Selected quad for the lemma: mercy_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
mercy_n	goodness_n	great_a	sin_n	6,173	5	4.6117	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A96681	Fax fonte accensa, fire out of water: or, An endeavour to kindle devotion, from the consideration of the fountains God hath made Designed for the benefit of those who use the waters of Tunbridg-Wells, the Bath, Epsom, Scarborough, Chigwell, Astrop, Northall, &c. Two sermons preached at New Chappel by Tunbridg-Wells. With devout meditations of Cardinal Bellarmin upon fountains of waters. Also some form of meditations, prayers, and thanksgivings, suited to the occasion. By Anthony Walker, D.D.	Walker, Anthony, d. 1692.; Bellarmino, Roberto Francesco Romolo, Saint, 1542-1621. Selections, English, 1684.	1685 (1685)	Wing W302A; ESTC R230546	55,606	206

Indigaters are at a loss and cannot solve them and find out the Reasons of them but must cry out in admiration of their Maker his Wisdom is unsearchable and in this as much as in any Works of Nature past finding out They must confess themselves posed and say with David Such Knowledg is too wonderful for me 't is high 't is deep I cannot attain to it Psal 139.6 And with the indefatigable Alstedius not be asham'd to say the best answer to the Enquiries about them is by that word of Modesty Nescio I cannot tell and with the great Philosopher dying to Euripus Non capio te I cannot comprehend thee 3. There appeareth great Wisdom in cutting out their Chanels spreading their Veins proportioning their Depth and Breadth and Length that they be not too rapid or too slow that by a longer Tract they may be duly percolated refin'd concocted imbued and impregnated sufficiently and not excessively with the virtues of the Mineral Soils that make them useful How wise is he who proportions all these and an hundred more in Number Weight and Measure 4. In the admirable and almost infinite variety and sorts and kinds of them A Poet would call them Lusus naturae lascivientis and tell you that wanton Nature never sported it self more gaily then in the various sorts and shapes of Springs and Fountains and in their strange and stupendous Properties some ebbing and flowing as the Sea some hot to seething others as cold to freezing some both in every twenty four hours hot in the Night cold in the Day some petrifying all that 's put into them others changing white the Hairs scattered on them and of them who drink them Some diutetick some purging some molifying other consolidating some salt some sweet some acid some insipid some limpid others thick some harsh others soft smooth oily c. In a word the Sea hath not so many kinds of Fish nor the Earth so many sorts of Beasts or Fruits nor the Air such diversity of Fowls and Birds as there are variety of Springs and Fountains O Lord how manifold are these Works of thine in Wisdom hast thou made them all the Earth is full of thy Goodness Thirdly This his Goodness is the last of God's adorable Perfections which bubbles up yea flows exuberantly upon us in the Fountains which he makes And if any be so senceless as to ask me how the making of the Fountains prove him to be good It might be sufficient to answer such a Question by asking of another viz. Art thou not asham'd to ask it or canst thou move it without blushing But to clear it I mean by his Goodness his Beneficence or doing Good Thou art good and dost good saith David unto God Psal 119.68 He therefore doth good because he is good But he is thereby known to be good because he doth good and every Benefit he bestows upon his Creatures witness him to be a good God Acts 14.17 how do the Wells and Fountains proclaim him to be so as David Psal 93.3 of the Floods we may say The Springs O Lord have lifted up their Voice the Springs lift up their Voice to shout forth the Goodness of their Maker yea they clap their Hands Psal 98.8 applaudingly to celebrate his Praises When grateful David had said Psal 33.5 The Earth is full of the Goodness of the Lord he proves it vers 7. because he layeth up the Depth in Store-houses thereby to feed the Fountains When Moses speaking of the promis'd Land saith to the Israelites The Lord thy God bringeth thee into a good Land The Character he gives of that Goodness is that 't was a Land of Brooks of Water of Fountains and Depths that spring out of the Valleys and Hills And God is said to open his good Treasure the Treasures of his Goodness Deut. 28.12 When he gives Rain from above and so when he gives Fountains