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
A66760	A memorandum to London occasioned by the pestilence there begun this present year MDCLXV, and humbly offered to the Lord Mayor, Aldermen and commonality of the said city / by George Wither ; thereto is by him added, a warning-piece to London, discharged out of a loophole in the tower, upon meditating the deplorable fier, which consumed the house of an eminent citizen, with all the persons and goods therein, at the beginning of most joyful festival in December 1662 ; also, a single sacrifice offered to almighty God, by the same author in his lonely confinement, for prevention of the dearth-feared, and probably portended, by immoderate raines in June and July, 1663, morever, in regard may have reported and believed this author to be dead, we have annexed his epitaph, made by himself upon that occasion.	Wither, George, 1588-1667.	1665 (1665)	Wing W3170; ESTC R11869	36,976	81

itch to hear and speak and do That which their own self-will doth prompt them to And was infus'd into them by false teachers Whom they suppose to be the foundest Preachers VVhen they confirm them in what doth belong To their will-worship be it right or wrong And keep up those Diana's which were made Their Goddesses but to uphold their Trade These twixt Beleivers do contests maintain For Trifles which tend more to their own Gain Then Godlines or those means to increase Which may conduce to setlement of peace In Christian Charity and Righteousness All I with hope to speed can pray for such Is that they may not love the world too much Or by hypocrisie and lip professions To get themselves a share in her possessions Obstruct the blessed work of Reformation By Factions to the final extirpation Of all those Dispensations which have yet Some use and which whilst thou dost them permit They to advance thy Glory may improve And by sincerely seeking Truth in Love So exercise thy Graces whilst those last That they will perfect be when their times past My GOD for these to this effect I may And do I know with thy allowance pray Because I hope t is no malitious pride Which hath to Selfness drawn their hearts aside But as for them who have inclinde their ears So long time to ungodly Counsellers So persevered in the sinners way And therein with delight so long made stay That to the Scorners Chair advanc'd they are Resolving with themselves to settle there The Dictates of thy holy ghost contemn Absolve the wicked Innocents condemn Term evil good the best things evil call Or make twixt them no difference at all Ascribe thy Attributes unto the Devil And his Vicegerent make thee of all evil Prime Author Thee detrude out of thy Throne To set their Idol and themselves thereon Pervert the lawful use of ev'ry Creature Till their depraving the whole humane nature For Vengeance calls and as it were inforces Thy Justice to turn Blessings into Curses What can be spoke for these to save them from Thy Judgments here or in the world to come I cannot LORD thy mercy comprehend Nor know how far their malice doth extend Such things are knowable to thee alone Therefore concerning these thy will be done The best of us have gone astray so far In Provocations that perhaps here are Now very many in the state of those For whom we are forbid to interpose Our mediations betwixt them and Thee As touching Judgments that now threanned be Such ev'n among thy People heretofore Made thee forbid a Prophet to implore Withholding of those Plagues which at that time Were threatned to be hurled down on them Yea then though thy choice worthies should have pleaded That thy Decree might have been superseaded Thou didst resolve their suite should not be heard For any save themselves with good regard When sins grow ripe and Scandalous become They seldom scape a temporary doome Though thou vouchsafest mercy as to David Whereby the Souls that sinned shall be saved LORD though that growth our Guilt attaineth hath Alway remember mercy in thy wrath Some such like Barr and prohibition now From thee is issued forth for ought I know Alas if so what possibly can we Endeavour till it shall reversed be Or else dispens'd with I can never pray With confidence for what suspect I may Is not precarious And as qualifi'd We are things grantable may be deni'd At least so long time as that shall be wanting Which makes their chief condition of their granting T is not a slavish terror without Love And faithful Penitence that will remove The Plagues that lie upon us or prevent A Threatned Judgment when 't is imminent T is not wil worshippings though much applauded By their approvers and by them begawded With Superstitious Dressings that can please Thy Majesty and thy just wrath appease T is not our formal whinings or Orations Or our Confessions or our Deprecations Or Bablings with the Tongue without a heart That will thy threatned Judgments quite divert Till thou hast done thy work which is in hand Or till we more conform to thy command Whereto perhaps that which we fear may more Conduce then that which we to scape implore For few do conscience of their duties make Much longer then the Rod is on their back Yet somewhat makes me hopeful that thou hast Against what I would ask no sentence past And fain would