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truth_n	believe_v	church_n	know_v	4,058	5	4.1423	3	true

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A80396	A pattern of mercy. Opened in a sermon at St. Pauls, before the Right Honorable, the Lord Mayor, and the Lord General Monck: February 12. 1659. / By Tobias Conyers, minister at St. Ethelberts, London.	Conyers, Tobias, 1628-1687.	1660 (1660)	Wing C5994; Thomason E774_8; ESTC R207295	28,966	47

other Mould then that wherein they lye in the Text Viz. Doct. That we all ought to be merciful even as our heavenly Father is merciful METHOD 1. I shall give you an account what mercy is and what it imports in the phrase of the Scripture 2. Wherein the mercifulness of our heavenly Fathers appears that we may see wherein we are to imitate him 3. What reasons and grounds we have to be merciful as he is merciful 1. Concerning Mercey Sometimes Mercy is the same with Pity Compassion and Tenderness Phil. 2. 1. the Apostle exhorts to Unity by the consolation of Christ by the comforts of Love by the fellowship of the Spirit by bowels and mercies i. e. If there be any tenderness pity and compassion in you towards your common Father fulfil you my joy where bowels and mercies are equipolent terms that serve to illustrate and explain the sense one of another To this we may refer that of the Prophet Jer 31. 20. where God is brought in troubled and discomposed in himself for the punishment and affliction of Ephraim Is Ephraim my dear Son Is he a pleasant child for since I spake against him I do earnestly remember him therefore my bowels are troubled for him I will surely have mercy upon him saith the Lord. 2. Mercy is the same with pardon remission and forgiveness 1 Tim. 1. 13. Who was before a blasphemer and a persecutor and injurious but I obtained Mercy because I did it ignorantly i. e. being so much unfit and unworthy whil'st I was a Jew blaspheming Christ and persecuting his people yet I obtained mercy i. e. pardon and forgiveness of God God looked upon it as an act of blind zeal in me and not of propense malice against them 3. Mercy is used for the donation or vouchsafement of some Priviledge spiritual or temporal unto a person or people 1 Pet. 2. 10. Which in times past were not a people but are now the people of God which had not obtained mercy but now have obtained mercy This is supposed to have been written from Rome to the converted Jews and then the meaning ls this You that for a long time for this Epistle is believed to have been written Anno Christi 44. whilst Christ was upon the earth had not the happiness to receive Christ and the Gospel now are made partakers of this great Mercy and Priviledge viz. to come into the Church and House of God So Rom. 9. 16. It is not of him that willeth nor of him that runneth but of God that sheweth mercy The Apostle here argueth in the behalf of God that he was at full liberty in the collation and distribution of his Mercies and that he did the Jews no wrong in calling the Gentiles to Christianity Ver. 15. As he saith unto Moses I will have mercy upon whom I will have mercy c. As if he had said unto him In the distributing of my blessings I will do what I think good without giving thee or any man a reason though I have alwayes reason for what I do yet as it is ver 13. Jacob have I loved and Esau have I hated which is either true in the Letter in chusing the Israelites and rejecting the Idumeans or else in the Type in preferring the Covenant of Grace before the Covenant of Works So then it is not of him c. i e. in point of merit satisfaction or condignity but of God that sheweth mercy i. e. vouchsafeth to call the Gentiles to Christianity when the obstinate and incredulous Jewes have rejected it 4. Mercy is taken for Charity or that relief which we give unto the poor Dan. 4. 27. Breake off thy sins by righteousnesse and thine iniquities by shewing mercy unto the poor i. e. by being liberal charitable towards the poor in which sence many understand that of Peter 1. 4. 8 Charity covereth a multitude of sins So likewise it is used Psal 37. 26. He is ever merciful and lendeth and his seed is blessed For the further opening the nature of Mercy observe the difference betwixt Goodness and Mercy Goodness in God is supposed to be absolute but Mercy is a relative thing God might have been good to all Eternity though man had stood yet Merciful he could not have been without a supposition and introduction of sin As all Pardon includes an offence so all Mercy involves want and misery Goodness supposeth a man Mercy a sinner Goodness supposeth a man in being Mercy a man in misery God might have been eternally good and transcendently glorious in the free communication of himselfe though sin and misery had never introduced mercy Goodness and Mercy are thus distinguishable in men Goodness is the Root and Mercy the Branch growing out from it We must first be good in ourselves before we can be merciful towards others We must as our Saviour sheweth first make the Tree good before we can bring forth good fruit Charity begins at home if we be not good have not an inward