from beneath Water is a great Mercy in the common use of it the World could not continue or subsist without it and unspeakably sweet and kind is that Clemency of God that makes and gives it It is impossible to reckon up how many Benefits it yields us or to declare how great that Godness is by which we do injoy it 't is a Work fitter for our Admiration then our Reckoning for Rhetorick than Arithmetick And Spring-water is the best of Waters the Life the Spirits the Quintessence of that beneficial Element the most pure pleasant wholsome lasting and every way most excellent and valuable And because ungrateful we are more prone to make a right Judgment of the worth of our Mercies by their Wants than their Injoyments consider how deplorable and sad the want of Water is and we shall soon know how good it is to have it and thence learn to acknowledg how good he is that gives it But if common Waters be so great a Blessing then extraordinary Springs are no common Mercies And God is to be confessed very good for making such mollifying Baths God's own Bethesdahs and Siloam-pools which seem attended constantly with some good Angel and not only visited at rare and seldom Seasons Purging-Springs abstirging Wells opening Obstructions sweetning the Blood thinning tough viscous Humours preventing some and grapling with and conquering other most obstinate and chronical Distempers which were opprobria Medicorrm bafled the best experienced the eldest the first-born Sons of Apollo and Aesculapius which Leviathan-like esteem'd the choicest Recipes the keenest Shafts of Galen or Hippocrates Paracelsus or Vanhelmont but as Straw or rotten Wood. Such are these Wells God hath inrich'd this barren Country with which we come hither to make use of and to wait upon his Providence in the using of them How exuberantly doth God's Goodness flow in these O that with becoming Gratitude and Love we could with a spiritual Gust relish and taste it in every Glass we drink These are his Laboratories who stiles himself Jehova Rophi Exod. 15.26 I am the Lord that healeth thee and whom David Psal 103.3 exhorts us to bless for healing all our Diseases These are Alimbecks where Almighty Goodness draws the Tinctures and the Extracts prepares the Spirits makes the Infusion mixes the healthful Potions And how unseemly is it to open our Lips to drink them in and not to open them again to confess his Goodness and give out due Praises unto him that made them 3. His Goodness appears in discovering the Vertues of such Waters How many useful things are lost for want of being known Divine Clemency is seldom single content with one Act 't was one Mercy to make them what they are a second to let us know what he had made them and thirdly to vouchsafe us Liberty and Opportunity to use them 4. 'T is great Goodness in God to make them useful and beneficial either the common or the mineral Springs Man lives not by Bread only but by the Word which proceedeth out of God's Mouth Dead things cannot minister to our

Justify us freely in his Blood sanctify us throughly by his Spirit and let him be made of God to us Wisdom to preserve us from the deceitfulness of Sin Sanctification to deliver us from the filthiness of Sin Redemption to free us from the bondage and dominion of Sin and Righteousness to save us from the guilt and damnation of Sin that we may never perish but have Everlasting Life All which we beg for his sake who is thy Christ and our Jesus to whom with thy Self and thy eternal Spirit be ascribed everlasting Praise and Glory for evermore Amen The end of the Prayers Forms of Thanksgiving I. O LORD most Mighty the great Creator of all things in Heaven and Earth whose Works are the Witnesses of Thy Being and of the adorable Perfections of thy Nature We bless and magnify thy glorious Name for all thy wondrous Works for making the Heavens and their Host the Earth and its Store the Sea and all the Waters in it and that spring from it and in particular for making these Healing Fountains for making known their Virtues for giving us liberty to use them and for any Blessing formerly or at this season vouchsafed to us by the use of them And we pray Thee to crown these Mercies with one better than the rest even so thankful an Heart as may improve all to thy Glory through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen II. O Lord who art good and dost good We bless thy glorious Name for what thou art and what thou do'st for the Healing Fountain of thy free Grace and for the free Fountain of these Healing