Selected quad for the lemma: mercy_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
mercy_n	gracious_a	lord_n	merciful_a	6,562	5	8.9295	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A00581	Comfort to the afflicted. Deliuered in a sermon preached at Pauls-Crosse the xxi. day of May, M. DC. XXVI. Being the last Sunday in Easter terme. By Antony Fawkener, Mast. of Arts, of Iesus Colledge in Oxford	Fawkner, Antony, b. 1601 or 2.	1626 (1626)	STC 10718; ESTC S118330	17,791	36

Amos. 9.5 He comforteth by the touch of his mercie when he will forgiue for so Iesus touched the Leper and he was healed S. Math. 8.3 He toucheth by the touch of his mercie and iustice together when he will trie and so the hand of God hath touched Iob. In whose tryall respect the affliction and view Gods Iustice looke vpon the end and behold his mercie He was sinfull therefore might lawfully be punished yet God afflicts him more to proue him than to punish him The Lord will rebuke him yet not in his anger he will chastise him but not in his wrath Because he hath sinned he may I and shall be afflicted and yet by that scourge not so much punished as proued Thus all things proue to the good of the elect If they sinne they shall be punished yet their punishment shall be the witnesse of their triall and that he path-way to their glorie God will not cocker his children but correct them and strike hardest where he loues most The man after his owne heart shall roare for paine and iust Iob complaines The hand of God hath touched Mee Vox clamantis in deserto Mee The voyce of one crying in the Wildernesse That was S. Iohn Baptist Here is another vox clamantis the voyce of a crier 't is in the wildernesse too His soule was desolate and affected vncouth places as much as Dauid who was like a Pellican of the wildernesse and like an Owle of the Deserts He was the Baptist too Psal 102.6 but meerely passiue Baptismosanguinis he was baptized with the baptisme of affliction and that he is a Crier as well as S. Iohn is intimated by his name Iob which signifies a fearefull howling We know the storie of him and the scope of it s the manifestation of Gods triall of mans patience in miserie Each one knowes the afflictions of the man of the East Iob but who takes notice of the woman of the North our Metropolis Here is a third vox clamantis the voyce of one crying I and in the Desert For loe Satan the Dragon hath persecuted her as the woman in the wildernes Nay her whole selfe not long agone was but a wildernesse if you will take a Desert for a place desolate Rev. 12.14 S. Gregories complaint was renewed and the ruines by him deplored truly patterned in that example Habitatores non exparte subtrahuntur sed pariter corruunt Domus vacuae relinquuntur Filiorum funera parētes aspiciunt et sui eos adinteritum haeredes praecedunt The stately towers of Sion were become the habitation of Satyres her people not by degrees plucked vp but mowed downe together in full swathes Lo a lamentable spectacle The Grand-sire by a preposterous priuiledge of suruiuing heire to his intestate Nephew You might haue beheld youth the first borne of death and the gray haires descending latest to the graue The great Temple of Ierusalem that liuing house of God the company of Christians was so vnioyted that there was scarce a stone left vpon a stone a man to conuerse in safetie with his neighbour A pestilent disease disordered nature The graue snatched what nature denied the strongest Net hoc parentes heu sibi superstites effugerit spectaculum Parents were mourners for their children and closed those eyes which should haue wept at their funerals The graues were as full of carkasses as the houses of inhabitants and the poore remnant that were left and reserued from this fatall captiuitie were not so much the parts as the ruines of a City Troynouant was indeed new Troy the wretched daughter of an vnhappie mother Beth-rapha was turned into Bochim The house of health not to an edifice but a bare place of weeping You should not haue mis-called a matron Naomie but called her Mara not a beautifull spouse but a distressed widow Lo gasping Rachel would haue the name for in those fearefull plagues the fathers son of his right hand his darling babe was but Ben-oni the son of sorrow God Almightie had withdrawne the light of his countenance from vs The Arke of our saluation was wel-neare taken and the lamenting mothers bowing themselues for trauell haue brought forth their first-borne abortiues an vntimely fruit of a name distractedly inquisitiue Ichabod where is the glorie Quam penè furnaeregna Proserpinae indicantem vidimus Aeacum one foote was in the graue and O Lord how almost did our soules goe downe into the pit There was no Isaiah to saue the liuing from death no Elias to raise the dead to life The wise perished as the foolish the Priests as the peasants both promiscuously interred together so that each sepulchre was a charnel-house each graue a Golgotha Belshazzar trembled for a light threat The hand of God appeared to vs not writing on a wall but a whole Kingdome