Selected quad for the lemma: mercy_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
mercy_n	judgement_n	sin_n	sinner_n	2,057	5	7.5058	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A09970	The golden scepter held forth to the humble VVith the Churches dignitie by her marriage. And the Churches dutie in her carriage. In three treatises. The former delivered in sundry sermons in Cambridge, for the weekely fasts, 1625. The two latter in Lincolnes Inne. By the late learned and reverend divine, Iohn Preston, Dr. in Divinity, chaplaine in ordinary to His Maiesty, Mr. of Emanuel Colledge in Cambridge, and somtime preacher at Lincolnes Inne.	Preston, John, 1587-1628.; Glover, George, b. ca. 1618, engraver.; Goodwin, Thomas, 1600-1680.; Ball, Thomas, 1589 or 90-1659.	1638 (1638)	STC 20227; ESTC S112474	187,142	312

as you are should not bee saved Hereby the bloud of Christ is improved that it is sprinkled on many for great sinnes Thinke not therefore that God is backward to pardon Psal. 130. 3 4. There are two arguments more to helpe us in this If hee should marke what is done amisse who should stand none should be saved Now it is not his will that all flesh should perish and therefore hee will not take the advantage to cast men cleane off for their sinnes againe none else would worship him There is mercy with thee that thou mayest bee feared It is his full purpose to have some servants to feare and worship him Yea shall I goe further God is not onely ready to forgive but desirous of it yea hee is glad at the heart when a great sinner doth come in which is noted to us in the Parable of the lost sheepe and the lost groat how did the woman rejoyce for the finding of her groat and the Shepheard for his sheepe And likewise in the Parable of the lost Sonne how glad was hee when he heard that his Sonne was comming home that yet had lived riotously and spent his goods it was to shew that GOD was so affected when a great sinner returnes to him Besides he doth not onely say if you will come I keepe open house I will not shut you out but inviteth them calleth them yea more sends his ministers to fetch them in yea more entreateth beseecheth commandeth threatneth But you will say is it possible that I should bee forgiven that have committed so many sinnes so great so hainous and continued so long in them Yes it is possible for you Marke that place 1 Cor. 6. 9. Hee reckons up as great sinnes as can bee named And such were some of you but now you are washed You see what kind of people there were forgiven whence wee may gather that those that are guilty of those sinnes now may bee forgiven as well as then such were some of you Whosoever thou art it is no matter what thou hast beene all the matter is what thou wilt bee Put case any of the old Prophets should come to thee or any man in particular and say wilt thou bee content now to turne to GOD if thou wilt all thy sinnes shall bee washt away and thou shalt bee made an heire of Heaven it would cause him that hath any ingenuity to relent and say LORD canst thou now bee so mercifull to mee as to forgive mee after all this loe LORD I will come in and turne unto thee I aske thee this question whether art thou content to quit all thy sinnes presently upon assurance of being received if thou dost if thou answerest no art thou not worthy to bee destroyed if yes is not this great comfort But some may say if heaven gate stand thus wide open I may come and bee welcome at any time Thou vile wretch that darest to have such a thought Dost thou not know that every such refusall of such an offer is so dangerous as it may put thee into hazard of never having the like againe If the gate of heaven stood thus alwayes open why then did God sweare in his wrath of some Israelites that they should never enter into his rest and what is the reason that God said of those that were invited to the feast but refused to come that they should never taste of it The reason is there given it is said the master of the feast was full of wrath at the refusall of his offer both because his love and kindnesse was despised that filleth a man with indignation and so the Lord and also because the thing offered was of so much price it being the kingdome of heaven and the precious bloud of Christ. Therefore whensoever such an offer is made and refused God is exceeding angry There goes an axe and a sword with this offer to cut downe every tree that will not bring forth good fruit Say not when you heare of this offer I am glad there is such a thing I will accept of it another time but it comes too soone for mee now Consider this that the end of the comming of the Lord Iesus was not onely to save the soules of men if onely so then indeed this might have beene done at any time even at the last but his end also was Titus 2. 