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
A30137	A defence of the doctrine of justification, by faith in Jesus Christ: shewing, true Gospel-holiness flows from thence. Or, Mr. Fowler's pretended design of Christianity, proved to be nothing more then to trample under foot the blood of the Son of God and the idolizing of man's own righteousness. As also, how while he pretends to be a minister of the Church of England, he overthroweth the wholesom doctrine contained in the 10th. 11th. and 13th. of the Thirty Nine Articles of the same, and that he falleth in with the Quaker, and Romanist, against them. By John Bunyan.	Bunyan, John, 1628-1688.	1673 (1673)	Wing B5508; ESTC R215886	107,458	132

Created or made Thirdly The Law also which you call Divine Moral and Eternal is that which is naturally seated in the Heart and as you your self express it is originally the Dictates of humane Nature or that which Mankind doth naturally assent to Page 11. Now I say that a man cannot by these Principles and these qualifications please the God of Heaven is apparent 1. Because none of these are Faith but without Faith it is impossible to please him Heb. 11. 6. 2. Because none of these is the Holy Ghost but there is nothing accepted of God under a New Testament consideration but those which are the fruits of the Spirit Gal. 5. 22. 3. The Man and Principles you have stated may be such as are utterly Ignorant of Jesus Christ and of all his New Testament things as such But the Natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God the things of his New Testament for they are foolishness to him neither can he know them because they are Spiritually discerned 1 Cor. 2. 24. 4. Your qualifications and considerations know nothing at all of the adoption of Sons and of our acting and doing our Duty as such You only content your self to rest within the confines of the humane Nature acts of reason as men or Creatures only or in their supposed pure natural Principles And Sir a little by way of digression I will tell you also of our truly Christian righteousness both as to its original or first Principle and also how or under what capacity it puts the Person that is acted by it First The Principle which is laid within us it is not the purity of the humane Nature but of the Holy Ghost it self which we have of God received by believing in the Son of God a principle as far above yours of Humanity as is the Heavens above the Earth yours being but like those of the first Adam but ours truly those of the second As is the Earthly such are those that are Earthly and as is the Heavenly such are those that are Heavenly Now whosoever hath not this Principle although he be a Creature and also have the Dictates of the humane Nature yea and also follows them yet he is not Christs If any man have not the Spirit of Christ he is none of his Thus therefore is the Christian Principle another from and far above your Heathenish Pagan one By 〈◊〉 is Spirit is the Christian qualified with Principles not N●●ural but Spiritual such as Faith Hope Joy Peace c. all which are the fruits of the Revelation of the forgiveness of sins freely by Grace though the Redemption that it in Jesus Christ In this Spirit and Faith we walk by this Spirit we are led even into the Joy and Peace of the New Testament of our Lord wherefore our Holy Actions are the fruits of Righteousness that is by Jesus Christ not by our humane Nature or the purity of it in us yea they are the fruits of the Spirit of God the qualifications that attend the new Covenant and those that by the work of regeneration are brought within the bounds and Priviledges thereof Wherefore Secondly The capacity that we are in who act and do from the Heavenly Principle it is that of Sons the Sons of God by adoption as the Apostle said Because ye are Sons God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your Hearts crying Abba Father And again As many as are led by the Spirit of God they are the Sons of God This is a far other then is your humane description of acting as a Creature indued with a Principle of Reason for here is a man acts as a Son indued with the Holy Spirit of God who hath before the World was predestinated him to this Estate by Jesus Christ to himself As a Son therefore the Christian acts and does because he is indued with that high and heavenly Principle mentioned before by which Principle this man hath received a new Heart a new Spirit a new understanding a good Conscience so made by Faith in the blood of the Lord Jesus Thus being made again anew and another man he acts from a new and another Principle then yours a Principle as far beyond and above you as is a Man above a Bruit and as is Grace above Nature Thirdly As the Christian acts does from a better Principle and under a better capacity or consideration then that you have described so to allude to your own notion the first Principles by which they receive this Spirit and Adoption are not those Principles of Morals or those originally dictates of humane Nature but it is through the hearing of Faith Gal. 3. 