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
A50609	Vindiciæ fœderis, or, A vindication of the interest that the children of believers as such have in the covenant of grace with their parents under the Gospel-dispensation being the substance of two sermons, with additions preached to a congregation in Wapping : also some seasonable reflections upon various unsound and cruel passages taken forth of two furious books of Mr. H. Collins printed against infant-baptism / by Fran. Mence.	Mence, Francis, 1639?-1696?	1694 (1694)	Wing M1703; ESTC R27509	104,587	170

this Important and Evangelical Proposition 1. Quest What Covenant are we here to understand to be the Covenant made with Abraham that Believers and their Seed are inclosed in together Answ It is the Covenant of Grace This is the Promise or Covenant in our Text that refers to that in Gen. 17.7 It is not a Covenant of Works as some would have it to be Our Brethren the Anabaptists would by all means have this to be a Covenant of Works or a Covenant only relating to carnal and outward Mercies and Blessings and that because should this be granted to be a Covenant of Grace then we have gained the Point as to the Seal of the Covenant pertaining to Infants Our great Champion hath lately laboured extreamly to violate this Text and to pull down that blessed Foundation God hath laid for us to build upon as to our selves and little ones by his so doing he offered bold attempts to subvert many of the choice Texts that appertain to this To promote his Error and Confidence he would have this in substance to be the same Covenant of Works which the Lord made with Adam but I shall have occasion though but a poor Pismire to meet with this great Goliah that hath given me several Challenges in his publick Pulpit in the hearing of his Magnifying Auditory Methinks if Men did but with a serious and impartial Eye view that Text that mine refers unto such is the nature the tenor frame and circumstances of it that they durst not call this into question But how ready are Men to shut their Eyes against that Light that would discover unto them something that they are too tenacious of It is sad to see how some good Men that would be thought great Admirers of the Grace of God and yet do set themselves in this place against this high Expression of his Grace in his Covenant This is the same Covenant of Grace for the substance of it that is now on foot in the New Testament since Christ came and hath sent down his Holy Spirit to enlighten us into the knowledge of his Grace which runs through the Covenant whose Blood was the Blood of the Covenant made with those Fathers according to the Flesh of whom Christ came who is blessed for ever Here because my furious Adversary right or wrong will have this to be but a Covenant of Works or of outward Blessings and will not suffer one Drop of the pure and special Grace of God in a Covenant-way provided for the Salvation of the Elect nor any Emanation of Gods Love to be through this Channel transmitted into the World I shall endeavour to prove by several things that this is a Covenant of Grace if we can out make good this I judge we shall gain a good Point and drive our Opponent out of one of his strongest Posts and shall take that which he runs to as his impregnable Fort. The Lord open our Eyes to see the Truth in this great Affair with this I think a great deal of Building will stand or fall I shall briefly lay down some Reasons that to me do carry the Matter beyond all doubt that the Covenant in Gen. 17.7 was a Covenant of Grace 1. Reason May be taken from Abraham the Person chosen out from the rest of the World to partake of this distinguishing Priviledge God did appear to him and did call him to such a great Favour Thus to take him and his Children and his Family into covenant with himself and to make him the Father of the Faithful in all Ages and Generations What could move the Lord to this but his naked Love Mercy and Grace This is that which God did do for him Infinite Grace did single him out for this blessed covenant-Covenant-work calling him out from the midst of a wicked and idolatrous People and Generation Acts 7.2 3. And he said Men brethren and fathers hearken The God of glory appeared unto our father Abraham when he was in Mesopotamia before he dwelt in Charran And said unto him Get thee out of thy country and from thy kindred and come into the land which I shall shew thee Here we have the Lord selecting through discriminating Grace and Goodness this Father from the rest of the ignorant blind World where he was and it was that he might confer this honour upon him and his in making this Everlasting Covenant of Grace with them He that called him out of Grace did it much for this end and purpose that he might make and establish this Covenant of Grace with him 2. Reason Because of the quality of the Persons betwixt whom this Covenant was made let us but consider the state of Man when this Covenant was made and then we may easily see the quality of those between whom was made this happy Covenant Man was not now in his perfect Station in the which he was set down as he came out of the pure Mint with a perfect Draught and Impression of the Divine Image upon him but in an apostate sinful state and Abraham though call'd and sanctified in an imperfect state Therefore this Covenant must be made between God and Abraham not as God is a Creatour and as Men are innocent thus it was in the Covenant of Works made with Adam But God as gracious merciful pardoning Sin through the Blood of the Covenant and Men as sinful vile indebted to Divine Justice and obnoxious to the Wrath of God If Abraham had been as perfect as Adam was when the Lord made a Covenant of Works with him then we should have some ground to give heed to those that would have this to be a Covenant of Works I demand of my Opponent where God made a Covenant of Works with his Redeemed People since the Fall of Man As God ever dealt with his People in a Covenant-way since the Fall so they are capable of no other way Ezek. 16.5 6 8. None eye pitied thee to do any of these things unto thee to have compassion upon thee but when thou wast cast out in the open field to the loathing of thy person in the day that thou wast born And when I passed by thee and saw thee polluted in thy blood I said unto thee when thou wast in thy blood Live yea I said unto thee when thou wast in thy blood Live Now when I passed by thee and looked upon thee behold thy time was the time of love and I spread my skirt over thee and covered thy nakedness yea I sware unto thee and entred into a covenant with thee thou becamest mine What Covenant can it be but a Covenant of Grace that such polluted Creatures can be taken into And thus it was with Abraham when God found called him appeared unto and enter'd into Covenant with him 3. Reason Because of the matter promised here unto Abraham in this Covenant God doth promise to be a God to him and to his Seed after him for ever Oh! this is the great matter

