Selected quad for the lemma: mercy_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
mercy_n	hear_v	lord_n	sin_n	15,720	5	5.7661	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A00800	A godly sermon preached at Paules Crosse the 31. day of October 1591. By VVilliam Fisher, Master and keeper of the hospitall of Ilford in Essex. ... Seene and allowed	Fisher, William, student of diuinitie.	1592 (1592)	STC 10919; ESTC S117556	27,863	65

Judgement For otherwise as nothing els brought Philippe to his deaths wound but because he wold not hear the cōplaint of Pausanias And as nothing wrought that maine confusion vpon the Lacedemonian estate that neuer could be recouered but onlye their slacknes in hearing poore mens causes So indeed nothing more fretteth the hartes or astraungeth the minds of poore mē then delaying of their causes from hearing Which is doubtlesse a great faulte in our Courts in England both ecclesiastical ciuil that it is so long before poore mens causes can come to hearing Indeed some times I know they are the longer by meanes of their careles and couetous Lawyers careles of their cause and couetous of their money for they can tell how to spin or rather to spill a cause to draw it out like a thréede from tearme to tearme vntill their clyents coats be thréed bare and their purses money bare And therefore to be plaine I lyke not this same Ad idem in proximum which is so much vsed among the Ciuilians nor these same néedeles and trifling Demurrars which are so ordinary among the cōmon Lawyers for both these proue many tymes to be the very bane and murrain of many a good mans right But let a mans cause runne thorow all the delaies and pikes that the cunning of any drawlatch can deuise yet vnlesse he make earnest and great meanes to haue it heard it shal neuer be hearde vntill doomesday Be wise then ye Judges of the earth and learne to be forewarde ready to heare of him which one day shall Judge you all and suffer not good mē to be discouraged or poore men to be eaten out of all they haue thorow your delayes If you doe you shall finde that the Grand Judge him selfe will make no delay to rewarde you therafter to measure his vengeance accordingly Lastly the Lord heareth the voice of the penitent nay the very breath and the least thought in his heart tending to repentance And therfore it is said If any man be a woorshipper of God and doth his will him doth he heare Ioh. 9. Now this is his will euen your holynes 1. Thes 4. And he willeth not the death of a sinner but that he should be conuerted and liue And besides this very thing is warranted vnto vs in this Scripture why they did no soner wish wel in there harts but the Lord heard it We cannot so say of any mortall Prince his subiectes may speake and cry and call long inough and yet if they be not within his hearing they are neuer y ● nere And therfore this is a flat dash to that peeuish reason of the papists which tell vs that as a mortall Prince must be laboured vnto by meanes and mediatours so must the Lord our God be solicited by Saints and Angells Alas there is no proporcion in this comparison for God only is himself Scrutator Cordis the searcher of our harts we cannot do it but by meanes And what iniury or rather villāy is it to make him in his hearing of no more capasity or excellency then a mortal creature And so let this suffice for our first encouragement to drawe vs on to repentāce for that the Lord vouchsafeth to hearken and hear all them which haue but any motion of so happy a purpose Of the second Comforte ANd a booke of remembrance was writtē before him c. Let vs now in these words consider of that which was a second cōfort encouragemēt for this people to procede in their repentance That it was acceptable to the Lord we perceiue by his attentiue fauour in hearing them But now you shall vnderstand that it was very honorable besides And y ● he doth vouchsafe them the rarest welcome home to his mercye and grace that euer was heard of for he caused a booke of remembrance c. And to what end Surely that it might for euer be remembred how much he deliteth in al penitent sinners which assone as euer they forsake sin he will embrace honor in his bottomles and abundant mercy Also that it might neuer be forgotten that howe great and how generall soeuer the corruption was yet they were the people which became penitent and turned vnto the Lord at the preching of Malachi therefore some cause why all posterity should be encouraged not only to follow their example but also to haue them in Admiration It shall be expedient that here we consider first what is ment by the booke of remēbrance then to whom it doth apertaine For this book of remēbrance it is very strange We read of certaine stones of remembrāce which being ingrauen with the names of the children of Israell and set in golde Aron was to weare that he might remember them to Godwards And we finde that there was a sacrifice of Remembrance made by fire for a sweete sauour vnto the Lord to signifie that God will not forget him that offereth it Leuit. 