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
A72164	The conquest of temptations, or Mans victory over Satan especially, the great assaults, at the agony of death, full of very strong and effectuall consolations, to sustaine and comfort the weakest heart, in the greatest conflicts which can befall a Christian in the vvhole course of of life, and approach of death / gathered by the holy and deuout labour of Iohn Gerard, doctor of diuinitie, and superintendent of Heldburge ; newly Englished by Rich. Bruch, minister of Gods word.	Gerhard, Johann, 1582-1637.; Bruch, Richard, minister of Gods word.	1614 (1614)	STC 11767.5; ESTC S5215	71,686	143

THE CONQVEST of Temptations OR Mans victory ouer Satan Especially the great Assaults at the Agony of DEATH Full of very strong and effectuall Consolations to sustaine and comfort the weakest heart in the greatest conflicts which can befall a Christian in the whole course of Life and approach of Death Gathered by the holy and deuout labour of IOHN GERARD Doctor of Diuinitie and Super-intendent of Heldburge Newly Englished by Rich. Bruch Minister of GODS Word He that dyeth before he dye Shall not dye when he doth dye LONDON Printed by T. S. for Roger Iackson and to be solde in Fleetstreet neere the great Conduit 1614. TO THE MOST RELIGIOVS AND worthy KNIGHT Sir Thomas Vauasur Knight-Marshall and to the most pious and well-affected Lady his Wife the Lady Mary Vauasur R. B. wisheth here on Earth the beginning and in Heauen the complement of all happinesse Right Worshipfull SInce it is in mans life Seneca as it is in an Enterlude that it skils not how long but how well it be acted and that the word of truth giues out this for a truth Eccl. 7.10 the end of a thing is better then the beginning it concernes all men to striue to make good that which they cannot make long and hauing begunne well to perseuere so doing lest they leese the things that they haue wrought 2 Iohn v. 8 Heb. 3.14 if they keepe not sure vnto the end the beginning wherewith they are vpholden Surely the number of our yeeres is knowen to GOD alone our dayes are in his hand this only remaines vnto vs while wee are in this world to keepe our selues vnspotted of the world Psa 119.1 Iob. 17.9 immaculati in viâ vpright vndefiled in the way holding on our way with the righteous and with the pure of hands increasing our strength Which that we should not doe the old enemie of mankinde full of all subtiltie and malice doth by all meanes labour still to hinder who though he be very busie with vs to auert vs from the good and to make vs forsake our owne mercies in the whole course of our liues yet he doth especially insidiari calcaneo trip at the heele lay wait at the end to make vs then let goe the holde that we haue and the hope of assurance if 〈◊〉 cannot before hand make vs to deny the faith and make shipwracke of good conscience Eph. 6.13 whom that we may not onely know how to resist but also resisting to ouercome in the euill day and finishing all things to stand fast whose fiery darts that wee may quench this little Booke giues vs both the shield of faith and other spirituall armour in which kinde though I haue read and seene others written yet neuer did I peruse any done so full and so feelingly so succinct in the fulnesse and in so good order and method This when I had first turned into our English being thereunto requested in the next place when I thought to whom I might best offer it your Worthinesse most religious Knight and Lady came into my minde persons as in your ranke and place eminent so much more eminent in your vertues who in the example of your zeale in Religion and loue of the truth your pietie and charitie your meekenesse and affabilitie are a patterne vnto others and doe in the integritie of your liues being full of good workes Lib. de conuer a seculo ad Theo. Sen. multum militare acquisitionibus Christi as saith Fulgentius Purchase much for Christ and purchase to your selues in the world with the testimony of a good conscience that feasts your soules continually the sweet sauour of a good name Pro. 15.15 which two things are better vnto you then all riches Wee that are of your neighbourhood know and see the care that you haue of religious duties and the workes of charitie which you doe your lowlinesse in your wealth and Honour and other your remarkeable vertues It remaines onely that you that haue so well begunne and hitherto so well continued doe now striue to perseuere vnto the end that you may receiue a full reward that you may crowne the good that hath gone before in you with a good