Selected quad for the lemma: mercy_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
mercy_n	heart_n	lord_n	name_n	5,498	5	5.3931	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A49178	The ascents of the soul, or, David's mount towards God's house being paraphrases on the fifteen Psalms of Degrees / written in Italian, by ... Gio. Francesco Loredano ..., 1656 ; render'd into English, Anno Dom. 1665.; Gradi dell'anima. English	Loredano, Giovanni Francesco, 1607-1661.; Coleraine, Hugh Hare, Baron, 1606?-1667.	1681 (1681)	Wing L3065; ESTC R6897	69,621	80

which hath been the Gate of Dishonesty may become a Theatre echoing forth thy Praise as in thy holy Temple I will strive to fit up my Heart into a Lamp for thine Altar where it should be still flaming with a Zeal for thy Glory It hath been a Vessel foully savouring of the smutty affections of Earth but I hope to cleanse it from such taints now that I may liken my Soul to a Bird which hath broken through the Snares of the Fowler Thanks to thy Pity gracious Lord I now find the Devil was not so skilfull in laying his Snares as thy Wisdom hath been in the defeat of his Stratagems He like Nimrod is a mighty Hunter ever pursuing our fearful Hearts that he may chase them from their repose and shelter and then surprize take and slay them His Toils are the Pleasures of the World his Darts are a Thousand Temptations his Hounds are profane and wicked men and what pains doth this Enemy of mankind refuse so that he may but compass his ends by entangling us in wretched bondage and enslaving us under the dominion of Sin He hath sometimes endeavoured to enthral me by a handsome Face whispering it out as a Ray of thy fairest Light and hath made use of the Gloworm Lustre in two sparkling Eyes to lead me out of thy way into a Night of error and when therein now would he scare me with the severity of thy Justice anon lull me asleep with the excess of thy Mercy and then divert me by the evil customs of others or charm me by my own bad Inclinations perswading by false and carnal Reasonings But dearest God how little doth the allurements of this Circaean World bewitch us how heavily do the Goads of Sense drive us on how soon are the jugglings of the grand Impostor manifest when our Souls are directed defended and instructed by thy Goodness Let the greedy pursuers pitch their Nets and make ready their Arrows upon the String all their designes and Bows shall be broken by thy commiserating care O Lord. If at any time the many incentives to Sin do take hold of me I trust by thy helping hand to recover my Liberty 'T is true my blessed Redeemer these Eyes of mine have strangely confined their happiness within the proportions of external Beauties T is true my Mouth hath not ecchoed thy Glories but proved the Temple of Sensualities my Heart hath rebelled against thee and sworn allegiance to the World my Hands would not hold that purity thou requirest in them nor would my Fancy be less than my God For my own Opinion hath Exacted my Worship and I have not been moved at all towards Offices of Charity in Acts of Faith have been weak and wavering But yet Lord 't is as true that the Devil all this while hath gone cunningly about me to watch and to hedg in my ways that I might not escape his artifices so that my failings have been occasioned less by my own naughtiness than by his and chiefly through his cunning Traps and devices whereby my unwary Foolishness hath been inveigled Now that I can find my self in some such freedom as Repentance brings along with it I can discern the Devil's malice and Sin 's Fetters broken my Sense being led in Triumph by my Reason I rally all my Spiritual Forces for the service of my God and for the Worship of that goodness which hath rendered me such a mighty Object of it Mine Eyes shall summon all their Visive Powers to look up unto Jesus my Mouth shall be no longer as sounding Brass or as a crakt Trumpet giving false allarms but like a Seraphim's touched with the fire of thine Altar to eccho forth Thanks and holiness to the Lord. Exod. 4.25 26. My Heart shall throw all its affections now Circumcised at the Feet of thy Grace and my Hands shall be lift up continually to implore and to praise thy Mercies O my God because thou only by the Rays of thy Favour canst enlighten my Soul in such a manner as that it may drop no more into the Darkness of Sin All our humane Strengths are nothing worth no more to be trusted too than the Reeds of Egypt all our safety and refuge lies in thy Power