Selected quad for the lemma: mercy_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
mercy_n	death_n	lord_n	sinner_n	2,648	5	7.4070	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A49604	A funeral oration or sermon upon the most high, most potent Lord, Francis Henry De Montmorancy ... prounc'd at Paris, in the church of the Profess'd House of the Company of Jesus, the 21 st. of April, 1695, by Father De la Rue, of the same society ; from the french original.; Oraison funèbre de très-haut et très-puissant Seigneur François Henry de Montmorency, duc de Luxembourg et de Piney. English	La Rue, Charles de, 1643-1725.	1695 (1695)	Wing L455; ESTC R6889	22,402	33

Merit we might be afraid that so many profane Exploits and Triumphs might be only the Reward of those feeble Efforts of Vertue which sometimes may escape a Sinner but for which Heaven has no Crowns in store I should look upon him my self with an Eye of Pity as one of those Conquerors whom God made use of to magnifie Himself in Isaiah to subdue Nations put Kings to flight and break down the Walls of Cities and which he abandon'd afterwards to the Merits of their Works and the Punishments attending their Sins after he had rewarded their ambiguous Services with the vain Lustre of Worldly Prosperity God forbid that our Charity should be cool'd this day by such Sentiments as these Too many Reasons raise our Hopes without pretending to dispute the Rights of God's Justice so much Care as he has taken for the Salvation of this Sinner seems to persuade and convince us that God has made him an Object of his Eternal Mercy And here my Lords let us leave him as a Courtier a Warriour and a Conqueror All this was for the Eyes of Men in the sight of God he is a Sinner distinguish'd indeed by all those Titles of Honour which he bore upon Earth but at the same time expos'd to all those Frailties and all those Miseries that seem to be fasten'd to these dangerous Titles Yet in the midst of those Abuses which he might have made of 'em and what at length might have led him as they have done so many others to a Forgetfulness of his God let us admire those singular Tendernesses or rather Wonders of his Mercy bestow'd upon him He bestow'd upon him two of the most precious Graces he could have bestow'd upon Sinners the Grace of Adversity during his Life and the Grace of Repentance at his Death Let him then eternally sing those words of David Blessed be the Lord because he has magnify'd his wonderful mercy upon me You believe it not Grandees of the Earth and yet you find it by Experience at least you make others sensible of it that nothing more corrupts the Heart then a long and constant Prosperity that nothing over-casts the Mind with a thicker Darkness that generally there is nothing but Adversity that can call back a wandring Mortal to his Reason to his Conscience to his Salvation and his God You believe it not and this Errour is your Ruin The Subject of Discourse lay under the same Errour and was subject to those Deviations which are the usual Consequences of it He trod the Paths of Ambition for fifty Years together What a Progress did he make in it But the farther we advance in that Road the more Good God we go out of our Way Nevertheless thou didst follow him step by step Thou didst wait in expectation of a happy Moment to pour down thy Mercy upon him 〈◊〉 up●●●eing 〈◊〉 for a 〈◊〉 and a ●●ncer The happy Moment came and thy Mercy was pour'd down What a signal Kindness my Lords was this for all France A Man of that Name that Rank cloath'd with so many Honours distinguish'd by so many Services to be oblig'd to Justifie himself Upon what account For that which cannot fall but into the Meanest of Souls not only without Religion but without Reason without Fortune without Honour At that very moment he perceives all the Supports of Grandeur failing Feeble Bulrushes nodding with ev'ry Tempest and bowing under the weight of the Tempest He was not astonish'd to see such a Change of Looks and Hearts Solomon says That Slander troubles the Heart of a wise man and destroys the strength of his heart But never did more Prudence appear in his Heart then at that time and never did he raise himself so much above his own Strength and undaunted Courage The Sight of the Danger and the Easiness to avoid it by so many open ways and offer'd to his Choice On the other side the Dread of all things necessary for his Justification never gave him the least Disturbance Considering his Innocency he look'd upon his Liberty as nothing he sacrific'd it himself he ran to the Prison with the same speed that the Guilty flie it There he only minded