Selected quad for the lemma: mercy_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
mercy_n	full_a	lord_n	psal_n	2,435	5	7.5110	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A10038	The godly mans inquisition lately deliuered in two sermons before the right honourable Henry, Lord Montague, late lord high treasurer, priuie counsellor, &c. other gentlemen of worship, at Kimolton on their annuall feast day. By R. Preston, Preacher of Gods word.	Preston, Richard, d. ca. 1624.	1622 (1622)	STC 20285; ESTC S111971	37,702	74

mute before their masters they will laugh and spend time idlie and lasciuiously when they are departed from it they forget the word yea themselues and so with the dogge they returne to their wonted vomit 2 Pet. 2.22 Others are in strength of bodie and soundnesse of the members and they need not returne to God till they waxe wan and weake and feeble and then they say is their time But let me frame such an opponent and times-enemie this answere if thou doest not forsake thy sinnes and turne to God till thou be weake and feeble then thy sinnes will forsake thee and not thou them What thankes is it for a drunkard to giue ouer his drunkennesse when he is not able any longer to goe to the Alehouse Or for the Whoremaster to leaue his whoredome when he hath no strength for the performance and execution of his filthie desire A man should willingly part with his sinnes euen while he is able to commit them and not by constraint when there is no remedie Secondly the time of weaknesse dotage c. is not Gods appointed opportunitie If a man would then he cannot soundly turne to God for all the parts of bodie and powers of soule will loose their vertue and neither part nor power can performe their office Eceles 12. The brawne of the armes they fall away the keepers of the house that is the hands which defend the bodie tremble the strong men that is the legges that should carry the bodie doe bow themselues and waxe faint the eyes that looke out at the windowes are darke and obscure the Grinders that is the teeth fall out of the head the doores of the lips are shut the iawes fallen and the daughters of singing that is the eares are abased being vnable any longer to heare the sound of Musicke the memorie is dulled the vnderstanding darkned c. And further least a man should thinke the time of dotage and of weaknesse the most conuenient time to seeke the Lord Salomon brings in that decrepit age deafe blind lame halt short winded full of aches in his bones cramps in his ioynts and sundry diseases in his bodie trembling on a staffe with shaking lips and almost robbed of all senses as if he might say Now looke and tell me whether this weake time this feeble age be the acceptable time and day of conuersion When this age oppressed Barzillai then could he say Can I discerne betweene good and euill 2 Sam 19.35 Haue I any taste in that I eate or drinke c. He confessed that his weaknesse was so great that both bodie and mind were disabled from attending on the King much more from attending this worke of grace Others also are readie to plead the mercifulnesse of God to giue toleration to presumptuous procrastination Oh God is mercifull hereupon the yong man is loose the drunkard ryotous the rich man cruell the swearer blasphemous the adulterer vicious and each man adulterate and beastiall in his kinde But let such bold flinder-mice know withall that God is as speedie in iustice to punish the euill and vngodly men as he is full of mercie for the vse and reward of his owne dearelings The hope of the wicked is hopelesse the Lord hath said it Psal 18.26 Prou. 1.28 34. he will visit their iniquities and laugh at their destruction and they shall finde that true for all their presumptions which the Apostle relateth Heb. 10.32 And 12.29 Rom. 2.4 viz. that it is a fearefull thing to fall into the hands of God who is a consuming fire The mercie of God should lead men to repentance and make preparation for the day of grace Others are forward to excuse their delay I pray you did not the theefe on the Crosse seeke the Lord by Repentance at the last houre of his life and found him to his comfort I grant its true but it followes not thereon that euery one so seeking shall partake of GODS fauour This example was extraordinary and giuen of God that sinners should not presume and that true paenitentiaries should not despaire It is folly and great madnesse to deferre vntill the last in regard of this one patterne and example it being left without precept Fie on this slaggering and staggering of Christians who gape after Meteors in the aire cast beyond the Moone and are doubtfull when they hazard nothing but vanitie which would hazard their soules They murmure at present conuersion and say with the Disciples This is an hard saying who can beare it Ioh. 6. Or else they seeke to shift it off as they did who were called on to re-edifie the Temple and answered It is not yet time to build Hag. 1.2 c. Vse 2 Secondly this Doctrine may likewise serue for Instruction For instruction God biddeth and it is our dutie to hold opportunitie by the fore-locke by a little staying behind it will slip away and we shall not be able to catch