The welfare of my little World depends on his Arm who hath made all the other Worlds Job 26.6 7. and hanged the Universe upon Nothing stretching forth the Globe over the empty place The sixth Step on the sixth PSALM of Degrees being the 125 PSALM Qui confidunt c. O Ye Sons of mortal men Psal 4.5 how long will ye turn your Bodies into weapons of Sin your Souls into Vessels of Dishonour your Glory into Shame your Shame into your Boast in believing Vanities and seeking after false things On what Rock but Christ can you anchor the Hopes of your Salvation and Eternity Will ye trust the fading Beauties of Flesh and Blood which are superfluous gifts of Nature vanished in a moment scarcely entertained or taken notice of before they take their leave and are gone Will ye confide on the Vigor and strength of youth Know Death makes no distinction of ages and after a short space of time both Youth and Health are dissolved into the imperfections of decrepid years But perhaps ye will trust as ye doat upon the worldly Honours but ponder a while what Weights they are and like Pharisaïcal burthens too grievous for most good men to carry Experience shews that too many even of the best by the desire or Act of Ruling others grow irregular themselves and disordering their own thoughts and quiet thereby distemper their felicities if not debauch their Souls and who so trusts in uncertain Riches is worse than a Gospel Fool. Gold is but a Wasp though it look yellow it hath Wings to fly away from us and stings to leave behind it at its departure even such stings as are like Goads apt to push on our greedy and brutish appetites to the most sordid and sinful Actions But ye would have a Cordial made up of all these ingredients that rare Catholicon called Worldly felicity which ye think might recover and secure the Spirits from all those Qualmes and Lypothymies that many times seize upon them notwithstanding all your false jollities and merry Companions But alas what is any happiness of this lower Globe but like it self turning about 'T is but a Scene upon this Theatre 't is shifted and changed often from one to another and appears always moving and inconstant as long as this lifes Opera is acting Trust then in God and in God alone for if you be under his protection you need fear neither the Infirmities of Life nor the Injuries of Death Let God be your Honour Joy Delight and Treasure in him consists all Happiness and Glory Wherefore Blessed God as long as I am sheltered by thy Divine Goodness I will not fear the Tongues of this evil World nor the Venom of that most evil One

let them joyn all the force of their Malice and perfidiousness together I will remain firm and unshaken like Mount Zion and baffle their attempts and deride their ineffectual fury The good Angels are appointed by thy great care over us to be a watchful Guard and Bulwark for our weakness and they are called Mountains of strength from the excellency of their natures and thy supporting Grace But for all that they are not strong enough or rather not commissioned to keep us always from the attacks of Sin or from the Snares of the Devil Doubtless those Guardian Spirits direct us to Good and very oft do turn us from Evil. But alas the pravity of our Nature makes it not still capable of Angel-like perswasion we are so immersed in the satisfaction of our Lusts and so inured to sinful compliancies that we have neither Ear nor Heart left us to listen to the Whispers of Holy Spirits We still want O Lord thy Admonitions Assistance and Conduct 't is to the Glory of thy Omnipotence onely that I owe my safety Henceforth I live with a chearful trust sprung from the greatness of thy Mercy that thou wilt ever stand by my Soul in its frequent perils and every action of my Life shall be smiled on with the favour of thy presence and with the direction of thy Will For as the Mountains give a defence and shelter round about the City of God so God who is the Rock of Ages a vast Mountain of Power and Charity will continually succor and secure his People Since 't is the peculiar effect of thy gracious Providence O my God! to favour and defend such who relying on thy Pity still implore thy help and Sanctuary themselves under thy Providence this is always ready to lend a helping hand to such as rightly ask it and although sometimes the Righteous Cause is oppressed by wicked Judges and Cruelty domineers over Goodness and the Purple of Tyrants is double dyed in the Blood of Innocents yet all this is done upon righteous