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
B05829	Certain select cases resolved. Specially, tending to the right ordering of the heart, that we may comfortably walk with God in our general and particular callings. / By Thomas Shephard, sometimes of Emanuel College in Cambridge; now preacher of Gods word in New-England.	Shephard, Thomas, 1605-1649.	1695 (1695)	Wing S3105A; ESTC R227738	42,314	125

hony comb with the end of my nod and if this presence of Christ's Spirit I feel now be so sweet what is himself then 3. Thirdly Labour for increase of love familiarity with Jesus Christ by taking notice of him by coming often to him by musing daily on his love as on a fresh thing by banishing slavish false fears of his forgetfulness of you and want of everlasting love towards you and then you know love will carry you speedily to him amor meus pondus meum nay grant that you have been a stranger to Christ yet restore the love of Christ to life again in your Soul and when you come to his ordinances where he dwells your Soul will make its first enquiry for him neither will it be satisfied till it has seen him as we do them we love towards whom we have been greatest strangers Quest 5. Your fifth trouble is you know not how to apply absolute promises to your self as in Heb. 8. because they are made indefinitely without condition Conditional promises you say you can if you can find the qualification that gives you right to the good of the promise within you Answ This useful fruitful question how to apply absolute promises to ones particular deserves a larger time and answer than now in the midst of perplexities I am able yet willing to give For when the Lord saith absolutely without condition that he will take away the stony heart and he will put his fear into his peoples hearts c. and these kind of promises are made to some not to all to those only whom the Lord will and in general to his people Hereupon the Souls of many Christians especially such as question Gods love towards them are most in suspence and therefore when they complain of the vileness of their hearts strength of the lusts let any man tell them that the Lord has undertaken in the Second covenant to heal their backslidings and to subdue their iniquities they will hereupon reply it is true he has promised indeed to do thus for some absolutely tho' they have no good in them but I that feel so vile a heart so rebellious a nature will he do this for me or no and thus the Soul floats above water yet fears it shall sink at last notwithstanding all that God has said I will answer therefore briefly these two things in general 1. I shall shew you to what end and for what use and purpose Go has made absolute promises not only to them that be for the present b●● people but to them that in respect their estates and condition are not 2. I shall shew you how every Christian is to make use of them and how and when he ought to apply them For the first of these 1. First I conceive that as in respect of God himself there are many ends which I shall not mention as being needless so in respect of man there are principally these two ends for which the Lord has made absolute promises 1. To raise up the Soul of a helpless sinful cursed lost sinner in his own eyes to some hope at least of mercy and help from the Lord. For thus usually every mans Soul is wrought to whom the Lord doth intend grace and mercy he first turns his eyes inward and makes him to see he is stark naught and that he has not one dram of grace in him who thought himself rich and wanting nothing before and consequently that he is under the curse and wrath of God for the present and that if the Lord should but stop his breath and cover his face and take him away which he may easily do and this to be feared he will that he is undon forever Hereupon the Soul is awakened falls to his kitchin physick as I spake before prays and hears and amends and strives to grow better and to stop up every hole to amend it self of every sin but finding it self to grow worse and worse and perceiving thereby that he doth but stir not cleanse the puddle and that it is not amending of nature that he must attain to but he must believe and make a long arm to Heaven and apprehend the Lord Jesus which so few know or ever shall enjoy and hereby quench the wrath of God I say finding he cannot do thus no nor no means of themselves can help him to this hereupon he is for saken of all his self-wisdom and of all his vain hopes and now sits down like a desolate widow comfortless and sorrowful and thinks there is no way but death and hell the wrath of a displeased God to be expected And if any come and tell this Soul of Gods mercy and pity to sinners I saith he its true he is even infinitely merciful unto them who are rent from their sins and that can believe but that I cannot do am sure shall never be able for to do therefore what cause have I but to lie down in my sorrow to expect my fatal stroke every moment Reply again upon this Soul tell him that tho' he cannot believe or loosen his heart from sin yet that the Lord has promised to do it that he will subdue all his iniquity and he will pardon all his sin and that he will cause men to walk in his ways c. True saith the Soul again he will do thus for his own people and for them he has chosen but I never had dram of grace in my heart and there is no evidence that the Lord is mine own or that I am his Here again the Soul lies down until the Lord discovers to the Soul that he will do these things for some that have no grace or never had grace for these promises were made to such Hereupon the Soul thinks thus these promises are made for some that are filthy for why should God pour clean water upon them for some that be hard-hearted for why should he promise to take away the stony heart from them c. and if unto some such and I being such a one why may not the Lord possibly intend and include me seeing he has not by his promise excluded nor shut me out Indeed I dare not say he will but yet how do I or men or Angels know but yet I may be one Hereupon Hope is raised to life again seeing God has undertaken the work for the vilest it is possible he may do it for me now when I am vile and can do nothing for my self And thus you may see the first end and use of absolute promises to be as it were twiggs to uphold the sinking Spirits of hopeless helpless distressed Souls 2. The Second end and Use of them is this To create and draw out faith in Jesus Christ in the promises For as the Law begets terror so the promises beget Faith Now no conditional promise firstly begets Faith because he that is under any condition of the Gospel in that man there

