been a Saul and His Subjects Davids Had He beene rejected and they elected They Righteous and He Wicked yet had they sinned against their own Soules and been guilty of the highest Treason for defiling their hands with the Bloud of their Soveraigne Of how much greater condemnation doth this sinfull Land stand guilty who have laid hands upon a David and are themselves Shimea's and Shebaes who have slaine a most pious prudent and peaceable Prince and are themselves a most perfidious rebellious and wicked People Yea and to fill up the measure of our iniquity that their might be nothing wanting to make our sinne compleat we have usurpt thy Authority who art the onely Judge of Kings and committed this horrid Murther under the specious colour of Justice We have if we may make use of His owne Expressions added the mockery of Justice to the cruelty of Malice So that now we may seeme even ripe for destruction and thou mayest justly thrust in thy sickle and cut us down destroy us root and branch as in one day and lay our Land waste into a Wildernesse or give it unto Strangers to be inhabited Thou mayst sweep us away with the beesome of Destruction and give us our portion with the Devil and his Angels as the worst of Hipocrites in the hottest place of that Lake which burns with Fire and Brimstone But Lord in Judgment we humbly beseech thee to remember mercy and thou that takest no delight in the Death of one single sinner spare mercifull Lord spare a great though most sinfull Nation Pity a despised Church and distracted State heal up those Wounds which our sins have made so wide that none but thine owne hands can close them and in the tendernesse of thy unspeakable compassion set up the Sunne in his Fathers Throne that he may restore thy worship settle Peace and purge the Land of the Guilt of that innocent Loyall yea ROYALL blood wherewith it is Defiled which cries aloud for Vengeance in thine ears O Lay not this sin of bloud-guiltinesse unto the charge of this whole Nation which is committed by the hands of a handfull in comparison to the whole Neither let the Cry of that horrid murther committed upon the Person of thine Anointed by those who have graspt all power into their hands out-cry the cry of their prayers whose Loyall hearts abhorre the very thought of such a Heinous Treasonable Damnable fact and mourne in secret for it O Let it pity thee to see so flourishing a Church and State as this but lately was to be thus rent and torne in pieces by a rude rabble of Seditious Sacrilegious Rebellious Trayterous Men who have embrued their hands in the bloud of King Priest and People Who have Usurpt all authority trampled upon all Religion Violated all our Lawes infring'd all our liberties and destroy'd our properties and Father all their impieties upon thee because for our sins thou sufferest successe to attend their actions which have neither warrant nor president in thy Word But Lord we beseech thee for Jesus Christ his sake to be reconciled unto us to pardon our sins and heale our Land which for its transgressions hath many Princes yea Servants that rule over it And give us Him thy Servant our true and rightfull Soveraigne CHARLES Sonne and Heyre to his deceased Father to be our King maugre all the power and malice of thine his and our inhumane barbarous and bloud thirsty enemies Arise O Lord maintaine thine owne cause Remember how the Adversary hath blasphemed thy Name profaned thy holy places Murdered thine Anointed butchered his Subjects and now gee about to disinherit his posterity and convert a well-tempered Monarchy into a popular Anarchy This thou hast seen O Lord and because thou holdest thy tongue they think wickedly that thou art even such a one as their selves but doe thou reprove them and see before them the things which they have done That thou maist take the matter into thy hands the poore commiteth himself unto thee O be thou the helper of the friendlesse and breake the power of the ungodly and malicious Infatuate their Councells and divide them Infeeble their forces and Disperse them Impale their hearts weaken their hands and command Salvation and deliverance for thy Church the King and his people That thy worship may be restored Thine ANOINTED inthroned and Truth and Peace re-established in all our Borders and that for his sake who is the Prince of peace and that shed his most precious blood to purchase our peace even Jesus Christ the righteous To whom with thee and the blessed Spirit be ascribed as is most due All Honour Power Praise might Majesty Dominion and thanksgiving for ever and for ever Amen FINIS

but too many whelps of that litter and you know where Yet these wars no more then this warfare of our life can last alwaies dabit Deus his quoque finem God in his good time will put a period to them and there will we may hope ere long come a day of refreshing for the Lord will not cast off for ever Lam. 3.31 But though he cause grief yet will be have compassion according to the multitude of his mercies Adversity no more then prosperity is everlasting were either of them so there would be no heaven or no hell hereafter if both there would be neither but there is both both a heaven and a hell Mat. 25. at the latter end and prosperity and adversity are here both but for a while for a day or so and away In the day of prosperity and in the day of adversity And this Consideration that Neither prosperity nor adversity are for perpetuity nor of any Considerable permanency duration or Continuance that they are both but for a very little while for a day or time short as a day may humble us and may Comfort us Consider first That Prosperity is but for a day and be humbled Consider secondly That Adversity is but for a day and be comforted Why should prosperity which is but for a day make any one Proud Lordly and Stately Wilt thou set