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
A50229	A sermon, occasioned by the execution of a man found guilty of murder, preached at Boston in N.E., March 11th, 1685/6 (together with the confession, last expressions, & solemn warning of the murderer to all persons, especially to young men, to beware of those sins which brought him to his miserable end) / by Increase Mather ...	Mather, Increase, 1639-1723.; Moodey, Joshua, 1633?-1697. Exhortation to a condemned malefactor.	1687 (1687)	Wing M1248; ESTC W19800	66,053	133

for being wicked over much There is hardly any sort of Wickedness which you have not wallowed in-That sin particularly which you are now to die for is a most monstrous Crime I can't possibly describe or declare the sins whereby you have made your self an astonishing Example of Impiety punishment Mor. O Sir I have bin a most hellish sinner I am sorry for what I have bin Min. Sorry you say well tell me which of all your sins you are now most sorry for which lyes most heavy Mor. I hope I am sorry for all my sins but I must especially bewail my neglect of the means of grace On Sabbath dayes I us'd to lye at home or be ill imploy'd elsewhere when I should have bin at Church This has undone me Min. And let me seriously tell you Your Despiseing of Christ is a most dreadful sin indeed You have for whole years together had the Call of Jesus Christ to seek an Interest in him you would now give all the world for that interest but you would take no notice of him The Jews of Old put him to a worse death than yours will be this afternoon and by your contempt of Christ you have said the Jews did well to do so How justly might he now Laugh at your Calamity And for these sins of yours besides the direful woes plagues that have already come upon you you are now expos'd unto the Vengeance of eternal fire You are in danger of being now quickly cast into those exquisite amazing Torments in comparison of which the anguishes which your body ever did feel or shall feel before night or can ever feel are just nothing at all and these dolorous torments are such as never have an End as many sands as could lie between this earth the Stars in Heaven would not be near so many as the Ages the end-less Ages of these Torments Mor. But is there not Mercy for me in Christ Min. Yes and its a wonderful thing that I have now further to tell you Mind I entreat you The SON of GOD is become the Son of Man the Lord Jesus Christ is both God man in one Person he is both sufficiently able willing also to be your Saviour He lived a most righteous life and this was that such as you I might be able to say before God Lord accept of me as if I had liv'd righteously He died at length a most cursed death and this was that we might be able to say unto God Lord let not me die for sin since thy Son has died in my room This glorious Redeemer is now in the highest heaven pleading with God for the Salvation of His chosen ones And He pours out his Spirit continually upon them that do believe on him might you then be enabled by his grace to carry your poor guilty condemned enslaved ignorant soul unto Jesus Christ and humbly put your trust in him for deliverance from the whole bad state which you are brought into Oh then his voice is to you the same that was to the penitent Thief This day shalt thou be with me in Paradise Mor. Oh that I might be so Sir I would hear more of these things I think I can't better fit my self for my death than by hearkning to these things Min. Attend then The never-dying spirit that lodges within you must now within a few minutes appear before the Tribunal of the Great GOD in what or in whose Righteousness will you then appear will you have this to be your Plea Lord I experienced many good Motions Desires in my soul many Sorrows for my sin before I dy'd or will you expect to have no other Plea but This Lord I am vile but thy Son is a Surety for the worst of sinners that believe in him for his sake alone have MERCY on me Morg. I thank God for what He has wrought in my Soul Min. But be very careful about this matter if you build on your own good Affections instead of Jesus Christ the only Rock if you think they shall recommend you to God He that made you will not have mercy on you Mor. I would be clothed with the Righteousness of JESUS CHRIST Min But you can't sincerely desire that Christ should justify you if you don 't also desire that He should sanctify you those 2 alwaies go together Is evry lust that has hitherto had possession of your heart become so loathsom to you that it would fill your soul with joy to hear Jesus Christ say I will subdue those Iniquities of thine I will make a holy heavenly a spiritually minded person of thee Mor. I would sin against God no more Min. But I must deal plainly with you You have made it sadly suspicious that your repentance is not yet as it ought to be when men truly throughly repent of sin they use to be in a special manner watchful against that Sin which has bin their chief Sin one of your principal sins which has indeed brought you to the Death of a Murderer is Passion unmortifi'd outragious Passionateness Now I have been this day informed that no longer since than the last