the saving of his Innocence and his Honour and there he met the Mercy of God that waited for him Yes surely my Lords 't is so and if what I have said has not proceeded from the Mouth of Fame yet has it issu'd from the Lips of Truth In view of this very Church where we are now met together which was in his way he made a stop and at that very moment notwithstanding the Confusion of Thoughts which turmoil'd his Mind he acknowledg'd the Hand of God lifted up against him Far from being consternated like the Heathen Prince at the sight of the Celestial Hand-writing which wrote his Destiny but rather full of Considence and Humility at the same time he enter'd the Church and pouring forth his Soul at the Feet of this same Altar he confess'd that his Sins had been the Source of his Misfortune he ador'd the Goodness of God who had made choice of that means to draw him from the Precipice and set him in the right way of Salvation And less Touch'd with the Danger his Estate and Reputation were in then the Peril of his Soul he renounces Hearken Christians he renounces his Justification before Men if his Justification were opposite to his Salvation This was then the Sense and Spirit of his Prayer He has often explain'd his Meaning upon it at a Time when the Confession he made of it ought to be a Reproach to his Conduct Thou Lord who heardest him and hast promis'd every thing to Prayer more-especially to that which is put up for Salvation Thou who hast afforded him this signal Justification in the Eyes of the World which he implor'd but faintly of Thee wouldst Thou have resus'd him that Salvation which he su'd for then so earnestly in the Bitterness of a Soul sincerely humbl'd This was not ineffectual and if I may be permitted to apply to him what the Scripture speaks of a Just Man persecuted Wisdom descends with him into the Prison and forsakes him not in Bonds He there detested his Vanities he search'd into the Errors and Disorders of his Life he solemnly aton'd for 'em by the Use of the Sacraments nor was he deliver'd from his Captivity till enliven'd with more Pious Resolutions To corroborate him in it God permitted that being Justify'd as he was Free and Triumphant over Envy a Retirement of several Months should serve as a Tryal of his Fidelity Faithful to God all that time he spent his Leisure in the same Exercises and continu'd the Purifying of his Heart by frequent Confessions 'T was then another Heart form'd by Adversity and consecrated by Repentance the Work of the Grace of God How long think ye should any of you have held out Answer you that hear me and search for the Answer in your own Hearts After so

fatal Stroak as it happen'd in the Medley at the Conflict of Leuze He warded off the Blow 't was God that gave him the Address and Strength But what befel him at Nerwinde He fought after the manner of the ancient Hero's of his Race that is to say in the midst of his Children The youngest at Seventeen Years of Age was there the Second time that ever he had been in the Field and it was the Second Battel wherein his Courage had been try'd The Third forcing the Enemies Trenches at the Head of his Brigade happen'd to receive a dangerous Wound The Father still advanc'd and driving the Recoilers to a dangerous Post not regarding the Importunities of his Officers who laid the Danger before him the eldest Son the worthy Heir of his Courage and Name here present and paying his last Duties to his Memory running with a design to stop him receiv'd the Blow that was design'd against his Father 'T was God that watch'd over 'em and who measur'd their Paces who by the Danger of the Son prolong'd to the Father the Minutes of a Life profitable for his Condition to conduct him to this Time of Salvation still conceal'd in the Bosome of Previdence What a short time was this to Prepare for Salvation A few Days of Sighs and Tears after a long Series of Years spent in the Engagements and Passions of this World I grant and upon this Subject I know the Reflexions of the Holy Fathers I grant that when they admit Sinners to Repentance at the late Hour of Death they do not assure 'em of their Salvation I can admit Repentance but not assure Salvation But let Charity cause you to distinguish upon whom this Sentence is given Upon Sinners whose Faith is without Light and whose Religion is without Authority Upon Sinners whose Reason is besotted and whose Hearts are incapable of any steady Resolution Sinners who by a long Abuse of Holy Things are become blind to all the Idea's of God who neither then submit to the last Duties of Religion till after they are as it were constrain'd by