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	lord_n	way_n	6,520	5	4.7893	4	true

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A85510	A modest vindication of the doctrine of conditions in the Covenant of Grace, and the defenders thereof, from the aspersions of arminianism & popery, which Mr. W. E. cast on them. By the late faithful and godly minister Mr. John Graile, minister of the gospel at Tidworth in the county of Wilts. Published with a preface concerning the nature of the Covenant of Grace, wherein is a discovery of the judgment of Dr. Twisse in the point of justification, clearing him from antinomianism therein. By Constant Jessop, minister of the Gospel at Wimborn minister in the county of Dorset. Whereunto is added, a sermon, preached at the funeral of the said Mr. John Grail. By Humphrey Chambers, D.D. and pastor of the church at Pewsie.	Graile, John.; Chambers, Humphrey, 1598 or 9-1662.; Jessop, Constantine, 1601 or 2-1658. Pauls sad farewel to his Ephesians.	1654 (1654)	Wing G1477; Thomason E817_1; Thomason E817_2; ESTC R207370	97,971	125

in that regard he was forward by his departure in doing good to his servants and continueth more able to communicate himself in all celestial and spiritual blessings to those that wait upon him for he is still walking in the midst of the golden candlesticks and hath the stars in his right hand and is able to save to the uttermost them that come to God by him because he ever liveth to make Intercession for them But none of these things hold in the inferiour Ministers of the Gospel when they are removed by death their personal Ministry from the moment of their death ceaseth for ever as to all uses and advantages in respect of others and that consideration layeth a heavy weight of sadnesse upon the hearts of Believers when their faithful Ministers are by death taken from them 2. Secondly True Believers know that the final removal of faithful Ministers from any people carryeth in it the face of a Judgement from the Lord. It was a Promise of great love I will give you Pastors according to my heart which shall feed you with knowledge and understanding And on the contrary when the Lord taketh away faithful Ministers from any people he then depriveth them of one of his choicest mercyes upon earth which cannot therefore but have the appearance of a Judgement in the eyes of true Believers The Prophet Micah represented evil men as weary of the faithful Teachers and saying to them Prophecy ye not and then from the Lord denounced the Judgement of their ceasing from amongst them They shall not prophecy unto them Their refusal of the Prophets was their great sin and the Lords removal of his Prophets was his heavy judgment upon them If it be asked concerning a faithful Minister when he dyeth of what Disease he dyed it may be often truly answered of the judgment of God upon an unthankful people When men are sick again of their faithful Ministers and long to be rid of them it is a righteous thing with God to let them dye that such a people may dye without instruction The contempt of the Ministers of the Gospel who desire to be faithful is a spreading Disease amongst us at this day Men looking divers wayes do yet unanimously consent to render the Ministers of the Gospel in this Nation as odious as possibly they can Without distinction they are all branded as Tythe-Mongers Time servers Antichristian Self-seekers and what not But it is enough that God is the supreme Judge of those that are thus traduced and of their Accusers 〈◊〉 howbeit whilst this Disease so generally reigneth and rageth it is no marvel though many of Gods faithful servants dye of it whose removal by death though possibly some triumph in yet the true Believers of the Gospel of whom there is blessed be the Lord a very considerable number throughout our Land ●annot but be as they are much sadded at it as carrying the face of an ill presaging judgement in it Having thus gone through the Doctrine proposed I come now to a few words of Application 1. Here is one work whereby they that truly believe the Gospel may have reflexive knowledge of themselves namely by their enjoying the faithful Ministers of the Gospel in love and parting with them in sorrow I know there is great difference of judgement at this day who are to be accounted the faithful Ministers of the Gospel of Christ To this an answer may be gathered from what I have before delivered at present I shall only say this That they who being in the place of the Ministers of the Gospel do visibly apply themselves to do the work of the Ministers of the Gospel labouring in the Word and Doctrine that they may ministerially translate men