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
A42893	Miscellanea, or, Serious, useful considerations, moral, historical, theological together with The characters of a true believer, in paradoxes and seeming contradictions, an essay : also, a little box of safe, purgative, and restorative pils, to be constantly taken by Tho. Goddard, Gent.	Goddard, Thomas.	1661 (1661)	Wing G916; ESTC R7852	164,553	225

against her or any part of her be cast over-boord by her vigilant and valiant Pilots pious orthodoxe and zealous Magistrates * O qu●m beati erunt in illo die judcii Magistratus illi qui subditos non modo honestis legibus judiciis disciplin● rexerunt sed etiam omnium maxime in hoc studium incubucrunt ut incorrupta Religio apud suos exculta sit doctrina coelestis per fidos eruditos et constantes Ministros sit tradita ingens hominum multitudo per spiritum et verbum renata in conspectum Christi prodeat quae tali Magistratui aeternas gra ias agat E contra quam infelices qui c. Religionem per var●as corruptelas passi sunt adulterare sayes one And an Heathen could say In nau●ragio Rector laudandus quem obruit more clavum tenentem Senec. ad Petil. c. 6. and Ministers that Pirates strangers and enemies the profest cruel subtle and secret adversaries opposers and underminers of thy Glory Gospel ordinances and Ministers may neither be inriched by her woful wrack nor pleased with the birth and sight of those grievous miseries and overwhelming calamities which too often proceed from her contentious and disagreeing Children but let the desires and designs O Lord of Sions enemies be blasted and frustrated And let blessed God all those spiritual Merchants those heavenly Mariners thy Saints thy faithful Souldiers and Servants that are resolved or shal resolve to venture all their treasures their souls lives and worldly interests in that Arke thy Church and to imbarque themselves in her for a voyage to the Holy Land to that new and glorious Jerusalem which is above Let them dear God I once more humbly beseech thee be crowned with a calm with quietnesse serenity and safety in their passage over the brackish boysterous dangerous Ocean of life and when they shall put into and cast Anchor in the port of Death then let them find that they are safely arrived at the Isles of Paradise the Kingdome of Heaven Glory and Felicity Amen Qui pugnat sine mandato poenam accipit non mercedem Qui praedicat sine vocatione peccat non prodest XXII Of a good and a bad Conscience A Good Conscence 't is the suburbs of Heaven 'T is the Sanctuary of the Soul when it 's pursued by sin Satan fear or temptation 'T is Heaven in hell riches in poverty honour in disgrace health in sicknesse in bonds liberty and light in darknesse 'T is Balm that healeth all wound● A medicine infinitely more precious then all the Benedicta Medicamenta of Physitians for it cures all spirituall maladies and antidotes the mind against all temporall miseries T is the best Mithridate to expell all troubles from the heart T is Gods temple Christs Bed-chamber and the Spirits Mansion for the highest Heavens and the humblest purest holiest heart are the two places of Gods most glorious * Esay 57. 15. Residence 'T is the souls soft Bed whereon it resteth quietly and sweetly with a pillow of Gospel promises and the left hand of Christ under its head his right hand also imbracing it when it 's either troubled dejected or distressed T is an admirable Soveraign Balsome against the stinging perplexing fears and all the dreadfull dismaying apprehensions of sin Gods wrath Satan Death judgment and Hell 'T is an Ark that keepeth the Soul safe and preserves it from sinking under the heaviest burden of sin or sorrow in the greatest deluge of inward or outward troubles 'T is a ship with Christ in it Heaven in a little volume 'T is divine love and speciall mercy printed usually upon the soul by the Spirit of God in the presse either of Gods ordinances or afflictions in great and golden characters with notes of choicest favour tenderest mercies and free grace upon it T is a Kingdome of fortified rich safe and happy 't is the daughter of faith and repentance and the Mother of all reall ineffable endlesse Joy comforts pleasures 'T is a serene skie with the Sun and Moon of Faith and repentance fixed and shining in the ●irmament of the Soul together with the brightest sparkling stars of all other saving graces which beautifie bespangle it and make a glorious constellation therein 'T is a feast in a famine an haven in a storm life in death 'T is an invincible fort in a Leaguer when the outworks City and Castle of health riches liberty are taken 'T is a Paradise with a tree of Life in it 'T is the Vialactea in a Laetitia bonae conscientiae paradisus est ●nimarum gaudium angelorum hortus deliciarum ager benedictionis templam Sclomonis aula Dei hab●tac ulum spiritus heavenly heart The vena porta of * 2 Corinth 1. 