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	sin_n	sinner_n	3,410	5	7.5691	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A50164	Speedy repentance urged a sermon preached at Boston, December 29, 1689 : in the hearing and at the request of one Hugh Stone, [a mis]erable man [under a just sen]tence of [death] for a [tragical and] hor[rible murder : together with some account concerning the character, carriage, and execution of that unhappy malefactor : to which are added certain memorable providences relating to some other murders, & some great instances of repentance which have been seen amonst us / by Cotton Mather.]	Mather, Cotton, 1663-1728.	1690 (1690)	Wing M1156; ESTC W19439	36,769	111

shall be clean But what follows Thus saith the Lord God I will yet for this be enquired of to do it We must enquire of God and entreat of God if we would not perish without a Pardon forever There is no sign of a Pardon in any man till it can be said of him as in in Acts 9. 11. Behold he Prayes T is in Prayer that we confess our Sins 't is in Prayer that we renounce our Sins 't is by Prayer that we cast all our Sins upon the Lord Jesus Christ and with out this the least Sin in the World is utterly unpardonable Even those that have been already Pardoned are to continue praying for a Pardon still T is a thing which none among the Disciples of our Lord Jesus Christ are to be excused from They need the comfort of a Pardon to be sensibly Renewed unto them and tho' it have been once told unto a David The Lord has put away thy sin yet he keeps praying still in the terms of the fifty first Psalm a Prayer fitted for the lips of all that want a Pardon Luther sometimes distinguished between a Secret pardon an open pardon a secret Pardon every true Believer has but an open Pardon implies an Assurance and Evidence of a Pardon which many a Believer wants Well if we want Assurance we are to pray that it may be vouchsafed if we have Assurance we are still to pray that it be continned A Prayer for a pardon is never out of Season Conclusion 3. The sleep of Death brings upon men so great a change that they had need make sure of a Pardon before they are overtaken with it To set this Conclusion home there are three Assertions which methinks may sound like so many Claps of the loudest Thunder in the Ears of all this Numerous Auditory but especially of that poor man that must never come within these Walls again Assertion 1. The Death of Men is a kind of sleep unto them This is a Scheme of speaking used by the Holy Spirit of God Death is a Sleep to the Godly therefore it was said in Iohn 11 11 12. Our Friend Laz●rus s●eepeth Howbeit Iesus spake of his death Death is a Sleep to the Wicked also Hence it is said in Dan. 12. 2. many of them that sleep in the Dust shall awake to shame and everlasting contempt Our Burying places are therefore not unfitly termed Caeme●ries or Dormitories or Sleeping places Thus the Psalmist feared in Psal 13. 3. Lest I sleep the sleep of Death Death is a Sleep How T is not for the Spirit so A Psychopannychia a sleeping of the Soul on Death is too gross and sad a thing to be imagined it is it self a Dream The Active Apostle would never have said as in Phil. 1 23. I desire to be dislodged and be with Christ if he should have had nothing to do but Sleep in the Lodging which he was thus desirous to go unto Let no man imagine that his departed Soul shall become stupid and senseless and with out all Apprehensions after Death God forbid it should be so N●r do YOU that are here a dying Prisoner expect that within a few Hours you shall be fallen into a Deep Sleep of all your Faculties No the Souls of M●n at the hour of Death do rather begin to Awake out of the Slumbers and Phan●a●ms which they are here buried in and they have a most exquisite feeling of the condition which they then pass into How then is Death a sleep T is thus for the Body The Body then has a Rest in a Bed a Rest from a million weary Travels but as a Sleep will have an End so this Rest will be not perpetual not eternal the Resurrection when the Almighty God will call Awake yee that ly in the Dust that is the Morning which will put a period thereunto Assertion 2. The Pardon of Sin is not after Death a thing to be obtained As 't is said in Isa. 38. 18 19. They that go down into the Pit cannot hope for thy Truth The Living the Living he shall praise thee Even so The Living the Living he may get a Pardon but if once a man be gone down to the Pit he is past hope of such a thing The Dead must cry out as the Dying have sometimes done with a woful Desperation 'T is all too late all too late When once a man is Dead what is the next thing 'T is answered in Heb. 9. 