Selected quad for the lemma: mercy_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
mercy_n	jesus_n	sin_n	sinner_n	3,659	5	7.4408	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A07666	A mappe of mans mortalitie Clearely manifesting the originall of death, with the nature, fruits, and effects thereof, both to the vnregenerate, and elect children of God. Diuided into three bookes; and published for the furtherance of the wise in practise, the humbling of the strong in conceit, and for the comfort and confirmation of weake Christians, against the combat of death, that they may wisely and seasonably be prepared against the same. Whereunto are annexed two consolatory sermons, for afflicted Christians, in their greatest conflicts. By Iohn Moore, minister of the word of God, at Shearsbie in Leicester-shire.	Moore, John, d. 1619.	1617 (1617)	STC 18057; ESTC S112851	257,806	358

be made righteous through him wayting for eternall life He hath opened the eyes of the blinde and brought the prisoners from the dungeon and him that sate in darknesse hath hee placed in light To conclude by his triumph on the Crosse hee destroyed section 12 Sinne and so was Death in the same victory maimed For Sinne as was said is the sting of Death and when Death had lost his sting and was conquered in Christs resurrection from death Sathan also lost his strength and power which rested vpon them which through sinne were in danger of death Finally because Hell onely deuoureth them which through Sinne and Death are slaues to Sathan it followeth that the other three by Christ being so mightily vanquished that hell also with all the torments thereof were vtterly subdued and the faithfull deliuered And so according to the saying of Zachary God hath performed the Oath which hee sware to deliuer vs from our enemies that wee might serue him without feare in holinesse and righteousnesse all the dayes of our life Now then all wee which beleeue are freed from the slauery of Sinne kingdome of the Diuell gulfe of Hell and chaines of Death so that henceforth Death is no death to Gods Children through Christ but great aduantage and appoynted for a passage to a better life And therefore though cursed reprobates may tremble at the name of Death and Diuell to whom they are in thraldome yet Gods Children being conquerours through Christ may well triumph for now through him wee haue an entrance made to heauen and Death is the very doore of life a passage out of this world to the Father a freedome from the prison of this body to goe to Christ It is a returning to our heauenly Countrey from which wee were exiled This is the cause why the godly sigh and sorrow to be loosed and to be with Christ section 13 If Sathan therefore charge vs as surely hee will with the greatnesse of our crimes then turning to God let vs pray that hee will turne away his face from our sinnes and not looke vpon vs as wee are in our selues but in the face of Iesus Christ that redeemed vs from our sinnes If hee say that our sinnes are more then the sands of the sea let vs consider that his mercies are more and most infinite and looke what sinne can doe against Christ so much can it doe against me which beleeue in Christ for I am in him and hee in mee and therefore am righteous through Christ who is a condemning sinne to condemne thee O Sathan which art a condemned sinner If hee say it is absurd for an vniust and wicked man to expect the reward of righteousnesse let vs answere that Christ is our righteousnesse and redemption and that we shall neuer be without merits so long as Christ is not without mercies But from whence hast thou this hope Because I haue a good Lord an exorable Iudge and a gracious Aduocate But thou shalt be swallowed vp of death No my Redeemer liueth and my head is in heauen who I am sure will draw mee to him Christ hath ouercome Death and opened to mee the gate of Life O Death thou wouldest haue killed him with the sting of sinne but being of no force thy strength hath failed and hee being my life is become thy death And though Death like a proud Goliah dareth the whole world to match him with an equall Champion and whilest the whole hoast of worldlings shew him their backes for feare yet the true and humble Christian with Faith and resolution in Christ dare shew his face and stand to the fight till hee haue foyled him and wounded him in the fore-head as Dauid the great Gyant euen the wonted seate of terrour and feare and trampling him vnder foot can cut off his head with his owne sword victoriously triumphing ouer him A most admirable victory we dye and are not foyled yea we are conquerours in dying for we could not ouercome Death if we dyed not But thou shalt be damned saith the Diuell Sathan section 14 thou art a false accuser and no vpright Iudge one that art damned thy selfe and not a condemner of others But the Law of thy God accuseth and condemneth thee Sathan Christ hath fulfilled it and giuen his satisfaction vnto mee to him I onely cleaue who hath fulfilled it so that I my selfe haue nothing to doe with it I haue another Law which striketh it downe euen the Law of libertie which through Christ maketh mee free For my Conscience which henceforth serueth the Law of Grace is as a glorious Prince to triumph ouer the Law of Wrath. But see how many Legions of Diuels looke for thy soule as Death for thy body I denye it not and should therefore despayre