12. gladnesse joy and a consolation to the spirit here and the beginning of that matchlesse felicity which will out-live time and run parallel with the longest line of eternity 'T is a Dove that brings an Olive branch of peace to a Noah a righteous person in the greatest inundation of perplexity and sorrow of heart 'T is the way to a life without fear or trouble 'T is a John lying in the bosome of Jesus 'T is a transcript a true copy of eternall felicity 'T is a consolatory epistle written with the bloud of Jesus Christ by the finger of the Holy Ghost sent by love and read by faith to a languishing mourning drooping bleeding Soul 'T is ipsum coelum saith Augustine a continuall feast saith Solomon Yea it is a Goshen in Aegypt an Angell in a Dungeon an harbour in a Tempest an Heaven upon earth and the day-star of Glory 'T is an immarcescible Crown A treasure which once got can never be lost for what that b Cicere par●d●x ad sinem Prince of Orators saith of vertue is most true of a good conscience Nec eripi nec surripi potest ●nquam Neque naufragio neque incendio amittitur n●● tempestatum nec temporum permutatione mutatur But a bad conscience it 's the souls inquisition and strappado It 's the epitome or abridgment of eternall torments 'T is the gloom●e evening to the black day of Damnation 'T is the terrible Harbinger of that dreadfull furious cruell train and troop of dismall intolerable unconceiveable woes and plagues which are marching ●ay at the door to take up their everlasting Quarters and abode in the miserable Soul 'T is secretum ftagellum an hell in the soul before the Soul be in Hell 'T is the lightening of those horrors which the thunder of that confounding ●●ntence Goye cursed into Hel-fire prepared for the Devil and his Angels c. will suddainly inflict upon the for ever undone impenitent sinners Perillus his brasen Bull when hottest was a Down-bed warmed to the scorching anguish of an evill Conscience Nam urit caedit lancinat et eo gravius quia sine morte The stinging of the most venemous Serpent is pleasure and delight to the agonies

of Jesus Christ 2. That the vail or pale of partition betwixt Jew and Gentile the Jewes being till then inclosed and severall but the Gentile open-field and Common were now pluckt up and broken down 3. That all the types ceremonies shadows and sacrifices of the Law were vanished abolished the Antitype being come 4. That the vaile of sin which hid the face of God from beholding his noblest sublunary Creatures with the eyes of pity and mercy were taken away so that now God would look with a pleased smiling countenance upon man in through his dear son Jesus Christ 5. And lastly that the obdurate stony heart of sinful man must be rent and broken by true repentance humiliation and contrition before he can have any saving interest in or spirituall benefits by the passion merits and satisfaction of Jesus Christ The Graves unlockt their hitherto fast bolted doors and many of the Prisoners of hope came out of their cold silent dark habitations at once to acknowledge the divinity of Christ to manifest their allegiance to him their Soveraign to assert and demonstrate the certainty of the bodies Resurrection and to confesse him to be their God Head Redeemer Thus all things but ingrateful man for whom Christ endured all this did sympathize and suffer with him the greatnesse sharpnesse and intolerablenesse of whose sorrow anguish and miseries were such And needs must they be unparallel'd unconceivable since the guilt load punishment torments of all the elect yea of the whole world together with the utmost keenest and most implacable rage spite and fury both of Dev●ls and wicked men pressed pierced wounded both his body and soul at once that at last he bled out these words * Matth. 27. 46. My God My God why hast thou forsaken me But yet his misery was our mercy his Crucifixion our Comfort For now the wounds of this gracious glorious Jesus are become a Christians Citie of refuge So that he who flies unto and hides himself in the Clefts and holes of that Rock shall not be consumed though the Lord passe by in Majesty glory and fury A Bird being pursued by an Hauk flew into the bosome of a b Xenocrates Philosopher who gave his unexpected guest both welcome and safety When a poor soul is pursued by that red Dragon Satan who desires and strives to catch and destroy it then if it do but flie with the wings of Faith and Prayer to Jesus Christ whose very heart was opened with a spear upon the Crosse to receive it it will there find both * Evacuatur peccatum non ut non sit sed ut non obsit Aug. security and deliverance from him The very name of Jesus Christ hath a thousand treasures of Joy Peace comfort pleasures in it Nomen Jesu