thine eyes upon that which is not saith Solomon Who had more to boast of then any man either before or since his time as you may read Eccles 2.9 wilt thou set thine eyes upon that which is not for Riches certainly make themselves wings they flee away as an Eagle towards heaven Prov. 23.5 he that is this day thy and my inferiour may to Morrow or next day be our Superiour for both he may rise and we may Fall either will suffice to set him above us and bring it to who would have thought this the examples and instances of this nature are so many and ready at hand that it is a businesse for me to make choice of them only in the Lump let me ask have you not of late seen many and strange alterations in diverse antient and Noble Families yea of Townes also and Cities have you not seene Folly set in great Dignity and the rich sit in low place Servants upon Horses and Princes walking as Servants upon the Earth Solomon observed it in his time Ecclesiastes 10.16 and 17. ver and we may if we please much more in ours Quos dies vidit veniens superbes Hos dies vidit fugiens jacentes One Day the Valiant brood of Brutus sent to fight Thus sent one Day did see them all lie dead e're night And how many brave and hopefull branches have in some one Day been lopt off by preposterous and bloudy hands since the breaking forth of this intestine and detestable rebellion Yea and how many more may possibly be destroyed by the undistinguishing bullet and non-sparing sword before this all-Devouring warre be ended and a firme peace in these yet bleeding Kingdomes setled Oh I tremble to speak it How have some amongst us in one day stopt their owne breath and taken off his head who was ours Like the foole in the Embleme who being in a tree sawed off the bow on the which he sate And are not mens fortunes and estates in as much hazard and as little security as their lives and Liberties The Grounds Houses Lands Leases Livings and the like which now many of you call yours if there be any such things as meum tuum as property left they you know have had many a one and many another which called them theirs and may be soon again rent from you or your Posterity by some concussion change or prodigall heirs Yea how many mens estates and revenues are at this present by force and fraud detained from them so that they reap little or no benefit by them When Craesus glorying in his great riches led Solon into his treasury and shewed him all his wealth thinking thereby to extort not onely a bare applause and Commendation but even wonder and admiration the wise man slighted what the fond King so much adored and if my memory fail me not to this purpose replyed He that hath better Iron will soone be Master of all thy Gold And it was not very long after that this rich King proved his poore friends words true by wofull experience another King being a better Warriour or more fortunate Souldier taking from him all his treasure And who will not subscribe this with a probatum est that knows the proceedings of these times Wherein not He that hath most right but they that have most might carry the prize away See Nebuchadnezar proudly walking and vanting in his stately and new erected palace and in the height of his Pride puft up with Prosperity demanding is not this great Babilon that I have built for the house of the Kingdome by the Might of my power and for the honour of my Majesty Dan. 4.30 And see him once within an houre expelled thence yea Driven from the society of men and made a companion for beasts and then tell me if you know what a Day may bring forth Such strange alterations may one day produce that he who is this Day the highest in this worlds blandishments may or ever the Sun salute the East againe be as low as low may be in another worlds torments Thou foole this Night shall thy soule be required of thee and then whose shall those things be which thou hast provided Was besides the exprobation and objurgation an unwelcome intimation and prediction of a most strange and sudden change and must needs strike cold to his heart you will say who was at this with himselfe Soule thou hast much good laid up for many years take thine ease Eate Drinke and be Merry Luke 12.19 O Consider then of this all ye that are troubled with the tympany of pride through a little worldly Prosperity all ye that are therefore proud because ye prosper in this world and as some Translations read my Text Vse well the time of Prosperity and remember the time of Misfortune Scilicet ultima semper Expectanda dies homini est diciquebeatus Ante obitum nemo supremaque funera debet You know not what may happen before the night of your life come some that have beene borne in a palace have died in a dungeon Hear ye and give eare be not proud for the Lord hath spoken Jer. 13.15 For the day of the Lord of Hoasts shall be upon every one that is proud and lofty and upon every one that is lifted up and he shall be brought low Esay 2.12 Prosperity is but for a day let this therefore even in the height of thy Prosperity humble thee Neither secondly is adversity for any more for any longer then a Day and this may comfort us in our miserie Saeva noverca dies nunc est nunc mater amica