Waters for the Blessings of thy Throne and of thy Footstool for our Life and for our Livelihood for our Food and for our Physick for the Waters of the upper and the nether Springs for all thy Fountains and for all their Streams Good Lord create one Fountain more even a Fountain of Love and Thankfulness in all our Hearts and cause it to flow with constant streams of Obedience and Praise which may be acceptable in thy sight through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen III. O Lord who art pleased to declare That who-so offereth Thee Thanks and Praise honoureth Thee Accept our unfeigned desires to honour Thee by giving thee Thanks and Praise with our whole Hearts and our whole Souls for thy manifold and inestimable Mercies vouchsafed unto us Not unto us Lord not unto us but to thy holy Name be given Glory We are less than the least of thy Mercies We deserved none before we had them we have forfeited all since we had them yet art thou pleased of thy Astonishing Goodness to give us new Instances of Mercy every day Lord give us a renewed sense of them all and an holy Zeal with humble Hearts to honour Thee for them all through Him by whom they are conveyed to us that is thy Son our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ Amen IV. O Almighty and infinitely gracious Lord God we desire to fear Thee to give Thee Glory and to worship Thee that madest the Heaven and the Earth and the Sea and the Fountains of Water and for making these in particular of which we drink daily with so much satisfaction and expectation of relief We beseech Thee let not our Provocations disappoint our Hopes but pardon those and nourish these and crown them with a blessed success that we may ever give Thee Thanks and live thy Praises through Christ our Lord. Amen V. What shall we render to the Lord for all his Benefits Let us take the Cup of Salvation and call upon the Name of the Lord most high But who can shew forth all his Praises who can reckon up the Mercies of one Water-season Our safe Arrival under his Protection from our Habitations needful Conveniences in this place for Soul and for Body for daily Worship and for daily Bread O Lord we bless thee that we have so many Mercies to bless thee for that we have an House a Chappel built to bless thee in O let us not want Hearts to bless thee with for Christ his sake Amen VI. O Lord our God whose Power Wisdom and Goodness are signally manifested in making the Fountains of Waters We praise thee for these and all other Manifestations of thy Almighty Power unsearchable Wisdom and inexhaustible Goodness And we beseech thee help us to walk before thee as become those who do indeed believe Thee to be such by fearing thee for thy Power following the conduct of thy Wisdom and loving thee for thy Goodness and all the Manifestations of it both by thy Providence and Grace Grant this O most merciful Father for the sake of thy dearest Son and our dearest Lord and Saviour to whom with thy self and thy most blessed Spirit be ascribed everlasting Honour Praise and Glory Amen VII Almighty Lord God who by thy Power and Wisdom hast made the Fountains of the great Deep and out of the depth of thy Mercy that Fountain of Baptism the Waters of which thou hast consecrated to the mystical washing away of Sin We most heartily bless thee for creating us after thy Image for our being born in the bosom of thy Church of Christian Parents in whose right and by whose care we were dedicated to thee in holy Baptism and after brought up in the true Religion We beseech thee baptize us by the Holy Ghost Wash us from the guilt and filth of all our Sins Justify us freely Sanctify us throughly Create in us O Lord a clean Heart and renew in us a right Spirit In our Baptismal Waters inable us to quench all the fiery Darts of the Devil and to wash off all the Defilements of our sinful Flesh and to dissolve all the Snares of the Pomps and Vanities of this wicked World all which we have solemnly renounced And let the same Waters so moisten our Hearts that they may be fruitful in Faith Repentance and new Obedience that we may walk before thee in Righteousness and true Holiness all our days To the Glory of God the Father who created us and God the Son who redeem'd us and God the Holy Ghost who we hope hath sanctified us to whose Name we were consecrated and to promote whose Glory is not less our Interest than it is our Duty to which undivided Trinity and eternal Unity be everlasting Praise and Adoration Amen Short Meditations and Ejaculations to be used whilst the Waters are drinking HOW early do we rise to drink these Waters In the Morning shall my Prayer prevent thee O thou whose Compassions are new every morning No Man can tell the Date of these Fountains nor can any Man foretell their Period Yet are they but as yesterday to Him who is yesterday to day and the same for ever Who was who is and is to come How many Glasses have been drunk from these Wells how much more Water hath run waste how many yet remain in their pregnant Womb and how many Millions of Drops would these amount to yet