Christi est nomen sub quo nemini desperandum It 's an Asylum to the most hainous wicked guilty Malefactor It is honey in the mouth musick in the eare and a Jubilee in the heart c Pulio in ejus vita A poor woman coming to Claudius for Justice and weeping Claudius also wept and dryed her eyes for which being censured by some Courtiers as doing that which was unbecoming his Majesty and too much below an Emperour I had rather said he be a partaker of my Subjects griefs then give them occasion to have their eies full of tears When a truly humbled sinner commeth to Jesus Christ either for mercy to his soul or Justice against his spirituall enemies who do daily yea hourly assault injure tempt and indeavour to murder him with prayers and teares this Sun of righteousnesse will arise and shed the beames of light joy comfort peace into that darkened drooping spirit he will dry up or howsoever sweeten the bitter springs of doubting temptations dejection desertion here and hereafter he will for ever wipe away all tears from the eyes of Saints He is so full of yearning Bowels and tender compassion that what d Speed Chro. p. 88. Et Suetonius Vespasian said viz. No man should go away sad from the Speech of a Prince Christ doth for he sends all them away that come to him with mourning hearts * Matth. 5. 4. rejoycing e Speed Cro. p. 111. Albinus the Romane while he was in Britaine commanded his souldiers no service but he would bear therein a part even in carrying of burthens What work soever Jesus Christ the Captaine of our salvation commands his souldiers faithful Christians to doe he will not only assist but inable them to perform it which is yet more he wil not only carry budens with them but he will also * Matt 11. 28. ease them of them Come unto me all ye that labour and are heavy laden and I will give you rest Axiocus almost sick to death at the very sight of Socrates recovered his former health If a sin-sick sin-wounded dying soule can but by a lively faith look upon Jesus Christ it will undoubtedly infallibly probatum est receive recover injoy cure health life What Alphonsus King King of Spain advised his brother in Law Henry the 3 King of England to be viz. A Lamb to his Subjects a Lyon to Rebels Jesus Christ is * 2 Thessalon 17 8 9. For he wil come in flames of fire to take vengeance on those that obey not his Gospell but he will own protect promote love honour and reward all those who are loyall and faithfull to him For his love to his betrothed p●rchased redeemed ones infinitely exceeds excells that of Jonathan to David of Regulus to Rome of Curtius and the Gracchi to their Countrey And the mutual love betwixt Christ and a true Christian doth transcend both in respect of dearnesse divinenesse and duration beyond all possibility of expression the affection of Hortensius and Cicero to one another of whom t is said f Raynold Or●● p. 43. Alter semper ab altero adjutus erat communicando favendo monendo The Grecian Ladies counted the years of their life from the day of their marriage All men and women are by nature spiritually dead and therefore neither do nor can live either holily or happily till by faith they be espoused to Christ So that it may be truly said of every one who dies without a saving interest in him Fuit non vixit he was but he lived not The French Historian concludes the Raign of Charles the 9th King of France in which thirty thousand Protestants by those cruell Massacres in Paris and other places went through a Sea of Bloud to the heavenly Canaan with these words All posterity will both admire and abhorre it And surely not only all ages but all true Christians will both admire and adore the wisdome and goodnesse of God in contriving such a way and meanes as was equally full of miracle and mercy namely the sending of his dear Son freely out of his own bosome to seek and save lost undone cursed man They will also

be merciful to sin is to be cruel to our selves since he that loves and spares it doth not only lash and wound but * O Israel thou hast distroyed thy self H●sea 13. 9. murder himself Because as holiness is both a work an incomparable felicity and a reward So sin is both a Crime a punishment and an Executioner to all unconverted offenders Pharoah's sins as well as the Sea drowned him * Numb 16. 