14. That he mtght purifie to himselfe a peculiar people zealous of good workes ' which is a greater end than that which went before in the verse to redeeme us from all iniquity to purchase to himselfe a people that should serve him in their life time and canst thou thinke that thou that hast served thy lusts all thy life time shalt yet bee accepted at death It is a common saying with you that if a man bee called at the eleventh houre hee shall be received 't is true if thou beest called then first and not before as the thiefe who was not call'd afore was then accepted but what if thou hast beene call'd afore and hast not accepted but put off till death thy case then will bee exceeding dangerous Againe I aske thee what is it makes thee resolve to come in at death If love to Christ then it would sooner if to thy selfe how shall such conversion be accepted Come we now to the last words And I will heale their land WE have these three points may be observed out of them 1. That all calamities and troubles proceede from sinne this I note from the order of the words hee first forgives their sinnes then heales their land 2. That if calamities bee removed and sinnes be not forgiven they are removed in judgement not in mercy 3. That if sinne bee once forgiven the calamity will soone be taken away For the first all calamity is from sinne troubles from transgression In the chaine of evills sinne is the first linke that drawes on all the rest as grace is in the chaine of blessings and comforts Consider this in all kinds of judgements which wee may reduce to three heads 1. Temporall calamities about the things of this life they are all from sinne both publike and private What was the reason of Salomons troubles The Lord stirred up an adversary against him because hee departed from the Lord and had set up idolatry so the sword departed not from Davids house because of his sinne with Bathsheba and the murther of Vriah So Asa 2 Chron. 16. the Prophet tels him Hence forth thou shalt have warre because thou hast not rested on the Lord. I could give a hundred instances for this 2. Sort of judgements are spirituall which are much more grievous than the former when a man is given up to his lusts and to hardnesse of heart and this proceedeth from some other sinnes that went before and it is a sure rule that you never see a man given up to worke uncleannesse with greedinesse or to such open

those hearers signified by the second and third ground did who received the seed with joy and as those of whom it is sayd Christ would not commit himself to them but stay with him men will not unlesse they be humbled For unlesse a man be brought to part with al for Christ and to sell all he will in the end repent of his bargaine if there bee a reservation of any thing the time will come he will goe backe and start aside like a broken Bowe and untill a man be throughly humbled he will not be brought to part with all for CHRIST he that is humbled he onely is the Merchant-like minded man who sells all hee hath and goes away rejoycing is glad at the heart that hee hath Christ though with the losse of the whole world he is willing to take Christ upon all conditions with losses and crosses and to deny himselfe in every thing for he knowes the bitternesse of sin and so sets such a price upon Christ as if the bargaine were to make againe he would doe as hee had done but the other what he hath done in a fit he repents him of afterwards and therefore true repentance which godly sorrow and true humiliation worketh is called repentance never to be repented of 2 Cor. 7. 10. Other sorrow than Godly may worke a repentance but it is such as men afterwards repent of Men are soone weary of the yoke of CHRIST because they have not felt how grievous the yoke of sin and Sathan is but to one who hath felt the burthen of sin the yoke of CHRIST is easie and sweete The last Reason hath relation to the last thing here promised of taking away the Iudgements and healing the Land God should not have the praise of his Iudgements and of his Mercy in taking them away unlesse men were humbled for if when God did afflict men he should restore them againe without this humiliation men would thinke that God wronged them before and now did but right them but when God hath humbled them so farre that they acknowledge his Iustice in afflicting them and their owne desert to be utterly destroyed and confesse that it is his mere Mercy they were not consumed and humble themselves under his mighty hand and now if the Iudgement be taken off and his wrath blowne over then they give him the praise of his Mercy and Iudgements Thus you see why of necessity it is required Now let us see the reason of the order of it why it is required thus in the first place It is the first condition here there is something in the order and to be said by way of reason for it and the reason in generall is because nothing is acceptable to God till the heart be humbled You may pray which is another condition and you may heare c. but all you doe is but lost labour unlesse it come from a broken heart For first that is alone a fit sacrifice for God without which act no sacrifice is accepted This you may see Psalme 51. 16 17. Thou desirest not sacrifice else I would give it thee thou delightest not in burnt offerings The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit and a contrite hart oh God thou wilt not despise David knew that till his heart was broken all his good deeds and all holy duties would have beene in vaine and it is as if David should have said Lord before I was thus humbled and my heart thus broken as in the beginning of the Psalme hee had expressed that it was Thou didst desire no sacrifice of me nor wouldst have delighted in no burnt offering from mee but the sacrifices of God are a broken spirit and other duties but as they come from it This is the maine sacrifice and with out it nothing acceptable unlesse it be laid upon this low Altar which sanctifies the Sacrifice As it is only a fit Sacrifice for God so this only makes us fit Priests to God and before we are fit to offer a sacrifice acceptable we must be Priests and we become not Priests to God till we have offered our selves first to God as a sacrifice 2 Cor. 8. 