27. After Death the Iudgment A Iudgment and not a Pardon is the thing to be then attended unto And what kind of Iudgment will it be Truly 't will be a Iudgment which no Pardon will Reverse none can Repeal We read an amazing property of it in Heb. 6. ● Eternal Iudgment even the Iews in their Confession of Faith call it so When once we are Dead we pass into a VVorld where all is Eternal there we are fixed like Rocks in an astonishing Ocean of Eternity 't is an Eternity of VVeal or an Eternity of Wo nothing but Eternity which remains before us And O how awful should the mention of Eternity Eternity be to YOU forlorn and setter'd man who if you do not get a Pardon of the Great God before this week be ou● must unto all Eternity be deprived of it Assertion 2. But infini●e and Horrible Woes must be the Portion of those whom Death find● Vnpardoned A● the Prophet said Wo unto the Wicked even so I say Wo unto the Vnpardoned it shall be ill with him if Death find him so It is testify'd unto us in Rom. 6. 23. The wages of sin is Death Our Sins are every Day crying in the Ears of the Lord of Hosts pay us our wages pay us our wages When Death arrives unto an Unpardoned Man then pay-day comes and the Wages of Death and Hell for ever are pay'd unto the Sinner whom 't is due unto That Good Man took it for granted If I be Wicked wo unto me So may a man upon the Brinks of Death and ONE of you is very certainly so assure himself Wo unto me if I now be found Vnpardoned Then He that made me will not have mercy on me and He that formed me will show me no Favour Where Sin is the Needie there Destruction is the Thred if a pardon have not cut it off before the T●●ed of our Lives be broken Wo to us Nothing will then remain for an Unpardoned Sinner but A Fearful Expectation of a Fiery Indignation to devour him Nothing will remain but Everlasting Fire with the Divel and his Angels Nothing will remain but The Worm which Dyeth not and the Fire which never shall be Quenched But no Tongue ma● Express or Heart conceive the Dolo● the Torment and Anguish of that Estate which after Death is reserved for the Unpardoned By the Help of an Exalted Fancy a man may represent unto himself Racks and Boots and Fires and Rivers of Ardent Brimstone and Running Bel-metal to

He will abundantly pardon It was once the affectionate Out-Cry of a C●ndemned but a Converted and a Comforted Malefactor God is a great forgiver God is a great forgiver It is indeed rarely seen that Bad livers to ever become Sincere Paenitents in Old Age. When the Devils have had a Possession of many years they plead a sort of Praescription against the Holy Spirit of God and make their interest so strong that very Extraordinary must be the Influences of the Grace that shall destroy it Scripture seems to pronounce a sinner of an hundred years old to be cursed and Experience commonly discovers a Sinner of Fifty years old to be hardened beyond all recovery The Generality of them that are brought home to God under the constant Dispensations of the Gospel will find that between Fifteen and Thirty is the Age in which most of the Elect become Called ones But as nothing is more Soveraign than the Free-Grace of God He calls both Whom and When he will and He leaves many Civil and Moral people in their Vnbelief when He Renewes the Worst of men and those that not only have done evil an hundred times but likewise an hundred years been in the rebellious Tents of the Ungodly So nothing is more glorious than that Free-Grace which pardons without bounds and forgives the Sins which no Conscience has vigour enough to describe all the Aggravations of Let no man that begins to have sad Thoughts about the State of his own soul ●espair of Mercy from God in Christ it reaches even to she Chief of Sinners It is for a Cain to roar My sin is greater than can be forgiven but perphaps his Despair was not inferiour to his Murder and Austin well replied upon him mentiris Cain Cain Thou liest The Temp●er that once told thee T is too soon may now tell thee T is too la●e to repent and thou mayest have in thy Thoughts the Voice which once a flagitious man had in his Ears a little before he dyed No Mercy No Mercy But When he speaketh hard unto thee beleeve him not Come and Confess and forsake all thy sins and thou shalt have mercy Come and cast the Burdens of a Guilty and Wretched soul upon the Lord Jesus and thou shalt have Rest. Unto the Greatest and the Oldest Sinners yet Return unto me saith the Lord. Exemple I. A while since there dyed at Lancaster a man whose name was Richard Lenten arrived in age to so many years above an hundred That he had lived in Wedlock with his wife for Sixty three years and yet she was Thirty five years