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
A10931	Certaine sermons preached and penned by Richard Rogers preacher of Weathersfield in Essex, directly tending to these three ends. First, to bring any bad person (that hath not committed the sinne that is vnpardonable) to true conuersion. Secondly, to stablish and settle all such as are conuerted, in faith and repentance. Thirdly, to leade them forward (that are so setled) in the Christian life, to bring foorth the fruite of both. Whereunto are annexed diuers godlie and learned sermons of another reuerend and faithfull seruant of God, Mr. Samuel Wright, Bachelor of Diuinitie, late president of Sidney Colledge in Camebridge, deceased, tending also to the same ends, with diuers particular points in both, profitable and fit for these times.	Rogers, Richard, 1550?-1618.; Wright, Samuel, d. ca. 1612. aut	1612 (1612)	STC 21203; ESTC S116121	188,868	230

stayed the longer in this matter Now I will returne to the words of our Sauiour againe which I last mentioned that if his great workes and namely preaching y e greatest of thē al had bin in some place the people there would haue repented by this speech of his we may obserue that such as are lewd farre gone may be brought home to be members of the militant Church and Christ looketh for it that it should be so and layeth for it by sending forth and appointing his Ministers for that purpose As for example who was farther off from hope them Mary Magdelen out of whom Christ cast seuen diuels Or who among many might haue bin like to be reiected rather then Paul himselfe who was a persecutor an oppressor and a blasphemer likewise the great sinners in the time of our Sauiour who for the odious account they were in euen with the Pharisies themselues were abhorred of them and commonly reckoned with the heathens and Publicans And yet how did the Lord Iesus loue Mary how did he regard Paul as he confesseth himselfe that for al his sinnes he obteined mercy and was counted faithfull and put in his seruice And the great sinners acknowledging and forsaking their sinnes were preferred and iustified before the Pharisies And yet this giueth no incouragement to the badde and wilfull as though they may thinke heauen to be atteined with ease idlenes and securitie For we know that no such shall enter into the kingdome of God And yet it is not to be denied that the teachable hearers that begin to lende their eares to the preaching of the Gospell though they haue bin farre gone in time past may conceiue great hope hereby of the pardon of their sinnes and should not despaire Which I thinke needfull to say seeing many who haue long lien in a lewd course of life when they are aduised to turne againe vnto the Lord and they could also be content to doe so yet take deadly discouragement saying of themselues through ignorance and feare It is too late for them to repent and that their sins are so great that they cannot be forgiuen But of this first point in the second part this be said The second point followeth of the second part of the text according to the deuision THE THIRD SERMON VPON THE SAME TEXT HEre our Sauiour sayeth if they of Tyre and Sidon had inioyed the like meanes as the Cities of Corazin and Bethsaida did they had long agoe repented wherein he giueth vs to vnderstand that the gift of conuerting to God is so great and precious in respect of the want of it in any estate of life besides that all wise folke would lay for it betimes euen at the first hearing of the Gospell when it is new come amongst them and not driue of as too many doe till it be too late or at least wise till they hazard their saluation This is that which he would haue vs learne out of these words And to say the truth if it were a meaner matter then the message and glad tidings of eternall life is if it were but the offer of lease or fee simple of land in a good ayer and soile who would not lay for the first offer and labour by friends and cost that none might haue the liberty of choosing or refusing before him especially if it were a good peny-worth But alas what is the greatest Manour or Lordship if it were a whole Country which is yet but a corner of it if it be compared with that spacious kingdome of heauen already furnished withall manner of pleasures and delights Or what is the sumptuous building or princeliest dwelling which can be but of stone and clay in comparison of an habitation not made with hands but euerlasting which the Gospell offreth not as a purchase to be bought for mony but a free gift and yet the greatest of all gifts giuen for nothing And yet as if wisdome were taken away from the wise and all vnderstanding from the prudent how are the learned noble and mighty men of this world to speake of the greatest part without iudgement and light to discerne the worth and value of these things but their eyes are dazled with the deceitful beauty of things present and temporall Whereby it commeth to passe that they imbrace not the other at al if many of them scorne them not so farre is it off that they be the first that receiue the glad tidings of the kingdome If newes of any great importance or weight be brought into a lande who are the first partakers of it but they And good reason for they are the chiefe and greatest If any dainties be who aske for them sooner then they and why should they not be for them before others who are best able to buy them But oh then the greatest dainties of all which also neuer waxe common nor stale but are still fragrant and sauoury that they should not be asked after nor regarded And the newes and tidings that make the soule leape for ioy as oft as they be brought and receiued and are so farre from cloying and being wearisome that they be matter of song euen to Kings yea and without them their liues are but troublesome and full of feares Oh that these should not most affect them euen when they are thus in their prime it is doublely to be lamented But let vs weigh the words euen all sorts of vs. Long agoe he saith they would haue repented If we desire to profit aright by them then we should resolue with our selues that we should not stay and linger behinde when the Gospell commeth first to be soundly preached amongst vs suffering who so listeth to goe before vs in the harty imbracing of it but as the people did in Iohn Baptist time to receiue it with violence and as it were with greedines labouring to goe before others therein and as soone as wee perceiue the benefit that is offred thereby which is that we may finde the pearle then to lay to buy it forthwith and get it as our owne that we and ours may be euer after inriched thereby We should not like ill husbands forslow the time or as carelesse chapmen let goe a good peniworth least letting passe the opportunity we come not to the like offer againe The Apostle wishing Timothy to preach in season and out of season because in time the people wil not suffer wholesom doctrine but hauing their eares itching shall after their owne lusts get them an heape of teachers doth by the same reasons aduise the hearers that they take the opportunity to heare and imbrace the truth and sound doctrine while they may and therefore especially at the first And so they shal be able afterwards when others begin to loath it and so fall into the dangers that the Apostle would haue wise men to preuent and auoide they shall be able againe I affirme to say with ioy

