Selected quad for the lemma: mercy_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
mercy_n	look_v	lord_n	soul_n	5,124	5	5.4191	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

speech or thought it little worth which I acknowledge to be an excellent gift of God as Paul spake of it in the people of Corinth and I doe bewaile that the want of it is so great in so long continuance of the Gospell preached yea I say more that wee are commaunded of God to take vnto vs words to expresse our requests confession of sinnes thankesgiuing and our couenants of amendment of life and to be examples to others in our communication as well as in our conuersation and woe to them that indeuour not after it But to rest in it as if that were sufficient it is nothing and to stay our hope vpon it as if we thought it a testimonie of our happinesse it is no better then a bruised reede This therefore or any other such gifts of God are seemely ornaments in them that haue them for in most parts of the land ye shall not finde good words and godly speech common I need not say in Wales or Ireland but not in many places of England but dispised rather and laughed to scorne and rotten and filthie communication intertained with great applause in stead of it but yet as I haue said this alone of it selfe without other gifts of God is not currant nor that in which a man may haue contentment The reason is the heart of man is deceitfull and goeth not alwaies with the tongue and therefore we may well when we heare the one doubt of the other and yet the diuell can change himselfe into an angell of light and therefore can easilie perswade vs that euery good word or deed comming from vs is enough to saluation especially men being ready to thinke euery little to bee sufficient to serue God withall Whereas wee ought to search diligently and trie our waies and the whole course of our hearts and liues and pull downe the olde ruines of both and set vp the contrarie in stead thereof in both and all little enough to make a due proofe vnto vs that we are partakers of the promise of eternall life which to be necessarie to assure vs of the same and no lesse that saying of the Prophet Micah doth liuely shew where he bringeth in the wicked speaking thus when they sought how to be acceptable to God that they might please him Wherewith shall we come before the Lord and bow our selues before the high God Shall I come before him with burnt offerings Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of Rammes or with ten thousand riuers of oyle Shall I giue my first borne for my transgression Euen the fruite of my bodie for the sinne of my soule But the Prophet answered farre otherwise then they looked for saying He hath shewed to thee O man what is good and what the Lord requireth of thee surely to doe iustice and to loue mercie and to humble thy selfe and to walke with God Whereby he sheweth that man cannot direct himselfe in the great matters of pleasing God and seeking his fauour but God must guide him therein to the end hee may haue peace and consequently that good words are not sufficient to rest in for welfare and happines without better furniture of grace and goodnes And to goe a steppe further if good speech as commendation of the word praising of God and communication of his works and will be not to be rested in in what case are they who haue almost no good speech but rather that which commeth from them is profane foolish corrupt and such as ouerthwarteth and crosseth goodnesse But here a question ariseth about the people mentioned in the text for if their answere were good why was it not allowed meant they not as they spake I say yes but that freed them onely from hypocrisie but was no argument of their sinceritie for there is a middle sinne betwixt them both and may be called halting or not vpright and may cleerely be discerned by that which is spoken of the Israelites in the Psalme Who made a couenant there with God and had not to doe with men and therefore though they brake and went from it they could not be charged with hypocrisie but yet they dealt treacherously with the Lord in that they were not carefull to keepe and performe it The words are these in effect When he slew them they sought him yea they returned and sought God early but they flattered him with their mouth and dissembled with him in their tongue for their heart was not vpright with him neither were they faithfull in his couenant Now from this that hath been said in the answere to the question a good poynt is to bee obserued namely that wee take great heed when we couenant with God about amendment either in generall or to forsake any particular sinne in our life though we doe it in secret no man knowing thereof I say great heed is to be taken that we doe not afterwards waxe remisse and cold in going about to performe the same for then God will count it but flattering and deceiuing of him which he will not put vp at our hands for why men will not beare such indignitie one at anothers hands I speake this seeing many neuer suspect any danger to be comming toward them by breach of couenant to God if they cannot be challenged for hypocrisie before men Which indeed is the grosser of the two and it is the sinne of the most to vtter great words before men of their godlinesse when yet they deny the power thereof but yet the other is also odious to God when men so slightly regard the promise which they haue in their good moode made to him of obedience as though it were not to be looked after Such are al they who hauing in their trouble sicke bed or at their receiuing of the Sacrament professed seriouslie to turne to the Lord haue yet started aside afterwards like a broken bow I haue my selfe sometime had good hope of people when I visiting them in their likeliehood of death haue heard their franke and free promise made to God of forsaking their former ill life But when I haue seene so slight fruite to follow in many of them they returning after their recouerie to their wicked course as the dogge to his vomit tempting God thereby in a fearefull manner which is Pharaos sinne my good hope hath been much cooled and this I haue learned to bee so true by long experience that I dare not rest vpon such couenants And yet God forbid but that many couenanting the same by like occasions should looke conscionably to performe their couenant afterward though too many fall from them according to that which is said by Dauid in the Psalme I haue sworne and will performe it that I will keepe thy righteous iudgements Thus much of the mixed speech of God in the first part of the text Now it followeth what the Lord wished to the people in the second part And