and hence it is said John 6. 10. No man comes to me but whom the Father draws Why It is the immediate office and work of the holy Ghost to draw and apply the soul unto Christ why then is it said Unless the Father draw The reason is because that which was perfected and consummated by the holy Ghost was intentionally and by way of purpose and decree begun originally by the Father this is that which Christs words have chiefly reference unto viz. the Father through the Son by the holy Ghost draws But I have waded too far in this Divinity the clear knowledg of which is reserved for us in heaven But thus much to satisfie you Yet the word Father in the Lords Prayer I conceive under correction as it doth not exclude any person of the God-head so it s chiefly set down there not so much to denote the Person of the Father as the affection of God as a Father to us his Sons by Christ which we are to believe in our first approaching to our prayers to be as nay to transcend the affection of any Father to his Son when we come to call upon him for those six things which the Petitions set down for those three ends Kingdom Power and Glory which the Prayer concludes withal Quest 4. Your fourth trouble is your aptness to go to God immediately especially when his graces are most striving in his ordinances contrary to that of Christ Ye believe in God believe also in me Answ So indeed it is usual for religious nature often to out-run and get the start of grace as it appears in many other so in this case you put look as it is with every man when God awakens him effectually he first seeks to his kitchin physick to save himself by his duties praying 〈◊〉 reforming endeavouring 〈◊〉 working before he will 〈…〉 to the Physician and to Christ to save him Because it was natural to 〈◊〉 to seek to live by his working it is natural to every Son and branch of that root to seek to save himself by doing as well as he can or as God gives him the strength and grace So it is here It was natural to Adam to depend upon and go to God immediately as a creature to a Creator as a Son to go nakedly to God as a Father Christ was not then known nor seen so it is natural to every man when rectified Nature is stirred up to go immediately to God It is grace in the second Covenant that reveals and draws to Jesus Christ and to God by Christ Heb. 7. 25. For cure of this distemper ponder but these three things 1. Clearly convince the soul that the immortal invisible and most holy God that dwelleth in an unapproachable light his set out himself to be seen or made himself only visible in Jusus Christ so that he would have no man look upon him any other ways then as he has revealed himself in his Son In whom tho' in all other creatures his vestigia and footsteps are to be seen as he is God the face of God is to be seen which no creature is able to behold but there being the brightness of his glory and the express Image of his Person Heb. 1. 3. And as he is man the very heart of God both in respect of affection and will to be seen So that in and through Jesus Christ especially his human nature the glory of the great God breaks out like the Sun through the clouds most brightly in respect of us and therefore in and through his human nature we are only to behold God in whom all that a Christian desires to know is to be seen which is the face and heart of so dear a friend 2 Cor. 4. 6. Joh. 14. 9 10. For we know by too lamentable experience how the whole world vanishing in their smoaky thoughts of the glory of God as he is considered in himself and not able to conceive or retain the knowledg of him did hence invent and set up Images as fit objects for their drunken staggering understanding to fasten upon to be limited with and hence adored God before these as our Popish Hypocrites do before the Altar and in these and at these as Papists do in respect of their Images Hence the Lord to cure this inveterate natural malady has in the second Person united himself to man Christ Jesus through whom we are both able to our everlasting wonderment to see him and also here bound only to behold him who as he is a fi● handle for our faith so he is a fit object for our weak minds to behold the glory of the most high God in Wherefore then do you offer to go unto God without Christ whenas you are not so much as to look upon God but as he appears in Christ Is not the human nature of the Lord Jesus more easie to be seen and conceived of than the invisible unlimited eterual God-head 2. Secondly See evidently that there is not any dram or drop of God you have especially in Gods ordinances but it issues from the blood and is purchased by the intercession and delivered unto you by the hand of Jesus Christ Ephes 1. 7. Hebr. 7. 25. John 5. 22. You should never have heard the sound of the gospel nor never have had day of Patience nor never have heard of Gods ordinances to find him in nor never have been comforted quickned enlarged affected by Gods Ordinances were it not for Jesus Christ the efficacy of whole blood and power of whose glorious intercession doth at the very instant you feel any good in Gods Ordinances prevail with God the Father for what you feel for the Father loveth the Son and has put all things into his bands John 3. 3 5. that all men might honour the Son all the three Persons plotting chiefly for the honour of the second so that you may see may you are bound to believe at the time you feel your heart savingly affected in any ordinance now the Lord Jesus who is at the right hand of God in heaven who is now in his glory now be remembring me a poor worm on earth now I feel the fruit of his death O what a miserable forlorn wretch had I been were it not for Jesus Christ Mercy could never have helped enlightned comforted quickned assured enlarged me and Justice could never have relieved my dead bloody perishing lost Soul had it not been for Jesus Christ whose Spirit power grace comfort presence sweetness I taste drink and am satisfied abundantly with and now do enjoy Oh Sir methinks the sad meditation of this should make you in all Gods ordinances where you are apt to say you go immediately to God to hasten suddenly in your thoughts affections praises to Jesus Christ Nay methinks you should speedily have your heart clevated and lifted up to Jesus Christ and say I receive this and taste this from Jesus Christ Oh but this is but a taste of the

