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
A19261	A white sheete, or A warning for whoremongers A sermon preached in the parish church of St. Swithins by London-stone, the 19. of Iuly, anno Domi: 1629. the day appointed by honorable authoritie, for penance to be done, by an inhabitant there, for fornication, continued more then two yeares, with his maide-seruant. By Richard Cooke B: of D: and parson there.	Cooke, Richard, 1574 or 5-1639.	1629 (1629)	STC 5676; ESTC S108659	25,390	52

and the simple young man when he goeth to a bandie house and to meete with his har lot takes his time in the twilight in the morning in the blacke and darke night Thus indeed they may be too cunning and to craftie for the eyes of men but they are to young to hide their sinnes from God for there is no darkenesse nor shadow of death where the workers of iniquity can be hid as Elihu speakes in Iob can any man hide himselfe in secret that I shall not see him doe not I fill heaven and earth The darkenesse is no darkenesse with him but the night is as cleare as the day the darkenesse and the light to him are both alike And 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 all things are naked and open vnto the eyes of him with whom wee haue to doe Hee therefore that made the eyes must needs see and he that planteth the eare must needs heare and he that chastneth the Heathen shall not he punish yes surely and as he never winkes at any sinne so will he not at this for whoremongers and adulterers God will judge The other thing that flesheth men in their filthinesse is weakenes of authority when either those that would may not or those that may doe not or dare not meddle with them when these beastly creatures thinke they can either over-looke or over-top authoritie by being greater or better either by their persons or places or purses then the Magistrate for this is not alwaies or alone the sinne of beggars as it was wont to be said of drunkennesse as drunke as a beggar But Erasmas called it long since Lusum magnatū the sport of great men and therefore through their greatnesse know how to deale well enough with Authoritie presuming that either by fraud or force or feare to scape well enough by breaking the cords of Magistrates and casting these bonds from them T is true it may so now and then fall out that greatnesse of offendors may manumit malefactors and free them from the force of the stroke of a mortall Magistrate but they are like to meete with their match when they meddle with their maker he neither wants eyes to see nor handes to smite nor courage to punish the proudest whoremōger or the greatest adulterer when he shal come to sit in iudgement The strongest wil be to weake to deale with him who will set the briars and thornes against him in battell doe we provoke the Lord to iealousie are we stronger then he what is a pot of earth to a scepter of iron or the stabble to the fire for our God is a consuming fire He can teare in peeces and none shall deliver he can kill both soule and body in hell And this is that judge which here the Apostle tells vs shall giue this sentence upon these and all other impenitent sinners Whoremongers and adulterers by name in this text for whoremongers and adulterers God will iudge The third and the last thing in the tryall of these persons is to heare their judgement for God will iudge them There is a two fold kind of iudging given to God iudicium liberationis and iudicium condemnationis a iudgement of absolution and another of condemnation the first is gratiae the other irae that comfortable this other terrible The iudgement of absolution is onely for such which after sinne committed haue heartily repented and humbled themselues to God and through Christ haue made their peace with God for whose onely sake they haue their pardon sealed and heare no more of them but some sweete wordes of grace and mercie like that of Nathan to David Dominus transtulit peccatum tuum The Lord hath put away thy sinne thou shalt not die or as Christ sayd to him that he had cured of the palsie Confide fili remittuntur tibi peocata tua sonne be of good comfort thy sins are forgiven thee So that there is now no condemnation to those that are in Christ Rom. 8. 