hold of it Now the Lord will be found but anon he is gone and will absent himselfe as the Prophet tells vs Hos 5.6.7 They shall goe with their sheepe and their Bullockes to seeke the Lord but they shall not find him for he hath with-drawne himselfe from them Oh therefore when God putteth any good motion into our hearts of seeking let vs forthwith addresse our selues vnto it as Abrahams seruant that was sent to prouide a wife for his son Isaac when he had had good successe and well effected the businesse which he came for hasted home to his Master And when Rebeccaes friends requested him to stay ten dayes because they were loath to part with her on the sodaine he would not yeeld at any hand No hinder me not saith he Gen. 34.54.55.56 seeing the Lord hath prospered my iourney but send me away that I may goe to my Master So should we suffer nothing at all to hinder vs but euen make hast to turne to the Lord vpon the first motion There is a good saying to this purpose in the booke of Ecclesiasticus Chap. 5.7 Make no tarrying to seeke the Lord and put not off from day to day for sodainly shall the wrath of the Lord breake forth and in thy securitie thou shalt be destroyed Ob But it will be said Ob Hast makes wast faire and softly goe farre soft fire makes sweet Malt the hastie man neuer wanted woe Ans All these be true Ans and good often in temporall affaires yea and sometimes also in businesses touching the soule Esay 8. Let not him that beleeueth make haste be not too credulous of euery thing without triall But in this case of seeking the Lord these Prouerbes hold not true we haue no larger bounds then the present the instant the moment If we slacke our zeale neuer so little euery baite of drunkennesse obiect of couetousnesse presented glance of wantonnesse will offer it selfe as a temptation to alter or at least to hinder our intended Conuersion And albeit they say as the Deuils said to Christ Math. 8. Why tormentest thou vs before the time Yet brethren the time is alreadie come and now is wherein God conuerseth with vs most graciously by his Spirit and most familiarly by his word let vs therefore gather Manna early in the morning before the Sunne melt it away and let vs walke in the light while we haue it then shall our darkenesse be turned into light our sorrow into ioy our baldnesse into beautie and for sack-cloath we shall be decked with garments of gladnesse then shall heauen and earth Angels and men and all creatures else clap their hands for ioy of our Conuersion all meeting in this cloze Praysed be the Lord who hath such pleasure in his seruants that he will be found of them to their Saluation Amen FINIS

his holy name to pray vnto him to make profession of his Religion to embrace him the true Iehovah and as the onely God by a liuely faith c. This large signification of seeking the Lord is not onely thus meant and expounded here but else-where in Scripture Hos 3.5 Psal 24.6 and 27.8 While he may be found These words include the present occasion and time of seeking for according to the time that God will be found we are to seeke Now if we seeke according to certaine rules after prescribed he will be found presently and therefore we are to seeke presently 2 Cor. 6.2 Now is the acceptable time now is the day of Grace Otherwise there is a time when the Lord will withdraw himselfe and will not be found though we seeke earnestly as the Prophet did for a Man to execute iudgement Ier. 5.1 and performe righteousnesse in Ierusalem and found him not In few words the meaning is this O yee Iewes by your disobedience and daily transgressions you haue lost the Lords fauour and countenance abused his gracious offers delaying time and procrastinating Repentance and you haue made vnto your selues Idolls that are no Gods Now the Lord once againe offereth himselfe in his mercies to your view neglect not the occasion but serue seeke call vpon and worship him if it come to passe that meanes and time slip away through carelesnesse then all your hopes are in the winde and you may seeke God but he will neuer be found as a mercifull and tender Father but rather as a terrible and a fearefull Iudge Seeke This word presupposeth a former losse Doct. 1. we need not seeke God Sinne is the cause of the losse of Gods fauour vnlesse formerly we had lost God Hence I gather this Theoreme that by corrupt nature and multitude of transgressions we are loosers not seekers of God we are rather strangers and wanderers from him then Inquisitors of and true conuerts vnto him In the corruption of nature we lost the comfortable presence of God which in our innocencie we enioyed by loosing our selues we lost him and secondly in the daily admitting and committing of sin after grace receiued we loose his sight and presence Sinne is a make-bate Reason and a schismatique that rendeth asunder the sacred bond of peace betweene the Creator and his creature it shorteneth his arme and withereth the fresh boughes of his loue It maketh a separation betweene him and vs as the Cloud betweene the brightnesse of the Sunne and vs It casteth vs into darkenesse and thrusteth vs behinde the doore as Iael did Sisera that we might loath to see the face of