out of darknesse into the Kingdom of Gods dear Son and build them up in faith and holinesse to eternal life are so farre doubtlesse unto others at least the faithful Ministers of the Gospel that they who take them to be such and as such enjoy them in love and part from them in sorrow may from that disposition of theirs receive some evidence in themselves that they are in the number of the true Believers of the Gospel whereas they who make it a chief ingredient of their Religion to scorne and revile the Ministers of the Gospel whilst they live and to insult over them when they dye to vomit out their choler upon them both living and dying are not likely for ought I can learne from the Scriptures to be approved by our Lord Jesus Christ at his appearing as true Lovers and Believers of his blessed Gospel 2. Secondly This should be a strong inducement to those that are imployed in the Ministry of the Gospel to make it their special desire care and study to be found faithful in the Work of the Lord committed to them that they may bee enjoyed in love and have the true Believers of the Gospel their unfeigned Mourners at their Funeral The Apostle saith Let a man so account of us as of the Ministers of Christ and Stewards of the mysteries of God Moreover it is required in Stewards that a man be found faithful The Office as we see which God hath called the Ministers of the Gospel unto calleth upon them to be faithful Without faithfulnesse a nominal Minister of the Gospel how much soever he boasteth and prideeth himselfe in his Office is but like unsavoury salt good for nothing but to be trodden under foot with contempt both by God and men But when faithfulnesse is found in a Minister of the Gospel it maketh him shine as a Star very gloriously in the eyes of the Lord and all true Believers That Minister of the Gospel hath the best monument to perpetuate his name with honour whose faithfulnesse in the Ministry hath procured him the love of true Believers so that his presence is pleasant to them in life and his memory precious with them after death 3. In the third place the servants of God may here read their warrant for sadly bewailing and mourning over such as have been faithful in in the Ministry of the Gospel when they are by death finally taken from them Heathenish mourning over the dead accompanied with murmuring and impaciency against God becometh not the children of God in any wise It is the Lords command given of old to the Jewes Ye are the children of the Lord your God you shall not cut your selves nor make any baldnesse betweene your eyes for the dead Because they were by Covenant the children of God above other Nations therefore they were not to follow the practice of other Nations in their excessive mourning for the dead but to quiet themselves in the will of their God and Father knowing that his Saints are precious in his sight both in life and death And accordingly the Apostle Paul carefully provided that the Thessalonians having imbraced the Gospel of Christ might not sorrow over their dead as Heathens destitute

of hope of a future happinesse or glorious Resurrection 1 Thess 4. 13. Howbeit with due moderation in humility of soul and quiet submission to the will of God it is not onely warrantable but laudable a practice which grace bringeth the people of God unto to mourne over the faithful Messengers of God when they are by death called home out of this present world When Steven was slaine by the Jewes Devout men carried him to his Burial and made great lamentation over him This is mentioned by the Holy Ghost not as a groundlesse but as a gracious practice of these Believers evidencing their Christian love to Stephen that blessed Martyr of the Lord. In proportion to this great lamentation made by devout men at Stephens Funeral and the sore weeping of the Believers of Ephesus at Pauls final parting from them mentioned in my Text I doubt not but our mourning over our deceased Brother at this time is lawful and laudable in the presence of the Lord. I will not multiply words in reference to this our Reverend Brother now taken from us I shall leave his Works to praise him in the Gate being well assured that many who have felt and tasted the power and comfort of his Ministry will beare witnesse to him and the working of God in him for their good One thing there is relating to his death which I cannot omit that the Lord greatly testified his acceptation of him in his Work in that he dyed of Epaphroditus his sicknesse of whom the Apostle wrote That for the work of Christ he was nigh unto death The Work of Christ of which Epaphroditus was sick was as far as wee can judge a special part of the Disease