all that Zeal Prudence and the respect of the World is capable to suggest Sinners whose Reason good Sense Faith Hope Confidence and Fear of God must be settl'd before you mention Sorrow and Repentance for Sin For a Sinner under this Character who expects approaching Death for him to tell us That he believes that he hopes and that he loves God We grant him says St. Austin Repentance but what Assurance of Repentance The Case was not the same with our Penitent whose Salvation is this Day the Subject of our Prayer Faith Religion the Fear of God a Veneration for Holy Things Contempt of Death Indifferency for Life a lively and display'd Reason Great and Noble Sentiments These were the Dispositions of his Soul to Repentance 'T is then upon this Occasion or never that the Sentence of St. Cyprian ought to be of great Force That Repentance ne'er comes too late provided it be true nor is there any thing but what may be remitted provided the Repentance be a part of the Heart Now in regard of our Penitent every thing demonstrated the visible Marks of a sincere and solid Repentance Uncapable of Cowardice and Baseness during the whole course of his Life accustom'd to raise his Courage proportionably to the Grandeur of the Danger upon the Approach of the Danger of his Life which was declar'd to him by his real Friends or rather at the Approach of the Danger of his Soul of which he was more sensible then any Body he follow'd Grace which rais'd him above every thing and forming to himself an Idea of God according to the Attractions of that Grace and the natural Propensity of his Heart he measur'd the Extent of his Mercy by the infinite Extent of his Grandeur Was he deceiv'd 'T was the measure which the wise Man took According to his Greatness such is the greatness of his Mercy No Presumption all this while in this Confidence It was accompany'd with a Humility proper for a Sinner asham'd of his Ingratitude and the long Abuse of God's Gifts No dissimulation in his Veneration of the Holy Mysteries We found that all he did when he dispos'd himself to receive 'em all he said when he receiv'd 'em was the sincere and voluntary Act of a Heart accustom'd in despite of Mortal Passions to humble it self before God to adore invoke him and to be sorrowfully sensible of not loving him sufficiently No honing after the Grandeurs of the Age. With all the Vivacity and all the presence of Mind that was natural to him he turns away his Eyes from that same glittering Fortune which he saw vanishing before him he thought it not worthy of one single Sigh If there were any Cares of this World or any thing of human Thoughts that remain'd behind 't was only to accomplish the Duties of Justice He extended his Cares to his Domesticks there was not one that had not a share in his Remembrance according to his Merits and his Services And who does he choose for the Confident of his last Will That Son always by his side in the Confusion of Battel was still at hand in his late fatal Conflict to receive and execute his Orders Alas not with that joy as when he obey'd him with his Arms in his Hands With a trembling Hand and throbbing Heart he wrote what with a serene Air the dying Father dictated And there it was that he found himself too unable to imitate him All his Childern came to his Bed-side lead in by a Hand which Friendship render'd still more precious to which we may add the Lustre of Birth of Merit and high Dignities both in the Church and Court In the presence of a Friend of this Importance and Reputation he scrupl'd not to discover the tenderness of his Heart and to take his Friend for a Witness and Depositary of his Thoughts But how far does his Tenderness for his Children extend To inspire into 'em Sentiments of God above his own Sentiments for the King equal to his own and for themselves Sentiments of Concord and Union worthy of themselves With the same Constancy sensible of the Sorrows of his Friends he is touch'd with it without the least weakness he distinguishes 'em all by particular Marks of Esteem without partiality To those also whom he had no reason to look upon as his Friends he made it appear by his Examinations of himself and made 'em confess by their Tears that he had always deserv'd to be so and that he had always been so What Thronging What a Concourse to his Bed-side of all that was great in France or at the Court What Surprize and Astonishment at the heavy News of the pressing Danger he was in How was the King disturb'd for the Loss of such a Subject who had conquer'd and sav'd so many Provinces What Lamentations of all the great Princes who had commanded under him that is