Selected quad for the lemma: mercy_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
mercy_n	good_a	grace_n	work_n	6,662	5	5.6625	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A12064	A looking-glasse for the Pope Wherein he may see his owne face, the expresse image of Antichrist. Together with the Popes new creede, containing 12. articles of superstition and treason, set out by Pius the 4. and Paul the 5. masked with the name of the Catholike faith: refuted in two dialogues. Set forth by Leonel Sharpe Doctor in Diuinitie, and translated by Edward Sharpe Bachelour in Diuinitie.; Speculum Papæ. English	Sharpe, Leonel, 1559-1631.; Sharpe, Edward, 1557 or 8-1631.	1616 (1616)	STC 22372; ESTC S114778	304,353	438

a captiue seruant to his redeemer acknowledge thy selfe a seruant who of right dost owe dutie vnto thy Lord and whereas God doth call thee his sonne acknowledge grace and forget not nature Neither thinke thou hast deserued any thing if thou haue done well because thou oughtst to haue done so Besides remember that there is some filthines from the flesh mingled with thy worke though good which doth purely flow from the spirit that that very thing that we seeme to liue iustly is a fault if our work when Gods seueritie iudgeth it Gods mercie doe not excuse it before himselfe so that the fault in the worke must first be forgiuen to the penitent by grace before the worke it selfe bee crowned by promise Lastly the Apostle saith that the afflictions of this life are not worthy of the glory which shall bee reuealed that if a man should serue God a thousand yeares and that most zealously he should not deserue for the merit to be halfe a day in heauen Anselm de mensura crucis Anselme said although we die a thousand times although wee performe all the virtues of the minde yet wee can doe nothing worthy of earthly blessinges and such as are present which we daily receiue from God much lesse heauenly and future which wee looke for as Ierome Jerom. in hunc loc Chrysostome and Basill haue taught But take away merite and the desire of virtue will waxe cold It may be in bastardes who serue God with a seruile and mercenarie minde but in sonnes it is not so who worship God the father with a free voluntary spirit which the spirit of adoption hath giuen them who testifieth to their spirites that they be the sonnes of God the inheritors of heauen and coheires with Christ And if the free loue of God whereby he being moued did bring thee backe from death to life and forgaue thee all thy transgressions and healed all thy infirmities and hath crowned thee with his mercies marke what the Prophet saith not with thy merites but with his mercies if this free loue I say shall not drawe from thee free obedience nothing shall euer draw it from thee There be many forceable arguments whereby the Apostle perswadeth vs to liue holily soberly and iustly that with good workes we set forth Gods glory which workes though they appease not God yet they please God and make our election and vocation thereby sure vnto vs. But there is nothing more powerfull then the fatherly loue of God to prouoke to goodnesse the ingenuous mindes of sonnes This is the will of God euen the sanctification and saluation of vs all to the which endes he chose vs from eternitie hee called and iustified vs in time and he shall glorifie vs to eternitie So the mercie of Iehouah toward his sonnes is from eternitie to eternitie for whom he hath preordained saluation in chosing them declared it in calling them begun it in iustifying them and shall perfect it in glorifying them They that being perswaded by the spirit of God doe certainely know that they bee in the grace of God now present and shall be euer hereafter entring into the state of grace by faith and standing therein by faith and glorying vnder the hope of the glorie of God by faith as the Apostle teacheth which place Chrysostome doth thus expound that hee that hath giuen his faith to God that there ought not onely a full perswasion to be assured them of those things which are giuen presently but of those that are to come as if they were now giuen That the state of regeneration should be thought to bee more certaine then of creation The state of the first Adam was changeable of the second vnchangeable whose true and liuely members all the sonnes of God are to be esteemed Wherefore of the state of Christ be vnchangeable the state of them that are truely Christians who being grafted into Christ by faith do liue and shall liue by their faith as the Apostle noteth out of the Prophet must needes be vnchangeable For it was granted