5. and that we are not till we our selves be slaine and broken and so made a sacrifice Nothing is accepted till the Holy Ghost dwell in the heart and untill a man bee Humbled the Spirit of God dwells not in his heart And therefore what he doth till then savours not of the Spirit but a carnall heart and so is not acceptable Til a man is humbled he keepes the doore shut upon the Lord and His Spirit There is one within his heart is full already hee dwells in his owne heart himselfe therefore it is said Esa. 57. 15. That he dwells in a contrite heart that is in it alone for there is only roome for him to do what he will in all the chambers of it Vntill a man will be obedient in all things no thing he doth is acceptable Hee that turnes his eare from the Law his prayer shall bee abominable Now one that is not humbled throughly hee may bee obedient in many things hee may pray c. but yet he will have by wayes of his owne he hath not fully renounced himselfe that is not Humbled Now unlesse a mans obedience be generall nothing is acceptable And so wee come to the second thing propounded what this humiliation is and herein our maine enquiry is after that which is mainely intended in the text What it is to humble a mans selfe But because the finding of it out depends upon the other also wee will with it shew also what it is to be humbled that so wee may the better know the true humiliation required of us and for the finding out of this wee will first set before you the examples of them who have humbled themselves and have been humbled in Scripture and from thence gather what it is For this you shall finde Manasses in the 2 Chro● 33. in his affliction humbling himselfe greatly and the Lord was intreated of him vers 12. Likewise wee have that of S. Paul humbled Acts 9. 6 where we find him trembling and astonished and saying Lord what wil● thou have me doe See another example in Acts 2. 37. of those who were prickt in their hearts crying out what shall we do to bee saved And so of the Goaler Acts 16. who came trembling and astonied and would have killed himself and likewise of the Prodigall Luk. 15. which though a parable yet sets forth this condition of a soule humbled to us of whom it is said that none gave unto him and that hee came unto himselfe c. Out of all these we gather those two maine parts of Humiliation mentioned humiliation passive and active The first whereof makes way for the second unto which no promise is made and which may be found in an unregenerate man the second which is

that if you would remove the crosse you must remove the sinne first You may observe it in diseases that twenty medicines may bee used and yet if you hit not right upon the cause of the disease the patient is never the better but if that be removed the symptomes presently vanish so when some crosse is upon us wee set our heads and hands and friends aworke to remove it but all in vaine whilst wee hit not the cause and that is sinne which whilst it continues the crosse will continue The reason why our peace and prosperity is entertained with so many crosses and troubles is because our lives are interwoven with so many sinnes The cause of Gods unevennesse in his dispensations of his mercy towards thee is the unevennesse of thy carriage towards him Hast thou a healthfull body a sure estate many friends Thinke not that these shall secure thee see Adam in paradise Salomon in his glory David on his mountaine which hee thought made strong and you shall see Adam when sinne had made a breach upon him once quickly made miserable and sinne bringing in upon Salomon an army of troubles after it and upon David in the height sin bringing in upon him the hazzard of his kingdome the rebellion of his sonne sinne in a mans best estate makes him miserable and grace in the worst estate makes a man happy Saint Paul with a good conscience was happy in prison David through faith was happy at Ziglag But you will say how is it that calamities thus follow upon sinne wee feele no such thing and thus because it is deferred the hearts of men are set to doe evill All this is to bee understood with this caution that sinne when it is perfected brings forth death and not till then God stayed till Ahab had oppressed Naboth and gotten possession and then when he was seene God sends the message of death to him What hast thou killed and also taken possession Thus Iudas he was a thiefe whilst he kept the bag and went on in many sinnes in Christs family and Chri stlets him alone and he goes on till hee had betrayed his Master and then when his sinne was perfected and come to its full ripenesse then at last CHRIST comes with judgement upon him There is a certaine period of judgement and if the Lord stay execution till then thou hast little cause to comfort thy selfe Eccles. 8. 