and wise grounds Thereby thou hast a mind O Lord to try the Constancy of thy Servants to Correct their Errors to exercise their Patience to brighten or refine their Graces or else thou wouldst have them serve for excellent patterns and directions for others that they may become thy Portion and be fit to address themselves to thee and then thou sufferest not their Slavery to be tedious nor their Rod too heavy Because they who are thus Obedient both to thy preceptive and providential Will are thy Children Heb. 12.5 6 7. whom thou Chastisest as a Father and wilt not suffer the Scourge of the Wicked to dwell long upon thine Inheritance Psal 80.4 especially when it earnestly begs Relief It would be no less contrary to that Dear Relation thou standest in to us than to the proper goodness of thy Nature not to restrain the fury of the impious didst not thou hook up Leviathan in dne time it might be dangerous that thy weak and infirm Disciples waving thy protection would depart from thee and either abandon themselves to Vice charmed by the short prosperity of evil doers or else grow fearful of Persecution and so put forth their hands to Iniquity and render themselves uncapable of thy Compassion Therefore most Gracious Lord do not forsake them who adore the greatness of thy Love and Wisdom and study to observe the Holyness of thy Will and Pleasure Heap thy bounties on their Goodness which hath no other end but God and Righteousness O how blessed is the Man who by the integrity of his Affection hath fouled neither Hand nor Tongue in the blemish or blood of his Neighbour How blessed is he that by not obeying the usurpations of Sin hath not made his Reason close Prisoner to his Concupiscence He is also blest who content with what he hath would not robb nor envy the enjoyments of others And he is blest too that by the sincerity of his Behaviour by the probity of his Life by the faithfulness of his Heart by the innocence of his Eyes hath endeavoured to fit himself for the High-calling whereunto he is called in Jesus Christ and thereby gain thy favour and work out his own Salvation I am assured O Lord that thou powerest forth the Treasure of thy Blessings on them who make streight paths for their Feet who keep the way of Righteousness and are as constant as Couragious to resist all Vice since to accommodate the Thoughts and fix the Will to thy Dispensations is the way to get Christ and to be found in him not having our own Righteousness But on the contrary Those who forget thy greatness O Lord and fall down to the Worship of themselves those who enter the wrong way into their Mother's Womb and embowel the Earth to steal away her Treasure and seem to have no other end thereby than to bury their Souls and Hopes therein Those who being swallowed up in Voluptuousness believe no other Paradice than the delights of Flesh and Bloud or those who place next their own misfortunes every prosperous event of others such as choak all Virtue by imperious appetites and Sacrifice their best faculties unto Fury and Madness turning all Sobriety and Reason out of doors Lastly such as being lost to themselves and in their own Opinions too sometimes knowing not how to wake themselves out of the Lethargy of Vice nor get up beyond the terms of nothing that is Sin and Vanity Such as all these are I say these unhappily cursed ones shall be struck down from Heaven's glorious presence like Nimrod's Gyants with hot Thunderbolts they shall be confounded with Babel's Workmen and become the wretched Objects of the severity of such Corrections as are given by a Hand no less Powerfull and Just than Jealous and Pure They shall feel the Scorching of those immortal Flames which yet can never burn out their Spots since they have rendered themselves Heirs of Wrath and Children of the Devil whereas the Righteous before-mentioned such as may be set far from these Goats blest with thy Love and Protection O Lord shall enjoy the serenity of that peace which resides in thy favour and surpasseth our Understanding The seventh Step on the seventh PSALM of Degrees being the 126 PSALM In Convertendo Dominus c. O My God! how can I express the Consolation of my Soul My Words are lost in my joy of Heart and can break forth but lamely at my Lips for I behold my self Redeemed I find my self delivered also from the dangerous Labyrinth of my winding Errours thanks be to thy goodness only The confused Chaos of my Life hath been called to by thy Word and looked on by the Beams of thy Grace nay distinguished and reformed by thy Son into a new Lump a new Conversion The mischiefs of my guiltiness are not aggravated by the continual Remorse of Conscience but my steps are directed by sweet methods how to keep thy Statutes to the

