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
A29932	Dwelling with God, the interest and duty of believers in opposition to the complemental, heartless, and reserved religion of the hypocrite / opened in eight sermons by John Bryan ...	Bryan, John, d. 1676.; Baxter, Richard, 1615-1691.	1670 (1670)	Wing B5243; ESTC R31994	149,472	465

will be with thee and through the Waters they shall not overflow thee and through the fire it shall not burn thee neither shall the flame kindle upon thee for I am the Lord thy God I will never leave thee nor forsake thee Be of good cheer thy sins are forgiven thee If we confess our sins he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins Blessed be the Poor for theirs is the Kingdome of God Blessed are ye that hunger now for you shall be filled Blessed are ye that weep now for ye shall laugh All things shall work together for good to them that love God If there be a willing mind it is accepted according to what a Man hath with a thousand more This is the Musick that David desired to hear which he calls joy and gladness Such Musick and Dancing there is to it in this House every moment and frequently an expression of spiritual joy and jollity in Psalmes and Hymns and spiritual Songs makeing melody in the Heart unto the Lord. And as for Treasures of Gold and Silver there is not one of this House which hath not alway plenty of both Though many of them many a time may say as Peter did Silver and Gold have I none First they have that which is a thousand times better The Word of God which they justly claim as their Heritage for ever Thy Testimonies have I taken as an Heritage for ever as my true Soveraign and peculiar good which I hold from thee as a Child of thy grace The Law of thy Mouth is better unto me than thousands of Gold and Silver More to be desired than Gold yea than much fine Gold And in that word they have bonds which made by solvent Men are esteemed every whit as good as the sums therein specified Divine Promises One shall suffice for all Thou shalt lay up Gold as Dust and the Gold of Ophir as the Stones of the Brook yea the Almighty shall be thy Gold and thou shalt have plenty of Silver There are a World of goods more wherewith this House is stored the worth whereof is unvaluable the smallest quantity whereof being a thousand times more worth than a thousand such Worlds as this Visible one is The Lord the Lord God gracious merciful long-suffering abundant in goodness and truth The Earth is full of the goodness of the Lord thy right Hand is full of Righteousness Touching the Almighty he is excellent in Power and in Judgment and in plenty of Justice Holy holy holy is the Lord of Hosts the whole Earth is full of his glory Thou Lord art good and ready to forgive and plenteous in Mercy unto all them that call upon thee the Voice of the Lord is full of Majesty And O the fulness of God manifested in the Flesh We beheld his Glory the Glory of the only begotten of the Father full of grace and truth Of his fulness have we all received With him is plenteous Redemption 7. This is a living House other Houses are made of dead Materials Wood and Stone most of them of Clay whose Foundation is in the Dust which are crushed before the Moth. God the Father hath life in himself and he hath given to the Son to have life in himself and to be the cause and giver of life of the life of nature to all Men and of grace and godliness to sinful Men and of comfort to sorrowful Men and of Resurrection to dead Men and of Glory to godly Men. It is God in whom we live and move and have our Beeing and he it is that maintains our life O bless our God ye People and make the voice of his praise to be heard which holdeth our Soul in Life Watching continually to prevent them that seek after it and lay snares for it Men that are Princes Life-Guards are fain sometimes to sleep cannot watch always and Men that dwell in costly Houses are fain to watch their Houses Know this saith our Saviour that if the good Man of the House had known in what Watch the Thief would come he would have watched and not have suffered his House to be broken up But this House watcheth over all that dwell in it that no hurt be at any time done them He that keepeth thee will not slumber saith the Psalmist speaking to himself who dwelt in the secret place of the most High in the spirit Behold he that keepeth Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep This is a new House alwayes new and so needs no repair it is not subject as all other Houses are to age and decay Though some old things are better than new No Man having drunk old Wine straight-way desireth new for he saith the old is better They sacrificed to new Gods that came newly up Yet generally new things are best and so accounted both things of Gods making Behold I make all things new I create new Heavens and a new Earth I will make a new