Selected quad for the lemma: mercy_n
Text snippets containing the quad
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A07129
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Youths instruction. Composed and written by William Martyn Esquire. Recorder of the honourable citie of Exeter
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Martyn, William, 1562-1617.
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1612
(1612)
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STC 17530; ESTC S102312
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67,049
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142
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doe serue him 2. Reg. cap. 5. you must not as Naaman the Assyrian did content your selfe in part to serue God and in part to serue an earthly master or a mortall king but following the good example of Dauids worthies and of Gedeons three hundred valiant men of war 1. Chron. cap. 11. Iudg. 7.3 you must neglect your owne safety nay your life and engage your selfe wholly to do him seruice So did Moses when with ten grieuous plagues he corrected the hard hart of Pharaoh King of Egypt who would not suffer the children of Israell to depart out of his land So did Sadrach Mishael and Abednago Dan. 3. who being the seruants of the great God of heauen made choise rather to be throwne into a burning furnace then to worship the golden Image which Nebuchadnezar the great king of Babel had set vp And so did Daniel Dan. 6. who refused not to be cast into the Lyons denne rather then by prayer and worshipping he would yeeld vnto Darius that seruice and that honor nor which he owed only to the Lord his God As you may obserue that when plants and trees by stormes and by tempests are robbed of their leaues such canckers are then discouered as do blemish the comelinesse of their beauty so you may plainly see that when men are exiled from Gods seruice through the peruersenes of their owne natures their wickednes is spread abroad to their shame and is made an obiect to the eies of them who being more vertuous doe loath their sinne You see then my Sonne how behoofefull it is for you to serue God that by meanes thereof you may be truly happy and enioy that liberty and that freedome which is incident vnto none but to such only as do vnfainedly serue him It is therefore very requisite Man must feare God and fit that you be carefully instructed concerning the performance and execution of this duty which must be by a reuerent feare of his deity and power according to the direction of King Dauid Psal 2.11 who exhorteth all men to serue the Lord in feare not in such a timerous feare as is abased by seruility Iob. 28.28 Prou. 1.7 Prou. 9.10 Prou. 15.33 Psal 111.10 Psal 25.9 and bondage but in such a feare as is mingled and impalled with loue This filiall and louely feare is the beginning of wisedome and of knowledge and as Dauid saith the secret of the Lord is reuealed to them that feare him and his couenant to giue them vnderstanding It is a welspring of life Prou. 14.27 Prou. 19.23 Prou. 16.6 to auoide the snares of death it leadeth vnto life and he that is filled therewith shall continue and not be visited with euill It maketh his heart by imputation and by grace cleane and pure in the sight of God Psal 19.9 Blessed is the man saith the Psalmist that feareth the Lord Psal 112.1.2 Psal 128. Psal 115.13 Psal 147.11 Luk 1.50 his seede shall be mighty vpon the earth The Lord will blesse all such as feare him both small and great his delight is in them that do feare him And his mercy shall be vpon them from generation to generation The reward of humility Prou. 22.4 and of the feare of the Lord as Salomon doth testifie is riches Eccles 12.13 and glory and life And in fearing of him and in keeping of his commandements doth consist the whole duety of man The Lyons do lacke and suffer hunger but such as do feare the Lord shall want nothing that is good Psal 34.10 Such was the louely feare Gen. 22.12 that Abraham expressed towards his God that being so commanded by him he would haue sacrificed Isaac his only sonne whose seede by Gods promise was to be multiplied as the starres in heauen and as the sands on the sea shore Gen. 26.4.24 which are innumerable And such was the louely feare which Ioseph expressed towards his God Gen. 39. that he rather chose to be maligned and reproched by means of the vntrue and false accusements of his Mistresse and to be cast into prison then he would be disloiall and vnfaithfull vnto Putiphar his master And such was the louely feare 2. Sam. 66. and reuerence which Dauid expressed before his God that he ceased not for the ioy of his spirit to dance before the Arke of Couenant though for so doing he were derided skorned and mocked by Michal his owne wife And such my Sonne must be your daily care and constant resolution that you feare nothing which may terrifie you from the feare of God Repetition because it maketh her followers to bee wise it gaineth long life it banisheth euill nay death it selfe it cleanseth the heart it maketh men blessed both in themselues also in their posterities it causeth the Lord to delight in them and to enrich them to multiply his mercies on them and in the end to crowne them with immortality and with glory Now Man must loath sinne as these and many others are the fruits which the feare of God produceth and bringeth forth so will it augment in you a loathing detestation and a religious hating of sinne 1 First in respect of God because hee is altogether righteous and pure and none euill can dwell with him 2 In respect of our selues because the guiltinesse thereof maketh a separation pronounceth a diuorce betweene God and man 3 And thirdly in respect of sinne it selfe which is a most vgly monster proceeding from the diuell for the finall and perpetuall destruction of all such as impiously and wickedly doe liue and die therein As the grim looke of a sterne Lion will make you afraid Pierij Aphorismi Hieroglyphici 19. though he come not neere vnto you so the view and sight of sinne must breed in you a loathing detestation of her vgly fowlnesse though she want power and ability to take hold of you to doe you any harme And you must flie from the alluring enchantments and prouocations of sinne as the Elephant with all expedition betaketh himselfe to his legges as soone as he heareth the grunting of a filthy swine A foolish man delighteth in a sinfull life because his outward senses are pleased with the vanity and with the varietie of his sinnes but he that is wise abhorreth sin because the fruits thereof are euill Saint Iohn saith that sinners are seruants Iohn 8.34 1 Iohn 38. and S. Paul telleth vs that they are captiues nay they are indeed the children of the diuell It entreth into a man as a Conqueror taketh possession of his vanquished Kingdom where he will not accept of a part but will bee Lord and Master of the whole It is compared to a wedge for as a wedge at the first maketh but a little hole but beeing further driuen it renteth and teareth the whole wood in sunder so sin at his first entrance into the heart of a man seemeth to hurt him but a little