Selected quad for the lemma: mercy_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
mercy_n	earth_n	great_a	lord_n	5,368	5	3.8783	3	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A93751	A sermon on Phil. IV., 11, 12. For I have learned in whatsoever state I am in therewith to be content I know both how to be abased, and I know how to abound; every where, and in all things, I am instructed both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need.	Stafford, Richard, 1663-1703.	1698 (1698)	Wing S5131A; ESTC R230357	23,094	32

please him and he smells a sweet savour from the Earth then he hath Mercy on them Then the Angel of the Lord answered and said O Lord of Hosts How long wilt thou not have Mercy on Jerusalem and on the Cities of Judah against which thou hast had Indignation these threescore and ten years Zech. 1. 12. The words immediately foregoing are All the Earth sitteth still and is at rest So that the certain consequence is that God may have Indignation against the Inhabitants of the Earth at the very same time when all the Earth sitteth still and is at rest or at the very same time when the Inhabitants thereof are in Prosperity and Impunity or without Punishment as yet If you should hereupon ask me Whether the Lord God hath now Indignation these threescore years and ten Or during the time of this present Generation against the Inhabitants of England or against the Inhabitants of such a particular Town or Neighbourhood Or whether he hath Indignation against such a Man or Woman at this very time pointing them out by their several Names and respective Persons The answer hereunto is very critical as we use to say and I will be very careful herein But as one instructed out of his Word I do believe and tremble thereat That the Lord God of Heaven hath at this very moment of my writing this Indignation against the Inhabitants of England and the Towns and Villages thereof and in a word against all those several Men and Women taking them by their Names or respective Persons who commit Sin Iniquity Transgression Hypocrisie or any manner of Evil whatever But some may be apt to say How doth this appear that the Lord God hath Indignation against them for have we not the appointed Weeks for the Harvest Blessed be God for that and sufficient of Wheat and Barley for Bread and Beer and Cheese and of all manner of Provision for the Life of man Yea was there not Peace in the midst of our Nation when the Nations Round about were weltring in blood and even now they also and we live in peace Is it not likewise an Healthful time enough in all the Country Round about so that there is no Plague Pestilence or but scarce a malignant Fever Blessed be God for that also How then doth it appear that the Lord hath Indignation against England and the Cities Towns and Villages thereof And then besides they go by multitudes to Church or to such and such Congregations to worship attone and please God Thou must not make it worse than it is neither No that I ought not to do in any wise But yet when there is such a Catalogue of Sins Transgressions and Iniquities committed throughout this Nation by the people thereof both High and Low Rich and Poor as is rehearsed up particularly in Isa 59. when their Lies speak Lies and their Tongue muttereth Perversness People do not much Regard or heed whether they speak Lies and Falshood in their common Talk and ordinary conversation None calleth for Justice nor any pleadeth for Truth They trust in Vanity and speak Lies they conceive Mischief and bring forth Iniquity V. 4 And then the Prophet goes on to reckon them up For our Transgressions are multiplied before thee and our sins testify against us What is the Result and Consequent of all we may Read ver 15. And the Lord saw it and it displeased him I will Repeat the same over again that it may be more observed and taken notice of And the Lord saw it and it displeased him So that certain it is let either a Nation in general or the several people in particular have never so much Peace and Plenty Health or Prosperity or all manner of outward Blessings For God sendeth Rain upon the just and the unjust and is kind to the unthankful and Evil Yet as long as they commit Sin Iniquity Transgression Hypocrisy Disobedience or any manner of Evil whatever God hath at the very same time Indignation and Displeasure against them God is angry with the wicked every day Psal 7. 