younger than himself and he was able to follow his toils at Husbandry very livelily but about a month before his End This man had been all his dayes a poor ignorant carnal and sottish man and unacquainted with the very Principles of his Ca●echism after he had satt under so many hundreds of Sermons as he had Nevertheless when he was about an hundred years old God blessed the Ministry of His Word unto this mans awakening and he became a diligent Enquirer after the things of the life to come and a Constant Serious Attender on all that was Religious He arrived unto such measures of a well-informed Devotion that the Church which was very strict in the terms of their Communion yet received him into their Fellowship about Two years before he dy'd Wherein he continued under a good Character so long as he continued in the World Exemple II. There dwelt at a Village in this Countrey one who dyed in December 1688. This man had been remarkable for his bad Life till he had spent fifty years in the lewd and rude Courses if notorious Ungodliness Though he had the Benefit of a christian and pious Education yet he had shaken off all the yokes which that had laid upon him Hee became a foul-mouth'd Scoffer at all good men and good things and a great mocker of Church-Members in particular The Vices of Drunkenness and Swearing and Lying made the Characters of his Conversation Sabbath-Breaking and Promise-breaking made him infamous among honest people and his Disobedience to his Parents was not unequal to the rest of his miscarriages Original Sin in the furthest efforts of it fill'd his whole man and his whole way for half an hundred years at which age he left the world and he had sat under sinn'd against the meanes of Grace all this while But yet which you will admire to hear Yet this enormous liver was iudg'd to be converted unto God some few weeks before he died The great God so blessed owned the Ministry which he enjoyed that the Efficacy of it on him became conspicuous to Astonishment He became a serious Paenitent and so devout so pensive that every one saw a New-Creature in him He mourned for all his former faults and caused his Complaints to reach unto the Plague of his Heart as the Root of all He reformed what was amiss in him and applyed himself with an exceeding Vigour to the Saviour for the Salvation of his soul. While the Grace of God was thus beginning its Impressions on him he fell mortally sick and it was not long before he passed out of this world with a marvellous Assurance of his Interest in a better It were Endless to reckon up the extraordinary Expressions that fell from him Behaviours that he had in the sick and last dayes of his life but some of them were such as these O said he What a wonder of Mercy is it to my soul that God halh not cast me immediately into Hell and given me no Time to repent or to beg for an Heart to Repent But 〈◊〉 Mercy hath spared a great Sinner The stoutest man said he that ever lived should he but seriously think on ETERNITY and have no Christ to fly unto it will so sink the the Heart of him that he could never bear it but the Lord will show Mercy to my distressed soul. He gave himself wholly to Prayer and would excuse Watchers from sitting with him that he might be at leisure for Communion with God alone Sometimes he would give a start as he lay and being asked the Reason of it he said O I have a great work to do and but a little time to do it The Conflicts which he endured in his Spirit were unutterable under which he● day night kept wrestling with God for His Mercy One morning his Brother enquiring of him how he did he replied O I have had as doleful a night as ever man had I have had three great enemies this night encountering with me the World the Flesh the Devil I have been this night both in Hell in Heaven and I can truly say with David all this night long I have watered my couch with my ●●ars but as the day broke my Saviour came vanquished the Devil told him that he had no right in me for He had Redeemed with His own Blood To his Father

