Selected quad for the lemma: mercy_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
mercy_n	day_n	good_a	lord_n	6,259	5	3.9699	3	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A00658	A forme of Christian pollicie drawne out of French by Geffray Fenton. A worke very necessary to al sorts of people generally, as wherein is contayned doctrine, both vniuersall, and special touching the institution of al Christian profession: and also conuenient perticularly for all magistrates and gouernours of common weales, for their more happy regiment according to God; Police chrestienne. English	Talpin, Jean.; Fenton, Geoffrey, Sir, 1539?-1608.	1574 (1574)	STC 10793A; ESTC S101953	277,133	426

deuill and to cal him into testimony of any thing ¶ Gouernors ought to punishe by death such as God condemnes to eternall and temporall death and vvhome the Gospell detesteth and pronounceth vvorthy of eternall fire So that all sinnes committed against the ten commaundements ought to be so punished so that they vvere committed directlye and by a deliberate vvill but aboue all such deserue greeuous punishment as are done contrarye to the three preceptes of the fyrst table The .6 Chapter THE Christian Magistrate conforming him selfe thus to the lawe of God maye punishe crimes de lesa maiestate diuina Atheismes idolatries blasphemies Inuocation to deuilles sorceries incantacions charmes and al sortes of magicke damnable supersticions with other faultes against the first commaundement which is to know feare worship loue and serue God in spirite in trueth and obedience These crimes haue béene condemned to death by God for the whiche there neuer could bee any grace obtained in his lawe The magistrate shall not suffer to sweare by the name of God in vaine nor geue libertye to any light othes no though they bring no offence to conscience but onelye to sweare in iudgement in iustice and in trueth Hée shal not winke at any rashe othe made by any creature what so euer and muche lesse suffer in impunitye periuries renouncementes and execrations as to betake them selues to the deuill or other othes coniured in the name of the wicked fende which muche lesse that it is not a sinne most detestable but also it carieth euen a naturall kinde of Idolatrie hée ought not to suffer this common abuse to speake of God and holye thinges without reuerence and muche lesse to abuse the sacred scripture with scoffes other sence then the holy Ghost vnderstoode it as is done now a dayes in Pasquilles and which worse is in Charmes diuinations and sorceries as by the mistery of turning of a keye and pronouncing certaine holye names to finde a thing that is lost and by writing scrowes to cure an Ague Hée ought not to suffer prophanation of the Sabboth whiche is the Sundaye a daye appointed to rest in the Lorde and dispose in meditacion and exercise of deuoute labours yea let him see it sanctifyed with good and holye workes as by prayers hearing Sermons and lessons with doing actes of mercye not suffering games or dissolucions gluttonies dronkennes nor other actes whereby the holye daies maye be polluted Let him lastlye defende prophanation of the holy sacramentes temples with the holye relikes of holye men which in their liues they presented in immulation to God for the faith of Iesus Christ It is most certaine that the transgression of these three commaundementes of the first table was in all seasons punished with stoning to death Whereunto the good gouernours of the auncient common weales of Israell would neuer graunt grace In the first churche when any were receyued into penaunce the church ministred so straite paine and for so long time that there was none to whome the grauetye of the punishment gaue not great horrour euen to haue the thought to transgresse And I wishe in God that at the least those Crimes were punished with no lesse rigour then certaine naturall faultes committed against Kinges Princes and Lordes of the worlde hée that committes treason against the King knoweth his torment to be dismembred with fowre horses Who liues in court and entertayned by the wages of the King and should misknowe or derogate his Maiestie falsefye his Sygnet speake of the King as of a vile person without due honour woulde geue no obedience to his Lawes shoulde defile his Pallace with actes of villanye shoulde offer wrong to the reputacion of the Princes Gentlemen of his trayne or lastly should offende in any sort of contempte touching the greatnes and dignitye of the King would it not iustlye sturre vp the officers and good seruauntes of the King and laying handes of the offendour to commit him by good reason to the tormentes of the whéele or punishe vpon a Gibbet this arrogant contemnor of the sacred maiestie of the King. Oh howe many more vile actes doo our eyes beholde in all partes of the world committed against the sacred maiestie of our GOD afore whome his Aungels are restrained to so great reuerence that they dare not beholde him and for his wonderfull brightnes haue no power to settle their sight vppon him But where is the care of our magistrates who possessing the chiefest place in the house of God haue theyr reuenues to maintaine his honour with power to plant a reuerence and vniuersall