but that I haue a strong protector who hath vanquished their tyrannie and hellish hatred against mee Yea but God is vniust if hee bestow eternall life vpon malefactors Nay hee is rather iust in keeping his promise and I haue long agoe appealed from his Iustice to his Mercy But thou flatterest thy selfe with vaine hope No the Truth cannot lye to mee Sathan and it is thy propertie to deceiue Oh but thou seest what thou leauest in the world but what after this life thou shalt inioy thou knowest not I tell thee Sathan these things that are seene are temporall and momentany but the things which as yet I see not yet hope assuredly to inioy are eternall and pearlesse Againe hee doth more then see which firmely beleeueth But alas thou goest hence laden with euill deedes and destitute of good Yet will I intreat my Christ to vnburden mee of the euill and to cloath mee with his good But God heareth not sinners I know hee heareth penitent sinners and for such hee dyed But thy repentance is too late No it is neuer too late in this life to turne to God as we truely learne by the theefe vpon the Crosse But thy Faith is weake and ready to fayle thee Yet I will pray to God for the increase and strengthening of it and then it shall neuer fayle mee section 15 But how canst thou be perswaded of Gods fauour who doth thus torment thee with sicknesse God doth it in fauour and loue Sathan as the good Physitian giueth the bitter Potion to cure his Patient and wee see that for the obtayning of bodily health we are content not onely to admit any loathsome Pils and vnsauory Receipts but also if neede require to spill and spare some part of our bloud how much more should wee hazard for the recouery of the eternall health and saluation of our soules But this cup of teares tribulations shall be so tempered in measure by our heauenly Physitian as that no man shall taste thereof aboue his strength This dose of Aloes and other bitter ingrediences I meane the very cup of death itselfe shall be qualified with heauenly Manna and sufficient sweetnesse of ioy and

body and soule from God Hence it appeareth that Death is threefold first corporall secondly spirituall and thirdly a death common both to body and soule and all these kindes due to all men without exception for all haue sinned and are destitute of the grace of God This corporall Death which I said to be a seperation of the soule from the body is likewise called the first Death And spirituall Death which is a renting of the soule from God who is the life thereof is also called the second Death Both corporall and spirituall or the Death that is common both to body and soule which is an euerlasting diuorce both of body and soule from the vnion and fellowship of God is also called eternall death which is inchoatiue in this life for they that beleeue not are condemned already and compleate in the life to come when after the resurrection of the body both body and soule shall euerlastingly be seperated from the Lord of life which is also common to all by reason of sinne yet not preuailing ouer Gods elect iustified and freed from it by faith in Christ Death therefore in a word is nothing else but a departing from life the life of the body is the soule therefore the separation of the soule from the body is Death And as the soule is the life of the body so the life of the soule is God therefore the going and departing of the soule from God to cleaue to sinne and Sathan is the death also of the soule The sinfull soule dies not because she turnes to nothing but in that she dies to God and liues to sinne for how can the substance thereof perish seeing it is the soule that giueth life he that receaueth the soule receaueth life and when the soule departeth life flyeth away The soule therefore is life and how can it die which is opposite so directly to death it selfe For as Snow can endure no heate but presently it melteth and as the Sun in his brightnesse can receaue no obscuritie but dissipates and dispels all darkenes by his cleare and christall beames and as the coldest and hardest Ice at the approach of the fire is turned into water so the soule which is the fountaine of life and authour of mouing is not capable properly of death nor can possibly die Therefore the soule of man being immortall ought to be well ordered and heeded least the Immortality to ioy should turne to Immortality of sorrow The death of the body is not the death of the soule but onely a seuering or parting of the same from the body As in taking of a Candle out of a Lanthorne we may take the light out and not put out the Candle and the Lanthorne is full of darkenesse by reason of the light remoued yet the Candle casteth her light more cleare and bright euen so the soule departing from this body of clay liueth and moueth afterward more freshly and blessedly The soule then dies not because it is vtterly abolished but because it is as though it were not it ceaseth to be in respect of righteousnes and fellowship with God for this is the death of all deaths when the creature hath subsisting and being still in it selfe and yet for all that is depriued of all happy and heauenly societie with God The soule in the body is the life of the flesh but God which quickneth all things is the life of our soules so saith Gregorie As the body dieth when it sendeth out the soule so doth the soule die when it looseth God The seperation from