conclusion and that ouercomming the difficulties that are yet behinde you may at last bring your ship to the Hauen where you would be Which that you may the better doe you shall finde no small helpe and furtherance in this smal Booke which euery where breathing Consolations will arme your soules against all Temptations and against the time of your dissolution come so compose your soules to Death that you shall sleepe sweetly in the Lord in the peace of a good Conscience in sure and certaine hope of eternall life vnto which the Lord of his mercy giue you an entry with all Saints through his Sonne Christ Iesus our Lord and Sauiour AMEN Your Worships humbly deuoted and wishing your best good R. Br. To the very Reuerend and famous men excelling in Pietie Learning and Authoritie Mr. IOHN SCHRODER a famous Diuine and most worthy Minister appointed of the Church of Norinberg Mr. MARTIN GVNGE the most deseruing Preacher of the Court of Saxo-Coburg Mr. IOHN ALDENBVRG his most faithfull fellow Minister of the Church of Coburg His Masters Plato in Phaedone 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 friends and Brethren in Christ singularly beloued IF any man Reuerend and most famous men my Masters Friends Brethren in Christ to be had in singular honour would accommodate that same Platonicall definition of Philosophie that it is a Meditation of death to the true Theosophie of Christians hee may doe it as I thinke with the good leaue of the truth seeing as it were the beginning and end thereof doth consist in the Meditation of death Now I vnderstand vnder the name of death both the death of Christ and our death also The death of Christ and his Passion is the waight of the Christian name 1 Cor. 2.2 thence the Apostle did iudge that hee knew no other thing among the Corinthians then Christ crucified and dead By the death of Christ was made an expiation of our sinnes a destruction of the power of Satan a confirmation of the new couenant and an easing of the terrours which are wont to be present in our death therfore the Meditation of the death of Christ ought neuer to depart from our memorie Neither let vs any time of our life forget our owne death that as Death expects vs euery day so wee may also expect that againe each day Hieron Epist ad Pauli He which remembers daily that hee shall die he doth easily contemne all earthly things he prepares himselfe by true and earnest conuersion to a blessed death he giues his minde to sincere pietie he doth patiently endure all manner of aduersitie and is set on fire euen from the heart with an ardent desire of eternall life Psa 90.12 Teach vs O Lord prayes Moses to number our dayes

hee giues to thée from whose gift challenging it to thy selfe thou shalt not be confounded IX The temptation of Desperation The Tempted THE Deuill doth sollicite mee to desperation The Comforter I would haue thée despaire but in thy self and of thy selfe because thou art a sinnefull man Rom. 5.21 but not in God whose grace doth abound aboue sinne for as much as a drop is to the Sea Chrysost Hom. 3. de Poen so much is mans malice to Gods mercy The Sea though it be great yet it hath a measure but the clemency of God hath no measure neither despaire thou of Christ and in Christ which came into the world that he might saue sinners 1 Tim. 1.15 whose blood doth more preuaile to the reconciliation of God then the sinnes of the whole world to his displeasure Although thy sinnes be great and diuers and oft-times doubled yet they are not greater or more grieuous then that thou mayest obtaine pardon forgiuenes of them séeing the goodnes of God is greater then the iniquitie of all men Sins are in their fall but the grace of God is in its rising Sins are in the works of the Deuill and Man to take pitty to spare to remit are the workes of God by how much therefore God is more mighty then the Diuell and Man by so much also his mercy is greater then our malice The Lord is full of compassion and mercy Psal 103.8 vers 9. slow to anger and of great kindnesse Hee will not alwayes chide neither will hee keepe his anger for euer vers 10. Hee hath not dealt with vs after our sinnes nor rewarded vs after our iniquities vers 11. For as high as the Heauen is aboue the Earth so great is his mercy toward them that feare him vers 12. As farre as the East is from the West so farre hath hee remoued our sinnes from vs. The Heauen is incomparably greater then the Earth which is no bigger then the least point in respect of Heauen so the mercy of the heauenly Father is incomparably greater then all sinnes farre be it farre be it