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
A49604	A funeral oration or sermon upon the most high, most potent Lord, Francis Henry De Montmorancy ... prounc'd at Paris, in the church of the Profess'd House of the Company of Jesus, the 21 st. of April, 1695, by Father De la Rue, of the same society ; from the french original.; Oraison funèbre de très-haut et très-puissant Seigneur François Henry de Montmorency, duc de Luxembourg et de Piney. English	La Rue, Charles de, 1643-1725.	1695 (1695)	Wing L455; ESTC R6889	22,402	33

many Oaths which you have sworn to God and which you believ'd to be sincere what would it require to make you forget all The slightest Occasion presented to your Eyes and Hearts overturns all your Designs and makes ye break all your Promises What Occasions assail'd at first this Heart so chang'd by Adversity Employments Commands Honours Victories Applauses all the whole Train of Prosperity If his Heart held not out as it ought to have done against so many violent Assaults let Us bewail our common Frailty Condemn Him but at the same time give Sentence against your Selves accuse in his behalf as in your own the contagious Aire of the World but more-especially the Aire of the Court where you live Nevertheless in all the Relaxations of which he might be guilty since admire the several Impressions of Grace and Vertue which Mercy had still left in his Heart to shew that he was still her Care and that the Fugitive should not escape her Call to Mind the Scorn and Forgetfulness of Injuries which was signal in him ev'n to the Complaint of his Friends who judging of his Attention to the Services he did 'em by his Indifferency in reference to ill Offices done him and of his Gratitude by his Carelessness in Point of Resentment made that a Crime in Matter of Friendship which is a Vertue in regard to Revenge Insensible or rather Deaf to scandalous Reports Railleries and malicious Stories and Discourses you should see him admit with a sedate and caressing Aire those of his Inferiours of whose Ingratitude he had been inform'd He found 'em more worthy of his Pity then his Indignation As he was Easie to return his Friendship to those who had Contemn'd him he was no less Facile to return his Esteem and good Offices to those who Offended him Who had ever more Enemies more manifest Reasons to repell Injury by Injury more Opportunities and Means to Revenge himself Upon whom did he ever revenge himself At what time and in what manner Oh my Lords after what manner with what an Aire of Moderation and Humanity did he manage ev'n the Publick Revenge this Minister of War which usually infuses Cruelty While the Vanquish'd reveng'd with rigour the Ignominy of their Defeat upon such Officers of Ours that fell into their Hands by the Chance of War this Victor made it the Pleasure and Honour of his Victories to treat his Prisoners as he had done his Friends Did he not restore that Intercourse of Civility and Generosity which always ought to accompany Valour and which was interrupted by the first Furies of the War Did he forget the Duties of Charity You Praise the Christian who is tender toward the Necessities of the Miserable who is assiduous to Succour the Dying and zealous to Honour the Church Praise then a General who coming from the Field of Battel or'e whelm'd with Labour and cover'd with Blood takes diligent care to have the Living separated from the Dead to rally the languishing Remainders of those Generous Victims to the Honour of the Kingdom to hasten the Spiritual Consolations of Consecrated Pastors and Ministers by express Orders issu'd forth to all the Country round about Praise the General who in the Devastations of War applies himself as much as lies within his Power to turn the Tempest from the Fields of the poor and defenceless People and rather if there be Occasion to let it fall upon the Possessions and Castles of the Wealthy ev'n to the neglect of the Suits and Lands of most of his Illustrious Kindred so that he might spare the Revenues and Estates of the Church Commend a General who out of a Spirit of Religion at his own Expences repairs the Disorders of Impiety who makes Restitution out of his own Purse to the Altars despoil'd by the Rapines of the Soldier and restores the Vessels appointed to enclose the Sacred Mysteries Who lastly out of the same Spirit of Piety and with a Diligence altogether singular keeps off Fire and Sword from the Churches and Places where the Saints are honour'd Famous Church which renders the City of Hall so dear to all Flanders Ancient Monument of the Devotion of those People to the Mother of