God is the death of the soule euen as the departing of the soule is the death of the body so saith Augustine Sinne begat the last and the punishment of sinne brought forth the first so saith Bernard The nature then of death in effect is the absence or depriuation of that life which God bestowed on man in his creation It is an execution of Gods iustice and iudgement vpon man for sinne God ordained it in iustice but man procured it by his sinne whose stipend it is euen the ouerthrower of mankinde an enemy to nature the dissolution of Gods worke the power of the diuell the strength of Gods wrath and the very kingdome of hell The death of the soule is to cease from righteousnesse and quite to be sequestred from the life of God This is called the first death in respect of time going as I said before the second which is the compleate death indeede for as the soule as we haue heard is the life of the body so God is the life of the soule and his spirit is as it were the soule of our soules the want of which communion brings nothing else but endlesse and eternall death Without God there is no life therefore Adam and Euah departing from God departed from their life and although their soules were not presently seperated from their bodies yet being gone from God their life they lay as it were buried in their bodies as dead carkases in the graues as also their bodies themselues euery moment were mortall Sinne saith Bernard went before and Death followed at the heeles which if Man had preuented death had not entred He would not be ruled by God and so was made vnable to rule his body Thus by sinne he lost his life found out death As his soule could not be diuided from God his life but by sinning no more could his body be seperated from his soule but by dying and nothing was more agreeable to Gods iustice then that a spirituall death should beget a corporall a guilty death that which is penall and a voluntary death an ineuitable and fatall So soone as man through sinne had turned himselfe from God so soone and as sodainely was he destitute of his grace and so soone did the huge hoast of death ceaze vpon him and besiege him as hunger thirst and nakednesse sicknesse sorrow and all kinde of miseries So soone as euer they had sinned saith Chrisostome euen so soone did the Lord pronounce sentence of death against them and euen as those that are condemned of an earthly Iudge although for a while perhaps they may be reserued a liue in prison and be repriued yet in effect they are but dead men Euen so our first parents though through the exceeding great mercy of God after sentence pronounced they did long enioy their liues yet forthwith in effect they were as good as dead for no day houre or moment did afterwards ensue in which they had assurance of their life Whereby we may learne that the life of sinners is no life indeede but a death being estranged from the life of God and none haue life in God which want beliefe in Christ for onely Christ who is eternall life through faith doth quicken vs So that truely to acknowledge Christ and thorough faith to possesse him is to be freed from death and to haue eternall

consolation And seeing that God my louing Father tempered this Potion for mee and Iesus Christ his Sonne hath begunne vnto mee shall I not drinke it with thankfulnesse and comfort But why will hee haue thy death so bitter and sharpe It is my Lord who can and will wish me nothing but good and why should I his poore and vnprofitable seruant refuse to suffer that which the Lord of glory and my blessed Sauiour sustained himselfe But it is a miserable thing to die No the death of Gods Saints is precious in the sight of of God and the ready way to eternall life Blessed are the dead which dye in the Lord for so saith the Spirit they shall rest from their labours But the death of sinners is damnable Yea but he is no more a sinner that truely repenteth and is pardoned Let not Sathan tell Gods children what they haue beene but what they would be for such we are by imputation section 16 as we are in affection and he is now no sinner which for the loue he beareth to righteousnesse would be no sinner Such as we be in desire and purpose such wee be in reckoning and accompt with God who giueth that true desire and holy purpose to none but to his children whom he iustifieth Neither vndoubtedly can the guiltinesse of sinne breake the true peace of conscience seeing it is the worke of another who hath commended vs as righteous before God and saued vs. It must needes be graunted that in our selues we are weaker then that we can resist the least sinne so farre off is it that we can encounter with the Law Sinne Death Hell and Diuell and yet in Iesus Christ we are more then conquerours ouer them all If Sathan summon thee therefore to answere for thy section 17 debt send him straight to Christ thy pledge and say that the wife is not sueable but the husband therefore enter thy action Sathan against Christ my husband and he will answere thee Who then shall condemne vs or what Iudge shall daunt vs sith God hath acquitted vs and Christ that was condemned hath iustified vs He is our Iudge that willeth not the death of a sinner hee is our man of law that to excuse vs suffered himselfe to be accused for vs. O gluttenous hell where is thy defence O cruell sinne where is thy tyrannous power O rauening death where is thy bloody sting O roaring Lyon why