night upon some Dissatisfaction about the place which the Authority hath ordered you by and by to be buried in you did express your self with a most unruly Passionateness Mor. Sir I confess it and I was quickly sorry for it tho' for the present I was too much disturbed 'T was my folly to be so careful about the place where my body should be laid when my precious SOUL was in such a Condition Min. Truly you have cause to mourn for it Secure the welfarre of your soul and this now pinion'd hang'd vile body of yours will shortly be raised unto glory glory forevermore And let me put you in mind of one thing more I doubt you han't yet laid aside your unjust Grudges against the Persons concerned in your Conviction Condemnation You have no cause to complain of them and you are not fit to pray much less are you fit to dye till you heartily wish them as well as your own soul if you die malicious you die miserable Mor. I heartily wish them all well I bear Ill-will to none What a lamentable thing is this Ah this is that which has brought me hither Min. What do you mean Mor. I over-heard a man mocking scoffing at me when I stumbled just now he does very ill I have done so my self I have mock'd scoff'd like that man and see what it hath brought me to he may come to the like Min. The Lord forgive that foolish hard-hearted creature But be not too much disturbed Mor. Yonder I am now come in sight of the place where I must immediately end my dayes Oh what a huge Multitude of people is come together on this occasion O Lord O Lord I pray thee to make my Death profitable to all this Multitude of People that they may not sin

sitting on a pale horse that vision is now before you and it cannot but be very terrible and affrighting but the main terror lies in what comes after Hell followes it Hell followes Death hard at the heels Death is but the door between the two worlds that lets the soul of a Christless sinner out of this world into Hell. The Second Death after the first is the misery of the first and the first would be compartively but a small matter were it not for the second 7. Finally Consider you have no time to get sin pardoned wrath turned away if it be not done already but between this and Death into the very Borders and under the Sentence of which you now are In the grave there is no repentance no Remission Eccl. 9. 10. Before 4 dayes more pass over your head and Oh how swiftly do they fly away you will be entred into an Eternal unchangeable state of weal or woe and of Woe it will be if speedy and thorough Repentance prevent it not Thus far by way of Conviction Awakning My 2nd Word is principally by way of Counsel Unto which I shall promise a Word of Encouragement lest what has bin said may seem to harsh and severe to a man in his Condition But the Wound must be opened searched before the Plaister be laid on and there is a Plaister as large as the sore the Lord in mercy make it stick Know then That notwithstanding all that has bin spoken there is Hope in Israel concerning this thing There is a way found out reveal'd by God for the Turning of His Anger even from such sinners The bloud of Jesus can wash away the guilt of the sin of sheddng man's blood for which no Ransome may be taken by man yet God ha● found out a Ransome and does now graciuosly offer thee the benefit of it Paul was a Murderer and yet pardoned Manasseh made the streets of Jerusalem to swim with innocent bloud and yet was forgiven Nay the greatest Murderers that ever were in the world even those that imbrewed their wicked hands in the bloud of the Son of GOD were many of them converted reconciled to God and are now in heaven beholding the Glory of that Christ whom they Crucifyed Act. 2. And several others who were under the same Condemnation were exhorted in the following Chapter to repent to be converted and were thereupon promis'd that their sins should be blotted out ver 29. It is true that no murderer hath eternal life 1. Joh. 3. 15. and that Drunkards shall not inherit the Kingdom of God 1. Cor. 6. 10. and yet the next words say ver 11. such were some of you but you are washed sanctifyed justifyed If all Sins and Blasphemy against the Son of Man may be forgiven Mat. 12. 31. 22. then this Sin against one of the sons of men may be forgiven too God can pardon great sins yea therefore or the rather pardon them because great Psal 25. 11. And He does delight where Sin has abounded to make Grace super-abound Rom. 5. 