Selected quad for the lemma: mercy_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
mercy_n	great_a	let_v	sinner_n	1,997	5	7.5506	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A62603	A sermon preach'd before the Queen at White-Hall, March the 7th, 1689/90 by John Tillotson ...	Tillotson, John, 1630-1694.	1690 (1690)	Wing T1240; ESTC R9502	13,884	38

extinction of their Being and if this be all the effect of that dreadful Sentence which shall be pass'd upon them at the Day of Judgment than the Fire of Hell is quench'd all at once and is only a frightful Metaphor without any meaning But this is directly contrary to the tenour of Scripture which doth so often describe the punishment of wicked men in Hell by positive torments And particularly our Blessed Saviour describing the lamentable state of the damned in Hell expressely says that there shall be weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth which cannot be if Annihilation be all the meaning and effect of the Sentence of the Great Day Secondly another inconvenience of this Opinion is that if Annihilation be all the punishment of Sinners in the other World then the punishment of all Sinners must of necessity be equal because there are no degrees of Annihilation or not-being But this also is most directly contrary to Scripture as I have already shewn I know very well that some who are of this Opinion do allow a very long and tedious time of the most terrible and intolerable torment of Sinners and after that they believe that there shall be an utter end of their Being But then they must not argue this from the force of the Words before mentioned because the plain inference from thence is that Annihilation is all the punishment that wicked men shall undergo in the next Life And if that be not true as I have plainly shewn that it is not I do not see from what other words or expressions in Scripture they can find the lest ground for this Opinion that the torment of wicked men shall at last end in their Annihilation And yet admitting all this for which I think there is no ground at all in Scripture I cannot see what great comfort Sinners can take in the thought of a tedious time of terrible torment ending at last in Annihilation and the utter extinction of their Beings Thirdly we may consider further that the primary end of all Threatnings is not punishment but the prevention of it For God does not threaten that men may sin and be punish'd but that they may not sin and so may escape the punishment threatn'd And therefore the higher the threatning runs so much the more mercy and goodness there is in it because it is so much the more likely to hinder men from incurring the penalty that is threatn'd Fourthly Let it be consider'd likewise that when it is so very plain that God hath threatn'd eternal misery to impenitent Sinners all the prudence in the World obliges men to believe that he is in good earnest and will execute these threatnings upon them if they will obstinately stand it out with him and will not be brought to Repentance And therefore in all reason we ought so to demean our selves and so to perswade others as knowing the terrour of the Lord and that they who wilfully break his Laws are in danger of eternal Death To which I will add in the Fifth and lást place That if we suppose that God did intend that his threatnings should have their effect to deter men from the breach of his Laws it cannot be imagin'd that in the same Revelation which declares these threatnings any intimation should be given of the abatement or non-execution of them For by this God would have weaken'd his own Laws and have taken off the edge and terrour of his threatnings Because a threatning hath quite lost its force if we once come to beleive that it will not be executed And consequently it would be a very impious design to go about to teach or perswade any thing to the contrary and a betraying men into that misery which had it been firmly believ'd might have been avoided We are all bound to preach and You and I are all bound to believe the terrours of the Lord. Not so as sawcily to determine and pronounce what God must do in this case for after all He may do what he will as I have clearly shewn But what is fit for us to do and what we have reason to expect if notwithstanding a plain and express threatning of the vengeance of eternal fire we still go on to treasure up to our selves wrath against the day of wrath and the revelation of the righteous Judgment of God and will desperately put it to the hazard whether and how far God will execute his threatnings upon Sinners in another World And therefore there is no need why we should be very sollicitously concern'd for the honour of God's Justice or Goodness in this matter Let us but take care to believe and avoid the Threatnings of God and then how terrible soever they are no harm can come to us And as for God let us not doubt but that he will take care of his own Honour and that He who is holy in all his ways and righteous in all his works will do nothing that is repugnant to his eternal Goodness and Righteousness and that He will certainly so manage things at the Judgment of the Great Day as to be justified in his sayings and to be righteous when we are judged For notwithstanding his Threatnings he hath reserved Power enough in his own hands to do right to all his Perfections And therefore we may rest assur'd that he will judge the world in righteousness and if it be any wise inconsistent either with Righteousness or Goodness which He knows much better than we do to make Sinners miserable for ever that He will not do it But let Sinners always be afraid of it and reckon upon it And always remember that there is great Goodness and Mercy in the severity of God's Threatnings and that nothing will more justifie the infliction of eternal Torments than the foolish presumption of Sinners in venturing upon them notwithstanding such plain and terrible Threatnings This I am sure is a good Argument to all of us to work out our Salvation with fear and trembling and with all possible care to endeavour the prevention of that misery which is so terribly severe that at present we can hardly tell how to reconcile it with the Justice and Goodness of God This God heartily desires we would do and hath solemnly sworn that he hath no pleasure in the death of the wicked but rather that he should turn from his wickedness and live So that here is all imaginable care taken to prevent our miscarriage and all the assurance that the God of Truth can give us of his unwillingness to bring this misery upon us And both these I am sure are arguments of great Goodness For what can Goodness do more than to warn us of this misery and earnestly to persuade us to prevent it and to threaten us so very terribly on purpose to deter us from so great a danger And if this will not prevail with us but we will still go on to despise the riches of God's goodness and long-suffering and