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
A92852	England's preservation or, a sermon discovering the onely way to prevent destroying judgements: preached to the Honourable House of Commons at their last solemne fast, being on May, 25. 1642. By Obadiah Sedgwicke Batchelour in Divinity and minister of Coggeshall in Essex. Published by order of that house.	Sedgwick, Obadiah, 1600?-1658.; England and Wales. Parliament. House of Commons.	1642 (1642)	Wing S2372; Thomason E150_22; ESTC R212706	31,012	58

bee broken for your sinnes nothing that you doe shall finde favour with me all the rest is but as wood and fire the Lambe the Sacrifice of a Contrite heart which is that I look at and for is wanting Get thee behinde me said Jehu to the severall messengers what have you to doe with peace Confessions and prayers are the messengers of our soules to God but unlesse the sinful heart be broken they will never be messengers of peace If any of you would angle in a River would you throw in a naked line only would this be to any purpose Sirs I know well that if a Fast bee rightly performed it hath as many promises of blessings and mercies See Esay 58. As any religious duty whatsoever Nay and I thinke that you never read in all the Bible nor yet in experience of its right performance without some sudden and remarkeable Testimony of Gods gracious acceptance and answer But then breaking of hearts ever accompanied those prevailing and victorious Fasts as you may Reade in Iudges and Samuel and the Kings and Ezra and Nehemiah c. And for my part I should not scruple the assecution of any convenient mercy nor the diversion of any impendent evill if once with all our Fastings there were also a breaking up of our Fallow grounds If GOD could in this command our hearts we might then in some sense command our God 3. Thirdly Have wee not all of us sufficient cause to breake our sinfull hearts Should sinnes should calamities abroad should dangers at home breake hearts all these may then worke upon us our sins have broken the heart of CHRIST and are such as have broken off God from a people and have broken many Churches downe Can you bee ignorant of the professed Idolatry in this Land of the horrid blasphemies of the over-flowing drunkennesse of the Sabbaths profanation c. And if wee looke at calamities abroad why as Iacob said Ioseph is not and Simeon is not so may we say Bohemia is broken up and the Palatinate is broken up and IRELAND is breaking up and yet the hearts of sinfull England will not bee broken up Nay if wee looke at the dangers hovering like a Cloud over this Land and dropping already in manifold and sundry divisions in manifold plots in manifold and severall contradictions and even readie to breake forth O LORD let it not breake forth in a bitter intestine Warre amongst our selves where every mans sword shall bee against his brother and the Child may kill the Parent or the Parent kill his Child bowels sheathed in bowels No man scarce secure in his owne Family our sins are bringing this upon us and yet our hearts will not breake for these sinnes The God of all Wisdome and mercies breake our hearts that so this judgement may not doe that which all our forreigne enemies hitherto could not doe Breake downe our Church and Nation 4. And if judgements should breake in upon sinners before hearts are broken for sins good Lord what where are they Dudilius relates a sad story of Bochna a woman who had but two sonnes and whiles she was walking with the one towards the River she heard the other crying out and hastning back shee found a knife sticking in him which kild him quickly then she returnes to her other child thinking to solace her selfe in an onely child but he in her absence was fallen into the river and drowned both lost at once Ah Sirs we have but two children a Soule and a body what an heavie losse will it bee to lose both these at once To bee cut off by an angry enemie and to be cast off by a mighty God! To lose a life and at the same time to lofe an eternall life To lose safety and salvation at once T is true that if a sinners heart be broken by grace there is no question of mercy but when an impenitent sinners life is broken by judgment his hopes are gone and his breaking of it for ever 5. Fifthly Wee shall assuredly be broken off if we be not broken up Beloved There are two vile malignities in an unbroken heart First It is one of the greatest of spirituall judgements ô said a Reverend man once if I must be put to my option I had rather be in Hell with a sensible heart then live on earth with a reprobate minde so I say an hardned and unbroken heart is in some respect a judgement worse than Hell for as much as one of the greatest sins is farre greater in evill then any of the greatest punishments Secondly It is the immediate and unavoydable forerunner of the greatest of temporall judgements He that hardens his heart shall be destroyed suddenly and that without remedy Prov. 29. 