20. And so I come to my word of Counsel And Oh let my Counsel be acceptable to thee before thou be driven out from among men put beyond all possibility of hearing or taking counsel 1. See be yet more affected with this deplorable condition and let thy soul be afflicted at the thoughts of it and especially at thy sin that has brought thee into it I urge this again because thou canst not be too much concerned thereabout 2. Look upon all thy life past let this solemn hand of God upon thee bring all thy sins to Remembrance Consider how thou hast walked in a Course of sin from step to step and let all thy Actual sins lead thee back to the Sin of thy Nature the evil Fountain from whence all these bitter streams have issued and let all put together make thee vile in thine own eyes and make thee to abhor thy self for the same 3. Beg hard for a broken heart that may unfeignedly mourn for sin that being burdened with it thou mayst most bitterly weep and sigh groan under it Such sins as thou standest Convicted of call for the deepest Humiliation Contrition It s the bane of multitudes of Sinners in the world that their Convictions of Sin were but sleighty and their Humiliation superficial and so their Conversion not real God will prick thee to the heart yea and break thy Heart all to pieces for thy sin if ever he pardon thee Also bemoan thy self for all thy Prophanness Loosness Sensuality which has exposed thee to this great sin at last Bewail all those evils which the holy God has to charge thee with thy Rending His Sacred name by Curses Oaths wronging His Truth by Lying Abusing his good Creatures to Excess Making thy Belly thy god and sacrificeing the Lord's Blessings thereunto which he lent thee for His own Use and Service And especially for thy rejecting of his Gospel of which great and horrible sin thou art convicted out of thy own mouth while thou wert profaning his Sabbaths neglecting to give thy Attendance on the publick Worship and so turning away thine Ear from Hearing the joyful sound by which thou mightst have been forever blessed Let all these be remembred and be as Gall and Wormwood to thy soul 4. Acknowledge an Holy Righteous hand of God in leaving thee to this great Transgression Confess what thou hast done and give glory to God for what He has done Say He is just for I have sinned Yea and glorify him for this that He can make even this Sin at least the punishment Attending it a means to bring thee to Repentance for all the rest of thy sins which else thou mightest have gone on securely in unto endless Perdition This prodigious sin of Murder together with thy being brought to Condign Punishment for the same may through the Soveraign Grace of God who can bring good out of evil be an occasion by its loud cry of blood in thine ears to awaken thee out of that sleep from which thou mightst else have never awakned till everlasting burnings had awakned thee The Lord blessed Manasseh's being brought into Chains to put him upon seeking the God of his Fathers and the same God can bless this Chain with which thou art now bound as a means to bring thee to everlasting Liberty It 's one of the Lords wayes of Dealing with men to bring them to good viz. when they are bound in Fetters and holden in Cords of Affliction to shew them their work and their Transgression that they have exceeded in and then to open their ears to Discipline and to command them to return Job 36. 8. 9. 10. Yea and he can cause them to return by Sealing Instruction at such a Time and in such a way Thus can the Lord bring back thy soul from the pit tho' thy body must go thither It is I confess a strange

man as most in the World who when he came to dye thus expressed himself to a Minister that treated with him about his Soul I said he never knew what Fear meant tho' I have bin amongst drawn Swords and before the Cannons mouth I feared not death but now you tell me of a Second Death it makes my Soul to shake within me That 's a Death the Thoughts whereof may make the soul of the stoutest Sinner in the world to tremble for that 's a death which is ETERNAL The things which are seen are temporal but the things which are not seen are ETERNAL The death of the Body that 's seen and is soon over but what becomes of the Soul when a Sinner dyeth they that stand by him do not see but if he dye impenitent the Death which is not seen takes hold on him and it is eternal The God against whom he has sinned liveth for ever to punish him And a fearful thing it is to fall into the hands of the ever-living God. O run not into the mouth of the Second Death into the wide Mouth of the fiery Pit which has devoured Millions of Millions of immortal souls and know you for certain that if you die impenitent your Damnation will be no ordinary one for you have not only transgress'd against the Law of God with a high hand but sinn'd against the Gospel too The Sermons which you have heard formerly or might have done will be as so many witnesses against you before the Judgment seat of Christ the 3 Sermons which have bin preached to you in publick since your Condemnation the pains that has bin taken with you in private by one or other of the Lords Servants all these will aggravate your Condemnation when you shall be judged again before all the world at the last Day if you dye impenitent Consider 3. There 's yet a Possibility that your soul may be saved Notwithstanding all that has bin spoken to you don't despair repent but do not despair I would not have you say as Cain did My sin is greater than can be forgiven The Lord is a merciful God. Tho' Men cannot forgive you God can and He will do it if you unseignedly repent believe on the Lord Jesus There is infinite Merit in the Death of Christ if your bloody soul be wash'd in his blood it shall be made whiter than the Snow That Sin which you must now dye for God has forgiven to others upon their true Repentance Manasseh filled the streets of Jerusalem with innocent blood