Selected quad for the lemma: mercy_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
mercy_n	david_n	great_a	lord_n	5,127	5	3.9179	3	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A89564	A divine project to save a kingdome: Opened in a sermon to the Right Honorable the Lord Maior and court of aldermen, of the citie of London, at their anniversary meeting on Easter Munday, Apr. 22. 1644. at Christ-Church. By Stephen Marshall, B.D. Minister of Gods word at Finchingfield in Essex. Imprimatur, Charles Herle.	Marshall, Stephen, 1594?-1655.	1644 (1644)	Wing M752; Thomason E47_31; ESTC R20669	34,916	50

take a course with them himselfe hee would destroy them to Balak his hand Balak according to this counsell goeth and maketh all the Courtship that hee could to the Israelites sendeth them all kind of provision sendeth them the handsomest women and whatsoever might allure them unto wantonnesse and thereby draweth them first to commit fornication and uncleannesse and then as one sin draweth on another they got them to feast in their Idoll Temples and so to eate the sacrifices that were offered to Baal Peor And the Israelites did eate and bowed down unto their Gods and God knowes how many thousands of the Israelites on a suddain were taken in the strength of this lust which so extreamly provoked God that without any more adoe he sendeth the Plague among them such a plague which in the space of foure and twenty houres destroyed twenty foure thousand men many of the prime of their strength and it was grown so hot that a few twenty foure houres more were like to have made an end of all this great company Now they seeing the anger of God so hot fall down on their knees and lament their sinnes and cast about to see which way they might procure their peace While they were about it there commeth one Zimri one of the chiefe Princes of one of their Tribes and before the face of all the people leadeth a Lady who was Daughter to one of the chiefe Noblemen of Moab leads her into his Tent and there goeth and committeth the same villany with her that had thus provoked God to send this plague among them Phinehas the Sonne of Eleazar the High Priest seeing this high and audacious boldnesse of this wretched Nobleman was so filled by the Spirit of God with holy indignation That hee taketh his Javelin followeth them into their Tent taketh them probably in the very act of their filthinesse striketh the man through the body and the woman through the belly and nayled them both to the ground and out he went againe And God took this part of Phinchas so kindly to see him so inflamed with the zeale of justice that he presently commanded the Angell to put up his Sword and not to kill a man more Zimri and Cosbi were the two last that dyed at that time not one more perished And that all the world might know what had stopped the Plague so suddainly he telleth Moses in the words that I have read Phineas the Son of Eleazar the Priest hath pacified my wrath while hee was zealous for my sake among them And so I have now brought you to the Text which you shall heare God willing to bee a divine project how one or a few men may save a whole People a whole Nation when they seeme to bee sinking under utter ruine Wherein observe two things First What their disease was Secondly What the cure was Their disease was this They were under the guilt of their own sin and under the heat of Gods wrath which broke out in such a plague that they were all like to have perished suddenly that was their disease The cure of this disease you have in the words I have read and upon which I shall spend the houre God willing onely observe a few things from their disease both their sin which was bodily uncleannesse and spirituall uncleannesse Fornication and Idolatry And their punishment the anger of God hot kindled against them and poured out in a devouring Pestilence and such a one as was like suddenly to devour them all This fearefull sin and Plague betyding them immediately after such great deliverances mercies victories teacheth us 1. That such is the power of corruption remaining even in Gods own people that no mercies are able to keep them from present running into most foule rebellions if but left unto themselves as appeares by innumerable examples of Gods people in Covenant with him David Hezekiah the Apostle Peter c. whose suddain and fearefull fals even after greatest mercies assure us that no tinder or gun-powder is more prone to take fire no unbridled horse more prone to run no Eagle more ready to fly unto the prey then we are to run into the foulest evils even presently after the greatest most precious favours received if God but take off the bridle of his restraining grace Which may teach us 1. as to be tender to others in their fals 2. so to consider our selves and to walke with humilitie and godly feare and thirdly to intreate the Lord daily not to lead us into temptation not to permit us to bee solicited by Satans temptations or outward objects or our owne concupiscence or if it bee his good pleasure to permit us to bee tryed that by his owne grace hee would preserve us that hee would not suffer us to bee foiled or overcome who else shall infallibly yeeld to any temptation whether on the right hand or the left 2. That the nearer God takes a people to himself the greater mercies he