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
A33454	Methodus Evangelica, or, The gospel method of Gods saving sinners by Jesus Christ practically explained in XII propositions / by Abraham Clifford ; to which is prefixed a preface by Dr. Manton, and Rich. Baxter.	Clifford, Abraham.; Manton, Thomas, 1620-1677.; Baxter, Richard, 1615-1691.	1676 (1676)	Wing C4701; ESTC R23890	95,942	214

as were most requisite for the People of Israel and the succeeding Generations to be acquainted with Besides 't is impossible that the particularities of all transactions for so many hundreds of years should all be recounted and summed up in so short an History as that of Genesis Yet this we find that the Sons of Adam immediately upon the giving out of this gracious promise offer Sacrifice to the Lord which is a sufficient testimony 1. Of their own guilt that they had sinned and deserved to dye acknowledged in the death of the Sacrifice 2. Of their Faith in a Messiah and expectation of salvation by his death and sufferings typified in those of the Beasts they offered For as the Apostle argues in his Epistle to the Hebrews chap. 10.4 'T is impossible that the Blood of Bulls and Goats should take away sin And yet without shedding of blood he also tells us there is no remission chap. 9.22 and therefore by necessary consequence only by the blood of Jesus Christ which he also infers chap. 9. v. 10.14 3. Of their obedience and entire resignation of themselves to the Divine Will And in these three you have the substance of all that the Covenant requires on the Creatures part to be performed But what ever were the methods not particularly made known to us in which God treated the first Ages of the World yet so soon as ever he began to frame a peculiar People to himself and to make any inclosures wherein to plant an holy Seed he then more expresly engageth them to himself and makes them his by way of Covenant Thus he treats with Abraham Gen. 15.18 And afterwards with the Israelites the multiplyed Seed of Abraham Exod. 24. And because there were certain Shadows and temporal Appendices annext to this Covenant which were only suited to the infancy of the Church the present State of the Jews and therefore to be abolished at the appearance of the promised Messiah he further declares by his Prophets that when this should be done away he would yet make another Covenant with them and all his Saints comprehended under the name of Israel Jer. 31 32 33 c. Ezek. 34.25 and 37.26 which the Author to the Hebrews applies expresly to the Gospel times Heb. 10.16.8.9 10 11 12 13. As all our Mercies are purchased for us by the blood of Christ so they are given and conveighed to us only by the Covenant founded in his blood From first to last all 's by Covenant Doth he give Adam an earthly Paradise Abraham a blessed Seed Israel the Land of Canaan and the Saints in all ages a Crown and Kingdom of Life and Glory 't is still by Covenant Yea our very temporal Blessings become ours not by virtue of any absolute grant and donation but by a federal right 1 Tim. 4.8 And therefore 't is no good plea to argue thus Jesus Christ hath given full satisfaction to the Father and fulfilled all righteousness and purchased eternal life and glory and therefore there 's no doubt but our sins will be pardoned and our Souls saved No Whatever Jesus Christ hath done and suffered or purchased by either we for our parts can expect no more advantage by it than what the new Covenant makes over to us nor upon any other terms than what are therein propounded nor yet without presumption lay claim to any right or propriety in any of the benefits resulting from it unless we can first prove our selves to be within the Bond of the Covenant For though the satisfaction that Jesus Christ hath made be the foundation of our general hopes in God and incouragement in our addresses to him for mercy yet 't is the Covenant only that gives us interest and propriety PROPOS VIII Of the Nature of the New Covenant THIS New Covenant or Gospel Conveyance by which pardon of sin and eternal life the fruits of Christ's Purchase are dispensed to sinners 't is not a meer Will and Testament as some have imagined but in the true and proper sense of the word a formal Covenant By Covenant I mean a mutual agreement and stipulation betwixt God and the Creature whereby as he freely engageth himself to us to be our God i. e. to do us good and bless us and give us an everlasting happiness so we also on the other hand oblige our selves to God to be his People i. e. his Subjects to pay him as far as in us lyes that homage and observance which he requires of us that we may be partakers of the mercies promised This is properly a Covenant which will yet further appear when we come to speak of the terms of it But a Will or Testament is the act or instrument of some one single person whereby he gives according to the pleasure of his own will certain Boons and Legacies to some particular persons to be enjoyed after