grauing the name of desolation in the black characters of the pestilence and each doors fatall common motto Lord haue mercy vpon vs. Graues were scarcer than houses and the earth more streightned to receiue the dead than the habitations the liuing So that necessitie made one pit a common sepulchre and the whole Citie Ezekiels field Yet loe Mal. 3.8 9 10 11 12. those afflictions which should haue corrected haue hardned vs. Will a man spoyle his gods saith the Lord yet yee haue spoyled me but yee say Wherein haue we spoyled thee In tythes and offerings The Priest-hood is become a derision the Ministerie a contempt and the Church robbed by contentious flocks and sacrilegious Patrons Wherefore ye are cursed with a curse for yee haue spoiled me saith the Lord euen this whole nation But bring yee all the tythes into the store-house that there may be meate in mine house and proue me now herewith saith the Lord If I will not open the windowes of heauen vnto you and powre you out a blessing without measure And I will rebuke the deuourer for your sakes And all nations shall call you blessed for yee shall be a pleasant land saith the Lord of hosts Pride fulnesse of bread and deceit in the citie Oppression and barbarous malice in the countrie these are the weapons which we haue whetted against our owne soules and the broken reedes that pierced the hands of those that leaned on them How many townes may we see turned into open fields religion decayed with nature the Church with the parishioners land-lords metamorphosed to wolues seruants into doggs villages into sheep-coates and families into shepheards Curres Because the blessing of God was troublesome and the multitude of men seemed a burthen vnto vs loe the iust Lord hath eased vs in his indignation and in a moment sweptaway by warre and pestilence aboue an hundred thousand He hath recompenced our ingratitude with vengeance and which of vs all haue not lost a kinsman O then Haue pitie vpon vs haue pitie vpon vs O yee our friends for the hand of God hath touched vs. Yet the Lord is mercifull and gracious and in the middest of iudgement hath remembred mercie Our great Citie Nineueh and her King hath repented in sackcloth and ashes sorrow and humilitie and behold the Lord hath beene more mercifull than man Though Ionah hath prophesied iudgements he hath turned them into consolations Behold Syon is againe inhabited and who can number her towers The voice of gladnesse is heard in her Palaces and songs of thanks-giuing in stead of the mourning of Hadad-rimmon Moses is heard and the request of pious gouernours now fully granted The Lord is returned vnto the many thousands of Israel Reioyce therfore O my soule againe I say reioyce O let vs remooue the Leprosie of sinne from our soules as God hath remooued the black spots of the Pestilence from our bodies O be ioyfull in the Lord all ye lands all sorts all persons young men and maidens olde men and children praise yee the Lord. So shall God render vnto Iob seuen fold the wombes of our young women shall be fruitfull and your children shall play by thousands in the streets the strength of our young men shall breake a bowe of steele and the gray hayres of our auncients shall descend with ioy reuerence into the graue O then beloued quickly to day if you will heare cast off the menstruous cloathes of Hypocrisie and wickednesse and present your soules your naked soules as a sacrifice without blemish vnto the God of your saluation Come taste and see how good and gracious the Lord is Take the Cup of saluation and sing with Angels and Arch-angels Glorie to God on high in earth peace and good will towards men Wee praise thee wee blesse thee we glorifie thee c. FINIS

q. 8. Art 2.3 but its cause Affection for it addes ioy to the afflicted that hee is beloued euen to compassion As wee are men wee must be sociable if wee bee sociable when occasion serues wee must pitty That loue is counterfeit which cannot grieue societie is nothing worth without symphathie So rarely inbred is this passion that there is scarce any thing attained so easily Epist 7● and good so naturally Misericordia pias mentes ad compassionem dolentium necessario cogit affectu saith S. Bernard Mercie is so naturall to good mindes that it doth not perswade to compassion but compell So that though they would not pitie yet they must it being to them so naturall that it is vnauoidable Now as nature rules the creatures so the Creator rules nature so that her prescript is but subordinate to his law and shee onely proclaimes what God first decrees Thus we may inferre that it is Gods commandement because hers but by reason that we may see the Almighties will in the bright mirrour the Scripture clearer than in that dimme one of Nature 't is safest to haue recourse to it where we shall finde that also It is commanded by God Estote misericordes sicut pater vester est misericors saith Christ S. Luk. 6.36 Be yee mercifull as your Father is mercifull Actum est A further proofe might sauour of incredulitie Loe here the command both of God and Nature 't is