of which this our Brother dyed for after that some symptomes and beginnings of a bodily weaknesse had seized upon him his turn came to supply a Lecture at a place somewhat remote from his owne habitation which therefore some neerly related to him earnestly perswaded him to forbear for that time but such was his Zeal towards the work of Christ that it caused him to neglect his friends advice and his own health and to overlook his present danger and so undertake the Work of Preaching the Gospel in his course under the weight of which labour of love his weak body did apparently sink in the time and place of that publick service after which returning home he declined more and more untill the time of his death Our Saviours words therefore seem plainly to reach this our Brother and pronounce him blessed Blessed is that servant whom the Lord when he cometh shall find so so doing The Lord when he came to this our Brother by death found him doing so doing doing his Lords Work faithfully and therefore looking on him we have cause to part with him rejoycingly being much assured of his blessednesse yet looking at our selves we have cause to part with him sadly when we consider that we shal have his help and see his face no more A Pillar is fallen and by the fall thereof a great breach made in this place this County this Land which that the Lord may be pleased in mercy to make up by increasing the number strengthning the hands and blessing the Labours of his faithful Servants in the Ministry we have great cause to bow our knees before him and to beg this favor from him in the name of the Lord Jesus to whom with the Father and blessed Spirit be praise and Glory for ever Amen FINIS a Vind. Ley Lect. 26. pag. 249. b Ames coron artic 1. c. 1. § 4 Impetration is the foundation of application c Camero in Ps 68. inter Arg Solut. Med. ult d Prideaux Ser● Draught of the brook And Perk. Ref. Cath. of Merit e Panstr Cathol tom 3. l. 14. c. 16. 21. ad 25. f Ibid. 9. 38. 12 Cor. 4. 17. h Jer. 3. 13. i 〈…〉 k 〈…〉 p. 112. l Gataker Rejoynd p. 31. m Fidem ponī ut conditionem salutem quidem antecedentem sed electionem ipsam consequentem nunquam à nostris negatum fuit summā verò cum religione constanter traeditum Cor. de Elect. c. 1. §. 4. p. 7. n 2 Thes 2. 11. o Rejoynder p. 47. p Si igitur haec esset mens et sententia Synodi quod simpliciter vellet monstrare illum de quo jam diximus modum et ordinem quo juxta Scripturae traditionem Deus utitur quando homines vult deducere ad justificationem et si illa quae Scriptura tradit procedere tribuerent non viribus liberi arbitrii sed gratiae Dei et operationi Sp. Sancti nec in illis praeparationibus constituerem meritum aut dignitatem propter quam justificemur facilè posset de vocabulo praeparationis dextrè juxta Scripturam intellecto conveniri Exam. part 1 p. 172. q Falsum est igitur quod in 9 canone nobis tribuunt quasi docemus nullum plane motum voluntatis divinitus donatum et excitatum praeced ere acceptionem justificationis Omnino enim docemus poenitentiam et contritionem praecedere Non dicimus praecedere tanquam meritum quod suâ dignitate cooperatur ad justificationem consequendam sed sicut sensus morbi aut dolor vulneris non est meritum sanationis sed urget et impellit ad desiderandum quaerendum et sucipiendum medicum r At Evangelium non promittit salutem absque ulla conditione legis observandae neque id nostrumquisquam docuit modò ne conditio pro merito sumatur tom 3. l. 15. c. 2. § 9. nam et fidei conditio non est antecedens sed consequens quia nullum fidei meritum attenditur sive fides non est causa salutis ſ Non negamus bona opera ullam relationem habere ad salutem habent enim relationem adjuncti consequentis et effecti ad salutem ut loquuntur adeptam et adjuncti antecedentis ac disponentis ad salutem adipiscendam atque etiam argumenti confirmantis fiduciam ac spem salutis sed negamus ulla opera nostra causam esse posse meritoriam justificationis ac salutis Bel. ener tom 4. lib. 6 cap 6. s Promissiones cum conditione obedientiae ut causae juris quod habemus ad rem promissam sunt propriae legis sed promissiones cum conditione obedientiae ut adjuncti aut effecti rei promissae vel dona●ionis ejus locum suum habent in benignissimae gratiae regno ubi meritis nostris nullus habetur locus cap. 5. §. 2. t Haec et hujusmodi opera cordis interna sunt omnibus justificatis necessaria non quod contineant in se efficaciam seu meritum justificationis sed quod juxta ordinationem divinam vel requirentur ut conditiones praeviae seu concurrentes sicuti poenitere et credere vel ut effecta à fide justificante necessariò manartia ut amare Deum diligere proximum De just act cap. 30. Q. 1.