I obtain from thee this day A Publick Blessing e're I go away Which might in some degree abate the dread Whereby now many are distempered To thee thy Children for a Blessing cry Upon those Fruits which drench'd in waters lie And though unworthy Jacob like I am Resolv'd with thee to wrestle for the same Let not my LORD be wrath that I go on To prosecute the suite I have begun For I with filial fear approach thy Throne Direct us how in this and such like cases We may make acceptable our Addresses Lest we grow overwhelmed with dispairs Or come with over peremptory Prayers For somewhat thou at all times hast to grant To comfort those who consolation want When they are sensible of their condition And come before thee with unfaind contrition Yea though when we are outwardly distrest We may not absolutely make request For what seems needful yet when we resigne In all our sutes our own will unto thine Our wants if in particular deni'd Are with a Fatherlike respect suppli'd Some other way by mercifully granting A better thing then that which we thought wanting For thou till he himself shall bar the door Excludest no mans prayre who doth implore In Faith and Charity that which may tend To give him a well-being without end Of this experiment I oft have had And me thou confident thereof hast made This Creed thou hast been pleas'd to teach me LORD Both by thy holy spirit and thy word Confirming my experience day by day That I to other men declare it may As I in duty am oblig'd to do When thou my heart inclinest thereunto And by thy favour now proceed I can In that which when these musings I began I neither able was to prosecute As I intended or commence my sute In terms which I could think fit to present To thee or to my self could give content But now the Bars remov'd and I can make A shift to Stammer what I could not speak By thy Assistance likewise I believe That what I now shall pray for thou wilt give Ev'n ev'ry thing implicitly at least Which shall in this my Prayer be exprest I therefore in thy sight now spread abrode My private meditations in this mode And hope it shall be spread where many may And their Amen to that for which I pray And that their joyning in this my Oblation Will gain us all shares in thy acceptation Oh! I should then sing with a Joyful heart LORD let thy servant now in peace depart That

poor Out acted have transgressors heretofore Children are left so loose to speak and do What their corruption doth incline them to And ill example teach that if their course Continue long we shall at last grow worse Then Sodom and Gomorrah which GOD knows I do not mention as some may suppose To scandalize this City or this Nation But to provoke them to a Reformation To that intent so far forth as it shall Concern this City speedily let all Who are in power with prudence and in love The strength of their Authority improve Them to indulge and keep from violence Whose conversations are without offence And by their executing of the Law In purity strive to keep those in awe Who either shall malitiously transgress By an infringment of the publick peace Or wilfully commit abet or teach What of the Moral Law may be a breach That nothing may by you be done unto Another which you would not have him do To you if in his case search what you find That may on you be charged in that kind And heartily repent it That moreover You may faults which will else lye hid discover Consider whether you have not with gladness Insulted over men opprest with sadness Afflictions heaped up upon Afflictions Or added Cruelty to due corrections By seeking more to satisfie your Lust Or Vengeance then to execute what 's just For Justice sake or else to please their Foes Condemned Innocents their lives to lose Your waies examine search out what crimes You have of late more then in former times Been guilty of As whether you have been Or not defiled with that scarlet sin Which in times past your City did abhor As being a peculiar heretofore Of that Malignant City where the Whore Bestrides the Beast be heedful also whether It be not partly or else altogether His work to be in cruelties delighted To see meek honest harmless men dispighted For Conscience sake inhumanly exil'd Husbands from wives the parent from the child Imprison'd to the loosing of their lives Their little Children their beloved Wives And their whole Families expos'd thereby To that unspeakable extremity Of wants and sufferings which no flesh and blood Can bear without immediate help from GOD. Whose will is thereby wilfully withstood And why all this not for transgressing Laws Of GOD or Nature but alone because These could not condiscend the world to please By an infringment of their consciences Heed what this may deserve if you desire To stop the Plague begun lest else the fire Which may be kindled in your habitations Do quite consume them ev'n to their foundations For GOD of his Prerogatives is Jealous To vindicate all those he will be zealous Who suffer for his sake although perchance They may be blamable through Ignorance Or other humane frailties for where he Sees Faith and Love their sins he will not see As for their Persecutors though he may His just Avengments for a while delay The patience of his people he doth mind And