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
A42394	The history of Christ's sufferings composed out of the prophets, evangelists, apostles, fathers, and other holy writers. With aspirations, or prayers, suitable to each section. In order to an entire resignation of the soul to the will of God, according to the example of Christ by Dudley Garenciers, rector of Waverton, near Chester.	Garencieres, Dudley, d. 1702.	1697 (1697)	Wing G252A; ESTC R215811	117,779	315

Faithful expectant For whom I forget they are cut of from my Hand are cast out of the light of my countenance and reserv'd for Judgment under chains of Darkness But whom I remember to them I am merciful whom I remember to be Merciful to in my Kingdom they are Eternally Blessed in the Presence of my Father Verily therefore I say unto thee that in remembring I will remember thee and with the Righreous thou shalt be had in Everlasting Remembrance Mine Eyes shall always be upon thee and thou shalt abide under the shadow of the Almighty I will defend thee under my Wings and thou shalt be safe under my Feathers Thou shalt be with me to be with whom the Saints have desir'd to be dissolv'd and it shall be there whence neither the a Gen. 3.24 flaming Sword nor Cherubims shall drive thee from an absolute enjoyment For it shall be in the Celestial and Heavenly Paradise the place of the blessed Angels and Saints where God with his Divine Majesty fills 'em with the light of Righteousness and quickens their Spirits with Everlasting Joy Yea thou shalt be the Example and Mirrour of my Mercy wherein every Penitent may see his own condition and know that my Bounty is greater then his Sin if he will truly turn to me that I may receive him and that while there is Life still there is hope of acceptance upon a sincere and hearty repentance and a stedfast Faith And that to the end of the World whosoever shall hear thy Sins were pardon'd may never despair but trust in Mercy and turn to me and seek Salvation and find it and desire it and receive it Prayer O Sweetest Saviour when I consider this Penitent I must needs confess that even Thieves and Barbarians would have serv'd thee better then I had they receiv'd so many Favours and Graces as it has pleased thee to bestow upon me Nevertheless since by the same instance of thy Mercy thou raisest me to a lively hope of acceptance by true Repentance and a strong Faith encrease in me I Beseech thee the Seeds of both making way for my Salvation by thy assisting Grace till my Soul being purified as another Miracle of thy Goodness thou Vouchsafe to receive me to those Blessed Enjoyments which thou hast purchased with thy precious Blood SECT XLII Of the Sorrowful Interview between Christ and the Virgin Mother his Compassion towards her and his Love to Saint John NOW while Jesus was receiving the Penitent Thief there b John 19.25 stood by his Cross the Holy Virgin Mother Sad and Silent with a modest Grief deep as the Waters of the Abyss but smooth and full of Love and Patience and by her side his Mothers Sister Mary the Wife of Cleophas and Mary Magdalen and the Disciple whom Jesus loved When Jesus therefore saw his Mother and the Disciple by whom he loved then it was we may imagine burst forth those c Heb. 5.7 Tears which Saint Paul mentions to have been shed upon the Cross accompanying that Tender and Heart-breaking sight when he began first to behold her with his dying Eyes He would not acknowledge her of whose Sorrows he was most sensible least he might seem to have respected Persons or Affections But having before Prayed for his Malicious Crucifiers and then Comforted the Penitent Thief as a token that all these bitter Sufferings were to intercede for and save Sinners He now turns to his Mother in that manner the apprehension whereof must needs affect the most insensible Heart The presence of Friends is indeed a refreshment to the miserable while there is any comfort to be expected from them and two are better than one because they have advantage from their Society for if they fall one will lift up his fellow But here there was no such conveniency in the meeting which was most deplorable to the Mother standing by who could lend no assistance to her tortur'd Son and to the Crucified Son who by his incessant pains could only augment the grief of his Mother We read when he was a Child and missing but three days She sought him sorrowing among her kinsfolks and acquaintance d Luke 2.48 her Love Admiration and Meditation perpetually attending this mavellous Birth But now she may no longer find him among his Friends for they had all forsaken him and fled and left him environed with whole Troops of Enemies except those few which accompanied her there incited to it by her magnanimous constancy to be present at the Crucifixion of her dear Son For she had said in her heart where she ever e Luke 2.19 treasur'd whatsoever was Prophesied concerning his Person I will wait and expect the Death of my Beloved I will follow him out of Jerusalem tho' with the saddest thoughts and I will behold with