1. Observe that place There is no lesse then destruction which is not a particular and imperfect dammage but it is a compleate ruine and this destruction is certaine shall not may perhaps bee destroyed but when Suddenly I but the sinner wil shift it off withstand it No but hee shall bee destroyed without remedy His destruction shall not be prevented you may reade all this in the old World and in Pharaoh and in the Iewes before the Babylonian Captivitie and afterwards in the Roman divastation which hath lasted these 1600 yeares 6. But now where are our broken hearts I know not what to say my heartakes within mee ô that it could bee broken because hearts are generally unbroken Sinners are secure Consciences are seared wickednesse is bold sinnes are a delight and pastime God is not seene nor feared in his judgements in His warnings in His dealings Reformation is abhorred Humiliation most know not what it meanes and if they doe it is distasted Serious thoughts of our sinfull wayes who takes them up sufficient time for selfe-examination who makes it for himselfe every man runnes on in his course loves as hee did lives as he did And never knew a trouble in his soule nor a teare in his eye either for his owne or for the sins of others all his dayes And what will the end of all this be O that God would pittie us this day and breake our hearts for us though it bee so irksome and contrary to our flesh and bloud It is better said a Father to dye one death then to live and feare all deaths better it is to suffer the heart to bee broken then to expose our selves to all sorts of Judiciall eternall breakings ô Lord said dying Fulgen. Dapaenitentiam postea indulgentiam make mee a penitent sinner and then let me find thee an indulgent Father Never looke for great mercies for long mercies for any mercies with unbroken hearts we are not good we can doe no good we can expect no good till our sinfull hearts be broken O Christians be perswaded this day to get broken hearts God can do it for you and will doe it for you if you will but use the means and seeke unto him spare time and

England's PRESERVATION OR A SERMON discovering the onely way to prevent destroying JUDGEMENTS Preached to the Honourable HOUSE of COMMONS at their last solemne Fast being on May 25. 1642. BY OBADIAH SEDGWICKE Batchelour in Divinity and Minister of COGGESHALL in Essex Published by Order of that House JEREMIAH 13. 27. O Hierusalem wilt thou not be made cleane When shall it once be LONDON Printed by R. B. for Samuel Gellibrand at the Brazen Serpent in Pauls CHURCH-Yard 1642. To the Honourable House of Commons assembled in PARLIAMENT THis Sermon which I preached by your command and you harkned unto with much acceptance and is now printed by our Order I most humbly present unto your Gracious Patronage and Religious practice It hath this only in it that it is seasonable what one once writ to Aegidius the Abbot of Norinberg concerning Davids words in Psalme 118. They are verba vivenda non legenda That may be affirm'd of the Text I preached on the pith and matter of it should be lived and not heard only Repentance is a living word Alexander as Plutarch Orat. 1. de Alex. 〈◊〉 reports demanded of Porus whom he had surprised what his thoughts were of him he answered I thinke of Alexander Regaliter and that 's enough said hee for in that word all other things are contained the same I may say if any man demands what our sinfull and distracted Kingdome should doe I answer Repent and in that word if lived and done all our safeties and hopes are contained There were 3. things most Honourable Sirs which Luther did feare would prove Melchior Adam in vita Luther p. 157. 158. to bee the Ruine of Religion 1. Oblivion 2 Security 3. Carnall policy The good God overthrow these in our Land least our land be overthrowne by these Though Ministers discover all sorts of sins and though a Parliament discovers all sorts of plots and dangers yet people are setled on their Lee's they will not see nor feare nor humble themselves nor turne to the Lord at all O pray said a dying man in the beginning of the German reformation that God would preserve the Gospell pontifex enim Romanus Concilium Trident. mira moliuntur For the Pope and Councell of Trent are hatching of strange things Ministers say as much and more to people pray be humbled reform For you see what the bloudie Papists have done in Ireland and you heare what they are plotting against England we do thus speak and weepe but man will not hearken and obey They who will not easily see their sins will as hardly beleeve their dangers Fuge fuge Brenti cito citius citissime so friendly did a Senatour of Hala advise Brentius hast hasten make all the hast you can your life is lost else He embraced the advise preserved his life by it O that Gods advises so frequent so earnest so and more safe to humbling and reforming might once bee regarded and followed we shall never be safe if wee ever remaine impenitent As for your selves Honourable Sirs wee have all cause to blesse God for the worthy Acts already done by you and for your further intentions of most excellent good to our Church and Kingdom Ripen these intentions wee pray you into Actions That