beleeve him As I live saith the Lord God I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked but that the wicked turn from his way and live turn ye turn ye from your evill wayes for why will ye die O ye house of Israel Ezek. 33.11 O beatos nos quorum causa Deus jurat O miserrimos fi●nec juranti Domino credimus as the Father beforenamed hath it in the place before cited O happy and blessed are we for whose sake God swears O most miserable and wretched if we will not believe him swearing and if we doe believe him then let us repent our selves of our sinnes and returne unto him Every sinne is an errour Nonne errant omnes Prov. 14.22 Do they not erre that devise evill We fall and stray peceardo by sinning we must rise and return poenitend● by repenting It is not the falling but the not rising not our sinning but our not repenting that undoes us Perpetuity and impenitency in sinne makes sin out of measure sinful and renders the actors uncapable of a pardon As all Gods promises pass sub conditione obedientiae on condition of obedience so all his threatnings Sub condititione impenitentia under the condition of impenitency If a righteous man revolt he shall die for it notwithstanding all Gods promises and if a wicked man repent he shall live notwithstanding all Gods menaces You may see this clearly evidenced in that 33. Chapter of the Prophesie of Ezekiel at the 13. and following Verses When I shall say to the righteous that he shall surely live if be trust to his own righteousnesse and cōmit iniquity all his righteousnesse shall not be remembred but for his iniquity that he hath committed he shall die for it Againe when I say unto the wicked thou shalt surely die if he turne from his sinne and doe that which is lawfull and right be shall surely live he shall not die What can be said more fully more plainly or more punctually wherefore if we desire rather to live then to dye to prosper then to perish let us repent our selves of our iniquities and returne unto the Lord our God who is ready to receive and embrace us in the armes of his mercie Esa 55.7 Let the wicked c. Repentance is nothing else but redire ad principia to return to him whom we have left by sinne And the practice of this duty consisteth in these two things Humiliation and reformation humiliation under the mighty hand of God reformation of our evil lives and corrupt conversations which are the cure of the great and many distempers that make us thus miserable as we are Humiliation and reformation are the onely meanes to pacifie Gods indignation and to remove our afflictions and this is the thing which we are in this day of adversity to consider and my last observation which I shall dispatch in a word Humiliation and Reformation have for these eight yeares and upward beene the common talke of the times But what hath beene done in them why indeed si verbis audacia detur such things as never were done before That hath been done Quod nulla posteritas probet quod nulla taceat Which posterity can neither approve nor conceale no nor all Antiquity parallel I le give you cases as near as I can to ours we have had daies of Humiliation wherein many men have fasted but as we reade Isa 58.4 For strife and debate and to smite with the fist of wickednesse c. and humbled themselves but as it is Psal 10.10 That the poore might fall by their strong ones And such a Reformation we have as Nebuzaradan Captaine of the guard to Nebuchadnezer made at Jerusalem 2 Kings 25. When he threw downe the walls both of City and Temple and tooke away all the vessels of Gold and Silver c. And how should it be better when the Devill of Rebellion hath turned himselfe into this Angell of Reformation and the old Serpent held out new lights to lead his followers into outer Darknesse But to have done with these who have undone us All. The Humiliation which I am to speake to and of is a true selfe dejection joyned with the confession of sinne contrition for sinne and an earnest desire of pardon And as for Reformation it is a conversion from sinne a change of all bad actions into good The former duty is thus performed A man touched with the sense of his misery humbly casteth himselfe downe before the mercy seate of Gods offended Majesty confesseth from a sorrowfull heart his forepast sins condemneth himselfe for the same and earnestly entreateth pardon and forgivenesse of them at the hands of God for the merits of Christ The latter thus A man perceiving his errour and folly corrects and amends what ever is amisse in him sets himself in the right way and proceeds and goes on in all vertue of godlinesse of living And let every one of us but thus humble and thus reforme himselfe and surely then the controversie which God hath with us all is ended and a peace concluded for confirmation of which assertion the whole current of Scripture is so clear and the Character so obvious that he that runs may read I shall therefore quote but two to avoide prolixity and what need I more when In Scripturis non saepius dicta sed tantum dicta sufficiant Any one materiall Text will serve to prove any one tenet to them that believe the Scripture 1. Then for Humiliation take that of Saint James at his 4. Chapter and 10. Verse Humble your selves in the fight of the Lord and he shall life you up doe you but performe the duty of Humiliation and God will conferre upon you the dignity of exaltation And as for Reformation see thee 1. of Esay at the 16. Verse where we have this document no lesse consolatory then consonant Wash ye make ye clean put away the evill of your doings from before mine eyes cease to do evill learn to do well c. and then come and let us reason together saith the Lord though your sinnes be as scarlet they shall be as white as snow though they be red like crimson they shall be as wool If ye be willing and obedient ye shall eat the good of the Land If ye will reforme your selves you shall be received to mercy no question to the contrary but if ye will not if ye refuse and rebell ye may read your destiny in the next Verse the 20. of that 1. of Esay ye shall be devoured with the sword for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it And if the mouth of the Lord hath said it the hand of the Lord wil do it For nec verbum ab intentione quia veritas nec factum à verbo quia virtus saith Saint Bernard With God neither doth his Word disagree c. Let then so many of us as believe in God as believe his Word obey him and doe as we are commanded Humble and Reforme our selves