they who shew no mercy none shall find Examine whether since you made your peace With GOD the renovation and increase Of wilful sins deserved not renewing Of Plagues removed and of worse ensuing It is not without cause that God now hath Such complicated Judgements in his wrath On thee and thine inflicted when grown great In hopes thou thoughtst thy happiness compleat Nor is it hidden from thee altogether For what sin GOD sends this or that plague hither In truth all Plagues are due unto each sin When with Impenitence persisted in Yet frequently the ROD's wherewith we are Corrected shew forth in Particuler What we offended in For Superstition Was Gideons Family brought to perdition King Davids pride made manifest in him By numbring of the people brought on them A Pestilence GOD visited the earth For wilful breach of Covenants with Dearth And as to Zedikiah and to Saul It did for that provoking sin befal The chief offenders and their Children too Stand liable to death for sinning so Oppression Cruelty and Idolizing The Creature or things of our own devising Have been chastiz'd with servitude and fear And when Will-worshipings imposed are On others with inhumane violence Injustice acted with such impudence As Jezabels and Ahabs rarely shall Such scape from that which did to them befal But when that Hipocrites by lying hid As Annanias and Saphira did Till GOD discover'd them may possibly Obscure the grouth of Infant Piety When they who Truths foundations overthrow When her malitious persecutors grow So mighty that the Saints unable are To calm them or their furious rage to bear Or when Prophaness and Abhominations Like Sodoms wholly hath corrupted Nations Or Cities till there shall appear in men Nor will nor power them to reclaim agen GOD in such cases to himself alone Assumes the punnishing of what 's misdone And very frequently doth punish too In such a mode as mortals cannot do Sometimes by Sudden Death when they are in Their Jollity or in the Act of sin Sometimes by sicknesses that long endure Whereof no man can find the Cause or Cure Sometimes by that which till their provocation Of GOD had been a means of preservation Sometimes they of their lives have been bereaven By Lightning or by Thunderbolts from Heaven And otherwhile struck with d●spaireful fears Are made to be Self-Executioners This gives a Hint of that which more affords Then fully is expressed by my words To make it plain but either thou no doubt Or some for thee will search and find it out Or by the the searching after it discern Somewhat which thee as nerely will concern Take heed of neighbours and familiar friends Who fawn upon thee for their own base ends And love thee not though they respect profess By many shews of hearty friendliness For some of them already cause have bin Of adding much both to thy Plagues and sin But specially of thine own self take heed For thence thy greatest dangers will proceed Consider therefore by thy self alone What thou omitted hast and what misdone Whether thy folly falsehood fickleness Apostacy from what thou didst profess Falling from thy First Love by mis-advice Thy Luxury thy sordid Avarice Or some vain hopes deserv'd not deprivation Of that whereof thou hadst an expectation Heed whether to have cured or prevented One Plague thy self thou hast not complemented Into a score at least to stop one curse Indanger'd drawing on thee many worse Observe if ever Beggery and P●ide Did both together upon one horse ride So frequently as now through every street Or walk so often on the self-same feet And whether mischiefs which at present fall On some will not at last extend to all Mind well what thou art doing what is done What is designed but not yet begun For what thou both with words and sword hast pleaded What thou hast most affected or most dreaded What thereon follow'd or might have succeeded What factions thou hast favor'd and what still

much loving of themselves abate Which hath inclin'd them other men to hate And more to punish them who reprehend Their sins then those who against thee offend Bereave them of that wealth in which they trust And spend in giving fewel to their lust That Power exorbitant make to be less Which doth but Pride and Tyranny increase Lest they may make themselves the slaves of sin And to be Devils who might Gods have been Forgive them their offences against thee When for them truly penitent they be For all their wrongs to me I can forgive As I from thee forgiveness would receive This Charity of mine to them is thine Thou thereunto my heart dost now incline Then surely if thou hast a love for those Who hate thee yea whilst they continue Foes Thou wilt on them bestow all I can crave If they contemn not that which they might have And who can then be hopeless of thy Grace Who in true faith and love shall seek thy face Oh hear me in what to their welfare tends For all in general both Foes and Friends To whom Christs ransom shall not bounded be More by their own fault then by thy Decree And who against themselves shut not that Gate Which thou to all Mankind hast open set Make us true Lovers as we ought to be And we shall be beloved still of thee Incline us charitably to regard The poor mans prayers and ours shall be heard Make us upright and