our Church may be glorious and our State safe and both flourishing and stable good actions are excellent though evill men oppose them nor shal they be therfore the lesse successeful remember that Christ hath conquerd all the world and a world conquerd by Christ shall never be able to conquer truth I have one request which I earnestly present to your selves and the House of Lords It is onely this Hasten what you can Englands Reformation and Irelands preservation In these the good and Almighty God unite strengthen protect and prosper you All To whose everlasting armes you and all your pious endeavours are commended by your daily Oratour Obadiah Sedwicke Die Mercurij 25. May 1642. IT is this day Ordered by the Commons now Assembled in Parliament that Master Harris and Mr. Obadiah Sedgwicke who this day being the day of the publike Fast at the intreaty of the said Commons preached at Saint Margaret Westminster shall have thankes returned them for the great and worthy paines they have taken and that they bee desired to print their Sermons and that no man presume to print them but such as they shall appoint till the House shall take further Order H. Elsyng Cler. Parl. D. Com. I appoint Samuell Gellibrand to print my Sermon Obadiah Sedgwick A Sermon Preached at the late Fast to the Commons House OF PARLIAMENT JEREM. 4. 3. Thus saith the Lord to the men of Judah and Jerusalem breake up your fallow ground and sow not among Thornes THere is a learned writer who speakes of foure dayes for a sinner Bernard The first is Dies Faetoris A day of loathsomenesse 4. Dayes incident to man and this is the time when the sinner lies rotting in the grave of sin 2. The second Dies Timoris a day of anguish and this is the time when Conscience begins to bee awakened with the sight and sense of sinne 3. The third is Dies Doloris a day of mourning and this is the time when the heart begins to melt into Teares for sinning The fourth is Dies Laboris a day of Combat and this is the time when the penitent and converted soule sets it selfe against the temptations of sin The first of these is the worst of our dayes and yet too common the dead in this sense are more than the living The second of these is a bitter and turbulent day and yet it may prove happie and cheerefull there being more hope of a sore Conscience then of a seared Conscience The two last are like precious Jewels very good but very Rare It is an easie thing to finde sinners but it is not an easie thing to finde mourning sinners and penitent sinners So blinde is the minde of man so perverse is the will of a sinner so prevalent is the love of sinne so desperate is the resolution of an hardned heart that neither the Golden Scepter nor the Iron Rod neither the sweetest mercies nor the sharpest miseries will easily prevaile with sinning man to become a penitent man But though God be leaving though mercies be setting though wrath be approaching though life be short though hell be fearefull yet it is a thousand to one but the sinner remaines under all these constantly wicked or onely deceitfully good A cleare instance whereof you have in the Iewes in this Chapter who notwithstanding they had almost sinned away their God their Country their lives their helpes their hopes And notwithstanding all their warnings by variety of Prophets and all their sufferings by variety of punishments and all their threatnings in variety of Judgments though there was but a step twixt them and death only one mercy twixt them utter destruction by the enemy yet either they totally

Christ Now their h●●ts were pricked and when Nathan drawes his parable out of the cloud and unclothes his Message to David saying Thou art the man Now 2 Sam. 12. 7. Psalme 51. Davids's heart begins to breake and take on O see the subtile heart of man will endure and beare all the Historical Notions of sin as we can the names and natures of diseases and medicines without any aking and sicknesse But when the Lord brings downe sin from being a notion to be an obligation and enters an action against the soule within the soule now and not before the heart-workings and heart-breakings doe begin 3. A Conscience affliction which in respect of 3. Affliction degrees and quantity is in some more and in others lesse for Gods Spirit is an Arbitrary agent in the Graduall effects of bondage as well as in those gracious effects of Adoption Neverthelesse though the degrees of working be different yet the worke it selfe is certaine The heart will never bee rightly broken for sin till Conscience which Saint Bernard calls Accuser Witnesse Judge and Tormentor begins to be awakened and quickned And believe it if The terrible workings of conscience Conscience which hath been so much stirred begins to stirre if Conscience which hath beene so often wounded begins to wound the spirit of man will eftsoone faile and breake within him O saith Conscience What hast thou done thus and thus to provoke the Holy and Righteous and Great God I know the severall acts of thy sinnings and times and places and persons and circumstances and I have sad newes