Covenant A new Heart will I give you and a new spirit will I give you thou shalt be called by a new Name which the Mouth of the Lord shall Name And so of Mens Garments and all manner of Utensils when and while new are most set by Especially Houses both themselves live and lodge in and also Out-houses when they are over old they pull them down and build new ones This House is never old but as new at this day as it was when the first holy Man had his habitation in it as full of lustre and glory ten thousand times more glorious than that Palace of the Sun which the Poet describes and it must needs be so because every Inhabitant is not only glorious made so by it but glory it self Upon all the Glory shall be a defence By Glory are meant the Saints of God the abstract put for the concrete to note their eminent shining surpassing transcendent excellency though in this life they are compassed about with many infirmities which makes their glory less conspicuous They are all glorious within Now do but note what kind of defence what manner of covering this House is promised to be to all those glorious ones that dwell in it namely like that of the Israelites when they went out of Egypt The Lord went before them by Day to lead them in a Pillar of a Cloud in the way and by Night in a Pillar of Fire to give them light It shall be though not so visibly conspicuous yet as illustrious and miraculous and that against all manner of evils heat and rain and for all times Day and Night There shall be a Tabernacle for a shaddow in the Day-time from the heat and for a place of refuge from storme and from Rain God hath been ever such a house of defence to all his holy ones is now and ever shall be World without

also as a joyful witness both clearing our evidences and opening our minds to discern them The Spirit it self beareth witness with our Spirit that we are the Sons of God Hereby we come to have boldness confidence and a perspicuous manifestation of Divine love shed abroad in our heart and certain knowledge and full assurance of knowledge and hope of Faith Let us draw near with all full assurance of Faith The word imports a carrying on with full Saile like a Ship that hath Wind and Tyde and all the Sailes spread to the Wind. Those three parts of God's Kingdome Righteousness Peace and Joy in the Holy Ghost are consequents and effects of these three Applications The first namely that of adherence hath Wind and Tide against it The second hath Wind carrying it on but without Tide The third hath both Wind and Tide and all the affections like spread Sailes filled with the Gales of the Spirit causing joy unspeakable and full of Glory In the Church of Rome this Doctrine of full assurance is cryed down and an impossibility of attaining it by any ordinary Christians asserted and the main reason they render for the Confirmation of this Doctrine especially as to the subjective certainty of perseverance whereof Paul speaks when he saith I am sure that nothing shall be able to separate us from the Love of God in Jesus Christ Is the mutability of Man's will but the assurance of Christians depends not upon Man's mutable but upon the immutable will of God and upon his infallible truth who hath promised to keep them whom he receives in him by his strongest power if there can be conceived any degree in Omnipotency we are kept by the Guard of God's Power through Faith unto Salvation They askt what ground hath any ordinary Christian for special faith when there is no special promise nor any Divine testimony by audible Voice such as some choice Persons have had as Gen. 15. 1. Mat. 9. 2. Luk. 5. 20. 47. 48. 23. 42. 43. They are answered we will not contend about bare words whether it be better called special faith or assurance gathered from two promises the one in Scripture the other in our hearts so participating of Faith for that is our sence of special Faith but as to the matter 1. There are general promises with a command to apply them 2. Special Faith is gathered by argumentation thus whoever hath God's Spirit confesseth that Jesus is the Son of God that Man dwelleth in God But so have I so do I therefore I dwell in God 3. Sacraments give ground for special Faith wherein is made special application to the receivers 4. The Spirit is given for this end to believers as a seal and earnest and witness to assure them that God is their Habitation and Salvation And that it 's possible for a Christian in ordinary course to attain this grace if he do what in him lyeth We have God's express promise to this purpose Thou shalt know that I the Lord am thy Saviour and Redeemer and a charge is laid upon every Christian to make his calling sure and not to come without full assurance when they draw nigh to him in Prayer and other duties of his Worship Let us draw neer him in full assurance of Faith And we have the experience of God's People in