then will the Fire of this Desire blaze forth above all Desires How great will then thy Happiness O my Soul be when thy Beloved and thy Lover CHRIST will shew thee all the Treasures of the Knowledg and Wisdom of God But that such hopes may not be frustrate strive to keep Christ's Precepts for he hath said If any Man loves me he will keep my Words and he that loves me not keepeth not my Words Mean while let thy Wisdom be such as holy Job describes The Fear of the Lord is Wisdom and to depart from evil is Vnderstanding And what good soever thou beholdest in the Creatures know that it flows from God the Fountain of all Goodness and so with blessed Francis learn to to taste the Goodness of the Fountain in every Creature as in Rivolets that are derived from it Devotions for Water-drinkers OR Meditations Prayers and Thanksgiving fitted to that occasion MEDITATION I. Upon the many kinds of Diseases cured by these Waters HOW great is that Evil which Fools make a Mock of The Cause may be seen in the Effects Had there been no Sin there had been no Sorrow nor Sickness no Diseases Pain or Death The great number of Distempers is no small evidence of the great Evil of Sin 'T is a prolifick Root which bears such variety such multitude of Fruit. The great Physician Fernelius cries out Totus Homo totus Morbus which we may english by the Prophet Isaiah's Words From the sole of the Foot even to the Head there is no Soundness and not only from top to bottom but from outside to within the whole Head is sick and the whole Heart is faint And the Prince of Physicians Galen sums up the Diseases to which the Eye alone is subject to amount to no less than three hundred how many then of the whole Head how many are there of the whole Body And yet the most of what we know is the least of what we know not How many hidden Distempers and which yet know no Name are we subject to And Art is posed to keep pace with Nature and fit new Names to new Diseases And almost every Year some comes upon the Stage known by no other dress call'd by no other title but the New Fever or New Disease And yet O Lord the number of our Sins which exceed the number of our Diseases is more exceeded by the multitude of thy Mercies than the Stars outshine the Gloworms or thy Throne in Heaven is higher than thy Foot-stool on Earth He 's blind which doth not see he deserves to be struck dumb who will not confess this Truth which every day which every place proclaims but few more loudly or significantly than this Place or Season How many Miracles of Mercy doth thy Power and Goodness daily work here How many Patients wait upon thee the Great Physician How many chronical and stubborn Distempers which had baffled all the Sons of Art yield to the God of Nature Should the vast number which daily drink of this Fountain of thy Pleasure strictly confer Notes their Distempers would be found as different as their Faces not two exactly alike yet all expect and most obtain Relief O Lord by the multitude of thy unknown Mercies heal all the known and unknown Diseases of our Bodies and Sins of our Souls MEDITAT II. With Allusion to John 5.3 In them lay a multitude of Impotent Folk waiting for the moving of the Water THE mighty Confluence of which these Wells are the Centre is a very humbling a very mortifying Consideration For tho the Gallantry and Rich Attire of the Company may emulate the Courts of greatest Princes and make this Desert forget its Solitude and we may in this Wilderness find such Softness and Delicacy as uses to be in King's Houses Yet in very truth this place is but a great Hospital and the splendid Buildings which rise so fast at South-borough Rust-Hall and about Mount-Ephraim are but so many Apartments in this great Infirmatory And the Guests who fill them are but so many Impotent Lazars under the Vests of Dives Every Glass we drink for cure is a tacite Confession of our hidden Infirmities and inward Distempers and that tho array'd as the Lillies of the