Selected quad for the lemma: mercy_n
Text snippets containing the quad
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A60137
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The mourners companion, or, Funeral discourses on several texts by John Shower.
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Shower, John, 1657-1715.
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1692
(1692)
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Wing S3673; ESTC R25149
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101,466
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242
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assist them hereafter as now otherwise it is as uncertain whether you shall Repent hereafter if you live as whether you shall live to that hereafter wherein you say you intend to Repent 6. Consider How great and Important a thing it is to Dye and to meet the Lord our Judge It is so even for good men that are habitually Ready after such a life of sense and the deep Impressions we are under by sensible Objects after our many Backslidings and actual Sins to look into the House of darkness and think of lodging there to lay down these Bodies to corrupt and Putrifie there to bid adien to all our Relations and take a solemn leave of all our Friends to think of passing thro' this dark Entry through which as we go right or wrong we are made or undone for ever to think of the Majesty and Holiness of God his Truth and Justico to consider the strictness and Spirituality of his Holy Law and the awful Solemnity of the Tryal and Judgment that all Mankind must come under These and such things consider'd which are obvious to any considering man make it no easie matter to dye even for the best But for an unprepared Soul that is Unready as to his State who hath done little or nothing ever in his whole Life of such Work no Expressions can describe the Terrors of that mans case especially for careless carnal Professors that attend the preaching of the Word and are deceived by the Devil to think they are in the way to Heaven while yet they live in secret Sin and are Enemies to God what killing disappointment will they meet with one moment after Death when they expect with the foolish Virgins to enter Heaven and find the door to be shut Sirs believe and tremble If you are not ready for the Coming of Christ you are ready for his condemning Sentence and ripe for Ruine If you are not ready as Vessels of Mercy prepar'd for Glory you are ready as Vessels of Wrath fitted for Destruction That Place and Portion which you are fit for you shall have at Death If you are not fit to be with Christ if you are not made meet for the Inheritance of the Saints in Life if you are not formed and wrought by the Spirit of Christ for this self-same thing you shall have another Place and Company and Portion with the Devil and his Angels in unquenchable Fire where is weeping and wailing and gnashing of Teeth for ever 7. You need not fear that you shall hasten your Death by Thinking of it and being Ready Christs Summons will not be hastened tho' thy Preparation be The stroke of Death will not be sooner but the easier and make Life and Death it self sweeter by now endeavouring to be Ready You will not then be afraid of every Sickness and threatning Danger that brings you to the borders of the Grave They were the foolish Virgins who were affrighted at the Midnight cry The Bridegroom cometh because their Lamps were out and they had no Oyl they were struck to the Heart their Hope 's dyed and they presently sunk into Despair But of such as are Ready we find them speak of Dying as of an easie sleep I must put off this Earthly Tabernacle shortly saith one Apostle The time of my Departure is at hand and I am ready to be offer'd up saith another 2 Pet. 1.14 2 Tim. 4.6 But as Christ will not delay his Coming tho thou be unprepared so neither is thy Readiness for Death a likely means to shorten thy Life 8. Consider It is for this end that our Lives are continued and all the mercies of our Lives that we may be ready What have you Life given you for why were not you cut off many years ago but that you might have Time and space to Repent and Prepare for the Coming of Christ How many years have some of you been spared It may be twenty thirty forty fifty years and yet after all you are not ready What have you been busie about all this while How have you employed your Time What is the end of God do you think in all the merciful helps He concinues you Such as Ministers and Books Ordinances and Providences your own Sickness and others Funerals You lose the benefit and use of all your Mercies of Life Health and Time and some of you of Wealth and Honour c. of all the Sermons you have heard of all the Providential warnings of God to Awaken you you have lost them all if they have not furthered your Readiness for the Coming of Christ And if you shall live many years to come you must say it was all lost Time and wish you had never had an hour of it while this preparation for Death and Judgment is neglected 9. Consider the unspeakable Difference between a prepared and unprepared Soul in a dying Hour The one is going to see the things he hath Believed and possess that which he hoped for and hath the promise of God that he shall enjoy The other is going to feel what he would not in time believe to endure the threatned Wrath he would not Fear so as to escape The one is come to the end of all his Prayers and Patience Labours and Sufferings The other to the end of all his Ease and Pleasure Mirth and Joy The one hath the promised Felicity with God and Christ and all the blessed Spirits above in view before him the other hath Death and Hell the Judgment of Christ and an Eternity of Misery before him ready to overwhelm his Soul The one can look back with Comfort and reflect upon his upright Holy persevering Obedience mixt with Repentance for many Sins and Failings and yet can hope in God for his acceptance thro Christ the other must review his Heart and Life with horror and regret and read over the black Items of his careless Impenitent Course with Bitterness and Torment and the fears of greater The one is leaving this World where he spent his days in preparing for Eternity thô he heartily laments that he began no sooner and minded it no more the other is passing into the invisible Eternal World for which he hath made no provision The one by Death shall be translated to a blessed State of Holinefs Love and Peace in the everlasting joyful Praises of God his Maker Redeemer and Sanctifier the other sort are passing into the Regions of Darkness and Despair among Devils and unholy miserable Souls with whom they must dwell under the Hatred and Curse of God and the unspeakable Terrors of his Wrath for ever O the difference between one that is ready and one that is unready when the Summons from Christ shall come to call them both away Consider this endeavour to be Ready for the difference between one mans Death and anothers depends on the difference between Heart and Heart Life and Life Preparation and Unpreparedness 10. Consider that all the Readiness you now can get