doest thou fret and fume Christ my law fighteth against thee O law and is my libertie Christ my sinne against thee O sinne and is my righteousnesse Christ warreth against thee O Diuell and is my Sauiour Christs Death is against thee O Death and is my life Thou diddest desire to paue my way to the burning lake of damned soules but contrary to thy will thou art constrained to lift vp the Ladder whereby I must ascend to euerlasting happinesse and ioy In our tryals and temptations we must first search out section 18 the cause and ascend to God pleading guilty and crauing mercy at his hand and not so much stand quarrelling with the corruption of our nature and Sathans malice against vs. For as it were no good wisedome for a man condemned to die to make any long suite to the Iaylour or hangman for they be but vnder-officers and can doe nothing of themselues but must rather labour to the Iudge himselfe who can either repriue or release him so it is no good pollicie to stand reasoning so long with Sathan in our temptations who doth all by constraint and restraint vnder God our Lord in whose onely hands are both the entrance and issues of all afflictions and Death it selfe section 19 Whatsoeuer scruple therefore ariseth from our selues or is inferred of Sathan from any imperfection that is in vs it neede not at all dismay vs because wee saue not our selues but are saued by him who is made vnto vs from God wisedome righteousnes Sanctification and redemption that who so glorieth should glorie in him Thus we must send Sathan to Christ who is our aduocate to pleade and defend our cause which yet is not so much ours as his owne because the question is not of our merits or satisfactions which we freely renounce but of the merits of his obedience and of the value of his Death vnto the saluation of the soules of all the faithfull Thus shall we at once for euer stop the mouth of this our cruell enemie when refusing to pleade our owne cause we referre our selues vnto Christ whom we know to be the wisedome of God and sufficient to answere what possibly can or shall be obiected against vs. When Dauid comes to fight with Goliah he casteth away Sauls armour all confidence in the world or man is laid aside and he onely trusteth in God section 20 Doth the Law indite vs of transgression we must make our appeale to the court of Conscience in heauen and there get a Supersede as to stay the course of Law and so appeale to the throne of grace from the Law of feare to the Law of loue as Augustine speaketh Doth the aduersarie vrge our debt our answer is the obligation is cancelled and the booke is crossed and the whole sum discharged Christ hath passed his word nay he hath paid all that is due for vs to the vtmost farthing Let vs shew him our generall acquittance vnder hand and seale giuen vs by God himselfe with whom it is as proper to shew pittie as mercie to helpe misery This is my wel beloued Son in whom I am wel pleased Here is the creditours owne word his owne handwriting vnder seale this is a very good quietus est in Law it is proclaimed from heauen and therefore sufficient to comfort poore distressed sinners vpon earth The house built vpon a rocke was not moued when the stormes beate and the windes blew Christ is our sure rocke let vs builde our faith vpon him and we shall be safe Men cannot be more sinfull then God is mercifull if section 21 with penitent hearts they faithfully call vpon him If wee come to Christ the fountaine of all mercies there shall we finde God in his mediation great without quantitie and good without quality as an auncient speaketh When the wandring Sonne had consumed his fathers substance yet returning sorrowfull his father receiued him and though we sometime loose the nature of children yet God doth neuer loose the name and nature of a father To conclude the Diuell once ouercome giues a fresh assault againe he will neuer giue vs ouer till death end the battell and then he shall be foyled As it comes to passe amongst warriours if the one die in the field and fight the other getteth the vpper hand Here is the difference the faithfull at the last euer get a finall conquest then ascend to heauen as triumphers there the Diuell can assaile them no further he may compasse the earth but he cannot enter

vse God as that they may inioy the world If we loue God lesse then we ought when we loue many section 8 things besides him which we loue yet for his sake how much then a greater sinne is it when wee shall loue our goods and friends not for Gods sake but euen in spight of God in that we loue them more then God that calleth vs from them such Christ pronounceth not worthy of his glory Therefore happy is hee O Lord which loueth thee and his friends in thee and his enemies for thee for he can neuer be destitute of friends who inioyeth God which is neuer lost and esteemes all as friends Gods children and chosen can neuer be poore that are ioyned to so rich and glorious a head euen Iesus Christ the Lord Treasurer of heauen in whom all the riches of Gods wisedome mercy goodnesse c. are hid and god-head it selfe doth corporally dwell But alas thou wilt say it is hard to forgoe our sweet children and deare wiues our trusty and best beloued friends our pastures and tillage our grounds and sumptuous buildings our mannor-houses rents and reuenewes our great treasures and Iewels and other worldly wealth And what of all