his decease without any stipulation made or required on their part in order to their having a right to or their receiving of them By this you see there 's a vast difference betwixt a Covenant and a Testament both in regard of the subject and terms and formal notion of both That 's the joint act of two or more This only of some one single person That stands upon certain terms and conditions to be performed This is at least may be absolute without any terms at all That is by mutual consent and stipulation This requires neither at least they are not necessary and essential to its Being No Goods or Lands we know are given at will and therefore called a Will without the consent of the Legatee thereto required nay many times without his knowledge And the Donations of the Testator however makes them his and gives him an undoubted right to them nay though he should despise them and ever after hate and revile the name of him that gave them But who will say that the great blessings of the Gospel pardon of sin and the favour of God and eternal happiness are thus dispensed to sinners That the Grant which God hath made of them is so wholly absolute as that it admits of no terms but that they may become ours without our knowledge or consent or professed willingness to accept them nay though we should hate and blaspheme that God that bequeathed them to us It 's true the Covenant it self was first framed by Divine Wisdom and Goodness before we had any intimations of it God did not ask the Creature whether he were willing that he should make a Covenant with him or how it should be made or what the terms should be No but being thus made and propounded to us we are now bound to give our own personal consents to the terms of it or else the blessings of this Covenant can never actually become ours I know no such Grant in Scripture made to any that whether they are willing or not to accept it and to promise obedience to their Maker he will yet remit their

the guilty Offender that this being removed God might now be at liberty to pardon and reaccept him unto favour in what way and upon what terms he pleased such as he in wisdom should judge most for the honour of his own Being and Perfections Yea but not that therefore God must of necessity pardon the sinner what ever come on 't as one well expresseth it That is whether he repented or believed or not or still continued in his Rebellion and Impenitency Christs Sufferings they were not in a strict sense the Idem i. e. the very thing which the first Covenant required at the hands of Man but the tantundem or an equivalent compensation Not properly solutio debiti the payment of the debt but an equitable satisfaction for a criminal offence And accordingly God in this whole transaction is to be considered not so much as a Creditor as an offended Magistrate or Governour of the World that admits as Seleucus did the putting out of one of his own eyes for the redemption of his Sons the suffering of one for another though of somewhat a different kind and manner for the maintaining of the honour of his Laws and Government And therefore God could not be obliged thereby immediately to acquit and discharge the Offender since the satisfaction given in his behalf was refusable but may in Justice and for the vindicating of his own Holiness and retaining the Creature in his due subjection bring him to terms and conditions before he remit the offence and become actually reconciled to him Much less was God obliged to this by his own essential goodness for though the issues and outgoings of his love be most natural and agreeable to his Being upon which account he is stiled in Scripture a Sun and Fountain yet are they not like the ebullitions of water from their Fountain or emanations of light from the Sun absolutely necessary and involuntary No they are still free though most natural Else how comes it to pass that Apostate Angels were not redeemed from their Chains and Darkness and the Spirits now in Prison set at liberty and freed from torments And the Inhabitants of the Earth that still sit in darkness and under the shadows of death have not the Sun of Righteousness arising upon them with healing in his Wings as well as we in these Northern Islands What ever acts by constraint and necessary impulse of Nature 't is uncapable of setting any bounds or limits to its own actions but imparts it self and influences universally at all times and alike to all The same Sun shines not to some parts only of the Earth but equally to both the Hemispheres And the same Sea and Fountains scatter their streams not only to some few Passengers but indifferently to all that pass by without exception And if such were the egress and communications of Divine Love and Goodness then tell me whence it is that there is any difference betwixt fallen Angels and degenerate man Betwixt Jew and Gentile the Christian and Pagan World Why is not the whole Earth India and America as well as Europe turned into a Goshen a Land of