obedience Saint Paul and Barnabe in a holye indignation and Spiritual anger which wée call zeale to God rent in peeces theyr Gownes for one onelye contempt which men would haue offered to the liuing God in theyr presence But howe many millions of blasphemies epicurities and impieties are offered afore our eyes and eares euerye daye and yet what officer of God entereth into the rebuke of them The Chaldees and Egyptians with theyr Iuglinges and artificiall masking of the sence are welcome into Courtes yea they which in times paste were burned quicke at Rome Deuinors Charmers and Sorcerers are in credite falsefiers of the sacred seale of the holye Ghost who are the false Prophetes are called great Doctours of the trueth Inuocatours of the Deuill denyers of GOD prophanours and contemnours of all holye thinges much lesse that they are delt with all iudiciallye but of the contrarye they haue honour countenaunce and rewarde of many Deuoute swearers or more properlye Anatomistes of the blessed Bodye and blood of Iesus Christ by the whiche they are redeemed get them selues the reputacion of greate Gentlemen by theyr cursed swearing and renounsing of God. Whereof thoughe the practise bée generall yet what Iudge takes suche impietye into punishment yea who is displeased with them And yet in the Iewes whose handes persecuted Christe with paynes of the Crosse was not founde perhappes so wicked an acte against the Lorde whose Garmentes they neuer durste teare in peeces and muche lesse dismember his bodye whiche these swearing Crucifiers forbeare not to committe to a thousande morselles Let then the administours of common Weales if they will haue theyr estates to prosper and procure felicitye to that poore multitude ouer the which they gouerne with the correction of suche vices haue Gods honour in deare regarde whiche they they doo in ful office when they cause these thrée first commaundements to bée straitelye obserued imparting no grace to transgressions wherein let them folowe the auncient gouernours of Israel and speciallye Moyses in whome for one only offence against one of these sayd three commaundementes was expressed suche passion of feruent zeale that they had no rule ouer their patience till they had done seuere iustice as standing in most assured resolucion that some cloude of misery hong ouer their heads whiche woulde burst out into a storme to the whole multitude if the offence were not

throughe all the world and is more generall in most sortes of people then any other vice and aboue al the rest most hurtfull to common weales It is necessary we pursue it euen til we bring it to the last confusiō some there be that worcke by fittes and as it were obeye theyr howres and seasons and in some wée sée a perpetuall Idlenes not folowing any art or labour There bée some Artificers and handycraftesmen who when they put them selues in negligence disorder haue no power to geue ouer tyll hunger constraine them to recontinue their worke Theyr speciall time which they reserue for these disorders are the Holye dayes whiche as Beastes they abuse in gluttony and dronkennesse and by their behauiour become beggarly Varlettes If they finde no worke of necessity they must begge or become théeues and if they fall sicke they die of hunger theyr familye are left to the reléefe of the common almes But much more euill do those which are poore wantonlye or counterfeite poore who as stout beggarly varlettes hauing once layde the Wallet on their shoulders are not afterwarde made tractable to any occupation truly natural liuely roages whose bringing vp is in begging to the ende they may become miserable betimes by whome the world is so replenished with suche vermine for want of good pollecie The best reméedy for our first halfe workemen and halfe idle men standing vpon the brotherhood of Loyterours suche as are sone cloyed with worke I meane also such as for an howre of labour wil plaie and haunte the Tauerne a whole daye The best meane to reduce such were to geue order that no Tauerne nor Inne either in the Towne or Subberbes should receiue any inhabitaunt vpon a great paine and that the workemaisters of such Iourneymen distribute no wages but at the wéekes end or els to theyr wiues if there bée necessitie to nourishe theyr familie driuing them by this meanes when they are disposed to recreation to doo it modestly at hoame and not to ronne into insolencies abroade wée haue declared elswhere when what recreation of the mind and rest of the body we ought to take after labour but neyther to vse it but as wée vse Phisicke which is by necessitye nor to acquainte it commonly for feare of bréeding a custome wherein is no lesse daunger then when a whole bodye will proue Phisicke which onely is due to the diseased Touching the children of the Poore wée will speake of them heareafter But to the other Loytering Idle poore begging for the nonse or by malicious sleight they can not bée persecuted with too seuere correction as either with the sentence of the Gibbet or at least condemnation to the Galleys For some of them bée expert Théeues Robbbers in the ende as bée these countrey runners stoute beggars a people drawen togeather from many places bearing the name of Gipsies or Bohemiens