this to him to whom all things are counted losse and esteemed as dung in regard of Christ And haue not the true souldiers of Christ learned long agoe to despise all these assaults whose soules still watch in the ward and tower of this body expecting euery moment to heare the sound of the trumpet to follow their Captaine Christ Therefore they vse this body not as a home or strong hold but as a Tabernacle and pitched tent for a time to serue their turne in this field of their warfare They hoord not their treasures here but are content with their daily pay alwayes watching in the campe harnessed for the fight The souldiers of the world lie sleeping and snorting Christs souldiers are alwayes watching and waiting for his comming If we loue our friends too much and not God aboue all things then hath our sorrow no measure as it ought section 9 He cannot be said to flit that neuer changeth his host God alone is as a thousand companions hee alone is a world of friends and though we depart from our friends here we goe to more better and more louing As Iacob said when hee should die I shall be gathered to my people hereby declaring that death is a passage to many more folkes and greater friends then we leaue behinde There is God our Father his Sonne our brother his heauen our inheritance and all his Angels and Saints as our brethren sisters and kinsfolkes with whom we shall inioy eternall blisse That man neuer throughly knew what it was to be familiar with God that complaines of the want of his home and friends while God is with him If the Sonne naturally loue his Father of whom he hath his body how much more should the children of God loue him of whom they haue both bodies and soules Carnall Parents and friends are to be loued but the Creator to be preferd and double imbraced Loue him therefore most of all which thou canst not loose euen thy Redeemer who to draw thee vnto his loue and to deliuer thee from the loue of the world stretched out his armes vpon the crosse and suffered a most vile and cursed death to purchase for thee not an earthly but a heauenly and an euerlasting life CHAP. VI. Now Death is and may be feared of the faithfull and how of wicked Infidels No man is to be censured simply for the manner or suddennesse of Death We may not couet to know our death or for any thing to shorten our life THere is no one greater hinderance to the section 1 cheerefull resolution of our death and departure then the fore-conceiued feare of flesh and blood against the same And this is common to all men without exception of any in a measure and degree for so long as wee remaine in this body of sinne wee cannot choose but feare death the wages thereof which followeth and pursueth the sinner to his graue as the shadow doth the body till the Sunne be set And indeede it is both naturall in all to desire their being and so to hate Death depriuing them thereof in this world as also lawfull in Gods children for their true humiliation before they be exalted in the highest heauens It may be feared in regard it is the destruction of nature in a mans owne selfe and others and in this respect Christ feared it himselfe without any sinne But wee must not feare it otherwise then sicknesse pouertie famine with other calamities of body and minde which God will not haue vs to despise or lightly regard but to feele the paine thereof because they are sent as punishments for sinne and he doth therefore lay paines and torments vpon vs that they may be feared and eschewed and that by eschewing them wee may further learne to hate the causes of them which are our sinnes and by our experience in feeling paine to acknowledge that God is a iust Iudge and an enemie to sinne And albeit I grant that the most faithfull men haue their fits of feare yet are they euer free from the bondage section 2 and state of those that haue no hope For although they die in body yet are they free from eternall death And this is their blessing indeede not that they shall not die but that the snares of death cannot hold them not that they shall not feare but that feare shall not conquer them and he is a true christian man that neither refuseth to die nor yet fainteth for any feare of death Before iudgement it is good to be afraide that thou maist finde fauour at the tribunall of the Iudge Faith and a religious feare are alwaies friends in a Christian man The feare of Gods iudgement is as a needle the loue of God as a thread first the needle entreth and then followeth the thread Faith striketh Gods children with feare and terrour and anone vanquisheth and ouercommeth the same it feareth vs with the greatnesse of him whom we offend and yet ouercommeth the same by leading vs to Christ our attonement to God section 3 And as it is sometime no fortitude or man-hood to be afraide to die but a stupor and stoicall obstinacie So to feare death approaching is not alwaies a note of infidelitie and mistrust of Gods loue seeing feare many times proceedes from the infirmitie of nature or sexe Ezechiah was an vpright man yet feared he the sentence of Death his very bones did shiuer and all his ioynts did quake yea his tongue did chatter like a Swallow and Christ himselfe had his agonies and wrestlings The affections of nature are not simply euill in themselues but lawfull and tollerable when they are ordered by Gods spirit But if we feare death let vs seeke out the cause of this feare