32. And Corah's swallowing down sin without repentance was the cause that the earth swallowed up him without example for never did so many of her ungracious children as he his wicked companions were who was therefore most justly by God made wofully miserable in that dreadful destruction because they was all wilfully guilty of that damnable Rebellion fall down into her gaping inlarged new made mouth slide or rather tumble head-long into her empty greedy stomack entrails or lye down alive in her cold and mercilesse bosome before O the misery and madnesse of a gracelesse Sinner How can he expect or hope to escape the dreadful vengeance of God that by his unkindnesse unthankfulnesse and undutifulnesse to his heavenly Father hath most justly provoked the God of mercy to become his everlasting enemy What the people of Rome said when they lamented the death of Octavius Augustus he will most certainly when 't is too late have cause in another sense to say Vtinam aut non l Aurel. Vict. nasceretur aut non mor eretur would he had never been born or never dyed The Prayer O LORD thou art a God infinite in all Divine perfections Thou hast all things and art all things eternally from within and unto thy most glorious self Thou dost therefore want neither the praises nor the Services of either the most gracious Christians or the most glorious Cherubims The holinesse praiers and duties of Saints or Angels can add nothing to thy most transcendently divine Excellencies Nor can the vices vilenesse crimes and Sinnes of men lessen stain or eclipse thy Glory Yet such O Lord is thy miraculous condescensi●n thy wonderful thy undeserved Compassion to the Bankrupted posterity of Adam that thou art pleased not only to acquaint but also to assure all those who walk humbly conscientiously holily before thee and sincerely endeavour to praise thy great and glorious name that though they be but dust ashes and worms yet they do honour and glorifie thy ever blessed Majesty And although sin be so contrary to thy holy nature opposite to thy righteous Laws and Will and loathsome in thy pure eye that even the least sin is a great yea an infinite offence injury and contempt done unto thee and doth at once vex load and grieve thee Yet such O Lord is thy never enough to be admired acknowledged or magnified mercy and patience to rebellious self-polluting poysoning self-ruining Man that thou d●st not only forbear to punish plague and damne him but thou art also pleased though he daily offend thee and persist in his provocations of thee and reject thy gracious tenders of peace pardon and salvation to seek unto him to intreat yea by thy Ministers to importune and beseech him that he would be reconciled to thee love accept imbrace thee and thy offered mercy that so tbou mayest forgive own delight in him deliver and save him both from Wrath and Death O Lord let the riches of thy unparallel'd goodnesse long-sufferance and forbearance l●●d us unto speedy unfeigned hearty Repentance Let the serious consideration of the cursed defiling deforming damnable nature of sin the guilt whereof could not be expiated nor the filth thereof purged away with any Sacrifice but the bloud and death of the only Sonne of God Jesus Christ both God and Man make us not only fear but tremble to commit the least evill O let it pierce and break our hearts with Grief and Remorse to consider how we have pierced our Saviours very heart and broken his most just and holy Commandements by our wilfully transgressing against him Let O Lord our spirits melt mourn and bleed within us for our shedding and trampling under our profane feet without pity or sorrow that precious bloud of our dearest Saviour which alone can cleanse and cure our defiled wounded Souls Whensoever we are tempted to commit any sinne let us O Lord not only meditate and remember what it cost Christ to make our peace with a displeased God to pay our debts and to ransome our inthralled Souls but let us also set before our eyes and look upon Jesus Christ who never committed any sin sweating suffering gr●aning wounded bleeding and lying for our Sins that so we may in his unexampled and unexpressible miseries with the eyes of detestation and lamentation behold the danger and desert of our own Iniquities Let not sin most holy God be sweet dear or delightfull to us which was Gall and Vinegar bitter painful and deadly to Jesus Christ O let the knowledge of thy power and purity awe and deterre us from evill but chiefly let our frequent serious admiring and thankfull reflexions upon the bounty mercy and long-suffering of our gracious God and the free the infinite Love of Jesus Christ prevail with us and make us both watchful and carefull to detest decline loath leave confesse forsake and crucifie all our lusts and transgressions and to love honour please praise and glorifie our God And let us not imbrace entertain or welcome sinne into our hearts and crucifie our blessed Saviour any more lest our bloudy cruelty both to him and our own souls deprive us for ever of Christ Comfort Grace and Glory Amen Peccatum lethale est Venenum Quod delectat necat V. Of the World and the brightest Jewell in its Crowne Soveraignty 'T is a fools Idol a wise mans Inne 't is a storehouse of vanities a shop full of gaudy but empty pots a fair house haunted with evil Spirits it 's a maze a desert a disguised