who much lesse that they euer sawe Egipt but knowe not where it standeth These with their wiues being sorcerors interpretors of Satā abuse the simple vnhappye casting a powder into their purses whose vertue is to bring away al the money others there be called poore beggars no more tollerable then they they are varlettes all of a route and race and for the most part great Cossinges to Ragot who in a language or Gibberishe onely vnderstande of them selues geue great estimation to their trade by pitiful voyces counterfeit sicknesses groaning sighing in apparance inwardly mery minded picking in this sort the purses of many poore wiues in the countrey who if they geue them not a good deuotion for they make no reckoning of bread they wil threten thē to burne their barnes in the nights to cut their throtes If the théefe receyue the gibbet for his hyre what sentence can bée lesse against those who making an acte to beguile and abuse the worlde are worse then Théeues for that they take awaye the sustenaunce from such as are in déede poore they will saye it is better to aske then to take awaye what more sutteltye is there in robberye or what greater deceyte and abuse then this yea if they founde the doores open and houses without garde I doubte not but they woulde enter and take what they found without asking If Ipocrites bée accursed if Théeues bée hanged if lyers bée so much hated of God if the idle sort deserue excommunication and are condempned by the Scripture to dye of Hungar what grace then can these deserue yea being no lesse hurtfull then all the rest why shoulde they bée more fauoured then any other But nowe to a pleasaunt and true Historye of certaine poore Beggers counterfeyting sick men In the time of the good King Lois the twelfth a very father of the people and most pitifull to the poore as it was a custome of this good Prince to goo euery daye from his Pallace to a Chapel for deuotion sake so one daye al the Beggars there aboutes were drawne togeather afore the sayd Chappel prepared to play their partes in hope to bée well paide of the King to whose nature nothing was more familiar then pitye mercye when they sawe him comming they scriked fell down to the earth beating them selues foaming at the mouth by a quantety of Soape which they had sutlye conueied vnder their tongues the better to set out their deceit and draw this simple King to a large Almes A Gentlemā spying the Prince to fal into moodes of pitye and at point to shew large compassion besought him to stay a litle promising to shew him a fayre miracle The Gentleman caused to bring him a great Carters whip wherewith entering into the first parte of his miracle hée lashed with all his force these stoute Beggars who with strugling with them selues were become more then halfe naked By that tyme the Oyle of his whyp had suppled theyr bare fleshe and drawne the blood to trikle downe féeling styl the rage of the whipping placester to redouble in sharpenes these traunsed men recouered theyr Legges ranne faster then those that folowed them and forgetting theyr late frensie and foaming in the mouth euerye other fit of a counterfeyte they cryed for compassion and cursed the whip the arme by the which the miracle and mistery was so sharply pursued This proueth that there is no better meane to cure saith Epilepsia commonly called S. Iohns disease nor other counterfeyte diseases in such deceytful beggars but eyther to whip or to hang them without which reméedye theyr disease wil be incurable we sée in our cōmon weale many that haue such infirmitye or defect of members eyther by nature or accident as they haue no hability to trauaile the onely excuse for idlenes and begging and yet are hardly drawne to receyue cure the same agréeing with the time of s Martin in the example of the lame man who vnderstāding that in the sayd Byshop was power to heale the

follow All which hapneth by the default of the head in whom was vnderstanding both to kéepe him selfe and the body from euill and also to prouide remedy if it did happen euen so when there is either ill prouidence to preuent an euill or worse negligence to purge and cure it nor seeking out the cause till the effect be expressed it is then we see plagues famine with other rodds of God wherewith yet as he doth not scourge specially a countrey or common weale without great offence as one that will not strike with his staffe but where he finds obstinacie and resistance So let vs then do as children to their father whō they haue offended for he strikes as a father and seeing him stād with rods in his hand ready to discipline fall vpon their knées at his feete and with teares demaund pardō on whom in respect of their hartie submission as he is cōtent to bestow but two or thrée little lashes presently cast the rods in the fier so also if their wéeping humilitie had appeared afore he tooke the rods in his hād they had not at all felt the smart euen so deales GOD with vs correcting vs with easie discipline as his children and if we crie him mercy there is nothing more familiar with him then forgiuenes yea he will burne his roddes and embrase our conuersion withall such is his goodnes towardes vs that afore he enter into correction be inuites vs to submit