to call the righteous who so thinke themselues but the sinner to repentance So that to thirst for grace is no common grace of God and according to the price that the holy Ghost sets it at it aduanceth them that haue it farre aboue many florishers who yet beare no small shew of religion and goodnes And this I doe aduisedly and willingly teach and publish for their sakes who through Gods goodnes haue attained to this grace in some good measure and yet feare that they are of all other most miserable That they may see Gods mercy farre greater to them then they can be perswaded that it is But while they thus meanly account of their estate which is right happie yet I know there are other who come farre short of them in feruent desiring of holy and heauēly things and haue onely a desire to heare preaching at some time and as they say in their good moode and otherwise are as vaine and vnprofitable as others who yet will be ready to thinke themselues to be they of whom the Prophet here speaketh as it commeth to passe too cōmonly that they apply amisse cōfortable Scriptures to themselues which belong not vnto them and they to whom they belong indeed put them from them as fast through vnbeliefe as not pertaining to them I will therefore somewhat more fully and clearely set downe my minde agreeable to the Prophets about this thirsting Therefore that men may be able to proue without deceiuing themselues that they haue this thirsting which the prophet requireth to the which so precious a promise is annexed of obtaining that which they so desire we must vnderstand that foure things are requisite to be knowne The first is what are the true properties of thirsting Secondly the causes why God requires it Thirdly how long we must thirst Fourthly how we may best come to it Concerning the first the properties of it may best be seene by considering them in the naturall thirst and namely these two the one that he which thirsteth doth most hartily desire drinke so as he cannot be quiet but through the hope of it The other which also is consequēt to it is that if it be deferred he can do nothing but is ready to faint for want of it Both are most clearely to be seene in Sampsons thirst who hauing slaine a thousand men of the Philistims with the Iawe boane of an asse was sore a thirst and called on the Lord and said Thou hast giuen this great deliuerance into the hands of thy seruant and now shall I dye for thirst meaning he could not beare it nor doe any thing without drinke Now to apply these to the spirituall thirst he is truely said to thirst for the pardon of his sinnes for eternall life or any grace of sanctification not who desireth and prayeth for them but yet can goe his way without them or the certainty and assurance of them and yet can be well contented but he who fainteth in his soule for want of them neither can goe about any thing readily nor in kind without some true perswasion of inioying them And this is apparantly to bee seene in the seruants of God both in the Scriptures mentioned and also in our daily experience of such as we liue with For the first looke vpon Dauids example when he desired any grace of God as mercy to couer his sinne the liberty of worshipping him among Gods people the presence of God in comforting his soule or knowledge of his will How doth he witnes this thirsting to haue bin in him when he sought these In the 51. Psalme Haue mercy on me O Lord according to thy great mercies and the multitude of thy compassions In the 42. Psalme he saith Like as the Hart brayeth for the riuers of waters so panteth my soule after thee O God vers 2. My soule thirsteth for God euen for the liuing God when shall I come and appeare before the presence of God vers 3. My teares haue beene my meate day and night while they daily say to me where is thy God In another Psalme O Lord of hoastes how amiable are thy dwelling places my soule longeth yea and fainteth for the courtes of the Lord. But that I heape not vp many testimonies in a matter so cleare in our owne obseruation either of our selues or our brethren what marueilous sighes and earnest longings haue we seene in Gods people to obtaine that which they desired as when he hath begunne the worke of grace in them when he hath brought them in loue with the life to come giuen them eyes to see the bondage of feare doubting of pardon of their sinnes and what a precious treasure it is to mortifie and bring into subiection their vnruly passions and the strength of their great offences what longing I say to be deliuered and to be set at liberty hath there been seene what sighing and vnwearied desiring of the grace which they sought hath there beene in them which affections witnessed that there was this thirsting in them that till they had some word of comfort from God who onely can doe it they could in no wise be satisfyed Neither was this so with them onely in a mood and for a season for so a wicked man may desire heauenly things also but this continued till they obtained their desire and as they obtained one good thing they thirsted for another as I shal haue occasion to shew afterwards and also for a greater measure of that grace which they had already And this thirsting in Gods people condemneth that which goeth for it in many and that howerly and flitting desire of the word or the good things which are in it which falleth as it riseth and vanisheth as a shadow and commeth to nothing in the ende when the fruite of it should be greatest And yet seeing either they cannot or will not learne to put difference betwixt the one and the other that is the true thirst that which is deceiuable they are far wide thinking that they haue that kinde and right thirsting after spirituall foode of the soule when yet by this that hath bin said of this matter it is manifest that they are farre from it if it were but for this cause that they giue ouer seeking before they haue found the grace which they seemed to thirst for And this be said of the properties of thirsting the first of the foure things which I set downe And this ought to teach vs not to marueile when we see many to fall away from their zeale who haue seemed forward because it was neuer aright planted in them The second point followeth namely the causes why God requireth this thirsting to be in vs that cannot be in any but in his seruants And the causes are specially three The first seeing it must be sutable to the bodily thirst The secōd if we thirsted not we could not haue the variety of good things which