Repentance and Restitution subdue the Hydra of Sin and approve thy self a Child of God according to the Apostles assertion Now thou mayest understand that the Sons of God are like Arrows in the Hands of a Gyant they wound the Hearts of Gods Enemies and scatter such as delight in Mischief destroying and beating down what is evil quickening Faith and working Love in the Godly and the Effects of such Divine Instruments as these are the discouragement of Sin the feeding the Hungry Cloathing the Naked succouring the Poor entertaining the Stranger visiting the Prisoner freeing the Captive burying the Slain correcting the Obstinate counselling the Ignorant comforting the Afflicted assisting the Weak forgiving the Injurious and praying for the Persecutors In fine all the most accomplished performances of the Memory Will and Intellect are but as so many barbed Arrows put into our Hands by God to be shot against his Enemy Satan and the maker of the Devil Sin How happy then is the Christian Warrior who makes use of these Weapons How happy is the Jonathan that can strip himself of his Harness of Worldly mindedness of the full Quiver of his Lusts of the Girdle of Self-love wherewith he is too often girded for the sake of the Son of David He is Lovely as much as Lowly who can hate himself and all things here below He is Just and strong indeed who can do Violence to his own Interest for the greater benefit thereby to his Neighbour He is wise that can chuse a Saviour's Thorns rather than the sweetest Flowers of Sin which are but for a season He is Noble that makes use of Greatness chiefly for the Glory of God He is Rich that will lavish his Mammon here to make himself Friends therewith hereafter And he in truth is the alone happy man who with ardent affection and continued watchfulness hears receives and obeys the truth of thy Work and allows no Resting place no Ark nor any Asylum to unlawful desires or inordinate affections within him Such men as these before-mentioned they are who in the midst of the Fire the Thunder and Lightnings Cries and Terrors of the last Judgment shall never be daunted in the presence of their Judge nor by the Indictment of their Accusers For being kept in perfect Peace by the stay of their Souls on thee good Lord they are safely brought into the Harbour of a quiet Conscience and under the shelter of a mighty Jesus who is able to save them to the uttermost from all their Adversaries and from all such accusations as may not then touch the justified by Christ although they may serve to convince other Sinners and display the Ungodliness of Sin The ninth Step on the ninth PSALM of Degrees being the 128 PSALM Beati qui timent HE that would gain the Beatitude of thy Favour O Lord must of necessity fear thy greatness and obey thy precepts so that he is the blessed man upon Earth that knows exactly how to guide his Feet into the ways of Peace into the paths of thy Commandments and doth meet with no other inconveniences in his way than the doubts he may sometimes encounter about thy Love and Favour to him The fear of thy Power and the Reverence of thy greatness is so needful even for the very best Dan. 4.31 32. Ier. 51.9 else why hath thy justest Vengeance armed it self with Thunder to strike down the presumptuous Why hast thou by Fire from Heaven extinguished the memorial of Transgressors Why didst thou command the Waters to climb above the highest Mountains but that thou mightest overcome the greatest Sinners and shew how by thy wrath as by thy Love thou couldest hide a multitude of faults Thou hast bred Monsters within men by conscious apprehensions and often surroundest those Scilla 's with terrors of guilt Thou hast many times suffered thine Enemies to punish one another by their Cruelties And not seldom by Earthquakes by panick Confusions or Fears by Portentous Signes and strange * Such as were 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 frequently heard before the Destruction of Jerusalem Voices thou wouldst instruct all them who listen to thee speaking either on Earth or from Heaven and thou wouldest also correct the infidelity of others and thereby convince such how thou art to be feared Yet surely the fear that is struck into us by the Effects of thy Power is not so kindly welcom to thee