weeping Eyes whither they bring him how they strip him how they bore his Hands and Feet how they nail him to the wood and how they lift him upon the Cross and when all this is done and they shall recede from him and stand afar off and look upon him as accursed then will I draw near and stand by the Cross of my Jesus then will I embrace the wood with my Arms and wash it with my Tears and kiss it with my Lips and thô I may not die with him yet will I fix my Eyes upon him to engrave his wounds deep in my Heart I will not now desert him dying who past by all other creatures and Children of Men to come to me the lowest of his Servants and receive from me an humble being But I will see how he goes out of this World who alone know how he came into it and in the miserablest kind of Fellowship will suffer invisibly in my Heart whatsoever he suffers visibly in his Body And thus was fulfill'd that f Luke 2.35 Prophecy of old Simeon which he spake at her Purification That a Sword also should pierce her very Soul Here then we may imagine the saddest conflict between the Soul of the Blessed Virgin and the Eyes of the Beloved Jesus which at the same time they were hastning unto Death were call'd back to look upon his Mother burning in an unutterable Flame of Love O how deep must the rays of that Vision penetrate not only her Heart but her very Soul wherewith the Lord vouchsaft to behold her dying And how opprest with Sighs and overwhelmed with Grief and drowned in Tears did she lift up her Eyes to behold his disfigur'd torn Body with the Blood distilling from the four great Wounds to behold him dying and looking upon her when she was ready to die her self There could nothing be represented to him in this view but the Martyrdom of the Soul of his dear Mother Nor could she do any thing but by most passionate reflections imprint in her heart all the Torments which he suffer'd At last after this most passionate and doleful interview wherein the rays of their

Saving Health to all Nations and that they submitting to the Kingdom of thine Ancinted and living in Obedience to his Holy Gospel may be saved with the Remnant of the true Israelites and all that confess him to intercede for us at the Right Hand of thy Majesty in Heaven SECT XXXIX Of the Partition of Christ 's Garments and the Irrision of the People IN the mean time the Souldiers who had nail'd him to the Cross and done the cruel part which belong'd to their Office took his d John 19.23 24. garments and made four parts to every Souldier a part and also his coat Now the Coat was without seam woven from the top throughout They said therefore among themselves let us not rent it but cast lots for it whose it shall be that the Scripture might be fulfill'd which saith e Psal 22.18 They parted my raiment among them and for my vesture they did cast lots These things therefore the Souldiers did And what could they do more They handled him most Barbarously to please the cruelty of his Bloody Persecutors They had nailed him to the Cross to make sure of Death which the Chief Priests had so much desired That they had seized the poor spoil of his dying body more out of lust then any great Advantage to show and boast of it afterwards to their Companions And now they seem to be at a loss how to torment him further When behold least any kind of Ignominy should be wanting to the lamentable acerbity of his Death the insulting multitude in a malicious derision call upon him to save himself f Mark 15.29.30 31 32. And they that passed by railed on him wagging their heads and saying Ah thou that destroyest the Temple and buildest it in three days save thy self and come down from the Cross Likewise also the Chief Priests mocking said among themselves with the Scribes He saved others himself he cannot save Let Christ the King of Israel descend now from the Cross that we may see and believe g Matt. 27.43 He trusted in God let him deliver him now if he will have him for he said I am the Son of God It is a Divine thing to Sympathize and Humanity requires pity towards a real offender because we are all subject to the same infirmities but much more towards the Sufferings of an innocent Man and cruel mockings to an Afflicted person are as so many darts adding torture to the Soul into whose wounds we should rather pour the Balsom of the most tender and compassionate Speeches For who knows how soon if left of God he may stand in need of the same commiseration But his inhumane Murderers were not satisfied to have loaded him with reproaches during his Tryal and after sentence unless they prosecute him to the very grave and when his light is set ecclipse his Fame The pains of his body they thought too little unless they might vex his departing Soul herein exercising a malice purely Diabolical to pervert him from God in his last conflict They are no longer able to reach his Body with their Hands and now they would blast his Soul with their infectious Breath heaping together in one whatsoever before they had accus'd him of or now would have the ignorant People