degree as we ought Is our Love to Christ so sprightly and vigorous that we could heartily welcome any Messenger to call us to him Be the Instrument what iâ— will and the Manner and Circumstances of our Departure as God shall please and the Warning never so short and sudden Are we ready to go presently at the first Call That were it not for doing Service in our Places which God who needs not our Help can do by other ways we should rather choose to be with Christ as far better Could we Answer to such a Call of God as Samuel Lord here I am thoudidst call me O let me pass through the dark Valley that nothing may keep me longer at such an uncomfortable distance from my Lord and Saviour that where he is I may be to behold his Glory This Readiness Habitual and Actual we have need to look after because the Son of Man comes in a time when we think not of him And therefore II. To urge your Diligence and Care to be Ready for the Coming of Christ let me amplifie and enforce the Argument in this Text by several Considerations As I. That whether Ready or not Ready e're long our Lord will come Our particular Judgment by Death which shall confine us to the eternal and final one is at no great distance We are hastning to this Day of God whether we believe and mind it or no As Passengers in a Ship to the end of their Voyage whether they sleep or wake whether we be wise Servants or foolish faithful Stewards or unfaithful whether we expect the Coming of our Lord and Prepare for it or do not He will shortly come and call us to an Account O how soon shall you and I be gone What a Change will a few days make in this City and in this Congregation We may judge of it by what it hath made in few years past In less than Twenty Years what Changes in Families and Churches and Cities and Nations Husbands and Wives parted Parents and Children Friends snatch'd away out of the Bosom of their Friends Those we loved and lived familiarly with Called before us and gone home And we are hastning after a pace whether our Readiness and Preparation do or do not answerably hasten One Relation and another Acquaintance drops into the Grave Some are ready and some unready One Pastor after another is removed to Heaven and the Pulpits where they preach know them no more and others will start up in our rooms and are preparing to fill our Places who succeed any of those whose Funerals you Remember And after a sew Lords's-Days more and at most after a few Summers and Winters more you and I shall be called likewise whether we be Ready or not Ready 2. When once thou art called to thy particular Judgment by Death nothing more can be done to get Ready for the Coming of Christ Eccl. 9.10 John 9.4 What if you were now leaving this World and how near and sure is such an hour You would then be sensible that now or never is the time to prepare and get Ready Awake therefore and Mind it without delay that you may not cry for more Time when time is gone and for the mercy of God when it is too late O how shall my unprepared Soul Appear before my God! How shall I pass into Eternity unready What shall I do to meet my Lord with Comfort as if you had never heard till that time that you must dye and come to Judgment O what Hearts of stone have Sinners that can hear these things so often and not resolve without delay to get Ready That will not consider the Judge is at the Door his Vengeance at their back his Wrath pursues their sins and woe be to them if it overtake them Before their Friends have laid their Bodies in their Graves or wrap'd them in their Burying cloaths their Souls shall feel that God is in earnest and that now is the only time to get ready for Judgment 3. When men think not of it and least expect his Summons the Lord doth often come When thou art most regardless of Death thy Head and Heart taken up with other things the Hand-writing on the Wall may appear and strike thee into a sit of trembling a Voice from God may be heard Come away Man or Woman Come away thy Time shall be no more this Evening or the next Morning this Night or the next Day thy Soul shall be required of thee Believe it no Place no Age no Time no Portion of thy Life is certainly exempted Do not then put off thy being Ready lest thy Resolutions for hereafter should bare longer date than the time of thy Life 4. All the Time of our Lives is little enough to get Ready for the Coming of Christ 'T is little enough to learn to Live says the Moralist it is short enough be sure to learn to Dye Ask those who have taken most Pains and spent most of their Time to get Ready Yet after all their Prayers and Tears after all their Watching Striving Running and Preparedness they complain they are Vnready still unready for the Spiritual Coming of Christ when they are to meet him at his Table much more Vnready for his last Coming Therefore let us give Diligence that we may be found of him in Peace without spot and blameless And if the question be seriously ask'd of all of you one after another ARe you prepared for Death are you Ready for the Coming of Christ or are you not How few will have the Heart or Face to say they are The best will say they need further Preparation But what must they think and say of themselves who own they are habitually as to their State unready no way sit to Dye I cannot say my peace is made with God I have not yet enter'd into Covenant with him I have not subjected and yielded my self to Christ I have not taken on his Yoke or I have cast it off after I took it on I am yet a Stranger to him or I have shamefully left him after some Acquaintance And will you put it any longer to the venture when your Lord may call within an hour 5. God is now ready to Assist you by his Grace if you will awake and Mind your Work but if you delay he may justly refuse and withdraw it And if once the case comes to that you can no more make Ready for Death and Judgment than if you were already dead it being as possible for us to Repent without life or after we are dead as to Repent without Gods Grace while we are living Therefore they that promise for themselves that they shall Repent and Prepare for the coming of Christ some time hereafter they resolve they will they must not only promise for themselves but for God too that he will wait their leisure and dance attendance after them through all the Stages of their Delays and yet be as ready to