1 2 3. by which we understand that the Son of God became a Man dyed for our sins hath saved us from the curse of God and accounted us to be the righteousness of God in him this being heard with the Gospel and a new-Testament hearing the Holy Ghost forthwith possesseth us by the glorious working whereof we are helped through the Son to call the God of Heaven our Father Now thus being made free from sin by the only Faith of Jesus Christ we have our fruit unto holiness and the end everlasting life And here come in those reasonable conclusions which you would make the very radicals of Christianity they being only remote and after conclusions drawn from the forementioned Mercy of God viz. from predestination Calling Adoption and Justification by Christs Blood sinners I say these are the things which Paul endeavored to provoke the Romans Philippians and Colossians to an Holy Conversation by 1. To the Romans I beseech you therefore saith he by the Mercies of God What Mercies Why those of Election Redemption Calling Justification and Adoption mentioned in the foregoing Chapters that you present your Bodies a living Sacrifice Holy acceptable to God which is your reasonable service Rev. 12. 1. 2. To the Philippians If there be therefore any consolation in Christ if any Comfort of Love if any fellowship of the Spirit if any Bowels and Mercies fulfill ye my joy that ye be like minded Phil. 2. 1. 3. To the Colossians If you be risen with Christ seek those things that are above where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God set your affections on things above not on things of the Earth for you are dead and your life is hid with Christ in God when Christ who is our life shall appear then shall ye also appear with him in Glory Now mark mortifie therefore therefore wherefore why because they were risen with Christ because they should appear at the end of this World with Christ himself in Glory therefore mortifie the deeds of the Body or our Members that are upon the Earth Col. 3. 1 2 3 4 5. These Sir are the Motives by which we Christians act because we are forgiven because we are Sons and if Sons then Heirs and so we act

Apostles was that which instead of helping forward did hinder and pervert the Gospel of Christ he applieth himself to them in this manner This onely would I learn of you Received you the Spirit by the works of the Law or by the hearing of Faith By the works of the Law that is by putting of your principles into practice Nay may I not adde by putting of your principles into practice by a more bright and clear rule then in the beginning of your description is inserted by you for the Law as written and engraven in stones with the addition of all the Mosaical precepts was a more ample and full discovery of the mind of God then can be obtained by your virtues of Soul your purity of humane nature or the first principles of morals as they are written in the heart of man and originally dictates of humane nature Yet by these by following these by labouring to live up to the light of these their own experience told them that they neither could nor did obtain the enjoyment of the holy Ghost but that rather their now declining the word of Faith by which indeed they receive it at first whatever pretences of holiness and godliness were the arguments to prevail with them so to do was in truth none other but the very witch-craft and inchantments of the Devil Farther The Apostle sets this your Spirit and Principles and that which indeed is the Spirit of God in aline Diametrically opposite one against another yea the receiving of the one opposeth the receiving of the other Now we have received saith he NOT the Spirit of the World that is your Spirit and principles of humanity to walk by it or live in it but the Spirit which is of God that we may know the things that are freely given us of God 1 Cor. 2. 12. But what is the Spirit of the World He tells us in the verse before it is the Spirit of a man which Solomon calls the Candle of the Lord that which searcheth all the inward parts of the Belly Prov. 20. 27. by humane principles good motions to moral duties workings of reason dictates of nature to obey God as Creator These things flow from the Spirit of a man which is the Spirit of all the World They that preach or speak by this Spirit they preach or speak of the World of the virtues of the World and the World the whole World heareth them or know in themselves what they say Now when this Spirit is received imbraced and followed as the Spirit that is of God then it must be branded with the mark of the Spirit of error and of Antichrist because the act in so doing is most wicked yea and Christ himself is made head against by it But I say the holy Ghost is not obtained by these principles nor by the pursuit of them 2. Faith is not obtained by the pursuit of your principle but by hearing of another doctrine He that presseth men to look to and live by the purity of humane nature