1. For he that heareth my words and beleeueth in him that sent me hath everlasting life and shall not come into condemnation And thus onely are the godly iudged and none thus but these The other kind of iudging is a iudgement condemnatorie binding ouer all remorsles and impenitent sinners to all those temporall and eternall plagues and punishments which God the righteous Iudge hath not onely nominated and threatned but vndoubtedly shal be inflicted as severely as threatned And of this kind of iudging onely is this in the text intended thus Whoremongers and adulterers God will iudge A terrible saying but a true A word of astonishment and amasement like that hand writing which appeared to Belshazzar on the wall at the very sight whereof before he knew what it might be or meant his countenance was changed his thoughts troubled him the ioynts of his loynes were loosed and his knees knocked one against another little lesse terrible then Peters words to Ananias and Saphira at the hearing whereof they both gaue vp the Ghost and died As much amasement well may this word cause in Whoremongers and adulterers to deterre them from this sinne for God will iudge them But if God be purposed to iudge such beastly livers where when or how will some man aske will God effect it I answer for the time that is in his owne appointing and at his owne pleasure sooner or later or whensoever he listeth onely let such know that first or last at one time or an other God hath appointed a day in which he will iudge them There damnation sleepeth not it may come suddenly Gods handes are never so bound never so pinioned that he cannot punish at his pleasure If not suddenly yet certainely h Scra venit sed certa venit vindicta deorum slow but sure Hath not God met with some in the very act of their abominable filthinesse Thus perished Zimri and Cosbi by the hands of Phinees Plutarke reports that Alaebiades was burned in his bed with his Curtizan Yimandra and Paulus Diaconus that Rodoaldus King of Lombardic was slaine with a certaine Matrone even in the action of their concupiscence But what if present execution be not done shall they therefore scape scot-free will God put it vp or passe it by vnpunished I haue a long time held my peace I haue been still and resrained my selfe but I will cry like a travelling woman I will destroy and devoure at once Quod differtur non aufertur forbearance with God is no payment the longer he stayeth the liker to pay home at the last quanto diutiùs sustinet tanto disstrictiùs iudicat the further he fetcheth his blow the heavier it must needs fall wheresoever it lighteth But of this let all those be fully assured that whensoever it comes it will be to their cost whether here or hereafter now or then temporally or eternally it may be in both Whoremougers and Adulterers God will

iudge And as for the manner how God will punish them that also is as he will and how he pleaseth Non desunt Deo vlciscendi modi God never wanteth weapons to wound his enemies or rods in pisse to whip vngratious and rebellious children Fire and brimstone for Sodome and those Citties when God sees the old world so foule with sinne he knowes how to wash it with a floud of waters he hath a tenne stringed whipp for Pharaoh The earth to swallow vp Corah and his Company Leprosie for Miriam and Gehazi The sword famine and pestilence for Israel Lice and wormes for Herod and the like and what not indeed to meete with sinners Oh that we could ever thinke of that after-reckonning for sinne Or that we knew the worst or what it would cost vs before God hath done with vs who knowes who can presage how God may deale with him when by his sins he hath once provoked him What punishment originally and by that first law that God made against Adulterers you know was no lesse then death The mercy of the Gospell in some Churches hath mitigated that severitie into more milde and mercifull proceedings not taking away allcensures or punishments from that sin but hath left it in the wisedome and power of Authoritie to haue that sinne severely and sharpely punished though not with death God grant this sinne may finde no hole to hide his head in nor that there may be no daubing nor dallying no dandling of it Wee see where this mans sinne was lately censured it hath had but little countenance and lesse incouragement The blessing of him that dwelt betwixt the bush reward them seuen-fold into their bosome for their singular Iustice