before the world was drowned with waters which times were fraught with all impietie and iniquitie with contempt of Gods word and all abomination Saint Paul agreeth with our Sauiour Christ herein and saith In the last dayes as these are wherein we liue shall come perillous times yea and know saith he that it shall be so But if yee would know how perillous hee answereth such as wherein men shall be louers of themselues couetous boasters proud cursed speakers disobedient to parents vnthankefull vnholy without naturall affection truce breakers false accusers intemperate fierce no louers at all of them that are good trayterous high minded headie louers of pleasures more then louers of God And if all these with the like do now flow is it not true that iniquitie aboundeth But for that let experience from which the second reason is to be drawne declare what is found in this part of the latter age in which we live and whether the times be so bad as it was foretold they should be Consider it by the ages of men as yong or old by the sexe as men or women and by their estate and condition as the rich and the poore the mightie and the meane To say a little of euery one what stoutnesse pride disobedience is to be seene euery where in youthes who being but as the flower that to morrow withereth yet lift vp their crest as though they were riuited into a long life and had a promise of eternitie heere which if it were yet had they but an estate in miserie But I may not stay to make large discourses of euery one What ignorant senselesnes to conceiue knowledge of heauenly things is in the aged and as much vnwillingnes to learne And what else but frowardnes malice and an insatiable desire of getting while yet they haue more then one legge in the graue In so much that he who should hope of the saluation of the most of them must stretch out his charity beyond his warrant and ground As for the wealthie what is their occupation and practise but to seeke with might and maine to grow more wealthie minding that labour as if they sought after heauen it selfe In the meane while not regarding the multitude of those that want to serue the necessitie of them with their superfluitie neither embracing the Christian life euer the more for all the goods they haue but turning aside from it rather and as little longing after heauen it selfe which kind of life while they so please themselues in what wise man would iudge any otherwise of them but that they thinke they shall neuer die or that they shall come againe when they be dead to take the benefit of that which they haue But what say we then of the poore The Prophet Ieremie saith of them surely they are foolish they know not the way of the Lord nor the iudgement of their God And experience proueth it to be so For who doth not see that the poore sort take themselues to be priuiledged that they should not seeke after knowledge For these are their speeches Sermons are for rich folke as though they had no account to make to God and therefore we see they are rude and brutish for the most part contemning instruction speaking ill of the wealthier sort shifting stealing idle further then necessitie driueth them to worke and labour And by this that hath been said of them it is not hard to iudge of the rest namely how miserable as our Sauiour hath heere foretold their whole course of life is And the like may be said of Minister and people and of one and other What faithfulnes to God is in the most of them who take vpon them to bee guides to Gods inheritance What loue is there in them to their flocke what diligence in preaching and priuate studie and reading And for their liuing with thē if so be they do liue with thē what is their conuersing with them but either in hollow peace and fained loue in gaming and carnall merrie making or else they liue among them in strangenes hating one another and in sutes and controuersies but what fellowship haue the people with them for their instruction and edification but that they feare or flatter them for a peniworth in their tithes and for their priuate commoditie And thus by laying open the particular kindes of persons it is too manifest that iniquitie aboundeth and that Christs prophecie of our age is most true in fortelling that it should be so What remaineth therefore seeing scripture and experience proue it to be thus and yet that the workers of iniquitie shal be driuen from Gods presence and are accursed what remaineth I say but this First that it be proued by plaine demonstration who are they that cause it to increase for as much as few or none will applie this to themselues but will shift it off one way or other Secondly when it shall be seene who they be that they make all possible haste to repent and seeke mercie And to finde out who they be that fill the world with iniquitie it is no hard matter and they may all fitly be brought to foure kindes The first are notorious sinners and such as cannot be hidden as adulterers drunkards idolaters oppressors reuengers and such like These as they cannot be ignorant that their doings are odious and horrible so they goe not alone but haue their attendants and handmaides waiting vpon them as the Apostle describeth them in the Epistle to the Romanes saying walke not in gluttonie and drunkennes in chambering and wantonnes in strife and enuying These therefore whosoeuer they be whose sinnes may be written in their foreheads with great letters for the appearance and certaintie of them these I say fill the world with sinne and cause iniquitie to abound they cannot bee excused they haue nothing to cloake them The second sort are such as are counted honest townes men who looking after nothing for the most part but how they may liue are as forward in and as fit for one religion as another Who partly for law sake partly by example and custome seeing what others doe come to Church indeed but for any knowledge or goodnesse they get thereby all is one whether they goe or not And if it were no more but this that they haue neither zeale nor knowledge to worship God by it may easily bee gathered what their liues be towards men These although for want of better they must beare office in townes yet all disorder is where they dwell seeing they are as bad themselues as others vnlesse perhaps some of them haue a little more ciuilitie then the worst and rudest And who doubteth in the meane while but that all kinde of sinne swarmeth there as the bold prophaning of the Sabbath drunkennes whoring contention vniust dealing scorning of those that bee better then themselues cauilling reuenging stoutnes to reiect all good admonition with