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
A32724	A supplement to the several discourses upon various divine subjects by Stephen Charnock.	Charnock, Stephen, 1628-1680.; Charnock, Stephen, 1628-1680. Works of the late learned divine, Stephen Charnock.	1683 (1683)	Wing C3711C; ESTC R24823	277,473	158

of the Devil a corrupt Creature and an enemy to God the chief Lord of the World and so did deprave the order of the universe and endeavoured to frustrate the end of God and the end of all the Creatures 'T is very rational to think that tho God out of his infinite compassion would not lose his creature yet that he should set such a badge upon him that should make him sensible of a depravation he had wrought in the world 4. 'T is useful to magnify his love We should not be sensible of what our Saviour suffered nor how transcendently he lov'd us if the punishment of sin had been presently removed upon the first promise Nay how then could he have died in the fulness of time which was necessary to the demonstration of Gods love satisfaction of his justice and the security of the Creatures happiness God adds the threatning to the promise as a dark colour to set off and beautify the brighter As Christ suffered that he might have compassion on us so are we punished that we might have an estimation of him When Paul cries out of the body of death so when we cry out of the punishment of sin it should raise our thankfulness for redeeming love I thank God through Jesus Christ Rom. 7.24 25. We never know the worth of mercy till we feel the weight of misery The sharper the pains of sin the higher are our valuations of redeeming mercy In Isa 4.2 In that day shall the branch of the Lord be beautiful and glorious In what day After great punishments v. 1. and in the foregoing chapter He appears most beautiful to us when we are under the lash for sin As sin continues in us that the justifying grace of Christs righteousness might more appear to us so punishment continues on us that redeeming love might be more prized by us 2. On our parts 'T is useful to us 1. To make us abhor our first defection and sin 'T was great and is not duly considered by us * Kellet Miscel This sin of Adam is the worst that ever was committed in the world Extensively though not Intensively worse than the sin of Judas or the sin against the holy Ghost In respect that those are but the effects of it and branches of that corrupt root Also because those sins hurt only the persons sinning but this drew down destruction upon the whole world and drove thousands into everlasting Fire and Brimstone 'T is not fit that this which was the murder of all Mankind the disorder of the Creation the disturbing of God's rest in the works of his Hands should be past over without a scar left upon us to make us sensible of the greatness of the evil Though the wounds be great upon our Souls yet they do not so much affect us as those strokes upon our Bodies This certainly was one main end of God in this to what purpose else did he after the promise of restauration and giving our first parents the comfort of hearing the head of their great seducer threatned to be bruised by the Seed of the Woman order this punishment but to put them in mind of the cause of it and stir up a standing abhorrency of it in all ages of the world Had not this been his intent he would never have usher'd it in by a promise but ipso facto have showered down a destroying judgment upon the world as he did upon Sodom without any comfortable word preceding God inflicts those punishments both to shew his own and excite our detestation of this sin He binds us in those fetters to shew us our work and our transgression wherein we have exceeded Job 36.8 9. 2. To make us fear to sin and to purge it out Sin hath riveted it self so deep that easy Medicines will not displace it It hath so much of our affections that gentle means will not divorce us from it We shall hate it most when we reap the punishment of it Punishment is inflicted as a guard to the law and the security of righteousness from the corrupt inclinations of the Creature So it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Plato calls punishment As death is continued for the destruction of sin in the Body so are the lesser punishments continued for the restraint of sin in our lives We need further conversions closer applications of our selves to God more quick walks to him and fixedness with him Gods smitings are to quicken our turnings As it was the fruit of Jacobs trouble to take away sin Isa 27.9 So it is a great end of God in those common punishments of mankind to weaken corruption in a believer by them Therefore when we have any more remarkable sense of those punishments let us see what wounds our sin gets thereby How our hatred of it is encreased If we find such gracious effects we shall have more reason to bless God for it than complain of it Oh happy troubles when they repair not ruine us when they pinch us and cure us like Thunder which though it trouble the Air disperses the infectious vapours mixed with it or the Tide which though turning the stream of the River against its natural course carries away much of the filth with it at its departure 3. To exercise Grace Punishments of themselves have no power to set any grace on work but rather excite our corruptions but the grace of God accompanying them makes them beneficial for such an end God hath to a believer altered the commission of such punishments they are to exercise our Faith improve our patience draw us nearer in acts of recumbency but he hath given them no order to impair our grace waste our faith or deaden our hopes 1. Faith and Trust 1. Tim. 5.5 She that is desolate trusts in God The lower the state the greater necessity and greater obligation to trust such exercises manifest that the condition we are in is sanctified to us As sin is suffered to dwell in a regenerate Man to occasion the exercise of Faith so is the punishment of sin continued for the same end The continuance of it is a mighty ground of our confidence in God We experiment the righteousness of God in his threatning and it is an evidence he will be the same in his promise When we bear the marks of his punitive justice it is an evidence that he will keep up the credit of his mercy in the promise as well as of his justice in the punishment both being pronounced at the same time the good of the one is as sure by God's grace to our faith as the smart of the other is by our desert to that sin The continuance therefore of those punishments may be used by a Believer as a means to fix a stronger confidence in God for if he were not true to the one we might suspect his truth in the other If God should be careless of maintaining the honour of his truth in his threatnings we should have