God as Sisera did the face of Barak and Deborah Iudg. 4.18.19 So long as the Ephesians continued in their sinfull Idolatrie they lost God for it is said Eph. 2.12 that they were without Christ being aliens from the Common-wealth of Israel strangers from the couenant of promise hauing no hope and without God And so soone as our progenitour Adam had transgressed the Commandement in eating of the forbidden fruit he went and hid himselfe in a bush as if Gods presence had beene too hot for him Gen. 3.8 Adam and his wife hid themselues from the presence of the Lord amongst the trees of the Garden fearefull they were to heare him speake and ashamed to see his face and therefore they seeke starting-holes to hide themselues the further from him In the same taking are all his of-spring to this day if the old serpent get any of vs to plucke an apple from the prohibited tree that is if he winne our consents to sinne he hath his desire and we become vagabonds on the earth and fugitiues from the face of God And euer the more we offend the further we are from God being either like Pilgrimes now wandering vp the steepe Mountaines of pride now downe the low vallies of despaire now through the shadie groues of wantonnesse now through the broad fields of licentiousnesse now through the thornie thickets of worldly cares now through the filthie channels of carnall lusts roouing sometimes here sometimes there without mate and guide the Deuill leading vs whither he list or like Marchant aduenturers imbarkt in the ship of securitie sometimes hoysing vp the sailes of noysome desires sometime filled with the merry gale of vaine and worldly pleasures somtimes delighted with a whistling aire of filthy lucre euer and anon running vpon the Syrtes and quicksands of sinne to the great danger not so much of the losse of life and wracke of goods as the wracke of Conscience which is the greatest shipwracke and the losse of Gods lone and affection which is the greatest losse Thus sinfull men that we are whilest with the Prodigall we become trauellers and Marchant aduenturers to see the fashions of the world abroad we become like to Ionas Ion. 1.3 who fled to Tarshish from the prefence of God There be three things that make men forsake one anothers societie Philo. de profugis Hatred Feare Shame for hatred the enuious man hates the companie of him that prospereth and so doth one enemy hate another Iacob fled from Laban because of his iniustice and Idolatrie he hated them For feare Children will runne from their Parents and seruants from their Masters for feare Iacob fled from Esau and Dauid from Saul For shame the Adulterer keepes his Cabin and is couched in a chamber Gen. 3. and for shame Adam skulted in the groue of Paradise Tell me thou fugitiue sinner for which of these things doest thou seeke to estrange thy selfe from God there is no cause of hatred in him for he is wholly delectable Cant. 5.10.16 the fairest of ten thousand there is no cause of feare in him for he is the Father of mercies and the God of consolation Ephes 2.4 he is rich in mercy especially to them Gal. 4.6 who haue receiued the spirit of adoption to cry Abba Father there is no cause of shame in him Psal 24.8.9 25.3 for he is the Lord of Glorie Nay rather vile sinner be ashamed of thy sinnes and blush at thy transgressions whereby thou hast lost thy selfe and a mercifull God thou by thy wicked life hast turned thy backe vpon thy Master and set thy selfe so farre at oddes with him that thou shalt draw downe no loue from him vnto thee vnlesse thy Repentance and humiliation for thy sinne be as the Loadstone to pull him to and winne him againe Obiect But how can a man wander from God Ob or lose him Wheresoeuer I am God is there present he filleth both heauen and earth Ier. 23.24 Psal 27. Psal 139.2.3.4 he is with me at my sitting rising lying downe in the thoughts of my heart words of my tongue wayes of my feete nay in my reines and bones His presence cannot be auoided who sitteth on the Circle of heauen 1 Reg. 8.27 Isa 66.1 and beholdeth the

inhabitants of the earth as Grashoppers whose throne is the heauen of heauens and the earth is his footestoole and his wayes are in the great deepe c. Answ It is true Sol There is neither heauen nor hell nor the vttermost part of the Sea neither day nor night light nor darkenesse that can separate vs from God the presence of his God head is no lesse in one place then in another He is well knowne in Iury and his name is great in Israel But yet touching the presence of his mercie and louing kindnesse that is not vouchsafed to the wicked they shall not enioy one iot of it In which respect they may be said to be farre absent from God Secondly God may be said to be found when the kingdome of Grace is much aduanced amongst a people but the vngodly they seeke to subdue it Heb. 10.29 and to trample the precious bloud of Christ vnder their feete which makes them strangers vnto God Vse 1 Vse Is it so that a man by sinne flies the face of God For information this may then let vs see the malice of sinne against our soules It will neuer cease stretching forth an Ishmaeliticall hand til it haue quite parted God and vs yea till it hath