bestowes upon them the more severe and fierce are his judgements against them hee had but newly delivered up Sihon King of Heshbon and Og the King of Bashan and given their land for an inheritance unto them and compelled Balaam to preach that no sorcerie or inchantment no force or fraud could prevaile against them and they rebelling against him hee presently turnes upon them in extremity of wrath and fury And this is according to his word that if they who are owned by him as his people walke contrary to him hee will walke contrary to them and plague them seven times and seven times and yet seven times and seven times with sicknesses famine pestilence sword captivitie yea more severely then to the heathen Heare yet this word that the Lord hath spoken against you O children of Israel against the whole family which I brought up from the land of Egypt you onely have I known of all the families of the earth therefore I will punish you for all your iniquities And this is also according to his practise after hee had brought them out of Egypt hee bare with their murmurings untill hee had taken them into a Covenant with himselfe at Horeb and after that every new sinne had a new plague No murmurings punished like Israels murmurings Idolatries plagued like Iudahs Idolatries the like wrath and fury not powred out anywhere in the world as was powred out upon Ierusalem And this manner of his dealing is most agreeable to reason and equitie because these kind of sinnes are committed against more knowledge and so deserve the more and smarter stripes There is also more ingratitude and unkindnesse in them when Jesurun is growne fat with mercies with the kidnies of wheat and the pure blood of the grape then to kicke with the heel to bee unmindfull of his rock this exceedingly provokes the Lord to anger Yea God is more dishonoured by their sins then by any others as a husband by the filthy

conversation of his Wife or a Father of his Children Behold thou art called a Jew instructed in the Law makest thy boast of God c. Dost thou commit Sacriledge Dost thou steale Dost thou commit aduitery What then The Name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you as it is written This serves first to acquit God in these his severe judgements against us in England he hath called an assembly of violent men against us he hath given us to drink the cup of astonishment a cup of deadly Wine but in truth when we consider things sadly and seriously we may wonder we remain a Nation that we are not utterly consumed God hath made us the wonder of the World for mercy hath done mighty things for this Nation hath heaped deliverance upon deliverance no Nation like us for mercy but alas I must also say no Nation like us for unkindnesse and Rebellion against him we who should have made all his Mercies motives and incentives to further obedience service and thankfulnesse have not only sinned under them and against them but with them fought against him with his own weapons and been worse and worse the more he hath done for us the more his Sun hath shined upon us the more like a filthy dunghill have we putrifyed and stunke in his nostrils Let us therefore humbly acquit him and say with Daniel The Lord our God is righteous in all his judgements for we obeyed not his voyce And with Ezra What shall we say after this O our God for we have forsaken thy Commandements Secondly Yea let us tremble and be deeply abased before him for our great rebellions lest he proceed and make us drink the very dregges of his cup of indignations He was pleased publickly in calling his people out from spirituall Babylon to take Germany the first of all the Nations and now in his day of visitation he hath first begun with them and these six and twenty yeares he hath most heavily afflicted them and still his hand is stretched out against them long time hath he spared us and seemed to say of us as once he did of Judah and Jerusalem I have cut off other Nations and destroyed their Cities I said surely England will receive instruction that their dwelling should not bee cut off but they rose early and corrupted all their doings And now the cup is come over unto us we are last taken in hand Oh let us timely meet him lest he proceed to make our plagues proportionable to his former mercies and our wickednesse Thirdly And for time to come let us beware that with Jesurun we kick not at him when he hath fatted us the usuall course of the world is this the more mercies God gives them the more liberty they take to sin against him the more learned the more honored the more rich men are the more bold they make with Gods Law to break it and cast it out and the more spirituall helps we have and furtherances many injoy the more secure proud and wanton they are before him but know for certain he keeps a Register of all his Mercies and thy account must be answerable he remembers how long thou hast lived upon him how neare he hath taken thee unto himselfe how oft he hath spared thee how accommodated thee with wealth yokefellow children credit friends but above all how long thou hast sate under his heavenly droppings what variety of Ministers c. Hee furnisheth thee with all let thy care be to bethink thy self how thou mayest lift up thy head when he will come to reckon for all thy Talents and when at any time the flesh begins