violence is offered to this Text to destroy that federal holiness that shines forth in it The Anabaptists one would think are put greatly to their shifts in shifting off the force of this Text from them when all that they will allow Believers from this Text is that if one Parent be but a Believer then they will free their Children from the foul charge and scandalous imputation of being Bastards Thus they comment upon the words else were your Children Bastards but now they be Legitimate lawfully begotten what must be the consequence of this but that the Children of those Parents neither of which is a Believer must tho' they be never so lawfully Married and live never so chastly together be Bastards what a multitude of the off-spring of this our Nation must after this interpretation be illegitimate and a spurious bastardly Brood This hath been so often confuted that I will say no more to it the very naming of it may be a sufficient confutation of it 2. A peculiar people a people set a part from others the Covenant is for an enclosure and so for a separation of some from the rest of the World to be distinct and peculiar from others Deut. 14.2 For thou art an holy people unto the Lord thy God and the Lord hath chosen thee to be a peculiar people unto himself above all the nations that are upon the earth The Lord hath a visible people that are to him a peculiar people they are his Church those that are in a peculiar Covenant-appropriation unto Him We have this Title and that before of Holy ascribed to those that are under the Administration of the Covenant in new Testament times 1 Pet. 2.9 But ye are a chosen generation a royal Priesthood an holy Nation a peculiar people 3 They be called Gods Houshold or Family the worship of God and the blessing of the Covenant first took place in Families and those were the Families of the Lord since the more open publick and diffusive dispencing of the Covenant those that are the Lords Covenant ones retain still the Title of a Family and Houshold and so this is brought down unto the time of the Gospel Gal. 6.10 As we have therefore opportunity let us do good unto all men especially unto them who are of the houshold of faith Viz. Gods Covenant-houshold Eph. 2.19 Now therefore we are no more strangers and foreiners but fellow Citizens and of the houshold of God those Gentiles that were not in Covenant and so not of the Houshold of God Now saith the Apostle you are made partakers of the Covenant which was the peculiar Blessing of the Jews and ye are become now of the Houshold of Faith and of God or of the Houshold of Faith and so of God you are grafted into the Olive and this is some of the sweet and precious fat and juice of it 4. Such be called Gods Vineyard or the garden of the Lords surely it is a Singular Priviledge to be planted in the Lords Vineyard and not to have a standing without in the Wilderness of the World which the Lord hath little regard for or care of Isa 5.1 7. Now I will sing to my well beloved a song of my beloved touching his Vineyard My well beloved hath a Vineyard in a very fruitful hill For the Vineyard of the Lord of Hosts is the house of Israel and the men of Judah his pleasant plant The Church of God in Covenant with Him is by the Lord Jesus the Husband and Bridegroom of it delightfully called a garden it being the sweetest the most pleasant and fertilest spot in all the World Cant. 4.12 16. A garden enclosed is my Sister my Spouse Awake Oh north-wind and come thou south and blow upon my garden that the spices thereof may flow out Cant. 5.1 I am come into my garden my Sister my Spouse Cant. 6.2 My beloved is gone down into his garden to the beds of spices to feed in the gardens and to gather Lilies Thus was the Church of the Jews that was the Lords Covenant-inclosure stiled Zach. 2.5 There●ore particular Churches that make up the Church Catholick are called golden Candlesticks Rev. 1.20 The mystery of the seven Stars which thou sawest in my right hand and the seven golden Candlesticks are the seven Churches The Lord Jesus walks in the midst of them they are the place of his feet and his delightful walks Rev. 2.1 He walketh in the midst of the seven golden Candlesticks to shew his delight that he hath in them the peculiar watch of his Providence about them and his plentiful and his inexhaustible supplying of them Oh how good is it to dwell where Christ hath his continual residence and his perpetual walks 't is a comfortable thing to have the Lord of infinite grace to walk constantly to and fro by ones door how soon may he open the door and come in and bring his Blessed retinue of peace mercy grace and love along with him 6. The Church of Christ involv'd in this Covenant is called Heaven this is Heaven upon Earth where the Throne of the blessed God is fixt when the Lord takes Believers and their Children into Covenant with himself he takes them into Heaven those that be out of Covenant do inhabit such darkness as to represent those that are even in Hell I but the Church of God that hath the light of the Word and grace of God shining upon it is Gods heaven below Rev. 12.1 And there appeared a great wonder in heaven a woman cloathed with the Sun This wonder was seen in the Church of God below I but here called Heaven for her trampling upon the World having the righteousness of Christ begirt about her and living in the Starry Region of Evangelical and Divine light Thus I have in some Particulars endeavoured to discover something of the Priviledges of those that be in Covenant with the Lord from this head I come to another Priviledge which is this that many of them that are thus in Covenant shall be saved a multitude of them are Elected for here chiefly lyes the secret Mine of Election where many shall be called and Effectually brought home to God the great Bulk and Mass of the Elect are taken and dug out of the Loins of Believers that are brought under Covenant many of those that be in Covenant shall be sure be to saved therefore surely 't is a great priviledge to have a standing among those that shall be saved how is it the duty of those that do enjoy this mercy to bless the Lord for it and to improve it for their own Childrens advantage 'T is good to have a footing and dwelling in that Body out of which the Lord doth call many to saving grace and glory to be in the best capacity and the most hopeful disposition as to Externals for life and Salvation The Soveraign Grace of God calls whom he pleaseth but most frequently the lot of Salvation falls upon the Children