Selected quad for the lemma: mercy_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
mercy_n	faith_n	grace_n	repentance_n	2,335	5	7.5639	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A10578	A necessary instruction of christian faith and hope for Christians to holde fast, and to be bolde vp on the promise of God, & not to doubt of their saluation in Christ. Translated out of D. Vrbanus Regius, into English and newly recognized by Iohn F.; Instruccyon of christen fayth	Rhegius, Urbanus, 1489-1541.; Foxe, John, 1516-1587.	1579 (1579)	STC 20848; ESTC S106076	25,574	62

perills of death and damnation And though we fall neuer so hainous●ye yet shall wee not perish therefore for our christian faythe doth so fasten vs vnto our Dauid Christ that we be made o●e spirite with hym In Christ we haue the veritie of Goddes promise and his mercye euermore to continue our heauenly father will not punishe his weake children in his wrath for euer but will chastice them with fauour in this temporall lyfe call vs again to repentance Thus the grace of God shall euer abide firme and stable whiche we bee sure shall not fayle vs so that wee beleue this Dauid Christe to be our king and cast all our trust on him And here is to be noted and considered where he sayth My truth and mercy alwayes goe with him if it bee his truthe then it cannot lye nor deceiue vs if it be his mercy and grace then it standeth not by our workes nor the lawe wherefore al these things shal happē to vs in Christ and for Christes sake which by his workes passion hath purchased boughte all thinges for vs. Bowe downe your eare and come to me heare me and your soule shall liue I shall strike a bargaine with you perpetuall the sure mercies which I promised to Dauid This shall be the bargaine that I shall strike with the house of Israell After those dayes I shall giue my law within their bowels and will write it in their hearts and I wil be their god and they shall bee my people for I will pardon all their iniquities and will no more remember their offences c. So doth the Apostle in his epistle to the Hebrues alledge the same place wher he approueth that this bargaine of grace or this newe Testament betwixt God and vs is nowe confirmed and sealed vp by the death of christ And that god is now no more a streight iudge but a most tēder father to all the faithfull of Christ that he will pardon all their offences Likewise to the Gala. S. Paul calleth this eternall bargayne of grace a testament that shall stand for euer where as he writeth No mā breketh or addeth vnto y wil or testamente of a man being once confirmed and ratified Then if mens testaments ones made and confirmed abide firme and sure how much more the testament of God once confirmed and ratified shall abide firme These testimonies doe proue euidently and stronglye that Gods grace promised in Christ is firme sure so that nowe no beleuer oughte ne can doubt of the fauour of God and remission of his sinnes But vndoubtedly and constantly oughte to sticke to the promise of God which cannot neither shal be found false What heart nowe is so hard or stonye that will not relent nor bee stirred vp by thys firme and sweete promise of god to take a bold faith a confident trust vpō the grace fauor of almighty God being so promised to vs Will not these wordes make vs certified yea also secure as it were a bond a bargaine a testamēt promise othe mercy And al these doth no mā which may deceiu vs but god eternal our father in heauen promise which is truth it selfe Yt is an horrible blindnes in vs y whē god himselfe doth call vs to his grace doth promise freely to vs for his mercy sake cleare remissiō of our sins for y same purpose hath sent to vs his onely begotten sonne into the world to be a sure token or pledge of his heauenly fauor and grace and yet we leane hold more to our own stinking workes then to the true and euerlasting truthe of god Ah for pitie how many precious soules most pituously haue we brought to ruine doubtful desolation through these works doing The lawe onely hath bene vttered vnto them and nothing els beatē into their heades but thys what God requireth of vs howe greate sinners wee were what vengeance of God did fall vpon sinne what tormen●s what fire and brimstone we shoulde suffer in hell But none taught the people faithfully the promises of God the go●pell of Christ in the which sorowful and vexed consciences of sinners might be refreshed and learn the infinite and vnlearchable grace whiche God of his vnknowen mercye hath promised that is to say hath giuen vs freely in Christ with the which promises seelye consciences might be reliued and confirmed strongly against all the gates of hel We blynd and wretched creatures wold rewarde God with ou●s and deserue of him all thinges that we haue we woulde not be in his debt or danger we disdayned to haue his liberty come freely vnto vs and nothing woulde take of him by grace An● that was the cause why Christ was not rightly preached but onlye Moses So it alwayes commeth to passe when the commandementes onely be set forth after the manner of y Iewes and the promises of God nothing spoken of ther can be none other but that mens consciences muste needes bee vexed and disquieted with miserable sorow and perplexitie so that they can receiue almoste no consolation But whosoeuer wil bring men to God in deede and will quiet their consciences muste alwayes teach these two together the lawe and the promyse as the prophets Christ and the Apostls euer did By the lawe they broughte men to the knowledge of their sinfulnes their vnworthines their infirmitie and vnability to goodnes their duety what they oughte to doe and their damnation which therof folowed And so brought them to humiliate themselues before God whereby they being iustly stroken with the feeling of Gods right iudgement might ernestly forethinke them of their sinnes call for mercye They taughte not the lawe so as though it were ynough to know what were to be done or not to be done or as thoughe of our strengthe wee coulde doe good and eschewe yll and so by the lawe and by our owne workes be founde iuste before God and put away sinne They taughte not the lawe I say for no suche end and purpose neyther was the lawe geuen therfore that we should be iustified thereby before God but it was giuen for this to require of vs all righteousnes and to threaten vs that by the requiring of this righteousnes we being nothing able to performe it we mighte the better learne thereby our vnright●ousnes and naughtines so finally to acknowledge and confesse our owne wretchednesse to thintent y being thus contrite humiliated in heart we might seeke to Christe for succoure the which by his works and passion doth onely iustifie vs. We bee nothing able to deserue anye saluation by the law or our works That is an higher and a more excellent thinge then that our rotten workes bee able to procure God hath promised to giue vs that freelye by his mercye for Christes sake and dooth giue it of grace to them that beleeue in Christe as S. Paul to the Romaines