to Adam that hee was able not to die as Austin speaketh but to a Christian that he cannot possibly die Three things saith Bernard I consider wherein all my hope doth consist 1. The loue of adoption 2. The truth of the promise 3. And the power of the reward Which do so strengthen and confirme my heart that no want of merites no consideration of our profit no accompt of the heauenly blessing can driue mee from the depth of that hope wherein I am surely grounded Therefore let my foolish thought murmure all it can saying who art thou or how great is that glory or by what merites dost thou hope to obtaine it And I will confidently answere I know whom I haue trusted I am in great assurance because my God in great loue hath adopted me because he is true in his promise and able to performe it Thus Bernard out of the Apostle Who makes it plaine that the state of regeneration is most assuredly confirmed to euery sonne of God not onely by Gods promise but by Gods Oath Whom hee maketh partaker of the right faith and of working loue and of liuely hope and of earnest repentance and of new obedience and calleth him the heire of the promise To whom God as being willing to make the immutable certainety of his counsell knowne plentifully as to Abraham the Father so to Abrahams sonne did not onely promise but sweare that hee would performe that to him which he had promised Heb. 6. For in God it is all one to sweare and to say Yet that we should haue strong consolation who follow after to obtaine the hope set before vs which hee hath appointed as a sure and strong anker entred within the veile i. heauen whither Christ the forerunner is entred before vs he hath confirmed our immutable state vnto vs by two immutable things his promise and his Oath Let the prayer of Christ be ioyned to the oath of God wherein hee praieth to God the father that he would imbrace vs with the same loue that he embraced Christ himselfe i. with eternall loue and would crowne vs with the same glorie as hee crowned himselfe and did not onely pray for vs but died also and rose againe and was receiued into heauen that hee should for euer make intercession for vs. Who hath left vnto vs his holy spirit whereby he hath sealed vnto vs the heauenly inheritance And therefore God hath assured eternall saluation to his sons not onely by promise but by Oath but by prayer and sacrifice of Christ and by the seale of the holy Ghost that wee should not doubt thereof And yet that wicked Councell of Trent decreed that none could know by the certainetie of infallible faith that hee is in the state of Grace much lesse shall bee but that euerie one should bee in doubt and feare of his owne Grace That it seemeth to haue vtterly ouerthrowne all

to be altogether the seruant of sinne because he is ouercome of sinne this free in part because he is made free by the Sonne not appointing him free in part lest he make him sacrilegious nor this altogether a seruant lest he might make him sluggish He doth not therefore take from the vnregenerate all power of willing but all power of well-willing that he may not lift vp the crest of his naturall pride and he granteth to the regenerate some power of well-willing that he may not weaken the strength of spirituall diligence And that God may giue life to the dead and renew and repayre the lost image of God z Ephes 3.10 he doth fasten and imprint the true knowledge of God and our selues into the minde and righteousnesse and holinesse into the will of man he doth enlighten the blinde with the light of his wisdome shining into him he doth couer him being naked with the robe of his righteousnes put vpon him and being vnsauorie he doth season him with the salt of his holinesse infused into him Whereby a 1 Cor 1.30 Christ is said to be made of God to the faithfull man wisdome righteousnes and sanctification Paul makes mention of a twofold righteousnesse and life of a Christian one whereby hee liueth before God thother whereby he liueth before men b Gal 2.20 By faith before God by apprehending of Christ c Gal. 5.6 by loue before men by the practise of holinesse So that good workes are not the cause of iustification but iustification is the cause of good workes as d Aug de Spi li. Austin affirmeth neither do we attaine faith by virtues but virtues by faith as Bede gathereth out of Gregorie One order is in morall matters another in heauenly one in Aristotle another in Paul e Arist 3. ethi There a man must doe iust things iustly before he be iust Here a man must be first iust in another before he can do iust things and iustly in himselfe As Christ is made sinne