diuided vs from our selues for while we are beguiled with the deceilfulnesse thereof irrationall conditions and beastly qualities oppresse vs and with ding-thrifts and Prodigalls it will make vs forsake our Fathers house and change his sweet and fat land for a strange Countrey his daintie cates and dishes of sweet meates for refuse huskes his friends and acquaintance to become fellow-feasters with swine In a word it will so mad vs that we should neuer thinke either of God or the Deuill of Paradise or eternall plagues if the Lord had not left time and meanes that we might returne to our selues and so seeke the Lord. Vse 2 Vse 2. Secondly this Doctrine may teach vs to beware For instruction and to take heed of sinne and as much as in vs lyeth to binde it to good behauiour we haue no greater enemy in the world seeing without our circumspection it will goe about to set God and vs at eares Oh then take the peace of it and seeke to shut it out of the doores of thy heart that it may neuer shut thee out of Gods presence And as Samael dealt with the Amalekites 1 Sam. 15. so deale thou with the members of sinne kill them and then bury them with Iezabells bones in a deepe graue that they may no more rise vp to hang vpon thee this is the next and readiest way to get into Gods fauour and the presence of his grace Vse 3 Vse 3. Thirdly we are here likewise taught to bewaile the great losse of our God To bewaile our losse of God by sinne and to lament the want of his gracious presence this is the practise of euery godly man for if he thinke it the greatest gaine to obtaine the fauour of God then he must needes thinke it his greatest losse to want it If there be any sprinkle of Regeneration vpon thee or sparke of grace within thee it will moue thee to griefe and sorrow in the absence of God and compell thee to seeke him as the Hart doth the waters saying Psal 143.6 My sonle desireth after thee as the Hart after the water brookes and as the thirstie lands after raine Reason 1 The reasons why godly men bewaile the absence of God are specially these two First they know what it is to want God by setting a prise and worth on him while they haue him present in their hearts they know that when by sinne we loose him the soule is dead grace is withered the Conscience tormented and heauen turned into hell they know that the world cannot be so miserable without a Sunne nor the bodie without breath as the soule without God the sunne of his Church and the soule of the soule of euery true beleeuer Reason 2 Secondly if God depart from them for a time in displeasure through their fall into some sinne and then leaue a sense of his displeasure in their soules then their soules find such a want of him that they are not able to sustaine themselues without a present possession In this case godlesse men being sore afflicted will mourne for their wants and therefore much more the godly But alas for all this with the most of vs it is farre otherwise we can easily bewaile the losse of a sheep or a cow or an hogge c. We will take on as a Beare robbed of her Whelpes and tell our neighbours our griefe and the great losse we haue sustained but we seldome or neuer make any moane that we haue lost Gods fauour because we want a sense and feeling of his blessings in his mercies We seldome cry out in his absence Psal 67.1 Lord lift vp the light of thy countenance vpon vs neither doe we complaine Isa 59.2 that our iniquities haue reared vp a partition wall betweene God and vs and so hid his face from vs that he will not heare neither doe we accuse our selues as lost sheepe Psal 119. last verse that haue long gone astray Oh therefore let vs flatter our selues no more with those that plucke out the eyes of knowledge it selfe Psal 10.4.11 Tush God is gone he hideth his face and will neuer see But rather let vs resolue to seeke GOD when he is wanting and to mourne for the want Let vs not follow our sensualitie too farre nor buy voluptuousnesse with a price but say with the Athenian Oratour when we heare how farre God is from vs by our pleasure Non em●m tanti peanitere I will not buy the seeking of God by Repentance at so high a rate Vse 4 Vse 4. Lastly seeing by sinne we loose God here againe wee are exhorted when we possesse him when we haue found him Let vs hold God fast when we haue him when we possesse to keepe our selues there and to hold him fast Let thine eye be continually vpon him and neuer suffer him to be out of thy sight Psal 123.2 Behold as the eyes of seruants looke vnto the hands of their Masters and as the eyes of a maiden vnto the hands of her mistresse So let our eyes waite vpon the Lord our God As the child dealeth with his Father he followes him vp and downe and dare not let him goe out of his sight but holds hard on his skirts keepes him with him So deale thou with the Lord turne thy selfe in euery good action vnto him and if thou hast any feare of loosing then sit the closer and hold the faster euer remembring that the second losse is the greater and bringeth more danger to the looser Dauid set himselfe euer in Gods presence 2 King 5.16 so doe thou stand before the Lord continually for this is a signe of thy obedience to the Lord