and Sinceritie But shall I tell you how this sinne hath prospered and what entertainement it vsually findes at Gods handes I must tell you then but them especially that finde such pleasure in this sinne that God neuer giues other then sower sawce to such stollen meate as will pregnantly appeare by those fearefull presidents and examples of Gods heauie hand in revenging and punishing this sin of vncleanesse what a pitifull massacre followed vpon the deflouring of Dinah Iacobs daughter by Sechem the sonne of Hamer how dearely did Amnon pay for his incest with his sister When though full two yeares after yet God nor man and not yet forgottē it he was suddenly murthered by the servants of his brother Absalon as he sate at the Table What an heauie time was it what a black day in the Campe and Congregation of Israel for this very sinne when not onely Zimri and Cosbi perished by the hand of Phinees but twentie and foure thousand of the people besides were swept away suddenly by the hand of God Yea the very heathen haue had this sinne in such detestation that they thought no punishment bad enough for the committers of this sinne Zaleucus King of Locris adjudged them by Law to loose their eyes both man and woman and so strickt was hee to see his Law observed that when his owne sonne was taken in Adultery and should haue lost both his eyes the people importuning his Father to forgiue him rather then iustice should not be done he commanded that one of his owne and another of his sonnes eyes should bee put out and so they were as Peter Martyr upon the 2. of Sam Nebucadnezzar hearing that one Acub and Zedekiah Iewes had committed fowlenesse with two married women broyled them both to death on a gridiron Amongst the Egyptians the man that was taken in Adultery was beaten with a thousand stripes and the woman had her nose cut off as Dio Siculus reporteth The Ancient Germanes vsed to set the Adulteresse naked before her kindred and to cut off her haire and then her husband was to driue her before him through the Citie beating her with cudgels The Cumeans placed the Adulteresse in the open market place vpon a stone in the publique view of all the people that shee might be derided and scorned of all and then setting her vpon an asse to ride through the streetes and shee was ever after called in mockage 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an asse-rider and that stone shee stood on was ever held and abhorred as a thing filthy and vncleane as Plutarke hath related And hath God at any time beene lesse friendly or favourable to this sinne then so hath his sight beene weaker that he cannot see or his power wasted that he doth not smite now as of old his anger is not now turned away but his hand is stretched out still wee see enough every day to make vs beleeue it How many fearefull sights are daily in our eyes representing Gods iustice vpō such offenders in their soules bodies goods good name and in their issue and posteritie of these if any be for by some of these ever by many of these often by all these now and then God meetes with them and payes them home for their beastly living Looke vpon his iustice in their soules what impressions of his wrath he hath left there by the substraction of his grace a plaine presager of a Precipitation and downefall into sinne blinding their vnderstanding besottiug their affections hardning their heartes delivering them vp to a reprobate sense and giving them vp to vncleanesse through the Iusts of their owne heartes as S. Paul speakes of the Gentiles and at last in his iustice suffering them to perish in the vanitie of that sinne and to carrie it with them to the graue from which while they lived neither Lawes of God or man could possibly reclaime them Looke vpon them in their goods and estate though faire and great how God hath blowen vpon it and how soone hath it beene blasted brought to nothing That which Salomon speakes of another sinne the sinne of drinkenes a companion I am sure if not Cozen-German to the sinne of filthinesse That the drunkard and the glutton shall come to povertie I am sure he tells vs it will be no better with whoremongers For by meanes of an whorish woman a man is brought to a morsell of bread whores and Iesuits I may well couple them together like Simeon and Leui brethren in euill for those as well as these are if not carnall yet spirituall fornicators those I say haue ever beene wheresoever they come the onely soakers sinkers of the fairest inheritances Horse-leech-like ever crying giue giue That which Diogenes sometime said of a drunkards house with a bill on it to signifie that it was to be let I thought as much said the Cynck that ere long hee would spue vp his house also And so will these doe that follow this it is a thousand to one if they leaue not that that will not leaue them worth a gray groat Miserie and beggery will be their end for if he that followeth vaine persons shall haue poverty enough they shall be sure to be