all ages for it And though they that profess they had it as Job David Paul were rare Persons Yet the Faith of the meanest Christian is of the same Nature with theirs though not in the same degree This is the Doctrine of the reformed Churches who yet deny not the difficulty of attaining the highest degree and that very few there are that attain it and fewer that have it at all times alike nor any in that perfection but that there is some mixture of doubting And this is one sign of the truth and goodness of it when it is attained with difficulty and assaulted with infidelity For there are many whom Satan and their own heart have deluded in this point who are strongly perswaded that God is theirs never doubted of their interest in him make no question but the Lord is their Habitation who entered not in by the Door never received the spirit of bondage to fear have no fear of offending God no care to please him but live in known sin against the light of knowledge and checks of Conscience which evinceth them to be in the gall of bitterness Now these who in their own conceits have taken up their dwelling in God like those buyers and sellers that took up their seats in the Temple without the Warrant against the consent of the Owner of that House must be dealt with by the Ministers of Christ as those Intruders by Christ were driven out with a scourge And as Nehemiah dealt with Tobiah who had got a Chamber in the Court of the House of God who cast both him and his stuff out of it Avoid prophaneness come not here nothing but holy pure and clear or that which groaneth to be so may enter or abide one Moment at his peril To you who can prove your assurance that you are in God to be of God by the qualification of your Persons as having formerly been humbled for your living without God in the World and at present humble your selves to walk with your God and resolve so to do to the end of your life Unto you I am sent with a manifold Word of Exhortation 1. To prize this as the greatest blessing and rejoyce in it more than in all other blessings and accordingly to praise God for it that he hath given you to know that he is your Habitation Lifting up the Light of his Countenance upon you and giving you Eyes to see that Light There be many that say who will shew us any good Lord lift thou up the light of thy Countenance upon us Thou hast put gladness in my heart more than in the time when their Corn and Wine increased because thy loving kindness is better than life my Lips shall praise thee Thus will I bless thee while I live Because thou hast caused me to feel the effects of thy Grace at full even as the Sun shooteth out his Beames at Mid-Day And because I finde this to be the life of my life without which every Day would be more bitter to me than Death Therefore for this above all Mercies will I bless thee every Day and I will praise thy Name for ever 2. To hold fast what you have and be alway adding to it as worldly Men do by their Earthly substance How oft are Christians exhorted to hold fast every good spiritual thing that they have gotten Hold fast as with Tooth and Nail the faithful Word The pure and sincere Doctrine of the Gospel against those Gain-sayers that would snatch it from you and not only the matter but the forme

you under the wing and protection of your God and so free your Hearts from all fear and discouragement and disquiet The acts of Faith effectual to this end are Nine in Number and in this Order The first is an act of Information Faith informes the Soul of these things Namely concerning the nature Author ends measure and continuance of the affliction 1. Concerning the nature or matter of it that it is humane There hath no temptation overtaken you but such as is common to Man Let it be what it will other Men as good yea better than you have suffered in the same kind drank of the same Cup yea deeper than any of you have yet done Poverty sickness reproach loss of dear relations trouble of mind Job and David and Paul for example and the Macabee Confessors and Martyres 2. Concerning the Author that who or whatsoever is the Instrument God is the Principle Agent His Decree ordained it and his actual providence hath inflicted it 3. Touching the ends God aimes at in your afflictions Among others they are these To bring you to a sight of your sins long since or lately committed To humble and reprove you to purge and refine you to work self-denyal in you to reduce you into the right way to quicken your devotion To wean you from the love of the World and make you long for Heaven To cause you to relish mercies and comforts better To save you from Damnation and to make your Crown of Glory weightier 4. Touching the measure that it shall be no more than needs and no more than you shall have strength well to bear 1 Pet. 1. 6. 1 Cor. 10. 13. All your Enemies shall not be able to add one scruple more Job 1. 