Field as very Grass as they Gay Beggars which wait at these Wells which are the Celler of the great House-keeper for a dole of Mercy Nothing is more insufferable than an insolent Beggar Nothing more despicable than to be poor and proud to need Relief and provoke him from whom we expect it The first Prescription every wise Physician gives his Patient is that he must be regular take what he orders and as he orders Thou Lord art our Physician we are thy Patients these Wells are thy Shop their Waters are thy Medicines thy Word the Prescription how we must use them and all thy other Gifts with Prayer and Thanks-giving O that we all may humbly and sincerely do so Amen MEDITAT III. Upon an Herse passing by towards the Wells July 22. BEing return'd to my Lodgings from the Wells and sitting in the pleasant Tent of my honoured Friend I saw an Herse pass towards the Wells And tho I had not heard of the Death of any Person of Quality hereabouts yet it put me in mind of a Passage of the wise Moralist Seneca which I think for I dare not affirm it at this distance from my Books is in 101 Epist wrote on the sudden Death of Senecio Because thou knowest not when Death will expect thee do thou expect it in every time and because thou knowest not where it will meet thee do thou look for it in every place 'T is in hope of Health and Life that Men come hither yet some who come down in a Coach have changed it for an Herse to be carried up in and when they were knocking at the Doors of Health had the the Gates of the Grave unlock'd to receive them and found what was ordained for Life to be unto Death O how good how wise is it to be always prepared to die and every day to strike Tallies with Life O Lord Jesus who wilt certainly be my Judg when I die give me Wisdom give me thy Grace to take thy Counsel while I live while I am in Health to be always ready as a wise Virgin for the coming of the Bridegroom Blessed is that Servant whom his Lord when he comes shall find watching Good Lord vouchsafe to make me of that happy number Amen MEDITAT IV. Upon the plentiful Supply with which God hath furnished the World both for Food and Physick 'T Is a great Aggravation of our Sins that we commit them all against our Benefactor and abuse all the Creatures of God to his Dishonour To take as the Prophet Hoseah speaks his Silver his Gold his Wooll and his Flax his Bread and his Flesh his Wine and his Water his Time and his Talents and to turn them against himself and as with Weapons of Unrighteousness

nor any Inconvenience to us but prove useful and beneficial to us for the continuance restauration and confirmation of Health to our frail Bodies And as we beg thy leave to use thy Grace to use aright and thy Blessing upon the use of these Waters of the nether Springs So with humble earnestness we beg that the Waters of the Sanctuary which flow from the Throne of the Lamb of God the promised Floods of thy holy Spirit may be plentifully poured forth upon us to refresh to satisfie to cleanse to heal our parched weary and polluted Souls that so both with our Bodies and our Spirits which thou hast made by thy Power and bought with the price of thy Son's Blood we may glorify Thee our great Creator and gracious Redeemer for ever Amen II. O most holy Lord God who tho Thou art most merciful in providing relieving Remedies for thy Creatures yet art most jealous of thy Glory and expectest to be owned and acknowledged in all the Works of thy Power and Goodness to the Sons of Men. We pray thee raise up our Hearts by these Waters and beyond the Virtues of them to thy Self whose Providence hath made them what they are And as we abhor that gross Idolatry of worshipping the likeness of any thing that is in the Waters under the Earth So we pray thee preserve us from a more refined but not less criminal Idolatry of placing our Confidence in their Qualities and Virtues and forgetting Thee the Maker of them lest we provoke Thee to withdraw the Blessing we expect and inflict the Curse we have cause to fear and to make them the Instruments of thy Vengeance because we made them the Objects of our Trust and Occasions of thy Jealousie Grant this O Lord for Christ his sake Amen III. O most gracious God who delightest in Mercy and pardonest Iniquity Transgression and Sin We thy poor sinful Creatures humbly cast down our selves before thee begging the Forgiveness of our Offences which may justly cause thee to with-hold good things from us yea to turn our Blessings into Curses that what is made for the good of others