nor so agreeable to us as that which proceeds from a sense of thy Love and pity and I know by experience that thou wouldst be loved chiefly because thou art Long-suffering rather than Omnipotent and thou hast proved thy self most a God by shewing mercy in being not called now the Lord of Hosts but the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ in whom dwels the fulness of the Godhead bodily and in him thou art our Father which art in Heaven Hallowed be thy Name c. How wonderfully this advances the proof of thy Clemency above that of thy Power to the end that mans Fear and Reverence of thee may Spring rather from his filial affection than from thy Supreme Authority And doubtless he that fears thee O my God! out of a regard to thy Statutes that he may not infringe them nor hazard the Loss of thy Favour nor lose the Hopes of his Adoption or of his Admission into the Joy of his Lord he surely reaps the best of Heaven and Earth the truest Comforts of this life and of a better Therefore I wish all Mankind would take such a Course as this How healthful then would be your Sweats how blessed your Pains how profitable your Labours O ye Mortals who too often spend your Strength in vain and your time in fruitless works of darkness Then your Wealth would not be impaired and blasted as 't is now frequently by the Rapine of others 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by the Rigour of ill seasons or by a Thousand Cross events but it would be an enjoyment as sweet as 't is a Possession and serve for your just Satisfactions and Necessities as well as for the profit of many more The care you would then take to be Charitable and the sincerity ye would use in the Application of your Mammon to good purposes would make it return double to you like Job's Estate and be preserved to you by God himself who seing you not besmeared with Envy or Covetousness in respect of these deceitful Goods or mis-led by Pride or Worldly-mindedness he would delight in your Abundance together with your selves and while ye tasted the sweets of all your Industry he the good Husband-man so called John c. 15. v. 4. would also tast a grateful because a gracious Return and Relish of that full Cup of yours which he had first put into your hand as likewise of that penalty which we may thus happily undergoe how in the Sweat of our brows we may eat here comfortably and get up to God's holy Hill at last For let us be

hopes of Happiness for indeed obstinate Sinners are like the Ground which the Lord hath Cursed unworthy to have one Shower of good Wishes or Consolations bestowed upon them from good men and much more uncapable of the Dew of God's Blessing But Ah! let not my Portion be with such nor shut up my Life with the Bloody-minded but impower me to resist the Malice of the Evil-ones and so to rely upon thy Favour as to live under thy Protection and Cognisance and to be known for ever by the white Stone with a new name even by the blessing of thy holiest Name O Lord Jesus Amen The eleventh Step on the eleventh PSALM of Degrees being the 130 PSALM De profundis c. O Lord how wretched woful lamentable is the Condition of a Sinner who being turned into his own Enemy doth nothing but lay Ambushes for himself while he forgets ungratefully thy benefits he becomes most worthless and hated both of Heaven and Earth He deserves no Mansion but in Hell Alas unhappy Sinner how art thou forsaken by thy Creator Redeemer and Comforter even by all of thy God! and thy hopeless state is the more dreadful being accompanied with the fearful expectation of Judgement Thy Crimes bring with them unspeakable bitterness because they fore-bode Eternal Torments and thy Life is but a continual Death by reason of the gnawings of Conscience the Horror of thy guilt and the domineering of thine Enemies over thee Yet for all this with the lowest Humility that is due to the height of thy State and to the meanness of mine own while the requests of my Heart keep time with the Words of my Mouth I am bold to cry aloud for Mercy and beg thy Compassion O Lord God! although thy Mercy and Compassion may seem to stoop too low while they take up my Petitions unto thine Ears And if these are better emploied in hearkening to the Ecchoes of thy Glories to the Lauds of thy Saints and to the Harmony of Heaven yet let them not disdain the importunity of those longings after thee which arise from a firm desire and a deliberate Resolution and address themselves to the Footstool of thy Goodness O Lord I know