principles of natural reason or by the Law as written in the heart or Bible he sets the word of Faith out of the World for these doctrines are as opposite as the Spirits I spake of before For Moses describeth the righteousness that is of the Law that the man that doth these things shall live by them Now he that receiveth this Law to do and live by he hath set up and is in pursuit of a doctrine of another nature then that which is called the righteousness of faith that being such as for justification a●d deliverance from the curse maketh no mention at all of hearing the Law or of doing good works but of hearing of the mercy of God as extended to sinners and of its coming to us through the death and resurrection of Christ Jesus The righteousness which is of Faith speaketh on this wise say not in thine heart who shall ascend into Heaven that is to bring Christ down from above or who shall descend into the deep that is to bring up Christ again from the dead but what saith it The word is nig●h thee even in thy mouth and in thy heart that is the word of faith which we preach That if thou shalt confess with thy m●uth the Lord Jesus and shall believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead thou shalt be saved Rom. 10. 5 9. This then is the doctrine of faith or the righteousness with which faith hath to do Now as old covenant● works are begotten in men by the doctrine of works so faith is begotten by the doctrine of faith Therefore after he had said faith cometh by hearing ●e insinuates it to be the hearing the preaching of the Gospel of peace peace by the blood of the cross and the glad tidings of good things ver 14 15 16 17. of good things promised for the sake of the Lord Jesus not for the sake of good deeds done of us by humane principles or the dictates of our nature Faith Then the second essential comes into the heart not by the preaching or the practice of your principles but by another a higher and far more heavenly doctrine And hence the Apostle compleatly puts the difference betwixt the worker of good works in the Spirit of the Law and the believer that taketh hold of grace by Christ that he may be saved thereby The one he calls Them that are of the works of the Law the other They which are of Faith This being done he tells us that as they differ in the principles to wit of Faith and Works so they shall differ in conclusion For the Law is not of faith the promise is onely made to faith therefore they onely that are of faith are blessed with faithful Abraham 3. The third essential is a new Heart and a new Spirit or mind and this also comes not by your principle that being but the old covenant that gendreth to bondage and that holds its Ismaels under the curse for ever there comes no new heart by the Law nor new Spirit It is by the new Covenant even the Gospel that all things are made now Jer. 31. 33. Ezek. 36. Heb. 8. 2. 2 Cor. 5. 17 18 19. The Apostle after a large discourse of the two ministrations and their excellencies 2 Cor. 3. tell us that the heart is nothing changed so long as it abideth in the works of the Law but remaineth blind and ignorant Nevertheless saith he when it shall turn from the Law to the Lord the vail shall be taken away But what is it to turn from the Law to the Lord Why even to leave and forsake your Spirit and principles and works from those principles and flie to the grace and merits the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now when the heart is turned to Christ then the vail of Moses is taken off wherefore then the soul with OPEN face beholding as in a glass the glory of

the Knowledge or Faith or Spirit of the Lord Jesus as it's Foundation or Principle Yea Nature was his Foundation even his own Nature was the Original from whence his Righteousness and good Works arose The next Scriptures also viz. 2 Cor. 7. 1. Rom. 12. 1. overthrow you for they urge the Promises as Motives to stir us up to Holiness But Adam had neither the Spirit of Jesus or Faith in him as a Principle nor any Promises to him as Motives Wherefore this was not that to which or which we Christians are Exhorted to seek the Possession of but that which is Operated by that Spirit which we receive by the Faith of Jesus and that which is encouraged by those Promises that God hath since given to them that have closed by Faith with Jesus The rest also in Pag. 29. not one of them doth promise us the Possession of the Holiness we have lost or any mercy to them that have it You add And whereas the Promises of Pardon and of Eternal Life are Frequently made to believing there is nothing more Evidently declared then that this Faith is such as Purifieth the Heart and is Productive of good Works Pag. 30. Answ. If the Promise be made at all to believing it is not made to us upon the account of the Holiness we had lost for I tell you yet again that Holiness is not of Faith neither was Faith the Effect thereof But 2. The Promises of Pardon though they be made to such a Faith as is Fruitful in good Works Yet not to it as it is