believe to root out the credit of his Miracles and Doctrine and to imprint in the Multitude a disbelief of his Truth As if they had said ye see now and nothing can be more plain what a notorious Seducer and Impostor he was who pretended to save others and cannot save himself and how little reason we have to believe his commission from God who is thus deserted and disowned by him For he is the God of Glory and not of Infamy the God of Life and not of Death And can he be any other then accursed of his Maker who dies this accursed Death for cursed is every one that hangeth on a Tree Or will God redeem his People by such an accursed wretch In this therefore were fulfilled those several Prophecies h Psal 35.15 16. In mine adversity they rejoyced and gathered themselves together yea the very abjects came together against me unwares making mows at me and ceased not With the ffatterers were busic mockers who gnashed upon me with their Teeth And again i Psalm 3.2 Many one there be that say of my soul there is no help for him in his God But God forbid that to prove himself the Messiah Christ should have descended from the Cross He might easily have done it and the Devil would have been glad of it for then the great work of Our Redemption had been hindred whereas now the grand accuser of our Elder Brother and all his evil Ministers have laboured in vain to suppress the Glory of out Lord. For the more they have endeavoured to diminish it the more it is encreased and and spread abroad in the World They derided him before Cajaphas Pilate and H●rod They bound him as a Thief and represented him as a Traitor They spit upon him as a Toad and thirsted for his Death and to effect it prefer'd a Murderer They Buffeted Mockt and Crown'd him with Thorns They loaded him with his Cross Crucified him between two Thieves in the most Ignominious and Publick place They envyed him the very Title under which he Suffer'd and now all together Chief Priests Rulers Scribes Elders and People and all that had any occasion to pass by or curiosity to come thither except some few faithful exclaim'd upon him and slander'd him to obscure him in perpetual Oblivion But God has confounded all their Malice and the more they have contemn'd him has Glorified him the more and k Acts 5.31 exalted him with his right hand to be a Prince and a Saviour for to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of Sins and given him a l Phil. 2.9 name above every name to be ador'd by every creature Prayer O God the Father Merciful and Gracious whose pleasure it is we should confess thy Holy Child Jesus to be the Prince and Saviour of the World I Beseech thee root out of my wavering heart all Scruple Irreligion and Prophaness and from my Tongue Dispute and Blasphemy That whatsoever he has taught to be believ'd I may embrace whatsoever he has commanded to be done I may practise and in the ways of the Cross which he has sanctified I may follow him Lighten mine Eyes with the beams of that liberty which thou grantest to thy Children of serving thee in full assurance of Faith that I sleep not in the Death of Sin Call back my thoughts from their frequent wanderings in those barren Regions where the Truth is doubted and fix me by thine infinite Grace and Mercy that I may ever adore and love thee through my Crucified Lord. SECT XL. Of Christ 's Intercession to the Father for his Crucifiers OUR Blessed Saviour was now in the greatest Agonies to which the Actions or Slanders of his

envious Friends Deceivers Beds of Down no better than Sepulchres and Life is but a Death or at best but a long and dolorous Sickness unless God be the Loadstone of our Hearts the Center of our Affections and the Height of our Glory It is a horrible thing to see a Soul left to it self after it has forsaken the Inspirations of God It becomes a desolate Vineyard without Enclosure The wild Boar enters it and all unclean and ravenous Beasts do there sport and leap without Controll God hangs Clouds over it but lets no Dew fall upon it The Sun never looks upon it with a loving Eye but all there is Barren Venomous and near to Hell Blackness of Darkness and eternal Night Melancholy rack'd by Despair Guilt scourg'd by Shame Rage tortur'd with Envy and Vexation stabb'd by Regret and a tempestuous Repentance And if this be the Unhappiness of the present time O! how great will be the Solitude of such a Soul in her Separation When in an Instant she shall see nothing but all the Evils she has done and all the Wickednesses of her Life spread before her Eyes as so many Firey Serpents for which she must answer before the dreadful Tribunal which even now appears before her Eyes Prayer O! just God will there need any Chains to sink it lower than its own Weight has done Will there need any other Darkness to cover the Soul which such a Cloud of Sorrows has already benighted and cast into the bottom of the Abyss of Miseries One Deep calls upon another the Depth of Misery upon the Depth of thy Compassion In the midst of thy Wrath remember Mercy Afford us here such Grace as may