mockery an Ocean of troubles a pitfal to the rich a burden to the poor a traducer of the good a deceiver of all that love and trust it 'T is a Garden enamelled with beautiful flowers under which lurk deadly Serpents a green soft pleasant walk covered and bespread with nets and snares a Speed Chron p. 118. a path like that of a Heliogabalus strawed with the powder and dust of Gold and silver but leading to a Gibbet A sweet spring set round with lime-twigs a stately wealthy Citie infected with the plague 'T is the body's Paradise but a Purgatory to the soul 'T is a painted treacherous Harlot which allures invites but destroys her Lovers a tender Nurse to vice dandling it upon her knees of Pleasure and Profit but a step-mother which hates and strangles vertue 'T is a d●ie pit a broken Cistern in a drought an empty cloud a Feast in a dream and without Christ as one said of her dead husband a cold armful And as for Soveraignty though

into his presence injoy his Favor and live for the just shall live by his faith him God doth love and will honour but all Vashti's * Esther 1. 11. all unbelievers shall be rejected divorced from Christ though Hypocrisie Morality wealth or greatnesse may make them like her very fair to look on who is the head and Husband of his Church and people for ever Faith 't is a tree that bears those golden Apples those rare sweet pleasant precious fruits love to God and his Saints purity and humility of heart and affections peace of conscience victory over the world charity joy in the Holy Ghost courage and constancy in the confession and profession of the truth c. These are the Daughters that rise up and call their Mother blessed These are the Jewels that adorn and the Royall train which attends the Kings Daughter who is all glorious within yea and makes that Palace that heart where she resides and keeps Court all glorious too for the God of glory the Lord of glory and the Spirit of glory do all take up their abode in a beleeving Soul Faith 't is a Stephen beholding a living Christ in heaven through a thick and violent shower of stones when the body is dying upon earth 'T is a brasse wall a * Ephes 6. 16. shield wherewith a beleever both repelleth and quenches all the fiery darts of the Devill Hostem visibilem feriendo invisibilem vincis credendo Our visible enemies may be subdued by striking and fighting but our invisible Adversary the Devill cannot be conquered but by beleeving 'T is that heavenly David which overcomes that spirituall Goliah Satan and all those uncircumcised Philistins sin the world temptations our carnal hearts corrupt affections filthy lusts and our disorderly unruly passions those wild horses which carry us headlong into sin and run away with the soul towards Hell 'T is a divine Apelles that draws the Image of God defaced by sin to the life again upon the Soul 'T is the salt which maketh all our Sacrifices both savory and acceptable because * Heb. 11. 6. without faith it 's impossible to please God Justifying faith works by love and lover runs down the several Chanels † We must love God above all things Apprenativè 2 Intensiv● 3. Ad●quatè First of Love to God Amat enim non immerito qui amatus est sine merito Amat sine fine qui sine principio se cognovit amatum And his love to God he demonstrates by yielding a willing sincere constant and universall obedience to all his Commandements For Quicquid propter deum fit aequaliter fit True obedience doth neither deny nor dispute Gods commands but obeyeth them all both equally and cheerfully 2. Of charity to the poor because he that 's freely through grace made a member of Christ cannot but both pity and relieve Christs members The sense of Gods undeserved mercy and bounty to himself will melt his heart into Compassion and open his hand to distribute unto those that are in want 3. Of praying and sorrowing for those that are profane The wicked like those who are infected with the plague desire and delight to corrupt and destroy others incourage them to sin and accompany them in sin But those that love God do so love their Brethren in the flesh also that they both mourn for their iniquities and earnestly heartily cry to the Lord to convince convert pardon and save them 4. Of forgiving enemies freely cordially fully since no man was ever either so malitious against or injurious to another as man was to his maker and Saviour yet Christ did not only forgive him but dyed also to make an atonement for him and to reconcile God and him and therefore for Christs sake in obedience to his command and to expresse his conformity to his Redeemer he will pardon his worst greatest and most implacable adversaries yea and love even those that hate him 5. Lastly of sympathizing with afflicted Christians If one string on a musicall instrument be but touched all the rest will