to tell thee that great God against whom thou hast so much and so often sinned hath commanded and deputed me not only to speake no peace but also to speake His wrath and displeasure unto thee and in His Name I charge upon thee all thy sins and all his just wrath revealed against them And now the proud and stout heart of a sinner begins to throb and feare and tremble He thinkes that every threatning which he reades is a Cloud of Tempests against him hee thinkes that every judgment hee heares of another is a Sword drawne to cut him off also He thinkes that all the hell and torments thereof mentioned in the Scriptures will ere long bee his portion whereupon his distracted soule cries out ô that I had never beene ô that I had never sinned ô that I might never bee If I should now dye good Lord what will become of mee If I should yet live will the Lord ever bee mercifull to me The sins which I see are many the wrath which I feele is great and that which I feare is infinite If I live I see I am an accursed creature and if I dye ô let me not yet dye I feare I shall bee for ever ô my soule breakes at that endlesse word of misery for ever a damned sinner But yet cries out this sinner Lord Lord Is there no mercy nor hope of any mercy for mee a most vile sinner With these minde racking-breaking thoughts away hastens this burdened broken sinner unto his Closet and shuts the doore and downe hee fals on his knees and with much confusion of thoughts and feares hee spreads all his sinnings before God confessing one and then another and then with fervent agonies begges of the Lord more than for his life Mercy Lord mercy mercy for a lost for an heinous for an undone sinner Canst thou pardon me Wilt thou pardon me O Lord pardon mee O Lord bee reconciled unto mee O that I might have any hopes the least hopes that thou wouldest be mercifull unto me And now up riseth this sinner with these or the like thoughts well I will reade the Bible I will heare such a Minister I will open my condition unto him and conferre and inquire whither there bee no balme in Gilead whither there be a mercy Seate a Citie of refuge to entertaine such a sinner as I am and after a while upon carefull search he findes that yet there is hope that there is an immeasurable sufficiencie in the bloud of Christ an Ocean of ful and free grace in God and that God notwithstanding all his former sinnings against him is most willing and ready to accept of him into mercy if so bee hee bee willing to forsake his sinnes and imbrace a Mediator 2. The formall Ingredients HEreupon followes the second principall working Ingredients of heart breaking two Ier. 31 19. which formally makes up Evangelicall Contrition and it is 1. Pudor 2. Dolor shame and griefe Such kindnesse from the mercy-seate makes him now as Ephraim confounded and ashamed and his heart to breake into most melting flouds of teares that ever he should bee so monstrously vile to offend such tender and gracious bowels of mercy which hee now apprehends yerning towards him in and through Christ As before the apprehensions of divine wrath did distract and shiver him so now the apprehensions of divine love doe totally dissolve and melt him though there were not Heaven hereafter to Crowne him yet he must grieve and though there were not Hell hereafter to burne him yet he must exceedingly mourn for sinning against such a God This is that right Evangelicall Contrition which I presse for at this time called in Scripture a softnesse of heart and a contrite Heart and a mourning and a bitter mourning and a great mourning like that of Hadadrimmon in the Valley of Megiddon which Zac. 12. 10 11. Saint Ambrose calls Cor liquescens an heart melting and dissolving and Saint Hierome magnum planctum an exceeding lamenting and St. Austin grave lamentum a very heavie griefe The Casuists and Schoolmen affirme it to bee the Sorrow for sin the greatest sorrow in 4. respects Adrianus Scotus Soto greatest of all sorrows 1. In conatu the whole soule seemes to send springs into it out of every faculty 2. In extensione It is a spring which in this life more or lesse is continually dropping 3. In appreciatione the changed soule doth ever judge that a good God offended should be the prime cause of greatest sorrow and Lastly In intensione For Intension of displicence in the will there being no o●her things with which or for which the will is more displeased with it selfe then for sinning against God And therefore some of the Schoolemen propounding this question Sot in 4. Sent. d. 17. q. 2. art 4. whether there should be more griefe for sin then for the p●ssion of Christ Resolve it Affirmatively that there is more cause of griefe for sinning then for the death of Christ and their reason is this because in the death of Christ there was Aliquid placens Something that did please God so farre as it was a Redemption but sin is simpliciter displicens there is nothing in it which is not altogether displeasing unto God consider it formally as sin 3. The consequent working WHich rather shewes and declares then makes a broken heart and it