God! You must be also a Monument of that Veneration which this Warriour pay'd to the Name of the same Holy Virgin and when Posterity shall behold that City surrounded with the Ruins of her Ramparts and the Church exalting her Front in the midst of so many Ruins while they bewail the dire Necessities of the War can they forbear to remember with joy the Piety of such a General He took the same Care and for the same Reason when he demolish'd Braine-le-Compte He made profession of a particular Veneration for the Mother of Mercy And his Letters are to be seen to Persons of the highest Quality wherein he blushes not to declare That in all his Misfortunes he still address'd himself to Her and had been sensible of the Effects of Her Protection All these Actions of his are certain and I should desire my Lords no other credit to be given to all these Actions then what is readily giv'n to Slander and Envy when we hear the Reputation of great Personages rent and torn without any ground or proof by the foulest of Lyes can that Credit be refus'd me in this Sacred Place and this Illustrious Assembly where I have the Honour to speak and upon Actions that cannot be question'd by the malignity of human Wit but only because they are advantageous to the Memory of so great a Man All this while if the Root of Divine Grace and Charity have not conferr'd a Soul and Strength requisite to produce the Fruit of Salvation these are no more then unprofitable Leaves that will not save the barren Fig-Tree from the Danger of being cut down Whatever we expatiate thereupon would be no more then as Saint Paul says the sound of tingling Brass or a tinkling Cymbal 'T is very true But this feeble Sound in the celebrated Centurion then out of the Pale of Grace and the true Faith fail'd not to reach the Ears of the Almighty who was pleas'd to repay this Sound with the Favour of Conversion Would it be too much to presume the same in Favour of a Person full of Faith Would it be too much to presume upon the Mercy of God which was always so liberal to him as to look upon the Impressions of his Vertue and Piety as Tyes which as weak as they were were a Help to bring him again to God and to draw down upon him the Grace of Repentance which at length put an end to his Life Oh! what a Favour my Lords was this To how many of his Equals has it been refus'd From how many Dangers has he been lifted up by the Hand of God that he might be reserv'd to that favourable Minute There have been seen several of the Enemy who have singl'd themselves from their Squadrons on purpose to give him the

Merit we might be afraid that so many profane Exploits and Triumphs might be only the Reward of those feeble Efforts of Vertue which sometimes may escape a Sinner but for which Heaven has no Crowns in store I should look upon him my self with an Eye of Pity as one of those Conquerors whom God made use of to magnifie Himself in Isaiah to subdue Nations put Kings to flight and break down the Walls of Cities and which he abandon'd afterwards to the Merits of their Works and the Punishments attending their Sins after he had rewarded their ambiguous Services with the vain Lustre of Worldly Prosperity God forbid that our Charity should be cool'd this day by such Sentiments as these Too many Reasons raise our Hopes without pretending to dispute the Rights of God's Justice so much Care as he has taken for the Salvation of this Sinner seems to persuade and convince us that God has made him an Object of his Eternal Mercy And here my Lords let us leave him as a Courtier a Warriour and a Conqueror All this was for the Eyes of Men in the sight of God he is a Sinner distinguish'd indeed by all those Titles of Honour which he bore upon Earth but at the same time expos'd to all those Frailties and all those Miseries that seem to be fasten'd to these dangerous Titles Yet in the midst of those Abuses which he might have made of 'em and what at length might have led him as they have done so many others to a Forgetfulness of his God let us admire those singular Tendernesses or rather Wonders of his Mercy bestow'd upon him He bestow'd upon him two of the most precious Graces he could have bestow'd upon Sinners the Grace of Adversity during his Life and the Grace of Repentance at his Death Let him then eternally sing those words of David Blessed be the Lord because he has magnify'd his wonderful mercy upon me You believe it not Grandees of the Earth and yet you find it by Experience at least you make others sensible of it that nothing more corrupts the Heart then a long and constant Prosperity that nothing over-casts the Mind