2. And we vnderstand of a Saboth of Remembrance to be obserued and celebrated for a memorial of the blowing of Trumpets and of the Jubile Leuit. 23. And who can be ignorant of Absalons piller of remembrance which he erected because he had no sonne to kepe his name in memorie But what this booke of Remembrance should importe that wee doe not so easelye perceiue Surely some learned wryters are of opinion that hereby we are to vnderstand this booke of Malachies prophecy Which because it was writtē at the Lords appointment was doutles written before his face and because it can not be red openly in the congregation without recitall of this their conferrence therefore it may be termed iustly a booke of remēbrance Euen as the gospell it selfe is a booke of Remēbrance in respect of that which Marie Magdalen did to our Sauiour Christ for wheresoeuer this gospell shall be preached through out all the world there shal this also that she hath done bee spoaken of for a memoriall of her saith Christ Jesus himselfe Math. 26. And in this sence it doeth maruelouslye approue and confirme the authority of this booke of Malachies Prophecy as beeing written in his presence and at his appointment But by the censure and in the Judgement of the most learned and godly writers that I haue red there is another meaning to be vnderstoode by the booke of remembrance For thereby is signified the booke of lyfe wherein the righteous are written and whereof we read Exod. 32. Psal 69. Apoc. 3. And it is ment that therein the Lorde did write their names presently vpon their repentance for a memoriall thereof And that you may sée in what stéed it wil stād you to be writen in the booke of the Lordes Remembraunce and to be remembred in the booke of lyfe consider first of that which is set downe Daniell 12. ver 1. And thereby may you perseiue that albeit there fall out such a tyme of trouble as neuer was since the worlde beganne

yet euerye one that shalbe found written in the booke of lyfe shall be delyuered and to the same effect it is that this booke was ordained for this people to be as it were their Passeouer to auoid and escape the dayes of miserye which the Lorde did threaten to bring vpon them Prouide that the doore postes of your consciences maye be sprinckled with the bloode of the Lambe or that your repentaunce maye bee recorded in the booke of lyfe and you are sure of an euerlasting Passeouer to escape Gods most dreadfull vengeance But if you wll sée that prerogatiue which is Instar omnium in stéede of all other Then consider againe and againe of that which is written in 20. Apoc. ver 12. Wherin the glorious maiesty of our Sauiour Jesus Christ is moste truely described euen as he shall come to Judge the quick and the dead for it is said And I saw the dead both great and small stād before God and the bookes were opened another book was opened which is the book of lyfe the dead wer iudged of those things which were written in the bookes acording to their workes But now what are these bookes that shall be opened before the booke of lyfe be opened doubtles these thrée the booke of the Lawe the booke of the Gospell and the booke of Conscience First the booke of the Law shal be opened and laid before vs that it maye appeare what duetye we ought to haue done towardes God and man through loue And euen as Moyses commāded the Leuites to put this booke in the side of the Arke that it might be for a witnes against them when they disobeyed the same Deu. 31. So shall all the workers of iniquity in the fearefull day of the Lord find this booke a swift witnes against them And if Iosias rent his cloathes and wept for wo when he heard the law red and thereby sawe how much duety was required and how little he had performed what sorrow and heauines shall compas vs about and if it were possible dissolue our teares and turne them into drops of blood When in the presence of this our seuere Judge we shall