to take liberty because he inlargeth thee check it thus and say Many a mercy hath the Lord given me for which of them do I thus abuse him Shall I thus requite the Lord O foolish creature and unwise is not hee thy Father that brought thee c. Thirdly that this betided them just when God was giving them possession of the promised Land when hee was marching in the greatnesse of his strength to destroy all their enemies that not a man might bee able to resist them yet then hee himselfe with his owne hands for their sinnes turneth upon them ready to destroy them all Learne this lesson from it That when the Lord is bestowing the greatest mercy working the greatest deliverance destroying the potentest enemies carrying himselfe so that all the world shall not bee able to hinder a people from receiving the greatest and most desirable mercy yet their owne wickednesse breaking out may deprive them of all and utterly undoe them when they are nearest the injoying of their happinesse Now the 40. yeares were ended and Og and Sihon both kild and God ingaged by Covenant that no enemie should stand before them had renewed his Covenant againe with them put them into a way that there needeth no more but meerely to enter in the Land a new rebellion breaketh out on their part which bringeth in a Plague that kild more of them then they had lost in all the warres that ever they had had This is just like that which the Lord spake by the Prophet Jeremie That at what time hee speaketh concerning a nation to build it and to plant it if that nation doe evill in his sight hee will repent him of all the good that hee promised and hee will roote them up and breake them downe not that God changeth his mind but that these wickednesses did change the state and condition of this people and put them out of a capacitie of receiving what God else would bee willing to conferre upon them Beloved I dare not stay you on this neither durst I passe it over without mentioning and I mention it to this end that wee may not bee too forward to promise our selves too much of our present prosperous condition which we seeme to bee in I confesse the Lord hath not onely by a mightie hand upheld us in the midst of all our tryalls these two or three last yeares but hath of late since wee have owned him in a Covenant and sworne for reformation of Religion and the Councells of such as seeke our ruine have more apparently owned Idolatry by joyning with the bloody Rebels of Ireland that are setting up popery and rooting out our Religion in Ireland and indeavouring the like against us since that day I say the Lord hath most admirably gone on and owned us and beene with our Armies and hardly unlesse it were once given us any check but all hath gone on very prosperously and through the goodnesse of God to mans eye wee are in a better posture now then ever wee were since the beginning of our publike troubles But for all that doe not promise your selves too much out of the present condition of things they may bee all well to mans eye but I tell you brethren there are such things found in every

thing I would have you beleeve from this first branch of my proofe is this That as things that are seeming mercies are in truth reall plagues when they come from wrath So things that are seeming plagues are reall mercies when they doe not come from wrath I say seeming mercies are plagues if they come from wrath Let God spread a table in the Wildernesse to a people and feed them with Quailes and Manna from heaven let it bee in wrath let the Israelites come and beg a King and let him give them the properest man in all the land and give him in wrath hee doth undoe them in giving them a King But on the other side let it seeme never such a crosse if there bee no wrath in it there is no plague in it therefore whatsoever plague any lie under doe but pacifie Gods wrath and you end the plague And that is the first ground that I gave you of it The second is that all plagues the things themselves that are plagues all of them come and goe at the commandement and word of God onely That as they can come from none but him so with the infinitest ease that can bee imagined doth God as send so remove any of them how heavy or strange soever it bee Therefore pacifie but his Spirit and you end the plague immediatly As for example Suppose a Citie brought to that passe by famine and povertie that they are faine to eate one another that there is nothing to keepe them one day longer from starving and that to all humane imagination it must bee a long time before ever the Citie can recover the blow againe God with speaking one word in an houre or two maketh it all up as you shall have one example of it in Samaria when they were brought to that passe that over night an Asses head that hath but little meat on it at the best and poore meat it is an Asses head shall bee a Kings dish that hee shall give fourescore peeces of silver for it and a Kab of Doves dung shall bee worth a sufficient quantitie of money to bee eaten if God speake but the Word the next day a Bushell of fine flowre shall bee sold for a shekell though no man could imagine how yet God made it good you know the storie Let a plague come to bee so hot that in a matter of two dayes or little more three or fourescore thousand men are cut off with it if God speake but one word the