but when he humbled himself and besought the Lord for Mercy God was entreated of him O therefore Repent and then though your Body must dye your Soul shall live and not dye I have but two words more to say to you and then I shall take my leave of you for ever 1. Be sure that you be sincere in your Repentance Many times men under Fears will seem very penitent whenas they do but flatter God with their mouths and lye unto him with their tongues Thus it was with Pharoah and with many a sinner whose hard heart was never broken nor changed we see often that sinners on sick beds when they behold Death Eternity before their eyes will confess their sins and promise Reformation but if the Lord spare restore them they are the same that they were before And we have known Instances among our selvs of men that when they have bin Captive and in Turkish Slavery they have pretended to a sense of those sins which provoked the Most High to bring that misery upon them and have written seemingly pious penitent Letters to their Friends but now God has delivered them they are as vain as profane as ungodly as ever in their lives before nay some of them worse For the Truth is if men be not humbled and converted by such signal Dispensations many times they are judicially everlastingly hardned They never leave sinning until they have sinned themselvs into Hell past all hopes of Mercy or Recovery To come nearer to you I have known some more than one or 2 or 3 that have bin condemned to dye and whilest they remained under that Sentence they seemed very penitent but they were pardoned for they had not bin guilty of Murder as you have and since that have bin as wicked as ever O then look to your self that you do not dissemble with GOD and Man and your own Soul too And let not the Fear of Punishment only but the Sense of Mercy break your heart 2. In this way of sincere Repentance Betake your self to the City of Refuge Go to Christ for Life The wilful man slayer had as you heard but now no benefit by the City of Refuge so shall impenitent Sinners have no Salvation by Christ but they that have a real sight of their Sins and flee from the Avenger of blood unto Christ for life He is ready to succour them Poor man has the fiery Serpent stung thy soul then look unto the Brazen Serpent look unto the Lord Jesus that you may live and not dye forever Build your hopes of Salvation on Christ His Righteousness alone Don't think you shall be saved only because good men have pray'd for you or for the Confession of your sins which you have now made or for the sake of any thing but CHRIST And I pray the Son of GOD to have Compassion on you The Last Expressions solemn Warning of James Morgan As they were in Short-hand taken from his Mouth at the Place of Execution Mar. 11. 85 / 6. I Pray God that I may be a Warning to you all and that I may be the last that ever shall suffer after this manner in the fear of God I warn you to have a care of taking the Lords Name in vain Mind have a care of that sin of Drunkenness for that sin leads to all manner of sins and Wickedness mind have a care of breaking the sixth Commandment where it is said Thou shalt do no Murder for when a man is in Drink he is reaready to commit all manner of Sin till he fill up the cup of the wrath of God as I have done by committing that sin of Murder I beg of God as I am a dying man and to appear before the Lord within a few minutes that you may take notice of what I say to you Have a care of drunkenness ill Company and mind all good Instruction and don 't turn your back upon the Word of God as I have done When I have bin at meeting I have gone out of the meeting-house to commit sin to please the lust of my flesh Don't make a mock at any poor object of pity but bless God that he has not left you as he has justly done me to commit that horrid sin of Murder Another thing that I have to say to you is to have a care of that house where that wickedness was commited where

Speakest thou not unto me knowest thou not that I have power to crucify thee have power to release thee But it is more fitly spoken by Jesus Christ unto you Knowest thou not that I have power to destroy thee soul body in hell forevermore knowest thou not that if thou passest a day or two more without a due regard unto me thou canst not be saved therefrom tho' the life of all the Angels in heaven should be proffered for thy ransom and speakest tho● not unto Me O thou deplorable soul speak and seek and look unto Him as for Life eternal May last Request unto you is O give get all the Honour you can unto that Jesus from whom you look for your Salvation While you are secking to look well unto Him O see that you speak well of Him and do well for Him until you shall speak and do be among the living on the earth no more Surely you have by presumptious things enough reproached him already The sharp Ax of Civil Justice will speedily cut you down O for a little good fruit before the blow Manifest your penitence for your Iniquities by a due care to excel in tempers quite contrary to those ill Habits and customs whereby you have heretofore blasphemed the worthy Name of Christ Christianity Especially employ the last minutes of your Life in