expresse their fellow-feeling thereof in a sound If the head ake the tongue will complain if a finger be burnt the eye will weep And all those whom God hath comforted in their own sorrows will mourn for others calamities and grieve for the afflictions of Joseph Certainly then those are but dead and rotten members which are not sensible of nor affected with the maladies and miseries of their brethren Love 't is the weight which moves all the wheeles of the soul in duty Amor meus pondus meum Eo feror quocunqne feror said holy Augustine 'T is the spring of all wel-pleasing services to God e Curtius Alexander the great had two Friends Hephest●on● and Parmento Hephesten loved Alexander Parmenio the King God hath two sorts of Friends good men and bad men A worldly wicked man loves God as a King able to protect promote honour provide for him Nam amici ficti fortunae sunt amici non sui But a true believer loves Christ as a Lord Husband Prophet with a heart not only willing but resolved to be guided commanded instructed by him and to be loyal dutifull obedient chast faithfull unto him The one follows Christ for loaves forb●y base low carnal ends aimes designs the other to honour serve please praise him The one because he 's great and bountifull the other because he 's good and holy the one withers shrinks repines forsakes God when he is nipt with the frost of adversitie or threatned with the storms of persecution being like a tree that seeds and loses both its fruit and leaves in the cold sharp winter of tryals dangers and like a Mushroome without root But the other like a Palm-tree is not only green in the winter of Affliction but he will also rather then he will want deny or dishonour Christ goe through flames and flouds to serve obey meet injoy him Faith and Love are like a pair of compasses whilst saith stands firmly fixed with the center which is God nam Circumferentia fidei est verbum dei Centrum fidei deus verbum Love walks the round and puts a girdle of Mercy about the loins There may be a shew of charity without faith but there can be no shew of Faith without Charitie d Rainold Orat p. 320. Cato Vticensis being asked by one Quem maxime amaret Respondit fratrem my Brother Being asked the same question a second and a third time still answered Fratrem my Brother and nothing else Aske a true Believer whom he most really intirely loves both his tongue heart and life will answer My elder Brother Jesus Christ Socrates said often he had rather have 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Kings favour then the Kings gold or silver A true beleever had rather injoy the love of God the light of his countenance and a sweet Communion with Christ then ten thousand worlds and saies with e

all transgressions pardoned and exiled persons were recalled Whoever cometh to this holy Sacrament clothed with the new and rich apparell of Christs righteousnesse and can with the hand of a justifying faith touch Jesus Christ shall be sure to find and receive comfort favor acceptance a discharge from the debt of sin liberty and inlargement from the slavery of his own Lusts and from the captivity of Satan communion with Christ here and admission into the Kingdome of Heaven out of which man was justly excluded exiled for sin and Rebellion hereafter For when by death a true Christian doth put off the Rags of his mortality God will invest him with the Robes of Glory to all Eternity The Prayer EVer blessed God such are thy tender mercies unspeakeable Love and matchlesse Bounty to thy Children upon earth that as thou hast prepared and provided for them both Mansions and a feast a Supper of Glory with the Lamb in the Kingdome of Heaven so hast thou also provided a spirituall Banquet and furnished thy Table with most exquisite curious precious and delicious dainties to refresh nourish comfort strengthen and unite them in their journey and whilest they are upon their way thither this Blessed Sacrament O Lord let not I beseech thee this Soul-feeding heart-chearing Grace-strengthening and increasing communion and Supper be neglected undervalued contemned or denyed through the corruptions contentions differences carelesnesse or ungrounded scrupulousnesse of Men. ●ut let Ministers O Lord carefully obey thy command and conscientiously discharge their own Duty in rightly and frequently administring of it to their people that thy bitter thy bloudy Death O Blessed Saviour may be constantly and thankfully remembred thy wonderful unparalleled undeserved love pity goodnesse acknowledged and thy great Name praised and glorified And let Christians O Lord come to this Holy Sacrament so qualified and prepared that their Graces may be strengthened their Souls as with marrow and fatnesse satisfied their interest in Christ cleared and confirmed their joyes and comforts multiplied their Affections inseparably united and their mutuall love to one another mightily increased Grant this O Lord for his sake who is both the maker of the Feast and the Feast himself Jesus Christ Amen Coena Domini cibus est Animae alimentum Gratiae Nutrix pietatis solaminis canalis pignus amoris condonationis sigillum et corroborationis Sacramentum XIX Of Preaching THE sacred word of God purely rightly and powerfully preached is that Bethesday wherein Mephibosheths souls lamed in their feet their affections by the fall which they had out of the arms of Adam and Eve are cured and thereby inabled to run the ways of Gods commandements 'T is the * Cantic 4. 