rationally wrapt up in the Covenant of grace Indeed gross scandalous sins nay infirmities when they are given way to and not resisted may keep the soul from the fruition for a time of Gods Covenant but never from the eternal jus and right unto it for as the habit of Faith or Grace gives a man a constant right to the promise and Covenant which seed ever remains which habit ever lasts Jer. 3. 9. so the act of Faith or Grace gives a man fruition of the Covenant and the benefit of the promise and hence by the acting and venting of some sins wherein there is included the neglect of the exercise of grace He that is really in covenant with God may be deprived of the fruition of it yet seeing the seed of God and the habit of grace ever remains he cannot by any sin break his covenant for the covenant of grace is absolute wherein the Lord doth not only promise the good but to begin perfect fulfil the condition absolutly without respect of sin ex parte creaturae Indeed if Gods covenant of Grace did as that of works depend upon man to fulfil the condition having sufficient grace to fulfil it then gross sin might well break the Covenant but seeing God hath undertaken to fulfil the Covenant absolutely not withstanding all the evils and sins of the soul no sin can possibly break that knot and covenant which so firm and resolute love hath once knit And therefore if this be a good argument Infirmities cannot break covenant What cause have I to be humbled for them so as to say It is thy mercy Lord that I am not consumed for them as you write you may upon the same ground say so If the Lord should desert you or you for Take the Lord and so fall into the foulest sin which I suppose corrupt conscience dares not be so bold as to think or allow of 2. Secondly I say the least sins or infirmities do break the first covenant of works and hence you do not only deserve but are under the sentence of death and curse of God immediatly after the least hairs-breadth swarving from the Law by the smallest sin and most involuntary accidental infirmity According to the Tenor of the Law the soul that sinneth shall die and cursed is he that continueth not in all things of the Law Gal. 3. 10. The least sin being ex parte objecti in respect of God against whom it is committed as horrible and as great as the greatest For it being an infinite wrong being the dishonour of an infinite Majesty there can be no greater wrong than an infinite one unless you can imagin a thing greater than that which is insinite and therefore in this respect there is as much venom and mischief done against God in the least as in the greatest sin And therefore it and whosoever commit it deserve death for it as if they had committed the foulest sin in the world and therefore after the least and smallest infirmities you may from hence see what cause you have freely to be humbled and to confess for them how worthy you are to be destroyed yea even to look upon your self as lying under the sentence of the Law and death immediately after the commission of them and so to mourn bitterly for them Object But you will say a Christian that is under the Covenant of Grace is not within the Covenant of Works that Bond is cancelled the last will must stand and therefore he being out of that Covenant no sins of his can be said to break the Covenant for no man can be said to break that Law under which he is not and which he is not bound to keep Answ I answer every Believer has a double being or standing and so there may be put upon him a double respect 1. First he may be considered as united to and having a spiritual being on Christ and so it is true he is under Grace and the Covenant of Grace and not under the Law nor the Covenant of works and hence not being under the Law nor bound to keep it as a covenant of life tho' it be a rule of life no sin can condemn him there being no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus Rom. 8. 1. But as Christ is above condemnation and law and death and curse so is he And this truly understood is the foundation of a Christians joy and peace and glory every day yet so as tho' sin doth not condemn him yet he has good reason to say it is mercy and meer mercy Lord that I am not consumed that I am condemned For sin is the same nay grace and Gods love aggravates sin for to sin against the law deserves death without recovery but to sin when grace has received me and loved me when the blood of Christ has been shed abundantly to deliver me from sin Oh this makes the most secret silent sin a crying one So that if you do consider this well you may see what little cause there is to have your heart rising against the deepest humilation for the least sin tho' you be in Christ and under grace For as Daniel when he was put into the Lions den had not the cause to wonder that he was not torn in pieces by them and why because it was not from any defect on their parts to tear him in pieces but from the omnipotent power and mercy and grace of his God that muzzell'd their mouths so tho' no Lion can ●ear tho' no sins can hurt or condemn a Christian as he is considered in Christ yet has not he cause to confess and wonder and say Lord it is thy meer grace and mercy that it is not so which is the act of humilation your letter saith you can hardly come unto and why not because Gods grace puts any less evil in sin but because it is meerly grace that keeps it from spitting that venom which otherwise it would Secondly A Christian may be considered in respect of his natural being in hi●●elf and thus he is ever under the Law and as oft as he sinneth under the sentence of death and as the Apostle speaks by na●ure even we justified quickned are the children of wrath as well as others And thus after the least involuntary accidental sin you may easily see what cause you have to lie down deeply humbled mourning under the sentence of death and Gods eternal curse as a condemned man going to execution to feel that fire that shall never go out looking upon your self as you are in your self a forlorn cast-away every moment and this truly understood is the foundation of a Christians sorrow shame and confusion of face self-loathing self-forgetting self-forsaking and condemning every day and believe it Sir it is no small Piece of a Christians skill and work to put a difference between himself and himself himself as he is in Christ and so to joy and triumph and himself as he is growing on