giving a zealous Warning unto others to take need of those things which have bin destructive unto you Tell them what wild Gourds of death they are by which you have got your Bane point out before them those pathes of the destroyer which have led you down so near unto the Congregation ●f the dead When the numerous croud of spectators are 3 or 4 days hence thronged about the place where you shall then breathe your last before them all then do you with the heart-piercing groans of a deadly wounded man 〈◊〉 of your follow-sinners that they would turn new every one from the evil of his way Beseech of them to keep clear of ill Haunts ill Houses with as much dread of them as they could have of lying down in a nest of poisonful Snakes Beseech of them to abhor all Vncleanness as they would the deep ditch which the abhorred of the Lord do fall into Beseech of them to avoid all Excess in Drinking as they would not rott themselves with more bitter Liquors than the Waters of Jealousie Beseech of them to moderate and mortifie all inordinate Passions as they would not surrender themselves into the hands of Devils that will hurry them down into deeper Deeps than they are aware Beseech of them to Shun idle Swearing as a Prophanity that the GOD to whom Vengeance belongeth will not permit to go unpunished Beseech of them to avoid Curses on themselves or others lest while they like Mad-men so throw about fire-brands arrows death they bring upon their own heads as you have done the things which they are apt rashly to be wishing of Beseech of them to beware of Lying as they would not be put to need crave be denied a drop of water to cool their tongues in the place of Torment Beseech of them to be as averse to all Stealing as they would be to carry coals of fire into the Nests that they so feather by their dishonesty Beseech of them to prize the means of Grace to sleep At or keep from Sermons no more to love the Habitation of God's house and the place where His Honour dwels lest God do soon send their froward barren souls to dwell in silence where there never shall be a Gospel-Sermon heard never never as long as the Almighty sits upon His Chrystal Throne And when you have given these Warnings upon the Ladder from whence you shall not come off without taking an irrecoverable step into eternity O remember still you give unto Jesus Christ the honour of LOOKING to Him for His Salvation Remember that if you would do a work highly for the honour of Him This is The work of God that you Believe on Him. Even after your eyes are so covered as to take their leave of all sights below still continue LOOKING unto Him whom you have heard saying Look unto Me. And now let the Everlasting Saviour LOOK down in much mercy on you O that He would give this Murderer and extraordinary Sinner a place among the Wonders of free Grace O that this wretched man might be made meet for the Inheritance with the Saints in Light being kept from such an unrepenting and deluded heart as unquenchable fire will find Fuel in And be thou pleased O Holy Lord God Almighty to sanctifie this Example so that the Sinners in this Zion may be afraid that Fearfulness may surprise the Hypocrites thereof and they may all hear and fear and do wickedly no more Amen Amen AN EXHORTATION To A CONDEMNED MALEFACTOR Delivered March the 7th 1686. By JOSHVA MOODY Preacher of the Gospel at Boston in New-England Ezek. 33. 9. If thou warn the wicked of his way to turn from it if he do not turn from his way he shall dy in his iniquity but thou shalt deliver thy soul Josh 7. 19. Give glory to the God of Israel and make Confession to Him and tell me what thou hast done Isai 55. 7. Seek the Lord while he may be found call ye upon him while he is near Let the wicked forsake his Way and the unrighteous man his Thoughts and let him return unto the Lord and He will have mercy upon him and to our God for He will abundantly pardon Printed at BOSTON by R. P. Anno 1687. To the Reader IT was the Motion of many and the Importunity of some that drew from me my consent to make this almost extemporary discourse thus public The Prisoner sent to me on the After-noon before the Sabbath a writing under his hand wherein he own'd the Justice of God in bringing him to this untimely End and the Righteousness of the Sentence of Man upon him together with a Confession of those sins that he had lived in all his dayes of which there is something spoken in the Sequel adding 2 Requests viz. that I would take some Notice of him in my Sermon and that I would give warning to those of his Follow-Siners that had been guilty of the like evils lest they also become like monuments of divine Justice Such reasonable requests especially from a dying man I could not deny My Subject that day was Isa 12. 1. and my Business at that time to discourse of the necessity means marks of the turning away of God's Anger which I judged not unsutable for a person in his condition accordingly did as there was occasion apply my self particularly to him in my Sermon which is not so proper to insert here What was directly spoken to himself or to others at his desire so far at least as my memory would serve me is committed to the Press and added as an