Angell puts up his Sword and there is not a man dieth more I will restore to you saith God all the yeares that the Caterpillers have taken from you all the Caterpillers that have beene devouring England thus long and all that they have plundred and spoiled attend to this any of you that are here who are daily plundered in many parts of the kingdome in your lands in your wares and in your states If God speak but the word it is all made up in the twinckling of an eye If you will therefore pacifie God you end the plague Beloved this is not the maine lesson I would stay upon yet give me leave to make some application of it and it shall bee but one onely use And that is a direction from Heaven of the readiest way the shortest cut to obtain an establishment for this poore distressed Land at this day I dare say all you who are Publique-spirited men are very thoughtfull to thinke how and which way it might be brought about that if God see it fit this Summer at the furthest might end these bloody warres these uncomfortable divisions that are amongst us And he that could suddainlyest procure it would be one of the blessed'st men that ever trod on English ground Now shall I from Almighty God give you a little information about it Know then for certaine That there is never any sword drawn on earth till it bee first drawn in heaven You shall read Esay 34. 5. My sword shall bee bathed in Heaven it shall come downe upon Idumea and upon the people of my curse to judgement A sword was to come upon Idumea to drinke their blood to be made fat with their flesh but first this sword was bathed in heaven Never doth warre come in any Country till God bathes his sword in Heaven draweth it out and brandisheth it in heaven and then saith Sword Goe into such a Land And if once God hath given the Sword a Commission all the world can never quiet it againe till God speake to it Oh thou Sword of the Lord saith the Prophet in the 47 Chapter of the Prophesie of Jeremiah at the 6 Verse when wilt thou bee quiet put up thy selse againe into thy scabbard rest and bee still But there is an Answer made How can it bee quiet when God hath given it a charge against Ashkelon and against the Sea shore there hath he appointed it Can all the world quiet that that God giveth a charge to It is God who strengtheneth one part and weakneth the other part and seemeth to make one victorious and then when he hath a mind to bring it down againe he will down with that part and strengthen the other part and till the Lord please to say Sword be thou quiet all the world cannot pacifie it And therefore Brethren were we never so successefull as through Gods mercy we seeme now to be in a prosperous way But had we all the Lord Hoptons Army in the West wholly broken the Earle of Newcastles in the North though all the Cavaliers about Oxford were they all of them broke all in pieces had you a blanke paper for Propositions sent you A blank paper that the Parliament and City write what they would have let his Majesty signe all let him sweare to all let him and the rest cordially intend to performe all if the God of Heaven say My quarrell with England is not ended all the world shall not make peace for you Consider what the Prophet told them when they saw the King of Babylon was risen from the siege of Hierusalem upon Pharaohs comming to help them they were jocund But the Prophet commeth tels them a sad story to this effect flatter not your selves with it Had you destroyed all the Armies of the Chaldeans that there were none left but a few wounded men those few wounded men shall return and burn your City when God will have the City burnt it shall be burnt Therefore till God be pacified England shall never be quiet but tranquillus Deut tranquillat omnia pacifie God and you end all Oh! could this enter into your hearts Right Honourable and beloved could you all beleeve this really and could wee bring it about that the Lord might once be pacified there were an end of our troubles and never till then There is a case in Isay 22. 5. c. very like to ours Jerusalem saw ae day of trouble and perplexity their

enemies brake in upon them their choycest vallies were full of enemies full of chariots and horsemen which set themselves in array at their very gates now what course tooke they for their safety why They locked to the armour of the House of the Forest they repaired the breaches of the Citie of David gathered the waters of the lower poole they made a ditch between the two walls they pulled down some houses to fortifie the wall made all warlike preparation and this God chid them for what was their errour I pray you why they begun at the wrong end their maine worke lay with God against whom they had sinned and hee expected weeping and mourning before him to regaine his favour and that they neglected and for that hee was more incensed against them and truely thus deale many of us our worke lieth with God and we looke to men wee looke to Armies and associations and in the meane time let the wrath of God kindled by our sinnes grow more hot against us but Oh that wee could now set upon this which is our most needfull and safest worke to pacifie his indignation and prevaile with him to cause his face to shine upon us and wee should soone bee safe But you will say How shall wee doe that The third lesson I chiefely reserve