Selected quad for the lemma: mercy_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
mercy_n	deliver_v	lord_n	sin_n	6,083	5	4.9813	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A46713	A sermon preach'd in the Cathedral Church of Norwich, March 8th, 1695/6 being the second Sunday in Lent / by John Jeffery ...	Jeffery, John, 1647-1720.	1696 (1696)	Wing J521; ESTC R1811	12,473	30

A SERMON Preach'd in the Cathedral Church of Norwich MARCH 8th 1695 6. BEING The Second Sunday in Lent By JOHN JEFFERY Arch-Deacon of Norwich and Minister of St. Peter of Mancroft 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Thuc. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Origen contra Cels L. 8. LONDON Printed for William Rogers at the Sun over-against St. Dunstan's Church in Fleetstreet 1696. To the Right Worshipfull Augustine Briggs Esquire Mayor of the City of NORWICH SIR I Cannot express a truer or greater Regard to You in compliance with whose Desires this Discourse is made Publick than agreeably to the Subject of it to Wish and Pray that You may be effectually prevailed upon thereby seriously to fore-think what Your Last Wishes shall be and to make Your Present Resolutions accordingly viz. To live the Life of the Righteous and then You shall Die the Death of the Righteous and Your last End shall be like his This I do most heartily Wish and Pray for on behalf of You and of all those for whose Souls I am more especially concerned for I am in the best and highest Sense Your Faithfull Servant John Jeffery Numb XXIII 10. Let me die the death of the Righteous and let my last end he like his IN these Words we have the very good Wish of a very bad Man and upon a very remarkable Occasion The Man was Balaam Numb 22.23 24 25. One of as ill a character almost as any that is mention'd in the Holy Scriptures The Wish is That he might die the death of the Righteous and that his last end might be like his In which Wish it is implyed That the Portion of the Wicked is not fit to be desired but that the Portion of the Righteous is such as even those men who are most contrary would desire This Wish Balaam made upon a very remarkable Occasion viz. When he consider'd the last Result and Consequence of things when he had a distinct Prospect of the final State of Men. 'T was Balaam that said this the man whose eyes are open or whose Eyes once were shut but now are open he said this who heard the words of God Numb 24.3 4. which saw the Vision of the Almighty falling into a Trance but having his eyes open God represented unto Balaam the final State of the Righteous and it appear'd so desireable to him that altho' he was one of the worst of Men and most hated the Righteous yet he brake forth into these Expressions Let me die the death of the Righteous and let my last end be like his The Truth contain'd in which words is this That there is a Portion which wicked men necessarily desire but the Righteous only can enjoy And The Desire of this Portion by wicked Men has a Threefold Respect 1st To what is to come 2ly To what is past 3ly To what is present With respect to what is to come wicked Men shall wish That they might escape the Misery due unto Sin and that they might obtain that Happiness which is the Reward of Obedience With Respect to what is past wicked men shall wish they had chosen the Duty they refused and that they had refused the Sin they chose With Respect to what is present wicked Men shall wish That they were not the Sinners they are and that they were the Righteous which they are not 1st Wicked Men shall wish with Respect to what is to come 1. That they might escape the Misery due unto Sin And 2. That they might obtain that Happiness which is the Reward of Obedience 1. Wicked Men shall wish they might escape the Misery due unto Sin and in that sence Die the Death of the Righteous and that their last End might be like his When wicked Men have before them the Appearance of their End they must needs behold such things in it as are most amazing and terrible to them And such an Appearance of the Last things there will be unto wicked Men when ever they are constrained to consider Such constraint is sometimes upon them while they are in Health and Safety as often as God by over ruling the Vanity of their Minds makes them serious I need not show by what means God does this 't is sufficient to my present purpose that this is sometimes done and that when it is done wicked Men have the most uncomfortable Prospect of things before their eyes And when their natural Death and last End draws near then the Object is more distinctly viewed and more seriously considered Then Men perceive what the Desert and what the Punishment of Sin is and then they remember they have committed such Sins But no Man can be willing to have his Portion in Misery or to suffer what he is conscious he has deserved Men naturally and necessarily hate Torment and Perdition and 't is not any Man 's direct choice Isa 33.14 that he be miserable No Man can be Indifferent to it or Unconcerned at it The Sinner's Guilt consigns them to Misery and the onely way to escape that Misery is by the Pardon of their Sins 'T is Pardon alone that can deliver them from the approaching Perdition and therefore that Pardon is the matter of their most importunate Desires Lord have Mercy on us is their Petition and the meaning of it is Lev. 16.28 that they may not come into the place of Torment This every departing Soul will most ardently Desire nor can He avoid desiring it with the utmost Vehemence that is possible Desires stronger than Death will then harrass the guilty Mind and those Desires are therefore an extream Vexation because at the same time they are Violent Unavoidable and Vain The same wicked Man who most passionately desires to escape Misery knows he cannot and the Unnatural desire of what is utterly impossible is tormenting But such Desires there are in every dying Sinner who is not so dead in Sin as to be totally without any sense of his Danger Beyond the Grave deep as the bottomless Abyss is that Region where miserable Souls abide the Wrath of God (a) Miserrimus omnes Admonet magnâ testatur voce per umbras Dicite Justitiam moniti non temnere Divos Virg. Aen. l. 6. Inclusi poenam expectant and into that the drooping Thoughts of a dying Sinner do descend and by his dire Imagination Ranges in that vast Ocean of Darkness Despair and Horror (b) Quae scelerum facies The departing Spirit must needs Reluctate and Shrink back with the utmost Uneasiness of Nature when it feels it self dropping into that remediless Condition The Spirit struggles in Wishes contrary to its Doom and suffers the Violence of invincible Necessity and is dragged thereby against all the reluctating Endeavours that are possible 2. Wicked Men shall wish they might Obtain that Happiness which is the Reward of Obedience The Attainment of that Happiness and Ascent unto the glorious Regions of the Blessed is that which those Minds that are depressed with