inquiring Dost thou renounce the Divel c. he replyed I do renounce Which Answer when Infants could not make of themselves they had Parents and Sponsors who made it for them Thus was there a formal stipulation required of growne persons at their first admission into Covenant and the administration of the seal of the Covenant to him Farther As before baptism growne persons did thus professe and promise so by being baptized did they seal For this Seal of Baptism as it is Gods seal to us assuring us of remission and other benefits promised in the Covenant so is it also the Christians Seal unto God whereby he seals the promise of Repentance Faith and new Obedience Hence are they said to be baptized into Christ into his Death into the Name of the Father Son and Holy Ghost To be baptized into any ones name is to be consecrated to his Worship so that he is named from him as from his Lord and that he dedicate himself wholly to his service saith Piscator And learned Zanchie having at large expressed the same in several particulars doth briefely sum up all Baptism is a note and mark whereby we do protest that we will observe the Conditions of that Covenant which in Christ is established between God and us Baptism is saith Bishop Davenant A Covenant made with God of loading a more holy life therefore we must take care that what was once Sacramentally done in Baptism may be performed truly throughout our whole life As Souldiers saith Martyr swear in the name of the General and are so bound to him that it is not lawful for them afterwards to be conversant in the enemies tents if they do the offence is capital So by Baptism we are obliged unto Christ and we swear that we will not afterwards at any time revolt to the Divel So also Paraeus It is known from the Catechisme That we are baptized in the name of the Trinity because we are bound in the name of God to faith in to Worship and obedience of God and we do also promise again these things unto God We are baptized into the death of Christ in a double respect first in respect of God in as much as he doth by the Seal of Baptism give and seal to us the benefits of the death of Christ Secondly in respect of our selves by promising again faith to believe these so great benefits of Christ and the mortifying of sin by the power of the death of Christ that it reign not over us any more With these forementioned doth also Mr. Byfield concur who tels us that Baptism is a Bond that tyeth us to the desires and endeavours after the beginning and finishing of our death to sin and Spiritual life according to these Authors sense of the places forenamed Baptisme sealeth our promise of Repentance Faith and new Obedience to God as well as his promise of remission unto us It is our pledge our Covenantmony and military oath whereby we do tye and bind our selves to the service of the Most High which I cannot possibly conceive how it should be such if there were no restipulation or repromission in the Covenant as you maintain Thus much at present concerning Restipulation in the Covenant passe we on to some other Arguments and because I remember you told me that I had in my Sermons a number of Citations out of the Old Testament you shall hear some more of the Arguments I used then for some of them I have set down already To what hath been said add then Gods mercies are to be obtained in Gods way that way and manner which God hath from all eternity pitched on therein to bring men to the enjoyment of these mercies But God hath from all eternity purposed to give Remission Justification Adoption c. as through Christ for he hath predestinated us to the Adoption of children through Jesus Christ Ephes 1. 5 7. so through faith in Christ and in a way of repentance Rom. 3. 25 28. chap. 8. 28. Acts 13. 38 39 48. chap. 5 31. chap. 11. 18. Therefore till men actually repent and believe they cannot actually partake of remission Adoption Justification and those other benefits and purchases of Christs passion Againe those mercies which the Prophets and Apostles propose and promise unto men not absolutely but on termes of Repentance and Faith they are not absolutely but upon performance of the proposed termes to be expected but the faithful messengers of God both in the Old and New Testament do both proffer and promise remission in this manner Look into the Sermons of the Prophets and we shal find in their fullest and highest descriptions of free grace and offers of mercy they still require repentance of men So Isai 1. Though your sins be as scarlet they shall be as white as snow But when when they should seriously set upon the practice of Repentance for so in the words foregoing Wash ye cease to doe evil c. Come now and let us reason No parley at all before this to be expected So cha 55. a place much insisted on by Dr. Crisp for to prove the absolute freenesse now in hand There are many things required as thirsting coming hearing seeking calling forsaking of sin and turning unto God So the other Prophets Jer. 3. 12 13 14. Ezek. 18. 31 32. chap. 33. 11. chap. 36. 26 27. Zach. 1. 3. Now whereas you told me That these were proofs out of the Old Testament I hope you neither deny proofs thence to be authentical nor yet the Prophets then to have been Preachers of free grace The Covenant I hope was for substance the same then that it is now not a conditional one then and an absolute one now The Fathers of the Old Testament saith Luther before Christ appeared in the flesh had him in the Spirit believed in him and were saved by him as we are according to the saying Jesus Christ is one yesterday to day and shal be the same for ever Luther in Galat. c. 4. v. 2. Come to the New Testament and we shall find that salvation was held out in the same manner then Christ and his fore-runners were Preachers of Repentance yea the Commission for preaching of the Gospel which is still on record doth shew how it was then and is still to be published not without but on terms of Repentance Luke 24. 47. That Repentance and remission oft sin should be preached to all Nations The rule of which their commission the Apostles observed as they themselves tell us Testifying both to Jewes and Gentiles repentance towards God and faith towards our Lord Jesus Christ Acts 20. 21. Nay it would be no difficult task to pick out most conditional Particles out of their and our Saviours Sermons c. scil Mark 9. 23. Acts 8. 37. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Matth. 6. 14. Rom. 10 9 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 si modo Coloss 1. 23. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Matth.