prevent Despair for our Sins cannot be greater than thy Mercy and in the Day of Judgment grant us such Mercy as may pardon our greatest Sins SECT XXI Of the Deplorable end of Judas POor Judas under these apprehensions of Shame Guilt Fear Despair Grief Rage Anguish and Torment the reproof of Devils and Wicked Men departed and went and e Matt. 27.5 hanged himself Which judgment was made more notorious by an unusual accident as the Greek Scholiast and some f Euthym. in 26. Matt. Oecumen in c. 1. Acts. Juvencus Hist Evang. Beda de Locis Sanct. cap. 4. others report out of Papias St. John's Scholar that he fell from the Fig-tree on which he hanged before he was quite dead and surviv'd his attempt some while being so sad a spectacle of Deformity Pain and a prodigious tumour that his plague was deplorable and highly miserable till at last he burst in the very substance of his Trunk as being extended beyond the possibilities and capacities of Nature Which reconciles the relation of St. Matthew to St. Luke's of whom the former says he g 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Mat. 27 5. hanged or strangled himself the latter he h 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Act. 1.18 fell headlong and burst asunder in the midst and all his bowels gushed out Such is the real unfruitfulness of Sin and perplexed estate of unjust gain We are afterwards more indigent then we were before and know not what to do with the cursed thing when we have it Such is the purchase of Treason and reward of Covetousness momentary in its Possession unsatisfying in the fruition uncertain in the stay sudden in its departure horrid in the remembrance a certain and astonishing ruin in the end And such is the confusion of all those who are terrified with the remembrance of their Sin but cannot apprehend the greatness of Gods Mercy or build their repentance upon the Divine Compassion Whose sin is reveal'd to 'em but but not the Gospel who are sorry for their loss or what they suffer but cannot Confess Believe and heartily sue for Pardon Prayer O thou most Gracious yet dreadful Majesty Gracious in the dispensations of those means which lead us to believe in thy dear Son as in thy manifold offers to Judas Dreadful in the emanations of thy Justice sealing up his incorrigible and impenitent Heart Suffer me not I beseech thee ever to despair either of thy Mercy for what is past or of thy Grace for the future I am cast down when I consider the misery of the Betrayer but I lift up my Soul to the Mercy of the Betrayed I tremble when I consider the fruits of Sin but am encouraged by those of the Sufferings of my Jesus For whose infinite Merits I implore thine infinite Compassion to deliver me now from a reprobate Mind and in the day of Judgment from Eternal Condemnation SECT XXII Of the Wonderful Providence of God in the manner of Christ's Death NOthing comes by chance in respect of God but all things are disposed by his wise Providence to bring his determinate Council to pass After Judas by his desolation had i Acts 1 20. Psal 109.7 fulfilled the Scripture it was further necessary that Christ whom he had deliver'd should suffer in a manner prefigur'd therein thô not prescrib'd by the Law of Moses For as a k Exod. ●● 46 bone of the Typical Lamb was not to be broken so neither was any to be broken in the true Lamb the Great passover of the Christians Whereby it was intimated the Saviour of the World should suffer that Death to which the breaking of Bones was usual which according to custom was that of Crucifixion to put an end to the Miserable life of the Sufferer but only in that Death should by the Providence of God be so particularly preserv'd as that not one Bone of his should be touch'd The Psalmist likewise predicting of him they l Psal 22.17 pierc'd my hands and my feet plainly represented he should die the Death of the Cross to which the Hands and Feet of the Person Crucified were affixed In order to this Death which was after the Roman manner great had been the Revolutions and Changes in the World between the Type and Prophesie and the time of the event And Judea that was once m L●m. 1.1 great among the Nations and Princess among the Provinces had now been made tributary by Pompey the Great about threescore years before Christ and a part of a Province of Syria under the care of the President of that Province appointed by Tiberias the Emperor According to which Institution a particular Procurator was assigned to it for the disposing of the Publick revenue and because the President who had the power of the Sword was forc'd to attend the other parts of his Province therefore n Tacit. Annal. l. 15. Tertull. Apologet. cap. 21 Cyprian adv Demet. Josephus de bel jud Philo de legat ad Cajum Justin Mart. Apolog. Eusebius Hist l. 1. c. 10. Pilate the Resident Procutator of Judea was furnish'd with power of Life and Death and administred the Supreme Power as to the Jews This gave opportunity that Christ might be deliver'd to a foreign Jurisdiction and suffer Death after the custom of that