Selected quad for the lemma: mercy_n
Text snippets containing the quad
|
ID |
Title |
Author |
Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication) |
STC |
Words |
Pages |
|
A62323
|
Jethro's character of worthy judges an assise-sermon preached at Northampton, March 22, 1663 / by Antonie Scattergood.
|
Scattergood, Antony, 1611-1687.
|
1664
(1664)
|
Wing S842; ESTC R38218
|
23,301
|
44
|
austerity and doth all he doth to escape the whip and the cudgel This Fear hath for its object not Sinne but Punishment and for its cause not Love of God as the former but Self-love and Love of the world which make a man seek onely after ease pleasure profit and whatsoever else the Flesh lusteth after As for God the man who is possessed onely with this Fear looking upon him not as a gratious Father but as a stern Judge 1 John 4.18 not as a Friend but as an Enemy cannot choose but hate him For as perfect Love according to S. John casteth-out Fear that is tormenting Fear so also slavish and tormenting Fear excludeth Love These two are incompatible and cannot stand together 〈…〉 Cic. Oâ—â— 2. Quem metuunt oderunt quem quisque odit periisse expetit Ungodly wretches are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Rom. 1.30 haters of God and would therefore if it were possible pluck him out of his throne They could wish there were no God Psal 94 7. or that he could not see or would not regard when they do amiss They do what they can to put God out of all their thoughts Psal 10 4 11 13 that they may sin the more licentiously But when they shall have done all they can God will not be quite put out of their thoughts but ever and anon the belief of his Presence Knowledge Justice Power shall imbitter their sinful pleasures check them in their inordinate courses Acts 24.25 and make them tremble with Felix at the thought of a judgment to come For as true saving Faith is not in the power of man Ephes 2 8. but a supernatural gift of God so neither is Incredulity wholly in man's power the knowledge and belief of some points being as it were inbred by Nature and common unto all especially of the Divine Essence and Attributes That God is and That he is wise and just and powerful and That he will reward every man according to his works Hence that propension even in the most savage and barbarous nations to some religion and the worship of a Deity hence those gripes of conscience after wilful sinning Heb. 10.26 27. and that fearful looking-for of judgment a notable instance whereof we have in the first sinners Gen. 3. These terrours of the Lord being kindled in the breasts of men by the light of Nature may indeed be much encreased by the preaching of the Word making clearer and further discoveries unto them of their own sins and of the wrath of God but they cannot by any means be quite extinguished For let wicked men endeavour never so much to blind their own eyes to harden their hearts and to benumme their consciences yet still there will be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a conscience accusing an heart condemning a worm gnawing and a fire glowing tacitâ sudant praecordia culpâ Juven 1.167 saith the Satyrist and in another place most excellently diri conscia facti Mens habet attonitos surdo verbere caedit Juven 13.193 Occultum quatiente animo tortore flagellum A kind of hell this upon earth and the greatest of all torments Nocte diéque suum gestare in pectore testem 198. to have the Conscience continually lashing us with the remembrance of sin and with the fear of vengeance This slavish and tormenting Fear though it be in evil men and hypocrites yet is not evil in itself but of great use and benefit For 1 seeing that not onely Nature teacheth us to fear the evil of punishment but the Scripture also biddeth us if we do evil then to fear Rom. 13 4. if we should do evil and not fear we should make our sin exceeding sinful by falling into it presumptuously and lying in it securely 2. Again were it not for this curb men would run into all licentiousness like unbridled horses they would make their Will and their Power the onely measure of then actions and hold nothing unlawful but what is unpossible There would be no order nor quiet upon earth but Mankind would become like fishes of the sea Hab. 1.14 the greater still would devour the lesser and all outrages and villanies would be daily committed But God putteth this fear into the hearts of men that it may be a restraining grace and hinder the perpetrating of a world of wickedness 3. Further yet this servile Fear is an instrument not onely of God's Wisdom and Providence in ruling the affairs of the world but also oftentimes of his fatherly Mercy and loving Kindness to his children whom he is wont to lead towards heaven by the gates of hell and after he hath affrighted and afflicted them by the Spirit of Bondage to comfort and conduct them by the Spirit of Adoption This Fear though not itself a sanctifying and saving grace yet making way for such as Fire though it giveth not forms to metalls yet fitteth them for the reception of forms and the Needle though it sew not the cloth itself yet draweth after it the threed that doth This we may see in those early Converts Acts 2. Acts 1 37 38. in whom Compunction of heart was the beginning of Conversion God appeareth to our souls for the most part as he did to Elijah on mount Horeb 1 King 19.11 12. making the Wind the Earthquake and the Fire usher-in the still small Voice Moses is our School-master to 〈◊〉 â—nto Christ Cal. 3.24 and under the terrours of the Law we are trained up to serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear Hebr. 12.28 First we learn to dread God as a Judge and then to reverence him as a Father first to fear the Lord and his wrath and then Hos 3.5 to fear the Lord and his goodness as the Prophet speaketh and as the Psalmist Psal 130.4 to fear him because there is mercy and forgiveness with that is for such sense those places may have lest we should forfeit and come short of his goodness and mercy First we fear lest he should find us and then we fear lest we should lose him first we fear lest he should smite us and then we fear lest he should not embrace us Thus even this Servile Fear may be said to be the beginning of wisdom Psal 111.10 Pr. 1.7 9.10 But David and Solomon his son who both give that high elogium to the Fear of the Lord are to be understood to speak of that eminent and excellent Fear which doth not contract the heart Isa 60.5 but enlarge it as the Prophet speaketh doth not drive us from God but make us cleave unto him This Fear is not barely the beginning of wisdom that is the first step unto it but it is as the Hebrew word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 also signifieth the head the chief and principal point of wisdom the summe and complement and perfection of it Behold the fear of the Lord that is wisdom saith