whether your Souls are sure Here I shall 1. Remove false signs whereon men rest and think themselves pardoned 1. The littleness of sin is no ground of pardon Oh may some say my sins are little some tricks of youth some petty oaths or the like The Scripture saith that Drunkards Fornicators Extortioners and Covetous shall not enter into the Kingdom of Heaven not Great Drunkards only but those that are drunk but now and then as well as those that are Drunkards every day 1. Dost thou know the malignity of the least sin No sin can be called absolutely though it may comparatively little Is it a little God who is offended by sin Is it a little wrath which is poured down on sin Is it a little Christ that hath dyed for sin Is it a little Soul that is destroyed by sin and is it a little Hell that is prepared for sin Is not the least sin Deicidium as much as in a man lieth a destroying of God Did not Christ shed his blood for the least as well as for the greatest Is not Hell kindled by the breath of the Lord for the least as well as the greatest sins Is that little which is Gods burden Christs wound the Spirits grief the penitents sorrow and the Devils Hell Every drop of poison is poison every drop of Hell is Hell every part of sin is sin and hath the destroying and condemning nature of sin Can Angels expiate the least sin or can a thousand worlds be a sufficient recompence for the injury that is done to God by the least sin 2. The less thy sin the less the excuse for thy self 'T is the aggravation of their injustice that they sold the Righteous for a pair of Shoes Amos 2.6 Dost thou undervalue God so as to sell a Righteous and Eternal God so cheap for a little sin Is a little sin dearer to thee than the favour of the great God Is a little sin dearer to thee than an Eternal Hell is grievous To endanger thy Soul for a trifle to lose God for a bubble is a confounding aggravation of it as it was of Judas his sin that he would sell his Saviour for a little Silver for so small a Sum. Sin is not little in respect of the formality of it but in respect of the matter in respect of the temptation and this littleness is an aggravation of sin 3 Dost thou know how God hath punished the least sin A drop of sin may bring a Deluge of Misery An Atom of sin is strong enough to overturn a World It was but an Apple that poisoned Adam and his whole Posterity Less sins are punisht in Hell than are pardoned here God casts off Saul for less sins than he pardoned David for How many Ships have been destroyed upon small Sands as well as great Rocks 2. Fewness of sins is no argument of pardon Conceive if thou canst the amiableness and lustre of the Angels how far beyond the glory of the Sun it was yet one sin divested them of all their glory It was but one sin kindled Hell for the fallen Angels Every sin must receive a just recompence of reward Heb. 2.2 Shall one single sin intitle thee to Hell what will millions of sins then intitle thee to One sin is too much against God Had thy iniquities been never so few Christ must have died to answer the Pleas of his Fathers Justice against thee Every sin is Rebellion against God as a Soveraign undutifulness to God as a Father * Burges Contempt of God as a Governour and preferring the Devil before God the Devil that would destroy and damn thee before God that made thee and preserves thee a preferring the Devil's temptations before God's promises 3. The commonness of sin is no argument of pardon Many Angels combin'd in the first Conspiracy against God but as they were Companions in sin so are they Companions in torments The commonness of Sodoms sin made the louder cry and hastened the severer Judgment Not one Inhabitant escaped but only righteous Lot and his Family Common sins will have common Plagues It doth rather aggravate thy sin than plead for pardon when thou wilt rather follow mens Example to offend God than conform to God's Law to please him Sin was common in the Old World for all flesh had corrupted their ways Gen. 6.12 and all were swept away by the destroying Deluge To walk according to the course of the World is so far from being a foundation of pardon that it is made a Character of a Child of the Devil To walk according to the course of the World is to walk according to the pattern of the Devil and to be in the number of the Children of Wrath Eph. 2.2 Wherein in times past you walked according to the course of this World according to the Prince of the Power of the Air. 4. Forbearance of punishment is no argument of pardon Eccles 8.11 Because Sentence against an evil-work is not executed speedily therefore the heart of the Sons of men is fully set in them to do evil Forbearance is made use of by men to make them sin more desperately more headily Fully set all checks silenced and stopt Forbearance is no acquittance it argues not God's forgiving the debt the debt is due though it be not presently sued for and the longer the debt remains unpaid the greater Sum will the Interest amount unto because the longer God doth forbear punishment the longer time thou hast for Repentance the account for that time will run high That God doth not punish is an argument of his patience not of his pardoning mercy God laughs at Sinners he sees their day is coming though they may be jocund and confident of a pardon God's forbearance may be in Justice he may be brewing the Cup and mixing that which thou art to drink Prisoners may be reprieved one Assize and executed the next Reprieval of Execution is no allowance of the Crime or change of the Sentence 5. Prosperity is no sign of pardon Oh! I am not only born with and forborn but I have a great addition of outward contentments since my sin That which you make an argument of pardon may be an argument of condemnation Asaph was much troubled at the prosperity of the wicked but at last saith Pride compasseth them as a Chain and violence covers them as a garment Psal 73.6 That kindness which should have made them melt made them presume That which should broach thy Repentance enflames thy Pride Thy goods may increase thy sins 6. Forgetfulness of thy sin and Commission long ago is no sign of pardon and therefore having no checks for them is no sign of pardon God doth not forget though thou dost no sin slips from the memory of his knowledge though now he doth cast many sins away from the memory of his justice In regard of Gods eternity the first sins are accounted as committed this moment for in that there is no succession of