may never lay this sinne vnto your charge Amen Last of all what satisfaction can you make to this place and parish where you lived of late and a little too long What dishonour haue you done vs in bringing this disgrace and casting this aspersion on vs What favours haue you had successiuely amongst vs How often haue you beene invited to our publicke feastings How vsually called to our counsels meetings How preferred to severall places of offices with vs And after all this to reward vs thus to cast this filth in our faces to leaue this stinke behind you is base ingratitude it must needs be a bad bird that thus defiles her owne nest we can count you no better you haue vsed vs so badly we shall be willing to pray for your well doing else-where but not for your dwelling here till you be a little sweeter Shall I tell you in a word or two how you may make all well I would set you this way if I were worthy to be your guide First begin with God and make your peace with him as Elihu said to Iob so I can advise you no better Acquaint thy selfe with God and be at peace thereby shall good come vnto thee And there can be no peace to be had with God but by hearty humiliation and sincere and sound repentance for former sinnes and vnfained resolution for future holines Nulla pax impijs There is no peace saith God vnto the wicked what peace said Iehu vnto Ioram so long as the whoredomes of thy mother Iezabel and her witchcrafts are so many Rebels must lay downe their armes if they looke for peace or pardō The best meanes to obtaine remission of sinnes from God is mans submission for sinnes vnto God where God takes the one with the one hand he ever giues the other with the other Let it now I beseech you be your care to returne speedily vnto God let this dayes punishment beat you home to God and like a soveraigne medicine worke kindly with you to purge your soule of your sinnes for the health and recovery of your soule and when you goe about this businesse beware how you slight and slubber it over it must be no easie or ordinary repentance that will serue the turne your offence hath beene great your humiliation must not be lesse Magna peccata magnâ egent misericordiâ if you make not the plaister as large as the sore it will doe you little good Cry therefore mightily vnto God and roare for the very disquietnesse of your heart Rent your heart and not your garments and turne to the Lord. with David make your bed to swim and water your couch with your teares with Ieremy wish that your head were waters and your eyes a fountaine of teares that you might weepe day and night for this sinne with Ephraim smite vpon your thigh and he ashamed and with Peter go out and weepe bitterly Eusebius in the 6. booke of his Eccle hist cap. 8. reports of one that having sworne falsely against Narcissus Bish of Ierusalem and seeing Gods hand vpon two other of his companions for their periury wept so abundantly that according to his owne imprecation hee lost both his eyes I shall haue much a doe to perswade you to be so cruelly mercifull to your owne soule as to weepe out but one eye yet for your comfort let mee tell you that it is more profitable That one member should perish and not the whole body should be cast into hell If you cannot mourne so much yet doe what you may blessed shall you be if you thus mourne and that thus sowing in teares you may reape in ioy God send you such weather a wet time here of sowing and the Sunne-shine of blessednesse at the time of Harvest when God shall wipe away all teares from your eyes And for that satisfaction which will giue all the world best content it will be when they see you proue an honest man blind not the eyes of the world with seeming