light and made as Eden the Garden of the Lord Why is so great a part of it yet left to be as a darksom Egypt or barren Wilderness Doth not all this sufficiently argue that the bequeathments and application of Christs satisfaction and purchase with all the rich Fruits that spring from both are made not by necessity but ad placitum according to the meer good will and pleasure of God to sinners as the Apostle speaks Ephes 1.5 and 9. PROPOS VI. Of Gods freedom to prescribe the terms upon which sinners shall be saved SInce all the communications of Grace and Mercy to the Creature even to those that Christ hath redeemed with his blood are absolutely free and issue forth only according to the Prerogative of the Divine Will and Pleasure God may therefore give out and apply the merits of his Sons obedience and sufferings to whom and in what way and method and upon what terms he in wisdom shall think meet He that cast the skirts of his love over the lost Sons of Adam when he saw them polluted in their own blood might also if he had pleased have made it a time of love to the Apostate Angels and have put them with Man since Christs Merits were intrinsickly sufficient for both into the same Act of Grace and Indemnity And he that hath chosen only some few to be Heirs of Glory out of the common Mass of Mankind might likewise have extended the same mercy and favour to all the rest Judas as well as Paul might have been an Elect Vessel to the Lord. Yea but one is taken and the other is left to shew that God hath mercy upon whom he will have mercy and that whom he will he hardneth Rom. 9.18 And as God freely makes choice of the persons whom he will effectually pardon and save by his Son Jesus Christ so also of the mediums and ways in and by which this salvation shall be dispensed to them First only in a dark and mysterious Promise so to Adam Gen. 3.15 Then more explicitely by actual Covenant so to Abraham Gen. 17. After this by Types and Shadows so to the Jews And last of all by open and manifest Revelation through the ministration of Christ and his Apostles so to all under the Gospel Dispensation Heb. 1.1 2. Thus Jesus Christ and in him salvation is first promised then typified and then exhibited and that first to the Jews only but afterwards to the Gentiles also And he surely that makes choice of whom he will to be the Objects of Mercy and freely determines in what way and order they shall have salvation dispensed to them he cannot but be alike free to appoint the terms and conditions upon which they actually may be saved He that hath power to appoint the End must also have power to appoint the Means by which it may be obtained God in this whole transaction is to be considered not only as Lord and Governour but as the offended party and our great Benefactor and upon all these accounts the Right of prescribing the terms upon which the guilty and condemned Creature shall be admitted to pardon and happiness properly and solely belongs to God As he is absolute Lord of all so he may do whatsoever he pleaseth with the Works of his own hands And as he is rightful Governour over the World so he may prescribe what Laws he thinks meet for the due government of his Creature And as pars laesa the party wronged and offended by Man he may say upon what terms he will be reconciled to him And as our great Benefactor that designed and contrived the way of Mans pardon and salvation by the death and sufferings of his only begotten Son he must dispense these benefits according to the pleasure of his own Will Math. 20.15 To save a sinner upon any terms

will and so absolutely unknown to us that cannot possibly either make any change of our state or become any foundation for any real and forensick distinction betwixt Man and Man 'T is not that which makes this Man a Judas and that Man a Paul The one actually wicked and the other personally righteous And therefore whoever God predestinates saith the Apostle th●m also he calls before they are either justified or glorified Rom. 8.30 He makes them to pass under the rod and brings them into the bond of the Covenant and pours clean water upon them and puts his Spirit into them and writes his Laws in their hearts and causeth them to walk in his ways and keep his Judgments before he will own them to be his people and dignify them with the name of Saints and Children and righteous ones Ezek. 36.25 26 27 28. Jer. 31.33 1 Cor. 1.2 Take Paul for an instance He was you know a chosen vessel to the Lord Acts 9.15 Separated in Gods predeterminate counsel from his Mothers womb Gal. 1.15 Yea but was he therefore immediately justified and sanctified and adopted and owned for a Saint a Child of God from his Mothers womb No for all that he will tell you that he was for some years a Pharisee an injurious person a Persecutor a Blasphemer 1 Tim. 1.13 And as he speaks of the Ephesians that he was dead in sins and trespasses a Child of disobedience and of wrath without Christ having no hope and without God in the World Eph. 2.1 2 3 12. To this effect he speaks expresly of himself Tit. 3.3 And may we not now truly say of Paul however elected that he was a wicked Man during his continuance in this state And consequently that he was not righteous since 't is impossible for the same person to be righteous and wicked dead and alive at the same time But how then came Paul to be amongst Gods Jewels his holy ones How God humbles him at the foot of Christ Acts 9.5 6 c. and calls him by his Grace Gal. 1.15 and makes him obedient to his call Acts 26.19 and regenerates him by his Spirit Tit. 3.3 4 5. and causeth him to believe and obey the Gospel Acts 24.14 15 16. and to live intirely to Jesus Christ Philip. 