Selected quad for the lemma: mercy_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
mercy_n	pardon_v	sin_n	transgression_n	2,321	5	9.8948	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A60343	A discourse of closet (or secret) prayer from Matt. VI 6 first preached and now published at the request of those that heard it / by Samuel Slater.	Slater, Samuel, d. 1704.	1691 (1691)	Wing S3960; ESTC R25761	88,954	200

not seek his face where you sin to his face Oh! look carefully to it that as there are secret Faults so there be secret Prayers and Tears as secret Sins so secret Services Fourthly There are special and momentous Causes and Reasons for secret Prayer Surely there is not that Man nor Woman to be found upon the face of the earth but hath something or other which he would by all means have a Mantle of privacy thrown over something or other which he may be free and willing to whisper in the ear of a prudent intimate Friend and lock up in his bosom but he would not have it divulg'd and come abroad to the knowledge of every body Now let me ask thee Hast thou nothing to speak to God in his ear something which thou wouldst not have any person in the world acquainted with something it may be that doth greatly oppress thee and whilst thou dost smother it altogether in silence thy heart is almost broken within thee There is an absolute necessity of giving vent and thereby some ease to thine over-burden'd mind and where canst thou do it with more freedom and greater hope of relief than when thou art alone before a gracious God whose mercies are everlasting and his compassions do not fail Will that which they call Common-Prayer r●ach thy whole Case doth it contain in it all that is in thine heart dost thou find every one of thy wants mention'd there every one of thy groans form'd there every one of thy desires drawn up there is there nothing singular and peculiar in thy Case is it exactly stated by others in all the particularities of it I am sure the Wise Man tells us Prov. 14. 10. The heart knoweth his own bitterness and a stranger intermedleth not with his joy These things are so lock'd up in the heart of a man that no body else hath a key to let him into them I think it is most proper for a poor diseased Patient to tell his Physician how he feels himself indeed if he be so disturbed in his reason or so much enfeebled that he cannot do it then it is necessary for some other to do it that hath been about him and curious in his Observations but I am of the mind that the wise Physician will like that account best which comes from his Patient 's own mouth supposing him capable of giving one Do thou go and do so to thy great and ever-blessed Physician the holy God and to that end study both his Word and thy Heart that by studying his Word thou maist come to know how it should be with thee and by studying thine own heart thou maist know how it is with thee and then go and tell him Again will Publick-Prayer at all times become thee and in every one of thy concernments Hast thou so much of an unspotted innocency or such a large measure of confidence as that thou wilt not blush to tell the whole story of thine heart and life upon the House-top Hast thou been so undefiled in the way that thou needest not care who knows what thou hast been and what thou hast done Indeed when a proud and self-conceited Pharisee makes it his business to display his glory and to trumpet out his own commendations to tell God that he is a Phoenix a kind of none-such in the World one that is so free from common defilements so abundant in goodness and acts of goodness that his fellow is scarce to be met with it is no wonder to find him ambitious of having Auditors enough and to see him in the pride of his countenance and with his hand by his side strutting it to the Temple where he doth expect a great confluence of people who might go and inform others what great things they had heard concerning him from his own mouth and so raise to him Thousands of admirings among such as would be credulous and believe him upon his bare word But methinks when a poor Publican that groans under an heavy burthen of sin and guilt who knoweth himself unable to answer for one of a Thousand and who hath had often and often the sentence of death in himself pronounced by his own awakened and wounded Conscience when I say he is to draw up an Indictment against himself and to read it in the presence of his righteous Judge and then having so done to beg upon his knees and plead hard for his Life Lord be merciful to me a sinner He may stand a great way off and get alone by himself as a person ashamed and even confounded When thou goest to acquaint God with thy diseases foul loathsom diseases of Soul and to open thy Artery Sores and those wounds in thy Conscience which as poor David found and owned stink and are corrupt it speaks an humble modesty and doth highly become thee to do it between him and thee alone Now Christian give me leave to deal particularly with thee and to come as close as I can and to propound some few Questions to thee and to desire thee to propound them to thy self when I have done 1. Hast thou not some secret sins to confess to God Hast thou been all thy days so sober and righteous and godly so circumspect and exact that no action of thine troubles thee or will reflect dishhonour upon thee or in the least put thee out of countenance is there no blot in thy Escutchion no dead Fly in thy Box of Ointment Are there not some things done by thee which nobody doth know of and which thou wouldest not for more than I will say have any body know of Let this bring thee to Secret Prayer for they must be confest Indeed unless it be in some cases thou dost not need to do it unto Men there is no necess●●y for thee to proclaim and publish thine own shame Auricula●●onfe●●●on which the Popish Priests do require is an abomination But a Confession there must be else the wound of Conscience will not be healed the oppressed Spirit will not be relieved the S●ain will not be taken out the Sin will not be pardon'd The Promise is He that confesseth and forsakes his sin shall find mercy as much as he needs or can desire And the word of Truth gives us this assurance I Iohn 1. 9. That if we confess our sins God is just and faithful to forgive us ●u sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness Blessed be God for those words from all Pardoning Mercy and Justifying Grace will make thorow work where-ever it comes it takes away iniquity transgression and sin all sorts and sizes sins of all kinds and degrees But where doth this take place Only in them that Confess Where there is no Confession you cannot with reason hope for a Remission Add this You may very well spread before God those sins which you have committed in secret because it is not in your power to hide them from him they are all in the light of his