with a thicker Darkness that generally there is nothing but Adversity that can call back a wandring Mortal to his Reason to his Conscience to his Salvation and his God You believe it not and this Errour is your Ruin The Subject of Discourse lay under the same Errour and was subject to those Deviations which are the usual Consequences of it He trod the Paths of Ambition for fifty Years together What a Progress did he make in it But the farther we advance in that Road the more Good God we go out of our Way Nevertheless thou didst follow him step by step Thou didst wait in expectation of a happy Moment to pour down thy Mercy upon him 〈◊〉 up●●●eing 〈◊〉 for a 〈◊〉 and a ●●ncer The happy Moment came and thy Mercy was pour'd down What a signal Kindness my Lords was this for all France A Man of that Name that Rank cloath'd with so many Honours distinguish'd by so many Services to be oblig'd to Justifie himself Upon what account For that which cannot fall but into the Meanest of Souls not only without Religion but without Reason without Fortune without Honour At that very moment he perceives all the Supports of Grandeur failing Feeble Bulrushes nodding with ev'ry Tempest and bowing under the weight of the Tempest He was not astonish'd to see such a Change of Looks and Hearts Solomon says That Slander troubles the Heart of a wise man and destroys the strength of his heart But never did more Prudence appear in his Heart then at that time and never did he raise himself so much above his own Strength and undaunted Courage The Sight of the Danger and the Easiness to avoid it by so many open ways and offer'd to his Choice On the other side the Dread of all things necessary for his Justification never gave him the least Disturbance Considering his Innocency he look'd upon his Liberty as nothing he sacrific'd it himself he ran to the Prison with the same speed that the Guilty flie it There he only minded the saving of his Innocence and his Honour and there he met the Mercy of God that waited for him Yes surely my Lords 't is so and if what I have said has not proceeded from the Mouth of Fame yet has it issu'd from the Lips of Truth In view of this very Church where we are now met together which was in his way he made a stop and at that very moment notwithstanding the Confusion of Thoughts which turmoil'd his Mind he acknowledg'd the Hand of God lifted up against him Far from being consternated like the Heathen Prince at the sight of the Celestial Hand-writing which wrote his Destiny but rather full of Considence and Humility at the same time he enter'd the Church and pouring forth his Soul at the Feet of this same Altar he confess'd that his Sins had been the Source of his Misfortune he ador'd the Goodness of God who had made choice of that means to draw him from the Precipice and set him in the right way of Salvation And less Touch'd with the Danger his Estate and Reputation were in then the Peril of his Soul he renounces Hearken Christians he renounces his Justification before Men if his Justification were opposite to his Salvation This was then the Sense and Spirit of his Prayer He has often explain'd his Meaning upon it at a Time when the Confession he made of it ought to be a Reproach to his Conduct Thou Lord who heardest him and hast promis'd every thing to Prayer more-especially to that which is put up for Salvation Thou who hast afforded him this signal Justification in the Eyes of the World which he implor'd but faintly of Thee wouldst Thou have resus'd him that Salvation which he su'd for then so earnestly in the Bitterness of a Soul sincerely humbl'd This was not ineffectual and if I may be permitted to apply to him what the Scripture speaks of a Just Man persecuted Wisdom descends with him into the Prison and forsakes him not in Bonds He there detested his Vanities he search'd into the Errors and Disorders of his Life he solemnly aton'd for 'em by the Use of the Sacraments nor was he deliver'd from his Captivity till enliven'd with more Pious Resolutions To corroborate him in it God permitted that being Justify'd as he was Free and Triumphant over Envy a Retirement of several Months should serve as a Tryal of his Fidelity Faithful to God all that time he spent his Leisure in the same Exercises and continu'd the Purifying of his Heart by frequent Confessions 'T was then another Heart form'd by Adversity and consecrated by Repentance the Work of the Grace of God How long think ye should any of you have held out Answer you that hear me and search for the Answer in your own Hearts After so