the King of Israel is a merciful King I know thou takest pleasure in hearing the Requests of thy poor Creatures especially if they proceed from humble Hearts and contrite Spirits I know that thou art ready to put a stop to the Musick of Heaven and to give a pause to thine own Praises rather than the Prayers of such a poor Supplicant's should not be listened to Therefore Receive with grateful attention those cries of mine which bring with them the true evidences as I trust of Conversion as well as of Contrition It is the great prerogative of thy Uncircumscribed Majesty as to hear and determine of my guilty State So by thy Mercy to receive my Petitions and reprieve me from the Sentence passed on me by reason of my Crimes Therefore I beg thou wouldst not regard the number of my Sins nor the Quality and Aggravations of them which I will not pretend to enumerate by some few instances because thou knowest the minutest grain of my Offences Thou hast a particular of them all And Shouldest thou weigh our Guilt in the Ballance of thy Justice only shouldst thou be extreamly severe in thy punishment of what is amiss about us if thou shouldst not in thy Displeasure think upon thy pity and give this leave to Plead while the other arraigns O Lord who might abide thy presence or stand before thee in Judgment The brightest Angels are not pure in respect of thee and the most Holy would scarce be safe Where then should the Wickekd and Sinner appear but in the bottomless Pit of Destruction Had thy Wisdom thought good to have set thee only upon the Correction of our failings the World it self as well as we had been long since buried in the Cinders of our last Funerals and wholly burnt up with the Fire of thy just Displeasure But since thou hast set thy Pity and Good-will thy Son and thy Spirit as better Advocates between thy own Purities and thy Creatures Frailties than Mans weakned Nature or worse Infirmities could be for we all are too apt to set these on pleading for us as being ever near us yet Ah! let us beseech thee rather to listen to the others in our behalf hearken to that chiefest Councellor of thy self and us the most holy and gracious Paraclete and hear thy Son Interceding for us Wretches more freely than we hear him instructing of us Continue the incomparable Acts of thy Mercy and exercise the accustomed proofs of thy goodness towards us with the merits of Christ's precious Blood wash out my spots with the floods of my Tears quench the fire of my Lusts that I may not be found the Heir of Wrath or Child of the Devil For indeed the true Repentance of a Sinner is the sole effect of thy Bounty Man that is now made up of nothing but the mud of Earthly Debauches cannot so little as look up to Heaven with the Publican though he look no higher than the Clod he stands on without thy special influencing aid But this Ray thou hast promised by Ten thousand solemn attestations and 't is the Light of Mankind which thou hast afforded that it might light every one coming into the World Saints and Prophets have born witness that thou art the God of Sinnes if Penitent thou art the Redeemer of the most vile and miserable when they truely return to their Father's embraces Let it then be an Addition to thy Glories that thou hast more of Pity than I have of Provocation and that thou yet retainest better Dispositions to pardon Sins than I have Inclinations to commit them Through the excess of thy Goodness thou hast bounded thy own self and given less to thy Power and Justice than it might have challenged and therefore have I long waited for thy Salvation O Lord. I have endured the Stings of delay while I looked for thy Redemption and sighed for the effects thereof and I must avert my Labour hath not been in vain for I have found the Hopes thou gavest me to be answered thy Word concerning me to be true and good and thy promises to be performed They may be left to their own deceivings who wait upon the vanity of the world and build their expectations on mortal assurances My Heart being fixed on the verity of thy Covenant on the certainty of thy Promises on the Anchor of a lively Hope secures it self of meeting with such favour as is inseparable from thy Majesty For my own part I am guilty of a Thousand Crimes nor is there any thing in me but Filth and Frailty I have triumphed in my Vices as if I had liberty to commit them and not to overcome them even while I denied my betters the liberty of reprending them Instead of abasing my self to the Dust that Principle of