adde this one thing as a watchword to them all And that is that they take speciall heed that they harden not their hearts to abide still in that which they haue ill done neither against the instruction that calleth them backe from it neither make light of their sins as Esau did who when he had sold his birth-right being a signe of eternall life he made a sleight matter of it saying what is this birth-right vnto me as if he should haue said what good would it haue done me But it shall be their wisdome to sift and search themselues as they haue been taught to do rather then go further and further seriously considering the words of the Prophet which are these Doth a man fall and not rise againe or go out of the way and not returne And they should say as the Apostle said when their master told them that one of them should betray him answering seuerally as fearing lest such a mischiefe might light vpon them is it I master and another is it I And they should as they which are wearie of their doings and willing to repent say euery one by himselfe the men apart as the Prophet Zacharie speaketh and the women apart what haue I done And so shall they see that God will soone turne away from his displeasure and be mercifull to them According to that in Osea where the Lord giueth a most sweet and plaine direction both to repent and obtaine mercie saying Vers 1. O Israel returne to the Lord thy God for thou hast fallen by thine iniquitie 2. Take vnto you words and turne to the Lord and say vnto him take away all iniquitie and receiue vs graciously so will we render the calues of our lips 3. Ashur that is the Assirians shall not saue vs neither will we ride vpon horses that is to trust in them neither will we say any more to the worke of our hands ye are our gods for in thee the fatherlesse findeth mercie 4. I will heale their rebellion I will loue them freely saith the Lord for mine anger is turned away from them Herein the Lord setteth downe his louing kindnes toward them sundry waies that they or any that price and highly set by it may the easilier be perswaded of it and beleeue it and he requireth of them repentance to the end they and all beleeuers may yeeld and performe it And thus much be said at this time and of this first sort heere which our Sauiour speaketh of namely of those which fill the world with sinne THE SECOND SERMON VPON THE 24. OF MATthew the 12. and 13. verses The second part THe second part of the text followeth in which is shewed that by the abundance of iniquitie the loue of many shall waxe cold that is when the simple harted and godly minded people who would most willingly go on in a holy course shall yet see the horrible abominations in the world on euerie side swarming and those also with boldnesse vpholden and defended bearing sway and preuailing though at first they vtter dislike them yet being continually annoyed with them and grieued therewith by little and little they are discouraged and weakened in their good course till time they be cooled and fall from it deseruing thereby the sharpe reproofe which was giuen to the Church of Ephesus which was this I haue somewhat against thee euen for that thou hast left thy first loue This point laying out another sort of people to vs besides those who haue been spoken off to the end we may see our Sauiours mind the better therein and make our profit of it First I wil shew what he meaneth by this loue when he saith the loue of many shall waxe cold secondly that it is much decayed and waxen cold indeed in this our age as he foresaid it should and thirdly by what meanes and how namely by the abundance of iniquitie flowing round about them Fourthly I will set downe a remedie for such as haue fallen how they may rise againe and adde reasons to disswade from suffering their loue to waxe cold in them Now this loue heere spoken of is the same that Saint Iohn calleth our first loue which is a holy and heauenly affection stirred vp and wrought in our hearts as soone as we be perswaded of the loue of God in Christ to vs. And it causeth vs to set our loue on God more then euer we loued father wife or friend or any thing else of the greatest account and reckoning For this loue of God constraineth vs so to do and for his sake to loue our brethren For he that loueth him that begate loueth him also which is begotten also it draweth vs in a most feruent manner to loue the word of God as the Psalmist saith Oh how loue I thy word and the true Preachers of it for beautifull are the feet of those that bring glad tidings And what maruell For who can sufficiently haue his hart enlarged in this manner toward God who being by his former sinfull life brought euen to hell gates and that without hope of recouerie by any way that he could see did when he least looked for it and that of Gods meere loue and mercie obtaine deliuerance from the same and withall saw himselfe adopted and taken to be heire of euerlasting life This vnspeakable benefit as a spring sending forth and accompanied with many other blessings freely bestowed vpon him by Christ what can be too deare for him that hath bestowed it He is readie therefore for his sake that did all this for him to giue and consecrate himselfe againe to him and to be at his command in all things From whence it followeth that in great zeale and feruentnes he seeketh to do the will of God to the admiration of others euen as he himselfe saith if yee loue me yee will keepe my Commandements And this in few words is the loue that Christ heere speaketh of Now this loue is cooled or waxeth cold when this feruentnes is abated and this exceeding loue of Christ which before could neuer be thought great enough is now slaked as if it were almost put out Which commeth to passe when it is not daily and duely considered and remembred prised and valued aboue all other things as it is meete it should be and sometime also was in such account and reckoning with vs when we first beleeued And then also it is asswaged and decayeth when our loue fasteneth strongly vpon transitorie delights profits or preferments and especially if it be linked into any of these when they shall be sinfull and vnlawfull Thus I say when God his word faithfull Preachers and seruants of his with obedience to his will shall not be in the greatest price and estimation but thrust out by things of lesse and meaner value our loue is iustly said to become cold and that reproofe incurred which our Sauiour heere speaketh of And this