for that to shew you what Phinehas did But in the meane time let mee mention but three things to you and so I will passe on to the next The one is this there is a great deale of evidence in the Scripture That when God once findeth his people mournfully lying downe under his hand accepting the punishments of their sinnes taking shame to themselves and acquiting him and accounting him righteous in all his severitie this hath a marvellous influence upon the cooling and quenching of Gods wrath The Lord hath promised that if hee had scattered them into the severall parts of the world yet if their uncircumcised hearts bee but humbled and if they doe but accept of the punishment of their sinnes If they shall in the land of their captivitie confesse their sinnes and the iniquitie of their fathers with their trespasse which they have committed against me and that also they have walked contrary to me and that I also have walked contrary to them and have brought them into their enemies land if then their uncircumcised heart bee humbled and they then accept of the punishment of their sinnes then saith hee will I turne my favour toward them hee saith it expressely so then would you all helpe to pacifie God I beseech you often study how righteous the Lord is in al his severitie toward England that wee may stand amazed and say Lord in stead of quarrelling with thee and saying why is it thus severe why is thy indignation thus hot wee confesse thou hast punished us lesse then our iniquities have deserved it is thy mercy wee are not utterly consumed This is a marvellous meanes to pacifie God Secondly another is the Lord loveth to have his people seeke him by prayer in the midst of all his wrath and indignation against them hee loveth to heare their mournefull Prayers as hee would have their humble acknowledgements of his justice so hee loveth their mournefull suites for his compassion Thus Solomon ingaged God and this God promised him to grant That if they were smitten with pestilence famine sword of the enemy carried into captivitie in what kind soever his anger were kindled against them when they should mourne and pray unto him that hee would forgive their sinnes and give them compassion Thus Daniel sought God in captivitie O Lord I beseech thee let thine anger and thy fury bee turned away from thy City Ierusalem c. and such prayers have prevailed with him There are no such Orators in all the world next to the blood of Christ in heaven or earth there is not the like of a mournefull heart wrestling with God by prayers and teares And goe on with it you beloved in the Lord that use frequently to lie in the dust before God and to bee humbled before him goe on and let him fill his bottle if hee will fill one vessell with our bloods let him fill a great many bottles with our teares let us incessantly strive with him and intreat him to bee propitious and gratious his promise is then when you call upon mee I will answer you when you seeke mee with your whole heart you shall finde me But thirdly and that will indeed make way for the next part The great means of all that which one saith truly hath the key of all the bowels of mercy and that can let out all the floodgates of Gods mercie to quench the heate of his wrath is unfeigned repentance That I say hath the key of all the bowels of God and nothing but repentance will doe it All acknowledgements of Gods justice all our mournefull callings upon him for compassion if it bee accompanied with a stubborne going on in a wicked way the Lord may preserve them from one judgement but hee will reserve them to another there will never bee a pacifying of Gods wrath to the purpose unlesse there bee a laying downe the armes of Rebellion that are taken up against him And therefore brethren let me commend this to you Labour every soule of you first for your owne parts to inquire what the sinnes are that you are guiltie of and find out what the sinnes are that England is guiltie of I meane especially in relation to this judgement that lieth upon us what the sword-procuring sinnes are what the sinnes are for which God doth use to send a sword to avenge his quarrell labour to find them out to reforme them labour that repentance may doe his worke on them and then the Lords wrath will cease quickly But unlesse wee obtaine grace to doe this although all other things were granted to us the end of all would prove nothing but ruine and misery The blood the Idolatry the whoredome the contemning of the Gospell the prophaning of the Sabboth the scorning of Gods Ministers the hating of Gods children these are all of them sinnes that God useth to visit with the Sword And untill the land bee humbled for these sinnes and doe repent of them there is no expectation that it can long bee free from one devouring plague or another strike in with all your might and not onely to doe it your selves but every one in your places labour to expiate that in others roote them out punish them weed them out pluck them up by the rootes what ever lieth in your power And how that shall be done and the way of it will best of all appeare in the example and instance that you have in the Text Hee did it while hee was zealous among them for the Lords sake And so I passe unto the third and last part of my Text You have heard who was the Physitian Phinehas secondly