1.21 Thus Paul obtaineth Mercy as he tells you 1 Tim. 1.16 and is listed into the number of the Saints his name now is changed Acts 13.9 'T is no more Saul but Paul no more a Persecutor but an Apostle of Jesus Christ and now he is justified Gal. 2.16 and now he receives a Crown of righteousness 2 Tim. 4.8 And thus you see what it is that denominates a man righteous or wicked and what is the only note of distinction betwixt an Heir of wrath and a Child of God not baptism or profession or being in the visible Church or the elective love of God but doing righteousness as John speaks which is nothing else but the actual performance of the Conditions of the New Covenant of which I am treating 4. Why else hath God sent his holy Spirit into the World Is it not plainly for this end that he may help our infirmities Rom. 8.26 and that he may assist us in the actual performance of those duties which are by the New Covenant required of us That we may look upon him whom we have pierced by our sins and mourn Zech. 12.10 that we may believe in Jesus Christ 2 Cor. 4.13 that we may mortifie the deeds of the flesh Rom. 8.13 that our hearts may be purified in obeying the truth 1 Pet. 1.22 And that we may walk in the wayes and keep the Judgments of God Ezek. 36.27 All this is said to be by the assistance of the Divine Spirit And therefore it is that the ministration of the Spirit is still necessary in order to our Salvation notwithstanding that Jesus Christ hath fully discharged the office and perf●cted the work of a Redeemer and Mediator for us Joh. 16.7 Nevertheless I tell you the truth It is expedient for you th●t I go away for If I go not away the comforter will not come unto you but if I depart I will send him unto you The Spirit here is expresly promised to be sent in the room of Christ to supply his place and office when he should leave the World as that which should be of more advantage to them than still to enjoy Christs personal presence here on Earth Nevertheless I tell you the truth it is expedient for you that I go away But why expedient For then the Spirit shall come But when he is come what shall he do Why He shall convince the world of sin of righteousness and of judgment ver 8. I but if Jesus Christ hath so done all as that we have nothing at all to do and that his imputed righteousness alone be sufficient to save us without our personal and obediential righteousness to what purpose is the administration of the Spirit His work and office is wholly superseded For what needs a Spirit of mourning to be poured down upon us if so be the Covenant of Grace require us not personally to repent Or a Spirit of Faith as the Apostle calls it 2 Cor. 4.13 if we are not bound to believe Or a Spirit of holiness if it oblige us not to be actually holy Or a spirit of obedience if we may be saved without obeying If then our having of the Spirit and being led or acted by him be indispensably necessary in order to our Salvation so also is our repenting and believing in Christ and loving God and doing of his will and cleansing our selves from all filthiness of flesh and spirit and perfecting holiness in the fear of God and purifying our selves as he is pure since the effecting this in us is the great errand for which he came into the World and the main office he hath undertaken during the time of Christ Mediatory Kingdom The truth is we can no more be saved without the ministration of the spirit than we can without the Mediation of Jesus Christ This argument runs clear in Scripture He that hath not Christ hath not life 1 Joh. 5.12 But he that hath not the spirit hath not Christ Rom. 8.9 And he that is not holy and obedient hath not the spirit Jude ver 19. For where ever the Spirit is he regenerates and sanctifies the whole lump Body Soul and Spirit as the Apostle speaks 1 Thess 5.22 and so becomes in that Soul a Spirit of Faith Holiness and obedience 5. How otherwise shall Believers attain to any evidence or assurance of their Salvation Or come to know that they more than othes are in a state of friendship with God and made Heirs of the promise and vessels of mercy when so great a part of the World are Heirs of wrath and Sons of perdition That they may be thus assured since some undoubtedly have been so and that they all ought to labour for