not be catched thou thinkest to hide thy self in Secret when as God in Heaven can see see th●e though thou hast hid it from Man And when thou goest to Thievery thy wickedness is discovered and thou ar● found Guilty O Young Woman that is Married and Young Man look on 〈◊〉 here be sure in that Solemn Engagement you are obliged one to another Ma●●iage ●s an Ordinance of God have a care of ●reaking that Bond of Marriage-Vnion if the Husband provoke his Wife and cause a Difference he sins against God and so does she in such Carriage for sh● is bound to be an Obedient Wife O you Parents that give your Children in Marriage remember what I have to say you must take notice when you give them in Marriage you give them freely to the Lord and free them from that Service Command you ought to have yet you ought to have a tender regard to them O thou that takest no care to lead thy life civilly and honestly and then Committest that Abominable Sin of Murder here is this Murderer look upon him and see how many are come with their eyes to behold this man that abhors himself before God that is the Sin that I abhor my self for and defire you take Example by me there are here a great many young people and O Lord that they may be thy Servants Have a care do not sin I will tell you that I wish I never had had the opportunity to do such a Murder if you say when a person has provoked you I will kill him 'T is a thous●nd to one but the next time you will do it Now I Commit my self into the Hands of Almighty God His Prayer O Lord our Good God thou art a Merciful God and a Gracious and Loving Father Alas that thou shouldest Nourish up Children that have 〈◊〉 against Thee O Lord I must confess thou gavest me opportunity to read thy Written Word Thou art also my Crea●or and Preserver but Lord I have not done according to the Offers of thy Grace thou hast not hid from me the opportunities of the Good Things and Liberties of thy House and Ordinances but I have waxed wanton under the Enjoyment of them I have given thee just cause to provoke thee to Anger and thou hast left me to Shame not only on my self but on my Relations O Lord God I do confess that I have sinned against thee and done all these Iniquities against thee and before thine eyes Lord I have sinned especially against thee pardon my Sins of Youth Lord pardon this bloody Sin I stand here Guilty of O Lord hide not thy face from me I humbly beg it of thee for there is no man 〈◊〉 Redeem his Brothers Soul but only the Blood of Jesus Christ must do it Let it be sufficient to satisfie for my poor Soul I h●●e not done any thing that thou shouldest be pleased to shew me thy Love or that I should have any thing from thee but only Everlasting Misery I am unworthy to come to thee yet Lord for thy Mercies S●●e have pity on me Now I am coming 〈◊〉 Iudgment Lord let the Arms of thy Mercy Receive my Soul and let my sin● be Remitted Good Lord let not my sin● which Condemn me here in this world rise up to Condemn me in the World to come though they have Condemned me in this world shew mercy Lord when I come be fore thy Iudgment-Seat If my Soul be not humbled Lord humble it let my Petition be acceptable in Heaven thy Holy Mountain I am unworthy to come into thy Presence yet O let me come into thy Kingdom and deliver my Soul from Blood Guil●iness in the Blood of Jesus Christ O let my wounded Soul mourn for my sin that hath brought me here Sin brings Ruine to the poor Soul wo is unto me for mine Iniquity If I had gone to Prayer in the morning when I committed this sin Lord God thou wouldest have kept back my hands from shed●ing innocent Blood O Gracious God Remember thou me in Mercy let me be an Object of thy pity and not of thy wrath the Lord hear me and pardon my Sins Take care of my poor Children I have scattered them like stragling sheep flying before the Wolf pity the poor Children that go like so many Lambs that have l●st their Keeter that they may not come to such a Death as I do 〈◊〉 Lord for the sak● of Jesus Christ and the Righteousness o● thy Son accept my Soul and receive me into the Arms of thy mercy that I may enjoy Everlasting Rest. Pardon all my sins and let the Prayers of all those that have put up their Petitions for me be accepted for the sake of Jesus Christ. Now I am coming now I am coming thou mayst say I called to thee and thou wouldst not come I must say my sin brought me here O the World and the corrupt nature of man that has proved my ruine O Lord Good Lord let me enjoy Rest for my Soul The desire of my Soul is to be with thee in thy Kingdom let me have a share in that Kingdom Now is the time Lord Jesus the Grave is opening its mouth I am now living though dead in Stn let my prayers be heard in heaven thy holy place thy hands hath made me I know thou can'st Save me hide not thy face from me and affect the hearts of thy people with this sad Ob●●ct that they may labour to serve thee betimes and may not give themselves up to profaneness and Wickedness especially that Sin of Drunkenness which is an in let of all Ab●minations When thou hast thy head full of Drink the Remembrance of God is out of thy heart and thou art unprepared to commit thy self and Family unto God thou art unfit to come into Gods Presence I have cause to 〈◊〉 out an● be ashamed of it that I am guilty of it because I gave may to that Sin m●re than any other and then God