11 Albeit the wicked do not believe or rather they are not sensible of his Anger against them Now to apply all this I shall begin from that Scripture And as they did eat Jesus said to the Twelve Disciples Verily I say unto you that One of you shall betray me And they were exceeding sorrowful and began every one of them to say Lord is it I So this which we are now in being a mixt Assembly of Saints and sinners Godly and Ungodly it is odds but that the Lord God of Heaven and Earth hath indignation and displeasure against some men and women herein which is so nevertheless they have health and strength tho their strength is firm They are not in trouble as other men neither are they plagued like other men Psal 73. 4 5. And so he hath had most or all the foregoing days of their Life Whoso hears or Reads this had need to be exceeding sorrowful and begin every one of you to be upon the search and Examination Is it I against whom the Lord hath had Indignation these threescore years and ten or so many years as I am old and have lived For the sinner being an hundred years old shall be Accursed And who can abide or stand before his Indignation No man living no more than stubble doth before the devouring fire The Counsel Advice and Direction which the Scripture gives herein is to Agree with thine Adversary quickly and to forsake those sins which cause the Indignation of the Lord against any one As on the one hand it is very terrible and bad to have the Indignation Displeasure and Wrath of God so on the other it is as good to have the Favour Mercy and Loving Kindness of God To be as Daniel was Thou art greatly beloved Dan. 9. 23. Or a man of Desires I had rather though I am clothed with Rags or in a Prison have this character from the Holy Ghost than to be the greatest Prince on Earth sitting on his Throne And this may be Known the very same way as the other is for as when people are given up to their own Hearts Lusts and to follow their own counsel when they sin still and proceed from Evil to Evil from bad to worse although they have never so much Health Plenty and Prosperity God hath nevertheless at the very same time Indignation and Displeasure against them So on the other hand as we walk before him in Righteousness and Holiness in all Obedience and Duty although the Saint or Servant may be in a poor adverse and afflicted condition as to outward things yet God hath a Favour Love and Mercy towards him at the very same time This is a Mystery to the people of the World but yet it is a certain Truth It comes to pass through Ignorance stupidity and strong delusions which are annexed to the not receiving the Love of the Truth That most people when they are under the Indignation of the Lord they do not know as much or they are not sensible of it although they have little Glimpses thereof by Remorses of conscience and those Fears and Doubts which sometimes arise in their mind So it is on the other side the Saints and Servants of the Lord are always a Knowing People And hereby they Know and Perceive the Love and Favour of God towards them by the Answer of a good conscience from within them when that speaks Peace Peace or Perfect Peace such as is true and sound in opposition and contradistinction to that False and Rotten Peace of ignorant persons and Hypocrites Let us now hear the conclusion of the whole matter As we began s● we End It was said in the Entrance of this our Discourse on Phil. 4. 12. That I did therefore chuse it as an help to avoid Evil Especially those grievous Sins of Distrust Murmuring or such like which hath been accordingly shewed throughout the whole that we may know both how to be abased and how to abound every where and in all things we may be instructed both to be full and to be hungry both to abound and to suffer need and in all this to sin not nor yet to charge God f●olishly nor to suffer our hearts to fret against him And on the other hand in this Twofold Condition or in that Even Middle state between them both to dwell in the Land and do Good serve God and perform all our Duty towards him our Neighbour or our selves For he that would learn in whatsoever state he is in therewith to be content or attain unto contentment which as one saith is but another Phrase for Happiness must do this For he that will love Life aad see Good Days is not all our Desire and Endeavour after this especially the Life for evermore and the good Days of Eternity let him refrain his Tongue from Evil and his Lips that they speak no Guile Let him eschew Evil. and do Good Here are the Two Ends of the Compass according to which we are to steer the whole course of our Life Let him seek Peace and ensue it for the Eyes of the Lord are over the Righteous and his Ears are open unto their Prayers but the Face of the Lord is against them that do Evil 1 Pet. 3. 10 11. Written by Richard Stafford London Printed and are to be sold by Ralph Simpson at the Harp in St. Paul's Church yard 1698.