both heare and sée not onelye what we haue left vndone in that book commanded but also what we haue done therein forbidden In the meane time therefore let vs not onelye be hearers of the Law but dooers also lest then we finde Gods fauour vnrecouerable and our repentance vnprofitable Secondly the booke of the Gospell shal be opened that thereby it may appear what mercy what grace what frée pardon what remission of sinne what imputation of righteousnes and what assuraunce of lyfe and Saluation you might haue had in Christ Jesus If you had bene so happye to haue sought it by repentance and to haue laid holde vppon it by faith At the opening of this booke shall you sée before your eyes all the swéete promises and tender inuitations which our Sauiour Christ offred vnto you through preaching of the gospell to haue drawne you to repentance Then shall all the benefites of his bitter passion be laid open before your eyes and you shall sée that he was debased himselfe to haue brought you to honour that he was wounded himself to haue healed your wounds of sinne and that he died himselfe to haue saued his enemies from death and to haue purchased eternal life to all penitent sinners And as the booke of the lawe shall shewe what wee ought to haue done so the booke of the Gospell shall shewe what we ought to haue beleeued and both to one end Christ knoweth that so much more Just and dreadfull may be our Judgement O ye proude contemners of the worde of trueth consider of this you which thinke the Gospell to base for your déepe wittes haue regarde vnto it lest the time come that you repent it and féele the smart of it And as the ritch man begde of Abraham that poore Lazarus might dip but the tippe of his finger in water to coole his tormented tongue so the day may come that you will be glad●● 〈…〉 e in your harts that the 〈…〉 rascall a●d ab●●ct minister among vs all as you 〈…〉 ●● vs might be suffered to bring y●u euen the least all drop of the water of lyfe ye a the least comfort of the Gospell to refresh your 〈…〉 〈…〉 les but it will be to late to late Thirdlye the booke of Conscience shall be opened and shewe what abhominable sinnes we haue done and committed Conscientia Codex est in quo quotidiana conscrib 〈…〉 r peccata ●aith Chrisost in Psa 50. The conscience is a booke where in a mans dayly sins are written Therfore keepe this boke well cleare frō the blots and blemishes of sinne and then the reward thereof will be so strong and substantiall on thy side y ● it is called mille testes a thousand witnesses Sillogismus practicus a conclusion of Experience Cordis scientia the knoweledge of a mans owne hart It is murus Aeneus as Horace saith a brasen wall It is maxima consolatio rerum incōmodarum The greatest cōfort in aduersity saith Tully nay it is ger Benedictionis the field of blessing Hort is delitiarum The garden of pleasures Gaudium An 〈…〉 m The ioy of Angels Habit 〈…〉 m Spiritus sancti The habitation of the holy Ghost saith Hugo de Anima Lib. 2. Cap. 9. But suffer this booke to be 〈…〉 and ●●lluted with sinne and what is it then It is formidinis mater saith Chrisostome the Mother of all feare It is confusionis tabula saith August It is the table of confusion And of all other bookes in the world you can not abyde to look into the book of your guilty consciences This made the Father I meane Adam a cr●ep●ish in Paradice and this made him say Abscondi me Gen. 3. This made the sonne I meane Caine a runnagate and so restlesse that hee durst abide noe where for feare his throat should be cut Gen. 4. This made Ionas conuey him selfe into the bottome of the shippe thinking there to hyde him selfe from the booke of his owne Gauled conscience This made Iudas betake himselfe to the halter because he coulde not abide to see the abhominable treacherye hee had committed against the innocent bloode of Jesus This made Ecebolus that turne cote heretike to cast him selfe downe before the Church and to detest him selfe saying Calcate me in sipidum salem Trample vpon me vnsauorye salt that I am Now then if it be such a feareful horrible thing to looke into the booke of a guilty conscience in this life what shame and confusion shal ouerwhelme vs in the lyfe to come when nothing shall be concealed when all pleates and wrinckles shall be vnfolded when al coūsels and secrets shal be discouered when there is not an idle word of our tongues or a wicked thought of our herts that shall escape our accompt and when all our falts shall appeare vppon record