therefore from thée that thou say Greater is mine iniquitie then the pietie of the pittying God Thou shalt finde God more kinde then thou art culpable Bern. serm 11. sup Can. Col. 5 18. Gerson de remed contra Pusilla So great is the mercy of God that if thou hadst all the sinnes of the world vpon thée and didst grieue that with thy sinnes thou hadst proudly offended thy God so good a Lord and shouldest firmely purpose hereafter to abstaine God would neuer condemne thée What August in Psal 55. dost thou so forget the satisfaction performed of Christ that thou wilt prefer thy sinnes before Christs merit that is thy selfe before God Dost thou sée the greatnesse of the disease and dost thou not sée the power of the Physitian Great are thy sinnes farre greater is Christ which hath satisfied for thy sinnes Diuers are thy sinnes but Christ also hath suffered diuers things for thée GOD is the infinite good whom thou hast offended by thy sinnes but Christ is an infinite person which hath reconciled thée to God sigh therefore to thy heauenly Father and pray in the name of his Sonne thy Sauiour if thou doest despise mee Ansel de redemp gen hum fol. 96. O eternall God for mine iniquitie as I haue deserued regard me at least taking pitty on mee for the loue of thy beloued off-spring Regard that in thy Sonne which thou mayst bee mercifull vnto in thy seruant Sée the sacrament of his flesh and forgiue the guilt of my flesh remember what thy good Son hath suffered and forget what thine euill seruant hath wrought X. The tentation of Blasphemie The Tempted I Am constrained to confesse that I am not onely prouoked to desperation but that I am also sometimes tempted with the spirit of blasphemie for such thoughts doe arise in my heart as are iniurious against God himselfe my Creatour and my Sauiour I would chuse to dye a thousand times that I might be freed from this tentation The Comforter THese cogitations are not the actions of thy heart but rather the most bitter passions séeing thou art not delighted with these cogitations but doest féele out of them sorrowes more bitter then death it selfe They are the scourges of Satan with which hee doth afflict and torment thée they shall not be imputed to thée of the Lord for sinne And be it that some impatience of the heart do arise out of the infirmitie of the flesh yet God knowes thy groanings and thy sighes yea the weight of tentations hath wringed out of Iob and Ieremy hard words which the most benigne God hath fatherly forgiuen them Obserue out of them how thou hast altogether no strength to good out of thy selfe that with the whole trust of thy hart thou mayest learne to cleaue vnto God This is the force and highest degrée of the fight against Satan take héed thou faint not here the mighty God that appoints thée to this combat will be present with thée neither will hee leaue thée destitute of his helpe Expect patiently and humbly till thou mayest be fréed from the fiery darts of Satan in the meane time Ephe. 6.16 let the grace of the Lord suffice thée 2 Cor. 12.9 It is the flesh which doth thus wrastle with the spirit and shewes it selfe ready and pliable to take the darts of Satan the sinne that dwels in thy flesh shall not be imputed vnto thée if thou wilt mortifie by the spirit the déedes of the flesh and wilt not giue consent to these blasphemous cogitations Extinguish those fiery darts of Satan in the bloud of Christ turne against them the Buckler of faith and assoone as thou shalt perceiue any such blasphemous cogitation to arise betake thy selfe to prayers by which thou mayest trample it downe as it were in the first growth XI The particularitie of the Promises The Tempted I Feele some consolation of the spirit in my heart I obserue a certaine trust in my soule which forbids mee to despaire when I behold the mercy of God abounding aboue sinnes and the merit of Christ which is of infinite price and value But I doubt whether that promise in the Gospell of the mercy of God and merit of Christ doth pertaine to me also for God is not only mercifull but also a most iust and seuere reuenger of sinnes and that all are not made partakers of the benefits of Christ experience to my great griefe doth witnesse The Comforter TAke héed that thou giue no place to those seducing thoughts of the restraint of the promises of the Gospell God calleth all vnto him hee desires all to come vnto him hee offers the word of the Gospell to all and in it the benefits of Christ neither doth hee this fainedly but in earnest not hypocritically but with a minde to communicate them I liue saith the Lord