the Decree of Iesus Christ God and Man In which is a precept and an exhortation He cōmands by his power Be yee mercifull and perswades by an example Sicut pater c. As your Father is mercifull That statute must needs be good which God enacts and that action must needs therefore be iust of which he is the example Our first parents desired to be as God and their ambition was rebellion Yet loe we must labour to be as God and our desire shall be religion To aspire to be equall with God is treason against his Maiestie to indeauour to be like him is obedience to his precept The pride of their ambition attempted an equalitie but the loue of our obedience aimes at a likenesse His mercie is aboue all his workes wherefore if you will be most like him Estote misericordes Be you mercifull so you shall be as neere him by assimilation as your first parents were distant by their ambition Their vainly intended equalitie was punished with iudgment and your likenesse in mercy shall be rewarded with mercy Aqui. 22ae q. 30. Art 2. ad 1. Deus non miseretur nisi propter amorem in quantum nos amat vt aliquid sui saith Aquinas God therefore pities vs because he loues vs and onely loues vs because we are like him He will pitie the mercifull because he loues them and he will loue them because they are so like him Wherfore he will be mercifull vnto the mercifull and therefore Blessed are the mercifull for they shall obtaine mercie S. Mat. 5.7 Heark beloued Blessed are the mercifull not barely happie honoured with riches of god not with the slender opulency of fortune Are there any then amongst you my brethren which haue cloathed Christ when he was naked fed him when hee was hungrie and giuen him drinke when he was thirstie if there be any Come yee blessed of the Lord S. Math. 25.24.25.26 and inherit the kingdome prepared for you from the foundations of the world Inherit that in this world by the stable possession of a certaine hope which you shall inherit in the life to come in the fulnesse of ioy for euermore Be not slow to pitie for it is easie bee not doubtfully curious to receiue it for it is lawfull Refuse it not stubbornly sith 't is naturall at least condemne it not rebelliously for 't is the command of God Pitie thy kinsmen with Ioseph for they are thy flesh Haue compassion vpon thy countrimen with Ieremy for they are thy brethren Be mercifull to those of thy religion for yee are one in Christ Iesus yee are of one houshold of faith Pitie thy brother for his owne sake for so thou maiest comfort him haue compassion vpon him for thine own sake for so thou maiest expect a retributiō in thy misery Giue vnto the poore so lend vnto the Lord and he wil pay thee or giue vnto the poore so pay vnto the Lord what he hath lent thee Quid habes quod non accepisti What hast thou which thou hast not receiued what canst thou bestow but what thou hast borrowed If thou giuest to the poore thou giuest to Christ if thou giuest to Christ thou giuest to God Nor is it so much a gift as a debt S. Aug in Psal 147. Deillius das qui iubet vt des May not God do what he wil with his own If his eye be good let not yours be therefore euill For what you bestow is none of yours but his only that commands you to giue it If then God forgiue thee thy debt take not thy brother by the throat for his Doth the poore owe thee any thing remit it for in hauing more than is necessary for thee thou owest as much to him If thou hast more than thou needest thou hast more than thine own Superflua diuitum necessaria sunt pauperum Idem ibid. The ouerplus of the rich are the necessaries of the poore A niggardly hand may oppresse as much as a violent Idem ibid. Res alienae possidentur cum superflua possidentur When you whoord vp that which you do not want you spoyle the poore of that which they want Anobis extrahitur crudeliter quod consumitur inaniter That is cruelly extorted from the needy which is lauishly spent vpon thy lust Sith then God hath giuen to thee imitate him in being bountifull to thy brother Let Gods almes be thy almes and what his mercie hath bestowed vpon thee let thy pitie diuide vnto thy neighbour Briefly though the Shabeans robbe Iob yet let Eliphaz pity him though the Lord by affliction trye him yet let Bildad and Zophar haue compassion vpon him and though he be persecuted by Satan his enemie yet at least Haue pitie vpon him O yee his friends Friends yea but very small ones In my Text they are put in a parenthesis and are no neerer than almost quite out Prosperitie may haue choise of acquaintance but onely miserie is the touch-stone of a friend 'T is true indeed the Man of the East had diuers friends but now they abhorre and are turned against the poore man Iob Iob. 19.19 So fickle is the amity of parasiticall friends that the inconstancy of time and fortune can sterne its Nature Now if we will loue constantly we must loue well and if we will loue well we must loue vertuously So that our friendship must principally respect goodnesse both in our selues and friends He that cannot affect himselfe cannot affect another and he that loues