might become to us a Snare and occasion of falling But we beseech thee deal not with us according to our deserts but bless to us the use of these Waters that we may receive those Benefits by them for which we may have great cause to honour love and serve thee for ever And we pray thee give us good Hearts to do accordingly for thy Mercy sake Amen IV. O Lord who art the Fountain of living Waters we confess with shame we have forsaken Thee and have hewen out to our selves empty and broken Cisterns which can hold no Water for which it might be just with thee to forsake and cast us off for ever But good Lord convince us of this Folly pardon and turn us from it Do us good by these Wells we daily see and taste of and open our Eyes as thou didst the Eyes of Hagar to see those Wells of Salvation which are hid from all but those to whom thou art pleased to shew them and help us with joy to draw from thence what may so suffice and satisfie us that we may thirst no more Amen V. Almighty God the Fountain of all Goodness we reade that thy Manna relisht agreeably and pleased the various Palats of all that ate it O that these Waters may profit every person that drinks of them how different so ever the Distempers are for which they drink them That thy Wisdom and Power may more signally appear by thy producing such various Effects from one and the same single Cause And help us all who drink of one Well to be knit together in the Bond of true Christian Charity and to praise thee for the Mercies thou bestowest on our selves and for the Mercies thou vouchsafest unto others as heartily as for our own for Christ his sake who is our common Head Amen VI. O most blessed Lord God who givest thy Blessings and alone canst bless thy Gifts We beseech thee remove thy Curse which our Sins have deserved from us from all our Injoyments and particularly from these Waters we are gathered hither to make use of and let thy Blessing so accompany and follow our drinking of them that we may be both obliged and inabled to praise thy Name through Christ our Lord. Amen VII O most gracious God who hast made a gracious Promise that all things shall work for the good of them that love thee ingraft in our Hearts such love to thy Name as may intitle us to this good Promise And altho we have forfeited our present Comforts and future Expectations of Good yet take not the Forfeitures we have made but crown with continual Patience thy former Bounty and add new Favours and suffer none of us where and while we seek for help and Ease and Health and Life to meet with Pain or Sorrow Sickness Death and Judgment But by by these Waters heal our Diseases and by a better Fountain purge away and pardon all our Sins through Jesus Christ our Lord and only Mediator Amen VIII O Lord our God who art the inexhaustible Fountain of all both spiritual and temporal good things for our Souls and for our Bodies we lift up our Hearts and Hands to Thee in Heaven for a merciful Supply of all our inward and outward Wants and that Thou wouldst sanctify and bless to us all those Supplies thy Goodness doth vouchsafe us both for our Souls and Bodies whether for Meat or Medicine and particularly these Waters that they may do us much good and no hurt and for all the benefits we receive from Thee we pray thee inable us to render to Thee such returns of Service Love and Thankfulness as Thou mayest expect and wilt accept through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen IX O most mighty God who makest the Fountains of Waters those in the Fields and Deserts as Thou art the God of Nature and that in thy Church the Fountain of our Baptism as Thou art the God of Grace We most humbly beseech Thee baptize us with the Holy Ghost and let it be the constant study of our lives to keep the Covenant we made with Thee in our Baptism and to exemplify it by such a Conversation as becomes the Gospel receiving by Faith the good Promises thou hast made to us and making good with faithfulness the Promises we then made to Thee to thy Glory the good example of all our fellow-Christians and the Comfort and Salvation of our Souls by Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen X. O most merciful Lord God who hast opened a Fountain for Sin and for Uncleanness in the Side in the Heart of thy own dear Son whom Thou sentest into this World to save his People from their Sins from all their Sins and all that is in Sin O let nothing be in vain to our Souls of all that he hath done or suffered instituted or ordained for his Peoples good