death be neuer so horrible yet ●●e must still sticke to the promise of God surely must trust and doubt nothing that our sinnes be forguiē vs for Christes sake according to the promise of God withoute any dese●uings of ours and that God is our father and we shall hue with him for euer and euer The works and passion of Christ which be of great and infinite and omnipotent power oughte more to stirre vs vppe to trust well on God that hee will bee euer more to vs a merciful Lord then our sins ought to fray vs For the grace of God in Christ is much stronger more able to deliuer and helpe then our sinnes bee to condemne vs And this grace of GOD dooth not hang of our workes for than it shoulde be vncertaine but it standeth firme by grace and by fayth in Christe with out any regard or respect of our working And this is done by the singular pro●idence of the great fatherly loue of God towarde vs because our iustification should stande firme and certaine by faith so that no man nede doubt of the fauor and mercye of God towarde him If this grace and promise stand in y hand of God then is it sure so that wee cannot doubt of the remissiō of our sins But if ●hey should stand in our own hand and sho●ld hang of our selues then wee should a●wayes be vncertain because we were ne●er able to descrue sufficiently being not sifficient of strength to fulfil the law But after that we return● repose our selues in Christ alone and in the promise of God through Christ then be we safe and sure ynough because God hath so promised of his voluntary grace frely and hath founded his promise vppon the fayth in Christ to the intent it shal stand firme and certaine And therfore I sayd and say agai●e the kingdome of Christe to be a kingdome of securitie and peace as the Prophets doe desc●ybe it In thys kingdome we haue peace and most sure succour so that there is nowe neither sinne death nor hel can feare vs So doth Es●ias also call Christ the prince of peace whose princedome is large and great and whose peace shall neuer haue ende In Ieremy also God doth promise vnto Israell that is vnto all beleeuers in Christ a springing bud of iustice a king which shall rule wisely and shall execute indgement and iustice in earth and vnder whom Israell shall dwell boldly with confidence these things be in the spirituall kingdome of Christ in which there is true and spiritual securitie where as euery christian mans hart hath pea●e with god through faith in Christ in the which kingdome neither sin can damneos neither death can kil vs nor hel can swalow vs for god is with vs and feedeth vs and defēdeth vs as his sheepe Therefore who shall stande against vs And Esai When the holy ghost saith he shal be powred from aboue that was when Christe began his kingdome then the worke and fruite of iustice shall bee peace the keeping of Iustice shall be silence security for euer euer And the people of god shall dwell in com●ines of peace in houses of trust All these things do nothing els but signifie y Christes people in his kingdōe shall be all good quiet at rest and merry which shall haue a quiet a glad con●cience being euermore sure certain that God is fauourable vnto them for Christ which doth deliuer vs from all euills without any doubt I besech you what can our aduersaries bring against this or how can they maintain their errors in the face of the world Here I haue proued taught out of the foundatiō of the word of God y no faithfull beleuer in Christe can or oughte to doubt of the fauour of God of remissiō of his sins that his consciēce may thorowly be certified y god is fauorable vnto him which will pardon all his fautes for Christes sake in whom we beleeue which will iustifie vs and giue vs euerlasting life without any doubt Here our aduersaries can haue nothing to lay against this doctrine or to subuert this foūdation but one refuge they haue that when wee bring scriptures agaynst them what say they the Lutherians bryng Scriptures for them but they muste expounde Scriptures as our fathers dyd I aunswere againe We doe not denye so to doc for we may doe it well ynough And I may saye with Saint Cirillus we keepe the faith of our fathers and of the church so farre as we ought and vse their interpretations so much as they require But the chiefest of the auncient fathers of the church do agre in the same matter no otherwise then we expound it therefore why doe these holye workers bring for them the church S. Augustine one of the moste catholike godlye doctor of thē al in his boke which hee writeth of Predestination in the xi chapter saith in thys wise Truely wher as the apostle in his epistle to the Ro. writeth these words Therfor is our inhetaunce giuen vs by fayth through grace because the promise mighte stande firme and stedfast I maruel saith he that mē had rather looke on their o●ne infirm●●y then vnto the firmity and stedfastnesse of Gods promise But here thou wilt saye I can not tell nor doe not knowe the will of God of me Well then dost thou knowe thine owne will of thy selfe if thou doest beware for he y thinketh he standeth let him take hede y he fal not Therfore in so much as thou knowest nether his wil nor thine owne wil then why should not a mā rather put his trust and hope in y which is more certaine than in that which is lesse certaine But say they againe where it is spoken if thou beleeuest thou shalt be saued there one of these is required of vs the other is offered and that which is required of vs is in our owne power the other in god And why I pray you is not both in Gods power both that which is required and that which is offered for do not we as well desire God to forgiue vs that which he requireth as wel as that he offereth doe not the beleeuers also desire him to encrease their fayth Do they not desire also for the vnbeleuers that they may haue faith so that God onely muste be the beginner and increaser of faith In like manner is thys to be taken If thou beleue●st thou shalt be saued And this if you mortifie y works of the fleshe by the spirit ye shall liue for in like case here one is required the other is offered If thou mortifie sayth he y works of fleshe by the spirit ye shal liue Then to mortifie the works of the flesh by spirit that is required the other is offered vs that wee should liue What then therfore shall we not say that this is the gift of god to mortifye the