towards obtaining the rest to come doth also instruct that others may learn in whatsoever state they are in the mean while therewith to be content to know how to be full and how to be hungry And tho it be here surmised nevertheless That those people also are content who do very seldom or ever hear the word preached much less are they frequenters of it What advantage then of my preaching and what profit of your hearing the word Much every way chiefly because it is an Ordinance and appointment of God for those who have the gifts of preaching to preach and profit therewithal But the manifestation of the spirit is given to every man to profit withal 1 Cor. 12. 7. For what if some do despise and refuse to attend upon this Ordinance shall their despising or Refusal make this Ordinance of God of none effect or that the word which goeth out of his mouth shall return vo●… In no wise God forbid for so it is some will be ●aved by the Ministry of the Word others will be condemned by it Some will be more edified and benefited others thro their refusal and turning away their Feet from the place where it is preached with a lively Voice will be more hardened and rendred yet worse and more inflexible to the Exhortation thereof But it will be so much the better for every man or woman the more he or she shall glorify God and the more good they shall do in their Generation as also the more they shall abstain from all appearance of Evil. Now the Word and the preaching thereof doth help and assist us in these two points to eschew Evil and do Good Unless these two Ends of Life eschewing Evil and doing Good are answered and observed ir would be better not to have been born or not to have lived at all Most people when they hear or read such a Scripture as this following do not attend thtoughly to the full meaning and signification thereof For all this they sinned still and believed not his wondrous works Therefore their days did he consume in Vanity and their Years in trouble Psal 78. 32 33. The Life of sinners and ungodly is spent in one of these two either Vanity or Trouble Ay but many think that the former of these is no Curse or Punishment For as it is written O ye sons of men how long will ye love Vanity Psal 4. 2. And it is seen and experienced that they take mirth and delight therein But to those who have Faith and Knowledge nothing sounds so bad as to have their Days consumed in Vanity and their Years in trouble Because that every thing in this life tends to future Account one way or another And to this thing of consuming their Days in Vanity succeeds loss for all Eternity Even a loss of that Reward and Blessedness God hath promised and reserved for his Creatures if such had been found worthy and had been meet to have been partakers thereof Cast the unprofitable Servant into utter darkness there shall be Weeping and Gnashing of Teeth Now Vanity and Unprofitabless is near the same thing And to them who thus consumed their Years in trouble will succeed endless Pains Now to be miserable here and miserable hereafter also is a sad thing For indeed if they had consumed their Years in trouble in the way of Duty in the Service of God or in a Good thing then indeed it might have been Reasonably expected as to such the promise that they should have Rested from their Labours and they were of the Number of those who through Manifold Tribulations should enter into the Kingdom of God And the return should have been made upon them when they arrived there These are they that have came through Great Tribulation But whereas contrarywise as it is in the Words of our Psalmist They sinned still then the only consequent which they will meet withal is Condemnation and Misery hereafter As for those who sin still or add sin to sin against whom a Woe is pronounced They do Treasure up to themselves wrath against the Day of wrath It is alike yea and the very same Folly and Madness as for a Man himself to carry and heap on more fuel on that fire which shall burn and torment him but yet never consume him Many Sorrows shall be to the Wicked Psalm 32. 10 for whether his days are consumed in Vanity judge by the way whether or no the consuming ones time in Cards Dice Ale-houses Skettle-pins Shufflboard idle Talk Play Gaming or such like is not consuming ones days in Vanity according to the intent of the Holy Ghost here he shall suffer so much the more loss throughout all Eternity which some think to be the greatest pain of Hell Or whether their years are consumed in Trouble as they all are in one or the other to this succeeds Pain and Punishment of Sense even more Misery and Torment still which shall as much exceed his Trouble here as to be thrown into a hot fiery Furnace is beyond a Flea-biting Consider of this ye that forget God or who pretend to serve him a little in Form or Custom or outward Manner but ye do not think much of him afterwards Whose days are consuming in Vanity and whose Hearts are in trouble or in doubt and fear about what your future State and Condition will be Bethink your selves throughly and how can ye be content to go on in such a kind of Life as that is Know ye not or do ye not believe it However ye will find it so that ye must give Account and such an Account I tell ye before hand of your days being consumed in Vanity ye will be forced to give up with Grief and not with Joy which will be unprofitable for ye For here to allude again unto Heb. 13. 17. The right consequence is and the word of Instruction to every one of ye is seeing that we must all give Account for noth●…g is so sure and certain as that is we should so live in the mean while that we may give up this same Account with Joy and not with Grief for that will be profitable for us As was before said none will be nor can be contented hereafter to lose Heaven and fall into Hell So now in this short mean while between though the generality of the World is setled upon their Lee● yet none ought nor yet should be contented with a vain sinful or ungodly Life now for this will bring them unto the other sad thing The sensual blinded World judge very much by Events and because it may be they have Health and Plenty and things at will and things continue as they were since the days of the Creation they are apt to think that God is not angry or displeased with them So it is in the Sense and Mind of the Spirit when a Nation or People commit a great deal of Sin then God is angry with them as again when they