holinesse Satan can to serue his owne turne seeme a Saint by transforming himselfe into an Angel of light Iudas heard many a good Sermon from his Masters mouth at Church and had many a good admonition in private and yet miscarried and so may any such whose heart is not vpright Not the hearers but the doers of the Law shall bee iustified To shut vp all in a word let me giue you that holy counsell and gracious admonition which Simon Peter gaue Simon Magus Repent of this your wickednesse and pray God if perhaps the thought of your heart may be forgiven you I will not adde that which followes I hope you are not in the all of bitternesse nor in the bond of iniquity God never suffer you to come so neere to hell Turne over a new leafe resolue to practise our Saviours counsell to one that but changing the sexe was faulty as you are found and taken in Adultery Goe and sinne no more I haue read of a certaine Nun that reading in a booke shee had at the bottome of the leafe shee found these wordes written Bonum est omnia scire it is good to know all thinges wherevpon shee resolved with her selfe to know what the carnall copulation of man and woman together might be but turning over the leafe the next wordes were sed non vti but not to vse it wherevpon she presently changed her minde So shall you doe well to resolue to goe from hence with a setled purpose to become a new man as it is said of Noah that when he awakt from his wine Graviter pius senex a crapula ad se reversus de peccato indoluit as Pareus observeth the good old man awakt from his wine and was very sorrowfull for his sinne and as it is said of Iudah concerning his vncleanesse with Tamar He knew her againe no more so let your repentance testifie to the world a perfect detestation not of this sinne onely but an hearty reformation of all besides And as for me let me promise and professe to you and for you as Samuel did vnto the people terrified with a terrible tempest of thunder in the time of harvest desiring Samuels prayers Pray vnto the Lord for thy servants whom Samuel comforted thus As for me God forbid that I should sinne against the Lord in ceasing to pray for you I will God willing doe no lesse for you I would to God with all mine heart I could doe so well And I hope I may promise as much for all here whose sorrowfull faces be deawed with so many teares at this time make mee to perswade my selfe they pitty your shame and pray to God for mercy to forgiue your sinne Even so God of mercy heare and helpe and let all here present say Amen Amen FINIS a 1 Cor. 5. 12 b Iohn 6. 70. c Numb 25. 6 d 2 Sun 18. 33 e 1 Cor 5. 2 f Iude 23 g Eccle. 8. 11 h 1. Sam. 18. 9. 10. 11. l Psal 106. 3. n Psal 58. 10. o Prou. 24. 17 q Gen. 2. 22. r 1 Cor. 7. 2. ſ Iere. 5. 8. t Ezek. 22. 11 u Exod. 20. 14. uu Gen. 34. ● x Numb 25. z Gen 49. 4. a 2 Sam. 11. 4. b 2 Sam. 16. 22. c Hab. 1. 13. c Psal 5. 4. d Exod. 23. 3. e Deut. 17. g Ezek. 18. 20. h Isay 9. 14. i Gen. 18. 15 k Gen. 15. 24 l 2 Kin. 19. 35 37 m Exod. 8. 16. n Psal 82. 6. o Rom. 13. 4. p Iob 24. 15. q Prou. 7. 7. 9. r Iob. 34. 5. 22. ſ Ier. 23. 24 t Psal 139. 12. 13. u Heb. 4. 13. uu Psal 94. 9. 10. x Isay 27. 4. y 1 Cor 10. 12. z Heb. 12. 29. a Mat. 10. 28. c 2. Sam. 12. 13. d Mat. 9. 2. e Iohn 5. 29. f Dan. 5. 6. g Actes 5. 5. 6. i Numb 25. 7. 8. m 〈…〉 o Gen. 19. 24 p Gen. 7. 7 q Exod. 7. 8. 9. cap. r Num. 16. 31 ſ Num 12. 10 t Ezek. 6. 12 u Acts 12. 23 uu Deut. 22. 22. y Gen. 34. 25 z 2 Sam. 13 28. 29. a Num. 15. 8 b 1 Cor 10. 8 h Rom. 1. 24. i Prou. 23. 32 k Pro. 6. 26. l Pro. 22. 1. m Eccle. 7. 1. n Iob 18. 17 o Pro. 10. 7. p Pro. 6. 33. q Deut. 23. 2. r Iob 20. 29. ſ Psal 11. 6. ſ 2 Cor. 5. 10. t 2 Sam. 2. ●6 u Pro. 23. 3● uu Pro. 5. 3. 4. z Deut. 13. 17. a 1 Cor 6. 18. c Gal. 5 19. d Colo. 3. 4. e 1 Thes 4. 3 g Exod. 20. 19. Q 22. in Exo. n Hosea 4. 11. t Pro. 7. 27. u 1 Cor. 6. 9. uu Reuel 26. 27. x Reuel 22. y 1 Cor. 6. 18. z Colo. 3. 5. a Ephe. 5. 3. b 1 Cor 6. 15. c 1 Cor. 3. 17 d Rom. 12. 1. e 1 Thes 4. 3. f Reuel 14. 4. g Iude 7. h Iudg. 3. 10. i Eccle. 12. 11. k Acts 3. 37. l Dan. 4. 27. n Iohn 1● 39 o Ephe 5. 14. p Luke 19. 18 g 2 Sam. 12. 19. r Iob 22. 21. f Isay 57. 21. t 2 King 9. 22. u Ioel 2. 13. uu Psal 6. 6. x Ier. 9. 1. y Ier. 31. 19 z Math. 26. 75 a Math. 5. 29. b Iames 1. 21. c Acts 8. 22. 23. d Iohn 8. e Gen. 9. 29. f Gen 38. 26 g 1 Sam. 12. 23