then shall rich and poor More advantageous be then heretofore Unto themselves and they who hate each other Shall love and live in amity together None then shall make a prayer to enjoy In private what weal publick may destroy But all our suits as in destructive Rains Or Droughts shall be prefer'd for what pertains Unto the common good and very many Be benefitted without harm to any I shall moreover be permitted then To do thee service with my Tongue and Pen And thou with other blessings wilt send hi her What I now pray for seasonable weather LORD should these meditations be despis'd Or as some have been lately here surpriz'd And smother'd I beseech thee let them not By thee be dis-regarded or forgot Nor that which yet remains to be exprest Be stifled any longer in my brest For that hath been more torment to my mind Then to my Body to be here confin'd But each branch only grant of these Requests As with thine own good pleasure best consists And that in chief which hath preferred been To work in us Repentance of all sin Lest else when from one Judgment we are freed Another and another still succeed Till e're from all our fear● thou us deliver We feel the sharpest arrows in thy Quiver Though all alone the world hath shut me here And from her self exil'd me as it were She being part of that great Work Divine In which there is aswel a share of mine As hers And though no sense she seems to have Of what I suffer in this living Grave I have a Fellow-feeling of her fears As by those private musings it appears Which often heretofore I have exprest On her behalf and now by this Request Which GOD I know for his own sake hath heard Although my prayer merits no regard The last great Rainy-day I first begun These Meditations and e're they were done The Clouds were blown away the Sun appear'd The face of heaven was from thick vapours clear'd And he who lately mustred them together Continues yet a seasonable weather That will renew the hopes if it holds on Which this year promised when it begun For to the blessed name of GOD be praise The earth begins her face again to raise Out of her watry bed chear'd by those Rayes Whose absence made her many weeks of days Sit melancholly and aside to throw Those dressings wherewith she is trimmed now This doth to me appear to be a sign That to compassion GOD doth sti●● incline And will once more make proof what Reformation Shall be endeavour'd after this probation Oh! in some measure let this grace effect That which be justly may from us expect Lest worse befall For GOD will not be mockt The doors of heaven are not yet so fast lockt But that he suddainly may send again Not only such another wasting rain Or in the stead thereof a scorching Drouth And make the tongue cleave to the parched mouth But Fire and Brimstone too if he so please Whereas now whilst his mercy doth appease His wrath a little hearty penitence Improv'd may keep some other Plague from hence And for one sin that truly is repented Three may removed be or else prevented Meditated and composed during the Authors close Confinement in the Tower July 1663. Psalm 107.8 Oh! that men would praise the Lord for his goodness and for his wondrous works to the Children of men The whole Psalm is very pertinent to stir up to a due consideration and practise of this duty June 15 1665. A PRECAUTION Relating to the time present Two years are past since what precedes was writ When here Excessive Rains occasion'd it The present Drougth now makes us as much fear A Dearth may probably conclude this year For want of timely moisture in the spring Hath in the Bud ni●t many a growing thing And that Defect continuing to this day Starves herbs and turns the standing grass to hay The Winter corn as yet prick up their ears But to decay the Summer Crop appears And both if GOD prevent not may consume Before our usual harvest time is come As when to cure or give their Patients ease Who long have suffred by a strong Disease A good Physitian first applies for cures His best known helps in such distempratures That f●iling tries another and that done Doth then through ev'ry course of Physick run Repeats it often too and as Events Occasion it makes new Experiments Ev'n so hath GOD proceeded with this Nation To bring us to a timely Reformation Yet our habitual wickedness is such That nothing works upon us very much Except it be the quite contrary way For when we should Repent and Fast and Pray We Feast and Triumph when we should release The Prisoner we the Freeman do oppress When we the poor and needy should relieve The Rich we begger and the poor we grieve When Princes should put mourning Garments on Each Vassal is arayed like a Don. The meanest Pinnaces weare Silken Sailes And like the Peacock spread their gaudy Tailes Yea in the steed of due humiliations In publick here are publick provocations Still multiplied quite throughout the land Ev'n whilst we lie beneath GOD's heavy hand And manifestly see both ev'ry blessing Withdrawing and Plagues ev'ry day increasing He therefore justly may if so he pleases Do like Physitians when they find Diseases To be incurable They then permit Such Patients to take what course they think fit Leave them to any Emperick who will Pretend to that wherein he hath no skill Send