for vs so wee are made the righteousnes of God in Christ f 2 Cor. 5. vlt. For Christ himselfe most holy was made sinne by the imputation of our sinne we sinners therefore are righteous only by the imputation of the righteousnesse of Christ At g August in Euchirid c. 41. Austin doth expound the Apostle and Anselme Austin He therefore is sinne as wee are righteousnes not ours but wee are Gods not in our selues but in him as he is sinne not his owne but ours not in himselfe but in vs. So Austin So h Ansel in loc Anselme He is sin saith he as we righteousnesse not ours but Gods not in vs but in him as he is sinne not his owne but ours not in himselfe but in vs. Both of them doe acknowledge with vs the imputed righteousnes of Christ with the Apostle howsoeuer the Synode of Trent doe make inherent righteousnesse the forme of iustification and the Rhemists too prophanely scoffe at the imputation of righteousnes which Pighius that arch-papist doth confesse A sinner therefore dead in himselfe liueth righteous in Christ and liueth not to himselfe but to God but yet so liueth that he feeleth in himselfe the fight of the spirit and the flesh which the Apostle acknowledgeth not onely in other Christians but in himselfe for the comfort of others I do not that good I will saith the Apostle but the euill I would not that I do which a bad man did not badly expresse I hate and what I hate against my will must be What I would cast away to beare is greife to me But that the Apostle speaketh of the motions of concupiscence whereto the will doth not consent this of the beastly affections whereto the will is wholy addicted Which notwithstanding by the working of the naturall conscience hee saith he hateth But assoone as a man begins to liue in God sinne begins to dye in man For it hath receiued a deadly wound in the roote in respect of guiltinesse while it be cured by perfect buriall it remaines dead not cut off that we may be humbled not imputed lest we should be cast downe Sin dwelleth in vs as a Iebusite subdued not expelled subdued it taketh feare from vs not expelled it shakes off securitie that to striue with it it is farre more safe than to haue no enemie at all In this fight Gods grace doth helpe vs strengthning vs with a double sacrament of Baptisme and the Lords Supper there the fountaine of regeneration is powred out here the bread of life is set before vs there is a healthfull bathe to wash vs when we are fowle here is a spirituall feast to feede vs when we were faint so that from each we may take strength to resist So the power of God is made perfect in our infirmitie which when out of our owne skarres it stirreth vp in vs a courage to fight so from helpe ministred from thence it puts into vs sure hope that we shall ouercome For it bringeth griefe out of the fall for sinne and stirreth vp strife out of griefe with sinne and out of strife bringeth the victorie of sinne So out of poyson it gets a remedy and out of the sicknesse it getteth health Neither doth it in the meane while depriue vs of inward comfort while wee waite for the eternall tryumph But in the fight it shewes vs the propitiation after the fight which endeth in death it presently openeth the holy place of holyest so that neither peace of conscience is wanting to them being aliue and their soules shall haue rest when they are dead Thus it commeth to passe that these broken relikes of sinne in the sonnes of God by Gods grace do much profit when out of them they make an antidote against pride neither are puft vp with the merits of their owne works Wherby the doctrine of Trent ought to be accounted the more abominable which doth decree that eternall life is to be restored to the faithfull for the merit of workes which the Apostle propoundeth not as the reward of a seruant but the inheritance of a sonne not payed for spirituall obedience but giuen to the spirituall generation as Austin expounds the Apostle the crowne of righteousnesse in respect of Christ who merited a crowne of mercy in respect of vs for whom he merited to be giuen by the iust iudge not for the weight of mans merit but for the force of Gods promise to be rendred according to their workes not for their workes Gregor in 7. Psal peniten as Pope Gregorie distinguisheth out of the Apostle The studie therefore of good workes is to be vrged because God shall iudge according to thy works but merit is to be detested because it shall neuer saue thee for good works For whatsoeuer you do well is of God not of the merit of man but of the blessing of God You doe owe it therefore to God as the creature to the Creator as