11 12. Because sentence against an evill worke is not speedily executed therefore the hearts of men are set to doe evill As if the wise man should have said Goe to you you that have peace and comfort your selves in this that whatsoever the Word and the Ministers threatten yet you feel nothing yet remember that as soon as the sin is committed the sentence goeth forth therefore he useth the word sentence to expresse this though it bee not so speedily executed yet it goes forth at the same time with the commission of the sinne The sentence you know is one thing the execution another and many times there is and so may be here a long distance betwixt the sentence of the Iudge and the execution of it So as his meaning is that execution is deferred Therefore flatter not your selves sentence is gone forth and execution will follow For the amplification of this that vision of Zachary seemes to make it good Zach. 5. When swearing and theft had beene committed Verse 3. Hee saw a flying roule Verse 2. Which Verse the 3. is interpreted to be the curse that goeth over all the earth for him that stealeth and sweareth Verse 3. which curse may bee upon the wing long ere it seizeth on the prey but it goes forth as soone as those sinnes were committed that is the execution may be deferred which is there further shewed in the parable of the Ephah which sets out as there the measure of the peoples iniquities for so Verse 8. he sayes this is wickednesse which untill it be filled hath not the weight of leade laid upon the mouth of it it being a long while ere God comes to execution and not till their sinnes are full the plummet of leade being laid as it signifies that then their sins are sealed up with the waight of leade rolled upon them that none might be lost or forgotten but God remembers them all and then hee saw two women come and the wind was in their wings Verse 9. that is when their sinnes are thus full and their measure sealed up their judgement comes swiftly like the winde and carries it into Shinar and there this wickednesse is set upon its owne base that is in its proper place a place of misery as hell is said to bee Iudas his owne place Sinne may sleepe a long time like a sleeping debt which is not call'd for and demanded for many yeares but if a man hath not an acquaintance the creditor may call for it in the end and lay the debtor in prison It was forty yeares after Sauls slaying of the Gibeonites ere execution went forth and vengeance was call'd for it So Ioabs sin which he committed in slaying Abner which was slaying innocent bloud slept all Davids time til Salomon came to the crowne Doe not therefore as ill husbands in debt that suffer the suite to runne on from tearme to tearme till they bee out-law'd and pay both debts and charges and all Thy sinnes are a bringing swift damnation and it slumbers not it is on foote already and will overtake thee and meete at thy journeyes end the end of thy dayes Let it therefore be thy wisedome to take up the suite and compound the matter with God betimes else thou shalt not onely pay the debt and smart for the sin it selfe but for all the time of Gods patience towards thee the riches of Gods patience spent and beare all the arrerages Rev. 2. I gave her space to repent but shee repented not God meant to make her pay for all the time he gave her to repent in The next point from these words is That if the calamity bee removed and the sinne bee not healed it is never removed in mercy but in judgement Hee doth here promise first to forgive the sinne and then to heale the Land so as if hee should have healed the Land without forgivenesse it had beene no mercy Because sinne is worse than any crosse whatsoever If therefore hee takes away the crosse and leaves the sinne behinde it is a signe thou art a man whom the Lord hates When a Physician takes away the medicine and leaves the disease uncured it is a signe the parties case is desperate or that the Physician meanes to let him perish Because the Lord doth nothing in vaine if therfore an affliction doth a man no good it must needes doe him hurt for that which doth neither good nor hurt must needes be in vaine That was a property of the Idols of the Heathens which are

they were vaine Secondly because that the LORD will not forsake his people for his great Name sake because it hath pleased him to make you his people as if he had said I would not have you lessen the sinne seeke out excuses as indeed that is our fault in such cases no that is not the way you have committed a monstrous transgression yet forsake not the Lord. Samuel said this because that which keepes men off from the Lord is discouragement for many a man if hee had it may bee a voyce from Heaven that would assure him if he came in his sinnes would be pardoned I doe not think but they would come in though they love their sinnes well But the maine thing that keepes them off is men doe not thinke God so ready to receive and pardon them Now therefore saith Samuel you are his people and the LORD cannot forsake his owne let a man have a child of his owne even when it is young and troublesome and nothing pleasant in it yet because it is his owne his affections will not off from it yea his affections will hold on although when it is growne up it provokes him an hundred times because it is his own Now if they should aske how it comes to passe that they are his