Fruitful in doing but in receiving Good Sir the quality of Justifying Faith is this Not to Work but to Believe as to the Business of pardon of Sin and that not onely because of the Sufficiency that this Faith sees in Christ to Justifie but also for that it knows those whom God thus Pardoneth he Justifieth as ungodly Now to him that Worketh not but believeth Mark here Faith and Works are Opposed Now to him that Worketh not but Believeth in him that Justifieth the Vngodly his Faith is counted for Righteousness Rom. 4. You add farther That the Promises may be Reduced to these three Heads that of the Holy Spirit of Remission of Sins and Eternal Happiness in the Injoyment of God Answ. If you can prove that any of these Promises were made to the Holiness that we had lost or that by these Promises we are to be Possessed with that Holiness again I will even now lay down the Bucklers For albeit The time will come when the Saints shall be absolutely and perfectly Sin-less yet then shall they be also Spiritual Immortal and Incorruptible which you cannot prove Adam was in the best of his Holiness even that which we lost in him The Threatnings you speak of Pag. 35. are every one made against Sin but not one of them to drive us into a Possession of that Holiness that we had lost Nay contrariwise he that looks to or seeks after that is as sure to be Damned and go to Hell as he that Transgresseth the Law because that is not the Righteousness of God the Righteousness of Christ the Righteousness of Faith nor that to which the Promise is made And this was manifested to the World betimes even in that day when God drove the Man and his Wife out of Eden and placed Cherubines and a Flaming Sword in the way by which they came out to the end that by going back by that way they might rather be Killed and Dye then lay hold of the Tree of Life Gen. 3. Which the Apostle also Respects when he calleth the way of the Gospel the New and Living Way even that which is made by the Blood of Christ Concluding by this Discription of the Way that is by Blood that the other is Old and the Way of Death even that which is by the Morral Law or the Dictates of our Nature or by that fond Conceit of the Goodly Holiness of Adam Heb. 10. Your Fifth Chapter tells us that the Promoting of Holiness was the design of our Saviours whole Life and Conversation among Men Pag. 36. Answ. 1. Were this granted it reacheth nothing at all the Design for which you in your way Present us with it For 2. That which you have Asserted is That the Errand about which Christ came was as the Effecting our Deliverance out of that Sinful State we had brought our selves into so to put us again in Possession of that Holiness which we had LOST For that you say is the Business of your Book Pag. 12. Wherefore you should have told us in the Head of this Chapter not so much that our Saviour Designed the Promoting of Holiness in General by his life but that the whole Design of our Saviours Life and Conversation was to put us again into Possession of THAT Holiness which we had lost into a Possession of that Natural Old Covenant Figurative Ignorant Holiness But it seems you count that there is no other then that now lost but never again to be obtained Holiness that was in Adam 3. Farther You also Faulter here as to the Stating of the Proposition for in the Beginning of your Book you State it thus That the Enduing Men with inward Real Righteousness or True Holiness was the Vltimate end of our Saviours coming into the World still meaning the Holiness we lost in Adam You should therefore in this place also have minded your Reader of this your Proposition and made it manifest if you could that the Vltimate End of our Saviours whole Life and Conversation was the Induing Men with this Adamitish Holiness But HOLINESS and THAT Holiness is alone with you and to make it his End and whole End his Business and the whole Business of his Life is but the same with you But you must know that the whole Life and Conversation of our Saviour was intended for another Purpose then to drive us back to or to Indue us with such an Holiness and Righteousness as I have Proved this to be You have therefore in this your Discourse put an unsufferable Affront upon the Son of God in making all his Life and Conversation to Center and Terminate in the Holiness we had lost As if the Lord Jesus was sent down from Heaven and the Word of God made Flesh that by a Perfect Life and Conversation he might shew us how Holy Adam was before he fell or what an Holiness that our Holiness was which we had before we were Converted Your Discourse therefore of the Life and Conversation of the Lord Jesus is none other then Heathenish For you neither Treat of the Principle his Godhead by which he did his Works neither do you in the least in one Sillable Aver the First the main and Prime Reason of this his Conversation only you Treat of it so far as a mean Man might have considered it And indeed it stood not with your Design to Treat a right with these things For had