principle of Goodness in our selves how can we laudably exercise any pity or compassion any bounty or clemency any love or charity towards others So much for the first point 2. Br. Come we now to speak of the mercifulness of God and produce a great Copy and Exemplar for your imitation And now methinks we are fallen upon the noblest subject in the World being we are to treat of Divine Mercy which the Scriptures declare which men experience which the Devils envy the good Angels admire and which all the World ought to adore A man that looks down from an high Precipice albeit he is in no danger of falling yet would his fear seize him and a secret trembling take hold of him The Scriptures and our own experience have set us upon a great Mount and being to look down upon the great abysse of Divine Mercies we are ready to cry out with the Apostle Rom. 11. 33. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 O the depth of the riches both of the Wisdom and the mercies of God I shall speak to this 1. Negatively 2ly Positively 1. In that he beareth with the daily violation of his truth and suffereth with incredible lenity the breaches that are made upon it though men do not believe what God saith nay which is more do believe things different and contrary thereunto yet still God containeth himself and doth not with-hold his Mercy from them The Church of God is said to be the ground and pillar of truth 1 Tim. 3. 15. The Church it is that sacred Depositary wherein the truth is laid up The Frogs of Aegypt were not more numerous that came crawling into the Kings Palace then the Errors and mis-shapen Opinions which in all Ages especially in this have infested the Church the house of God and herein the mercifulness of God appears that he does not presently rid himself of them nor destroy the men for their opinion sake In the Jewish Church he suffered the Essens a pensive

A Pattern of Mercy Opened in a SERMON AT St. PAULS BEFORE The Right Honorable the Lord Mayor AND THE Lord General Monck February 12. 1659. By TOBIAS CONYERS Minister at St. Ethelberts London LONDON Printed by M. I. and are to be sold at the Grey-hound in St. Pauls Church-yard at the Crown in Popes-head Alley and at the Elephant and Castle near Temple Barr 1660. The Authors Apology WHen I entered upon the ensuing Discourse in my private Meditations I looked upon the complexion of the times and considered the temper of the climate in which we live and in a Nation all rent and torn with differences in Opinions both Civil Religious I thought nothing could be more acceptable then a proposition of peace But whilst I spoke for peace such was my unhappiness some men made themselves ready for battel The giving of offence to any sort of persons was a thing as far remote from any design or purpose of mine as it is disagreeable to my temper disposition to be at ods with any man And looking over these Papers which now I publish to the world if I may be permitted to judge in mine own case I cannot but wonder from whence the great cry of the City arose as if some Theudas or Judas Galilaeus were risen from the dead being naturally averse from the starting of any new Opinions and far enough from having any thing extraordinary in me either to create or make me the head of any new sect or faction It is confessed the 12th of Fehruary was a critical day and all circumstances concurred to render me unacceptable What I suffered in my self was nothing but that I should so much as accidentally occasion any reflection upon that noble Gentleman the Lord Mayor whom all men must needs judge both too great and too wise to concern himself in any thoughts or meditations of minds troubled me not a little it 's true I had been often soliciting my Lord for dismission and that he took this occasion to do it was so far less displeasing to me as it was satisfactory unto others for having served his Lordship for himself without any mercenary proposals and expectations I could not in the least be dis-satisfied with any thing that did but seem either to support or vindicate his Lordships Honor and Reputation in the World The aspersions cast upon me are either that I am Schismatical an Enemy to the Church or that I am Heretical To both which I crave leave to answer and make my just defence 1. That I am Schismatical or a Sectary I know not why any man should think so it is true that I hold communion with and observe the laws of Piety and holy Charity with that Christian people to whom Mr. John Goodwin is Pastour and this I alwayes thought I might do with the salvage of truth honour and conscience and yet that it might be known that in that congregation are persons of greater wisdom moderation and latitude then to confine the administration of Ordinances within their own precinct I think it not amiss to inform the courteous Reader that with their permission I do perform all those Ministerial duties that any Church Officer does in the place where he lives If it be the Episcopal party that censures me for schism I humbly crave leave to remonstrate that I entered the Ministry at a time when there was no Church Government establish't