A Funeral Oration OR SERMON UPON The Most High Most Potent Lord Francis Henry De Montmorancy Duke of Luxembourg and Piney Peer and Marshal of France Governour of Normandy Knight and Commander of the King's Orders Captain of the Guards of His Majesty's Body And General of His Armies Pronounc'd at PARIS in the Church of the Profess'd House of the Company of Jesus the 21st of April 1695 By Father De la RVE of the same Society From the French Original LONDON Printed and Sold by Richard Baldwin at the Oxford-Arms in Warwick-lane 1695. TO THE READER THE following Sheets contain a Funeral Harangue upon the Duke of Luxemburgh compos'd and pronounc'd by a Jesuite And it is a consummate Piece of Jesuitism For it neither speaks Truth to Man nor to God To make his Champion of France Great he falsifies the Story of the Greatest Heroe at this day in the World He knew he had undertaken a Hard Task to Praise a Man who setting aside that he was a Soldier had long labour'd under a very Immoral Character No wonder then he employs all the stock of his Rhotorical Flourishes to varnish over the Conduct and Actions of his Great General by mis-representing the more Noble Exploits of his Antagonist We can allow him the Gingling Rhodomontado's of a Panegyrist so long as the Event has made it evident to the World that if Luxembourg were able to Cope with the King of England it was more then his Master the French King was ever able to doe Moreover to be convinc'd of the Jesuit's Double-dealing with Man and his Falsifying the Records of open Story there needs no more then to read on the Second Part of his Oration and seeing him using the same Flourishes of Humane Oratory to God and borrowing plausible Insinuations from Deduction and his General 's Affection to the Virgin Mary to lift him up into Heaven This Piece has made a Noise in the World and has been spread over Europe in the French Language an Effect of Gallick Ostentation and therefore it was thought requisite to expose it in English that the Vanity of the Orator might be derided here as well as in other Places Autoritatem nullam nec fidem Commentitiis Rebus adjungere debet says Cicero A Funeral Oration UPON Francis Henry Duke of Luxemburgh For we do not present our Supplications before thee for our Righteousnesses but for thy great Mercies Dan. 4.18 THESE are the Moans of a Prophet in the midst of a Captive People remote from their Country and panting after Liberty What a Force was not this able to give to Prayer by representing to God the Services of David of Jacob and Abraham and by striving to draw down his Compassion upon the Children by the Remembrance of their Forefathers To these vain Subjects of Presumption rather then Confidence Daniel clos'd his Eyes He found a surer Support in the meer Mercy of God then in all the Vertues of Men and without losing any thing of that Zeal which enclin'd him to Prayer and of that Hope which ought to uphold Prayer he Pray'd he Hop'd but still his Prayers and his Hopes were grounded upon the Mercies of God What are we now come to doe my Beloved in the Presence of the same God Come we to bewail the Dead in vain where it becomes us only to shed the Tears of Repentance Come we here to vaunt their Victories and Heroick Labours 'T is only to the Saints the Vanquishers of Sin that Religion permits us to pay Duties of this Nature to Honour their Tombs and to Extoll their Vertues in Hymns and Songs ev'n to the Footsteps of the Throne of God because they reign with Glorious Him in the same Glory But as for Princes and Hero's whose Vertues frequently Humane were no other for the greatest part then Passions disguis'd under specious Names and Veils when You are call'd to their Interments 't is to set before Your Eyes Grandees of the World a Moving Spectacle of that Inevitable End which you never think of 'T is to set before your Eyes that Death which you look upon with Disdain in the bloody and precipitated Heat and furious Motion of Combat but which you can hardly look in the Face when Cool and Serious expos'd to your Reflexions in this Funeral Pomp which forces you to Lessons of Repentance In short If at any time by a Custom establish'd in the First Ages of the Church we presume to interrupt the Holy Mysteries with an Elogy of their Actions 't is not with a Pharisaical Pride that vaunted before God the Justice of their Works Not for our Righteousness 't is with the Modesty of the Publican who begg'd for Mercy only but for thy great Mercies The sad Recitals of so many Exploits that exalt the great Names and Fame of Mortals were never made to move God's Compassion but to touch the Hearts of Men. And it is with this Intention my