did leave me to practise wickedness and to Murder that dear Woman whom I should have taken a great deal of Contentment in which if I had done I had not been here to suffer this Death Thou art Holy Just and Good and therefore O Lord have mercy on me for the sake of thy Son pity me now Lord I am coming O that I could do thee better Service Many of you that behold me I know wish you never had seen me here Lord Receive my Soul into a better place if it be thy blessed will 't is a day of great Trouble with me my Soul is greatly Troubled give me one Glimpse of Com●ort in thy Kingdom by by let me have one dram of thy Grace Accept of me now at this time 't is the last time Good Lord d●ny me not give me as the W●man of Sam●ri● a Taste of that Living Wa●er that my Soul may Thirst no more I beg it for the sake of Jesus Christ. Amen After this

once he said I have felt a great work on my distressed soul This your son was lost and is found was dead and is alive Doleful nights have I seen the Thoughts of my sins did sorely oppress me when I would be crying to my dear Saviour for His mercy He would seem not to pitty me but to say Thou hast been a servant of the Devil and of thy Lust and dost thou now come to me I have been calling to thee and thou hast been hardening thy heart at my Calls and dost thou expect mercy after all And then the Devil would put in saying Thou hast been my Vassal so long thy Cries for Mercy are now all too late I have also seen the face of an Angry God and that is the most terrible thing that was ever seen I then found no s●ay for my distressed soul but free-Free-mercy free-Free-mercy The Lord now put under me His everlasting Arms and gave me an heart still to pray say Lord Iesus Mercy for Thy own sake Mercy for thy Name 's sake My Redeemer would say Thou art a great sinner and an old sinner The Answer of my soul was Truth Lord but even such sinners have already found mercy at thy hands I come to thee for with thee the fatherless find mercy He would break forth into very High Expressions his great Comfort was fetch'd from that Promise in Ma● 11. 28. Come to Me and I will give you rest He would now cry out O the Riches of Free-grace There are thousands of thousands ten thousand times ten thousand in the third Heaven rejoicing over a great and an 〈◊〉 sinner coming to Glory O glorify Free-grace for ever He would say O blessed Sickness blessed sickness what a friend hast thou been to me and now Welcome Death or Wecome Life what my dearest Redeemer please O that I could declare to my Relations and my Neighbours yea that I could declare to Kings and Worlds what the Lord has done for my soul He would reflect on the Humiliation of the Lord Jesus Christ with an amazed a transported soul he would break forth into a great Adoration of it and say O this wonderful mercy to undone sinners He would also make that one of his Admirations O the glorious work of faith which doth role it self on Christ alone He bewailed it with a peculiar Bitterness That he had been for the change of Government But 〈◊〉 said he believed that God would restore 〈◊〉 us the judges as at the first the counsellours as at the beginning pastors according to His own heart He was likewise much concerned about the Interest of Christ in the world about the Success of the Prince of Orange whose glorious Expedition we had then by the edges a small notice of he talk'd in strains that seem'd surprisingly prophetical His counsil to every one was To make their Calling Election sure And he would often say O I am an old sinner but a young Convert I am fifty yeers old and have lived but seven weeks all this whi●● To his Brethren he said You are care full about a Garment for me under my weakness this winter but Brothers I have a better Garment than you can provide for me the long white Robe of the● Righteousness of Jesus Christ will cover me all over He kept praying praising singing psalms till his end came and then being taken speechless senseless his friends apprehended they should hear him speak no more Thus he lay for divers hours drawing on but at length he just came to himself again and sprang up in his bed spreading his arms abroad as tho' going to leap into the Arms of a Redeemer and Shouting O my friends Heaven rings all over at this They wonder at this a great and an old sinner coming to Heaven Behold in my father's house are many mansions if it had not been so my Saviour would not have said it But He is gone to prepare a place for one O the Riches of Grace O glorifie Free-Grace for ever more And so he went away to the Rest of God Despair not That alone will mercy bar To faults that like the Sands Mountains are FINIS ERRATUM Page 46. Line 14. r. Day of Grace