Selected quad for the lemma: mercy_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
mercy_n	call_v	lord_n	sinner_n	2,337	5	7.5568	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A28635	A guide to eternity extracted out of the writings of the Holy Fathers and ancient philosophers / written originally in Latine by John Bona ; and now done into English by Roger L'Estrange, Esq.; Manductio ad coelum. English	Bona, Giovanni, 1609-1674.; L'Estrange, Roger, Sir, 1616-1704.	1680 (1680)	Wing B3545; ESTC R23243	85,374	202

are to do it He that commits himself to general experiences and does not venture out of his depth is safe To do wisely a man should first take a measure of himself and next of the matter he takes in hand for fear of over-valuing his own strength One man is undone by presuming too much upon his Eloquence Another runs himself out of his Fortune for want of proportioning his Expence to his Estate A third kills himself with laying more upon an infirm Body than it is able to bear Wherefore we are to compare our Force with our Undertaking and to have a care of Burthens that are too heavy for our shoulders We should not meddle with any thing neither but what we may hope to go thorow withal The next thing is the choice of our Companions for we had need have a very good opinion of those people with whom we propound to divide our Lives And to look narrowly into their Conversation that we be not ruin'd for our good will We are in Conclusion to examine our selves how we stand inclin'd to the thing in Question for 'T is lost labour to go about to force Nature III. It is a hard matter for a man in Passion to distinguish Truth and Honesty from Errour and Delusion so that it is a point of Prudence not to enter upon any considerable Action in a Distemper of mind For there is no greater Enemy to Wisdom than Precipitation which brings many a man to destruction beyond recovery Wherefore nothing is to be done Headily or without good advice Men are naturally unstable and irresolute Providences uncertain Events dubious and Experience it self proves many times deceitful In the multitude of Counsellors there is safety There are many easie people that judge of things by the Gloss and Out-side only and so fall into great mistakes But the wise man passes a strict enquiry into the things themselves abstracted from all Artifice and Imposture into the Qualities and not only into the Names of things For what is Money Reputation Title but a superficial Vernish to dazle Children and Fools We are to place our selves as upon a Watch-Tower where we may discover all Accidents afar off without danger of being surpriz'd and and crying out with the senseless Multitude Who would have thought it We are likewise to proceed with deliberation maturity of judgment and diligent examination of things for fear of ill Circumstances For there is so near a resemblance betwixt Vice and Vertue that we may very well mistake the one for the other and entertain that for Wisdom which is nothing in the world but Craft and Cunning. When we have once made our Election we are without delay to put our purpose in execution For good Counsel without Execution is of no effect CHAP. XXIII Of Iustice and Religion The Acts of both Repentance and wherein it consists I. JUstice is a Glorious and a Communicative Vertue ordained for the Common good of Man-kind without any regard to it self This is it that keeps men from worrying one another and preserves the World in peace It is the Bond of Humane Society a kind of Tacit Agreement and Impression of Nature without which there is not any thing we do that can deserve commendation The just man wrongs no body but contents himself with his own Does good to all Thinks and speaks well of all Gives every man his due and is not any mans hindrance Where he is in Authority he commands righteous things lies open to all prefers a publick good before a private punishes the Wicked rewards the Good and keeps every man in his duty Where he is in subjection he preserves Concord lives in Obedience to Laws and Magistrates contents himself in his station without hankering after Offices and Preferment and is no medler in other peoples matters He is just for Justice-sake and asks no other reward than what he receives in the comfort of being just II. Religion is the most excellent of Moral Vertues and is exercised immediately upon the Honour and Worship of God Of which this is the first point to know and believe him and then to adore him for his Majesty and Goodness Barely to know God is not sufficient for the Devils themselves do as much that hate him There must be Love and Adoration as well as Knowledg I wish we did but discharge our duty as well as we understand it There 's none of us but acknowledges Gods Providence in the ordering and governing of the world his Omnipotency Glory and Goodness and from his Mercy it is that we hope for Eternal Happiness Why do we not pay him that Veneration then which belongs to him but prefer a little pitiful dirt before him Religion lies not so much in the Understanding as in the Practice He that is truly Religious walks as in the presence of God and studies perfection The most acceptable Worship of God is the imitation of him which does in a manner unite us to God and God to us but it must be free then from wandrings negligence and sin It is to no purpose to talk like Christians and live like Infidels This was it that made a famous Heathen Philosopher to say that There was nothing more Glorious than a Christian in his Discourse nothing more miserable in his Actions III. Repentance is that which brings us ●o a Detestation of sin with a full resolution of Amendment which reconciles us to God To a Detestation I say of our past sins wherefore the pleasure likewise is past but the Guilt the Torment and the Condemnation sticks by us To conceal our Iniquities is to no purpose for A Guilty Conscience passes Sentence upon it self Conscience is a kind of Tribunal which God Almighty hath set up in all reasonable Souls where every man is his own Accuser and both Witness and Judge against himself Let us therefore enter into a strict and daily Examination of our selves and without hiding mincing or slipping of any thing call all our thoughts words and deeds to a strict account He that says Lord be merciful to me a Sinner finds mercy What am I the better for concealing my faults from other people so long as I am conscious of them to my self Unless I had rather be damned in private than absolv'd in publick Whatever we do with our Bodies there 's no avoiding of our Consciences when we come once to cast off that regard we are most miserable IV. Our Life is divided into what 's past present and to come The present is but a moment and in the same instant beginning and ending The future has no Being but only in prospect but whatsoever is past we can summon and call before us at pleasure Many people are afraid of their own memories because if they look back their sins flie in their faces But this should not be Frequent Reflexion is the readiest way to Reformation The more we consider our Transgressions the more shall we abhor them and the less