acknowledge to the end he be not constrayned being a iust iudge to lift vp his hand and make vs feele the rod conuert sayth he by his Prophets to me and I will be conuerted to you I will kéepe no remembrance of your faultes yea I will repent me that I went about to strike you it is grieuous to him to scourge his people and an act which becomes him not properly his nature is to do mercy for the which he is called mercifull long suffring patient and mercy it selfe he would not punish Dauid vppon his person notwithstanding he had deserued extreame Iustice but pardoned his sinnes when hee asked forgiuenes with great contrition griefe Touching the rods which he holdeth in his hand and strikes not but sheweth them as matters of feare to offenders we sée that Josophat being threatned with such roddes which were the Moabites Ammonites Sirians his enemies withdrew himself altogether to god published fastings through all the coūtrey of Juda assēbling all the people to pray to god in the tēple he in the middest of thē made this oration O Lord God which art the god of our fathers the god of heauē and hast dominion ouer the kingdoms of all nations in thy hand is force and power there is none that can resist thée is it not thou O Lorde that hast killed all the inhabitants of this land being idolators and pagans before thy people of Jsraell We haue not force to resist so great a multitude and therfore not knowing what we should do there restes nothing to vs but to turne our eyes to thée O Lord as hoping in thée only for ayde and succours And as he continued thus in prayer wherin there was not so meane a woman and least childe which did not pray with him in the temple behold the prophet spake vnto him feare not this multitude it shall not be thy warre but the warre of God which hapned accordingly for all those armed enemies forsaking their purpose fell vpon the Jdumeans and after slaughtered one an other without any necessitie of him to go to the battell so happened it in the time of Ionas to the towne of Niniuie where the king vnderstanding the hand of God to be ready to destroy them with in xl dayes commaunded a general fast for thrée daies yea euen little children and beastes were restrained to abstinence and ioyning to this penance contrition and supplication for mercy it fell out that the Citie felt not the roddes of God otherwaies then in feare Touching the whippes wherewith hee scourgeth for not hauing thus preuēted and yet in correcting them selues and asking pardon he forgiueth them it is written of the Jsraelites that they cryed to God when they were in tribulaciō he deliuered them from their necessities which is amplie declared in their deliuerance from the captiuitie of Egypt wherein they felt sharppe and smartinge roddes yet crying mercy to God they were heard and deliuered Dauid seeing the furie of the plague vppon his people and lifting vp his eyes to heauen where hée saw an Aungell holding a sword ouer Jerusalem in signe of the punishement which hee made of the people by plague cryed with a lowd voyce O Lord God it is I that haue offended punish me afterwardes he offereth sacrifice to God and the death ceased Ezechias for particular example who féeling in his persone the discipline of God by a disease whereof he must dye after he had acknowledged him selfe and cryed to God for grace had answer to liue yet xv yere with the receipt of the remedie to heale his infirmitie And touching the publike affliction which he and his town of Ierusalem suffered by the Assirians that had besieged the town made breaches to enter the same night by great miracle the Aungell of God slew a hundreth foure score and sixe thousand of his enemies which brought such confusion and feare to their King Senacherib that he fled early in the next morning In these maibe noted as it were by the way that as it is said in the booke of Iudith accordinge to the promises which God made in his lawe when the people of Jsrael serued God well and obserued his law they were not vexed of straungers nor felt common miseries but such as offered to oppresse them were confounded as Pharao and his ofte in the chase of these people were swallowed in the red sea euen so when the Israelites fell frō this course and offended God he stirred by enemies on all sides of whom they were either ouercome slaughtered or at least by other hurtes felt and found the certein tokens of gods wrath whose effects thei proued w extréeme miserie if they did not repent many nations people were not reformed by preachings nor threats of gods iudgements but scorned the prophets that pronounced them calling them fooles mad men and sedicious and deliting in their owne scornes they saied let the day of God come we s●are it not for wée haue the temple Many trusted in Idolles and others hoped for succours of Kings to be strong against their enemies yea there were that persecuted the good Prophetes that foretold their calamities to come and the false Prophetes reassured them againe with promises of all good successe yea when famines diseases or other punishements hapned they laid the occasions to the good Prophetes and catholike people as some of them attributed their plagues to the starres which were the Chaldeis others