Beloved that I undertake this day the Elogy of the Most High and Most Potent Lord FRANCIS HENRY of MONTMORANCY PEER and MARSHAL of FRANCE KNIGHT and COMMANDER of the KING's ORDERS GOVERNOR of NORMANDY CAPTAIN of the GUARDS of the KING's BODY and GENERAL of His ARMIES Upon the only Pronouncing of this Name what a Croud of Things present themselves to our Minds What Wonders what Courage what Resolution what Justice also in the Opinion of Men But in the Sight of God all this is nothing Not for our Righteousness 'T is for You my Beloved and for all France who have reap'd all the Fruit of his Great Actions to find therein the Motives of Acknowledgment and by consequence a Zeal to Pray for him But in these same Actions and in all the Events of so Turmoyl'd a Life how many signal Traces of a particular Mercy apply'd to his Salvation 'T is there that we are to fix our Hope and to seek the Support of our Prayers which we pour forth before God But for his manifold Mercies Reducing my self therefore to the Intention of the Church and the Simplicity of the Text which I have chosen I shall only shew to all the Faithful whom Piety concerns in his Salvation in the Two Parts of this Discourse I. The Obligations that France has to Pray II. The Reasons that she has to Hope Her Obligations to Pray from what he has done for France The Reasons she has to Hope from what God has done for Him But Lord what has he done for Thee and for his Salvation For this is that which makes the Personal Merit and weighs down in the Decisive Ballance of Eternity We shall find it included in these Two Points which will fill our Minds with this comfortable Idea That this God who only crowns his Gifts when he crowns our Merits and who making the Vertues of Saints Meritorious is pleas'd to make the Tears of Sinners also Meritorious will have found in this Great Man whom we lament what is sufficient to procure him that last Mercy

to say of those who had had him for their General the Companion of their Dangers and their Guide to Victory Honour'd by their Tears he is as little troubl'd as mollify'd by 'em nothing mov'd he shews himself a Spectacle to the Grief of some and the Pity of others He calls to their remembrance the vanity of Grandeurs that have no other Foundation then the Frailty of this Life He brings into their Minds the Importance of the Journey which he is going to take before 'em and which they must all prepare for after him Penetrated with Sorrow to see himself defective in requisite Purity to offer up his Soul a sweet Savour to God he offers it as a Victim to his Supreme Will and believes that God will vouchsafe him Salvation seeing that after so many Sins committed he leaves him still a lively and humble Hope He accompanies the Sacred Ceremonies with a faithful and reverent Attention and he is desirous to breathe his last Gasps embracing the Cross in Adoration of his Master Enfeebl'd at length and feeling the Approaches of Death he employs the last Efforts of his Speech to desire the Succour of the Holy Ministers and his faithful Friends that with their Voices and their Thoughts they would uphold to the last the Union of his Heart with God In these Sentiments of Submission of a Creature to his Master of the Fear and Humility of an Offender before his Judge of Religion and Piety of a Christian before his Saviour of the Confidence and Love of a Prodigal and Penitent Son toward his Father he expires he goes to appear before the Sovereign Tribunal follow'd by his Works 't is true but laden Lord with thy great Mercies They would never have accompany'd him so many Years they would never have been redoubl'd at last with so much splendour to fail him at the last Moment that very Moment to which all the Moments and Favours of this Life tend This is that which has hitherto upheld his Hope and which at this day ought also to uphold ours in favour of him Not for our Righteousness but for thy great Mercies Let those that know thee not O God blame our Confidence But let those that know thee by a real Faith by long Experiences of thy Goodness those who are enter'd into the Treasuries of thy Mercy who know That thou hast Pity upon all Men because thou art Almighty that thou pardon'st all because we are all thy Creatures that for the gaining of their Pardon thou only demandest we should turn to thee with all our hearts That thou art the good Shepherd that leavest the whole Flock to look after the stray'd Sheep and takest her upon thy shoulders with so much the more Charity as being more feeble and more in a languishing and dying Condition Let those who know thee for such a God