Samuel tels them because it pleased him to make you his people there is no other reason can be given of it so that if any of the children of God looking upon all the world lying in wickednesse and should aske the reason why I should be in this good condition rather then they there is no other than that it pleased GOD to make him so GOD loves for no merits which should teach us to looke out of our selves lesse into our hearts in this case and more to the Attributes of GOD to returne in Ier. 3. GOD saies there it is true indeed that if you come to any man in the world when his wife hath played the harlot will he receive her againe no a mans heart in this case cannot relent he hath not mercy enough his heart is too narrow But thou hast played the harlot many a time yet returne to me saith GOD for looke how much larger GODS heart is then a mans so much larger are his mercies If GOD bee thus exceeding mercifull and pitifull this should leade men to repentance there is that in the thing that leades you so Romans 2. 4. when either GOD expresseth his mercies towards us by his behaviour and mercifull dealings with us or causeth his Ministers to offer mercies unto us it leades to repentance It hath indeed a contrary effect almost in all in the world for whom doe not GODS mercies leade from him rather then to him but take heed lest you turne the grace of GOD into wantonnesse which yet men ordinarily do The more favour the more meanes they have enjoyed the more wanton they grow that is the more bold losing their respect to GOD even as a child is apt to doe when his father carries himselfe kind towards him hee cannot beare it he hath not the discretion to consider that it should leade him to obedience but growes bold and wanton And you should also make this use of mercies that the meditations of them should stirre up your hearts to a more kindly sorrow for your sinnes to thinke that you have deserved to be cut off long agoe and that you have committed such sinnes for which many are in hell long since God expects this at your hands and let us make this use of it in these dayes of humiliation the maine worke whereof is to humble your selves and we are to labour to humble you not only by denouncing Gods judgements but by expressions of his mercies also A digression concerning Fasting to the occasion THere is a double manner of doing this duty one wholly publike which should bee from morning till night in publike by the whole land that al together might confesse and humble themselves for the sinnes of it which is more extraordinary But secondly as for these dayes which are kept from weeke to weeke thus it is well ordered that the time is so limited for these publike exercises as that there is time left for the private for the businesse of particular humiliation goes forward better then and these publicke exercises tend but to that end and what is the meanes without the end be attained that is that every man should mourne apart so Zach. 12. when it was a businesse of mourning every family did it apart and the wives apart the wife and the husband are the nearest and if any should be together one would thinke they should and yet they must be then apart and the reason is because nothing humbleth so much as particular sinnes those wound the heart which in publick are not so much confessed but in generall onely but when you are every one in private then you may consider what your lusts your actions have beene and the circumstances of them then you may search your hearts and wayes looke backe and reflect upon your selves and that is the maine businesse and duties of these dayes Some of you it may bee will say I know not how to spend my time in private when I am from the Church but consider hast thou not committed many sinnes consider them canst thou not speake and confesse them and say Lord I confesse I have fallen backe into this againe and againe But secondly when you have done this seeke reconciliation and beg it earnestly which the heart will doe when it is touched with the sence of sinne and the enumeration of them will worke your hearts to it when you see the multitudes the circumstances the aggravations of them and because this is the greatest of all your requests therefore you must be the most earnest in it and therefore God doth purposely with-hold assurance often to teach men what it is to be reconciled to him and fasting serves to intend your prayers that they may be the more earnest Thirdly renew your covenants also consider what sinnes you are most inclined to and what occasions draw you most to those sinnes and vow against them Consider what good duties you have slighted most and that your hearts are most apt to faile in and promise better obedience Fourthly not only make a promise but labour to bring your hearts to be willing to leave those sins in good earnest and to performe those duties and when the heart is strongly byassed any way it is hard to alter it it is no easie matter to get an inward willingnesse you must therfore have much reasoning with your hearts to bring them to it Fiftly when they are brought into a good temper they are easily subject to be distempered again our affections shoote too far into worldly businesses your love your feare your griefe is subject to be too much in something and it is not easie