12. 2. 6. Wife and loving Parents correct their Children in measure there is no fear that they will break their Bones Learned and loving Physicians have due respect when they administer Doses to the strength of their Patients Such a Father and Physician is God and a thousand times more tender 5. Touching the continuance of the affliction incumbent Faith informes the Soul that the Diet-drink prescribed shall be no longer required to be taken than till health be recovered That the Plaster shall lie no longer on the sore than till the Cure be wrought that the Gold be no longer in the Fire than till the Dross be consumed at longest it shall be but until Death and all the space until then let it be never so long is but a little moment in respect of Eternity a little Cloud quickly passing The second is a quickning exciting act Faith excites the Soul first to make search and scrutiny into this affliction 2. To cast it self down in humble acknowledgment of its own desert and Gods Justice accusing and judging it self and justifying God in his sharp Dispensation 3. To pour out its complaint to God and cry for mercy and pardon of the sin procuring the Cross and for sanctification and removal of it 4. To cast off all purposes of falling into sin again of giving God any more cause to punish 5. To use all lawful meanes to get the Cross removed or mitigated Jos 7. 11. 13 16. The third is an employing act hear faith speaking thus We have no might neither know we what to do It causeth the Soul to renounce its own wisdome strength and all confidence in the Creature draws the heart from carnal repose in means or friends The fourth is an act of discovery it discovers to the Soul that sees no help any where else all-sufficiency of help in God All-sufficiency of wisdome power grace mercy truth and love and it discovers also the manner of God's dealing which usually is to grant deliverance and send help then when to sense and reason it is furthest off Deut. 32. 36. Jer. 30. 12 18. Psal 142. 6. It looks also back upon former favours which are as Bills obligatory of future good things even all that God sees necessary That which God hath once done for any of his in sustaining relieving and delivering them He will do over and over again for them if they inforce themselves towards him The fifth is a meekening act Faith makes the heart willing to submit it self to the good pleasure of God and patiently and gently to bear his corrections And the considerations whereby Faith moves and prevailes with the soul to carry it self meekly under Gods hand are such as these first from the desert of sin you have merited all this and much more and are punished beneath your iniquities 2. From the hand that layes this Rod upon the back It is a Fatherly one that gives you this bitter Cup. 3. From his predestinating you to be conformable to the Image of his Son who was a Man of sorrows acquainted with griefs 4. From the recompence of reward which is infinitely heavier than your sufferings The sixth is an act of remembrance It causeth the soul to call to mind those sweet and gracious promises God hath made in his Word to his People in their afflictions 1. That he will look down from Heaven in mercy and cast a gracious aspect upon them 2. That he will be with them to support and comfort them in their troubles 3. That he will deliver them out of trouble 4. After they have suffered a while establish strengthen them and then receive them to Glory where they shall never suffer more but in his presence have fulness of joy and at his right hand pleasures that shall please for ever more A seventh is an act of recumbency a resting rolling relying act casting the Soul upon God and staying there clasping a desiring depending committing it self to divine providence with assured trust and confidence that all shall be well because all shall end well though sense and reason say never so much to the contrary this confidence doth as it were oblige and bind the Lord to do his People good Psal 37. 40. 57. 1. 147. 8 9. Es 26. 3. Jer. 39. 18. The eighth is an act of expectation waiting for comfort and deliverance referring both time and meanes and manner unto God The nineth and last is an act of rejoycing and triumphing the former it doth because it feels the Physick to work kindly and the latter in assurance of a blessed issue There are besides these many several Laws which you that dwell in God are bound to observe continually A few of them I shall commend unto your practice you must be alway watching alway working alway rejoycing and alway praying and alway giving thanks and alway ready to remove out of the lower Rooms wherein you live into higher whither you shall hear a voice saying come up hither Every one in this House must be ever-more working watching They ought not to sleep at any time Ye Brethren are all the Children of the Light and the Children