Hope in thee O my God And let 'em cry aloud with David Because thou never forsakest those that seek thee Lord. The Person for whom we implore all this Clemency was full of these Sentiments He has never ceas'd to Know Thee If he went astray thou soughtest after him by Adversity by Repentance Invited by the Enquiries of thy Grace he has sought after thee by the Fervency of his Sighs Lord thou never forsakest those who know thee and who seek after thee We know thee too well not to depend upon thee Let 'em Hope in thee that know thy Name because thou hast not forsaken those that seek thee O Lord. The let us not fall into the Snares of the Enemies of Repentance as also of Vertue it self The World is full of Men without Faith who not being in a Condition to pretend to the Hopes of Future Life make it their De light to think ill of those that go out of This and strive as says St. Jerome to Comfort themselves with their own Despair by despairing of the Salvation of all others They believe it an Ease of their Pain that no body should be Righteous But let us not afford 'em this false Joy but let all the truly Faithful reunite themselves to uphold the merciful Strength of the Grace of God against the false Inflexibilities and aflected Zeal of Libertinism Let the Children of this Heroe all so capable to uphold here below the Honour which he has left 'em never imagin that they have not more for him Let 'em be mindful of that Glory of happy Eternity where Repentance has a share as well as Innocency and striving themselves to attain to the most safe of these two ways let 'em be convinc'd that God opens the Other when to whom and after what manner he pleases Let Him among his Illustrious Children whom Providence has made Choice of for the Service of his Church and who was Consecrated to it in his most tender Years with such happy Dispositions to the most Noble Vertues and most High Dignities of that excellent Condition Let this Son I say so justly sensible of the Loss of such a Father apply himself speedily to procure him by his Piety the Peace and Glory of the Elect with as much Fervency as his other Children by their Valour shall doe Honour to his Memory Let that Afflicted Widow as remote from the Pomp and Corruption of the World by Choice and Inclination as she approaches near to what the World accounts most Great by the Blood of Luxembourg and Clermont the Splendour of which she has united to the Blood of Montmorancy now redouble with more Confidence the Exercises of her Charity which she made her sweetest Employment while he liv'd for the etetnal Repose of her Husband Let that Lady in the last place strong above her Sex and her Age who gave Life to this Heroe then the Child of her Sorrow now the Crown of her Old Age who saw him cover'd with Honour after she had seen him born in the midst of the Shadow of Death at this day surviving so many Revolutions as a publick Witness of the Wonders of Providence after Threescore and eight Years of Vertuous Widowhood equal or superiour to the Widow'd Prophetess considering the Number of her Years and her Love for her Country and like to her in Wisdom and Piety consecrate the remainder of her Life to bless the Mercies which God has exercis'd upon her Son and to draw 'em down upon the Flourishing Family of which God was pleas'd that He should be the Chief Let Us. My Lords excited to Pray for Him by so many Motives of Hope work out our Salvation with Fear and Trembling convinc'd of this Truth so brightly shining in St. Paul That it is God who works in us hoth the Will and the Deed according to his Good Will If God has wrought in Him this wonderful Operation Has he wrought it for all Sinners If this Penitent shew'd himself Faithful upon this last Effort of the Goodness of God for Him Are all others therefore Faithful If He have had a Time Shall you have the same If the Felicity of this End seems to harden ye to Sin let the Seldomness of the Happiness carry you to Repentance to this Favourable Death of a Penitent opposite to so many Violent Unexpected Untimely and many otherwise Fatal Deaths In the mean time but for this End so full of Consolation what would become of all the Wonders of his Life What Kindness would the Luster of so many Victories doe him before the Tribunal of his God Nay What stead would they stand him in before the Tribunal of the World and Publick Opinion Therefore it is by this End that we ought to measure all the Grandeur of this Man And God My Lords and the World will Judge of You by your Ends. May it have been for Him and may it be for every one of Us the Beginning of Blessed Eternity THE END