16. and 7. 5. Garden the Gallery where Christ meeteth speaks to and walks with his people 'T is the mount of blessings conduit of faith Golden Scepter of mercy and the spirituall seed of Grace and Life 'T is the Chariot in which Christ rideth triumphantly into the Soul 'T is the hammer that breaks open the iron door of the heart the key that unlocks it T is the fire that consumeth all Satans strong holds in the spirit 'T is spirituall eye-salve that gives a blind Bartimeus his sight And 't is the voice that awakens the most drouzy deaf secure sinner a Rainold Orat. 1. p. 41. What the Orator saith de Oratione is true de praedicatione Morbis inquit animi medicinam facere debet praedicatio facit comprimendo quae tument roborando quae languent quae inflammant leniendo coercendo quae diffluunt expurgando quae redundant 'T is an Ark alwaies bringing blessings with it Nathan which wil rouse convince and humble Davids relapsing Saints T is a Peter pricking the hearts of great and grosse sinners to their conversion sanctification Salvation 'T is a messenger sent from God and bringing with it those three wonderfull glorious instimable Jewels and blessings to the soul sense of sin assurance of pardon and a through reformation both of the Heart and life It s the means which God hath promised commanded owned blessed and sanctyfied by the inward powerfull and effectual operation of his holy Spirit speaking home to the conscience stirring those healing waters of the sanctuary and accompanying the outward administration of the word most ordinarily and efficaciously to instruct the ignorant confirm the weak to warm the cold mollifie the hard melt the frozen comfort them that mourn to awaken those that are drowsie resolve those who doubt incourage and quiet such as fear guide them that erre bind up the broken hearted and to quicken those that are dead in trespasses and sins T is a Corn●copia of all those excellent spirituall mercies and comforts 'T is the granary of celestial food and Manna the silver trumpet of peace and the white flag of mercy to a people It 's a Nilus that softens refresheth and fructifieth barren hard and languishing hearts T is a Mary with Christ in the womb of it an Angell instructing a Philip a light in the thickest saddest darknesse and a comfortable seasonable rain in a drought 'T is both meat to the hungry water to the thirsty physick to the diseased milk to the weak a Lamp to them that wander and wine to the sorrowfull In Asia it was a custome that the Child which was not nursed by his mother should not have the goods of his Mother Those who are not nursed by that Mother the true Church of Christ with the breasts of Gods word and ordinances faithfully and duly administred are never like to have God for their Father nor to be heires of the Churches estate I mean the love promises protection grace and blessing of the Lord nor to enjoy the glorious inheritance of her Children eternall felicity hereafter The Prayer O LORD thou art so farre from desiring or delighting in the eternall Damnation of the vilest greatest grossest sinners that thou hast commanded the Gospell of Salvation to be preached to every creature both to Jews and Gentiles Yet since even this word of Life is both a dead and a killing Letter without the quickening sanctifying influence and efficacy of thy holy Spirit Grant blessed God that the Holy Ghost may both teach and speak effectually convincingly convertingly savingly to the ears and hearts of unregenerated Sinners that so the dead may both hear and feel the voice and power of the Son of God and live And be thou pleased most merciful God so to own blesse and prosper thine own Labourers in thy vine-yard that the Consciences of those who are enemies to thine own ordinances and Ministers may be convinced their spirits grieved and humbled their mouths stopped their sin and errours discovered to them hated by them and forsaken of them And that the understandings of those who hear and enjoy them may be savingly enlightened their hearts graciously changed their Lives throughly reformed and their souls everlastingly saved Let him who is the Word Jesus Christ be ushered