but every one did that which was right in his own eyes as I had no hand in pulling down their Hierarchy so will they not I hope blame me for joining with a people that I thought espoused the interest of truth and holiness since I did it as appeares by my practice with the preservation of that Ministerial freedom and liberty which any Officer Ecclesiastical either justly exerciseth or pretendeth unto If it be the Presbyterian party if I had made any schism of all men they have the least reason to take notice of it He that is of them without sin in this kind let him cast the first stone at me to borrow our Saviour's words For if the little Foxes and Boars have entered to root up and destroy the vinyard it was by that schism or gap which themselves made therefore the Brethren of the Presbytery remembring their own faults this day will I hope exercise great lenity and grace towards those that are found in the same sinne and transgression if it be a sin and transgression with themselves To both parties whom I wish may be no more called two but one I shall onely add this That when the fence is made up which how strong soever it may be I wish may not be too strait I must either keep out or at my further peril The Second part of my accusation is Error and Heresie Erroneous I may be Humanum est Errare Heretical I cannot be because never censured by any lawful Authority I know not what brought me so much as into suspition with the City unless it were for my Judgement about the death of Christ Election and Reprobation c. wherein I am sure I hold nothing contrary to the Doctrine of the Church of England contained in her 39. Articles and interpreted according to her most learned and best beloved children as Dr. Hamond Dr. Taylor Mr. Thorndike Mr. Thruscross Mr. Gunning Mr. Pearce Now having so often profer'd to the Commissioners for Approbation and others bona fide to subscribe these forementioned Articles which contain the Doctrine of our reformed Religion ever since the time of reformation there is no ground in the world why any man should accuse me either for Novellism or Opinion But because some men may even censure the Articles themselves and because I am extreamly desirous to cut off all future jealousies concerning me touching the five so much controverted points I will here propose my sence in mine own terms I. That God's Eternal Decrees of Election and Reprobation are not of Qualities but of Persons II. That Grace of God which is afforded unto all men is sufficient to leave men without excuse III. That the death of Christ is sufficient for all but none shall have benefit by him but those that believe IV. That no man hath power of himself to do any thing that good is but standeth in need of the preventing exciting and assisting Grace of God in Christ for the beginning progress and perseverance in all good Or thus The will of man set at liberty by grace is onely free in its choice both of good and evil V. That there is a state of grace attainable in this life from which it is difficult if not impossible to fall away More particularly I now come to satisfie the Christian Reader concerning the following Discourse The offence that was taken at my Sermon was either in gross from the general tendency of it or in particular from that distinction which I made 'twixt goodness and Mercy and from that passage concerning the

and melancholy Sect who sleighted the Hierarchy of Moses dissented from the common way of Worship and held Community as Josephus reports of them He suffered the Herodians Mark 3. 6. a politick and ambitious Sect who thought Herod the Aschalonite to bee the Messiahs the sent of God and thence called Herodians It is likely they were abused into that opinion from the misconstruing the prophecie of Jacob Gen. 49. 10. That the scepter should not depart from Judah nor a Law-giver from between his knees till the Shilo came Hence they might conclude that Herod was the Shilo because the ensigns of Royalty and Government ceased from the Asmonean race and Herod a stranger the son of Antipater an Idumean succeeded by unjust usurpation in the Government of Judea He suffered the Samaritans who though they acknowledged the five Books of Moses yet denied the Authority of the Prophets because they judged them not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 inspired by God and likewise sleighted the Temple consecrated at Jerusalem and worshipped the God of Israel upon mount Gerizim Where first they had a magnificent Temple built by Sanballat a Samaritane-Prince in opposition to Jaddus the High-priest of the Jews and when it was afterward destroied and razed to the ground by Hircanus the Maccabaean the earth remained sacred to them on which it stood and continued a place of Worship to the daies of our Saviour Joh. 4. 20. Our father 's worshipped in this mountain c. He suffered the Sadduces mentioned Mat. 22. who denied the souls immortality and all future estate and being after this life many of them serving God zealously and strictly according to the prescript of Moses his Law upon no other expectations then a temporal reward upon earth In the Gentile world the mercifulness of God appears that he does not rain down fire from heaven to avenge himself of those Idolaters who worship the Host of Heaven the Sun Moon and Stars which he hath created And still he beareth with almost incredible clemency and mercy in the Christian world those strange monstrous and absurd conceptions that are framed of him he suffereth himself to be represented as unjust unwise unmerciful and whatever is unworthy of his eternal Truth and God-head And there are two things that render his Mercy more eminent and conspicuous 1. In that he is infallible in his judgement liable to no mistake or mis-apprehension and consequently may be absolute and definitive in his sentence and determination albeit he knoweth most certainly the difference 'twixt good and evil light and darkness truth and error yet he buildeth nothing thereupon unless in some extraordinary cases to man's outward prejudice and damage but endeavoureth by the light shining in us by the inspirations and notices of his spirit by the convictions and authority of his word to reduce humane conceptions to a likeness with and conformity unto the fair and beautiful Idea's set up in his own mind and declared unto us in his holy Word of Truth 2. In that he is of Power sufficient to vindicate the sacred honour and credit of his Truth and to avenge himself upon the Erronists the Transgressors thereof He hath the power of life and death health and sickness poverty and plenty and were he so minded he needs not be beholden to any arm or power to assist him If it were objected God punisheth not Murder Theft c. it doth not follow that therefore we should not To this I answer The case is not the same all men have a perfect and distinct knowledge what Murder is what Theft is but in matters of Opinion concerning Religion and the things of God there is the greatest variety and discrepancy imaginable and * The Church of Rome excepted no man does so much as pretend or lay claim to an unerrancy or infallibility of Judgement Besides it is agreed that the civil Magistrate does ex Offlcio punish the breach and violation of the Laws of Nature and the Laws of God where he is authorized and appointed so to do let it be shown primitively that under the Gospel he ought either ex officio precepto vel exemplo to judge determine and censure opinions abstracted and wholly remote from secular consideration or let it be shewn wherein or when the People did chuse them either for their Representatives in Religion or make them Judges in matters of Opinion and Conscience and the Controversie will presently cease and the Dispute end 2. The mercifulness of God appears in that he suffereth the breach and transgression of his Laws and does not speedily avenge himself of the transgressors He looketh into our houses and there he findeth profaneness sensuality riot excess He looketh into Chambers and more secret retirements and behold wantonness intemperance luxury uncleanness He looketh into our places of commerce and there he findeth deceit fraud cozenage He looketh into our places of Judicature and behold favours partiality injustice oppression Or as it is Amos 6. 12. in cicutam mutatur jus fractus Justitiaein absynthium Judgment turned into Gall and the fruit of Righteousness into Worm wood He looketh into our Churches and places of Worship and for Knowledge he findeth Zeal for Piety Interest and for Devotion little else but Curiosity spectatum veniunt Our Churches are turned into Theatres whereinto we come to see and to be seen not remembring that great Theatre wherein we must all appear before the Judgement-Seat of Christ In our hearts he beholdeth envy jealousie emulation cruelty in our lives disorders and confusions and yet God holdeth his hand he endeavoureth the reformation not the destructionof of his creatures So great was the mercy of God that David seems to awaken him and stirred him up to Judgement Psal 119. 126. It is time for thee O Lord to work for they have made void thy Law And the Apostle Peter is forced to make an Apology for God to the profane scoffers why he seemed to defer his coming and neglect Judgement in taking vengeance upon the World 2 Pet. 3. 9. The Lord is not slack concerning his promise as some men count slackness but is long-suffering to us ward not willing that any should perish i. e. God does not forget his promise neither is he unmindful of Judgement but he is loath to come in upon the World at unawares as a Thief in the night to overtake them in the height of their presumption and security and therefore he extends and lengthens out the day of Grace that none might perish if 't were possible but that all might come to repentance 2. We come to speak positively 1. Mercy it is the same with Pity and in this sence God is merciful he is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 full of bowels pitiful and compassionate towards the children of men he is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Pater miserationum the Father of Compassions Numerus pluralis est emphaticus There dwells no hatred no malice with God no rancour exasperation