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
A94051	Mercy rejoycing against judgement: or, God waiting to be gracious to a sinfull nation. A sermon preached before the honorable House of Commons in Margarets Westminster, upon the solemne day of their publique humiliation and monethly fast, Octob. 29. 1645. / By John Strickland, B.D. pastor of the church at Edmonds in the citie of New Sarum, now preacher at Peters Poor, London, and a member of the Assembly of Divines. Published by order of the House of Commons.	Strickland, John, 1600 or 1601-1670.	1645 (1645)	Wing S5973; Thomason E307_21; ESTC R200349	19,186	32

him behold and be astonished Therfore the Lord will waite that he may be gracious unto you This inference holds out the freenesse and riches of divine goodnesse because God is gracious therefore he will waite that he may be gracious Some do make the inference from the Judgmēt denounced against the sin of the Jewes that since God had determined to bring evill upon them if they repented not for every threatning carries in it a tacite condition of impenitency and therefore till the time that the Decree bring forth The Lord will waite that he may be gracious unto you And this holds out the riches and bountifulnesse of his patience and longsufferance-spoken of Rom. 2.4 But I humbly conceive with others that the word therefore looks best inward into the text it selfe where we find the exaltation and glory of his grace and mercy the spring and as I may say the first mover of God to waite and the finall cause of this his waiting he will waite that he may be gracious and he will waite that he may be exalted in showing mercie and this Gods own design of advancing his goodnesse and patience towards these obstinate and sinfull Iewes offers the fairest and most genuine ground of inference And therefore will the Lord wait that he may be gracious Waite expectabit Waite which signifies locum paenitendo concedere others tell us that this doth not sufficiently expresse the force of the Originall word which signifies as much as a longing expectation 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 vehementer expecta vit in hiare vel anhelare as a hungry man waits for meat or as a theef doth waite for a man to rob him Hos 6.9 it may denote 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a looking after with neck stretched out rendred the earnest expectation of the creature waiting for the manifestation of the sons of God Rom. 8.19 Rom. 8.19 the summe is huc tendit in hoc totus est ut misereatur The Lord waits as being very desirous to be gracious unto you though the Iewes were unfit for mercie and fit for Judgement at the present the Lord in waiting suspends his justice and looks sot a time that he may be mercifull That be may be gracious He is so alwaies in himself Gracious but doth not alwaies appear such unto his people they are not alwaies capable of the sweet aspects of grace by reason that their sins do sometimes bind them overto his Justice so that he cannot be gracious salvâ justitiâ till they repent return to him then he will be that is declare himself to be gracious unto you in pardoning your sin in taking off your punishment in delivering you from the sentence gone out against you and in setting you at rest in your own land And therfore will the Lord waite that he may be thus gracious unto you _____ The point Sometimes God wonderfully suspends his Judgments Doct. and waits upon a provoking people that he may be mercifull to them What the Poets faine of their Jupiter that he never throws his Thunder-bolts but when furies wrest them out of his hands in a sense is true indeed of God he never takes his rod in hand unprovoked nor alwaies when he is provoked by the sinnes of a people Si quoties peccant homines sua fulmina mittat Jupiter exiguo tempore inermis erit God is provoked every day yet is he slow to anger Yea somtimes when he has determined to bring evill upon a people and put himself into a posture of Judgement drawn out the sword and smitten them though they cease not to provoke him he ceaseth to punish them as a tender Father in correcting a rebellious and graceless child holds his hand somtime before the child begg for mercie and of meere grace forbears so God did w th Israel Psa 78.38 Psa 78.38 Notwithstanding their dissembling with their flattering tongus covenant breaking hearts He forgave their iniquity and destroyed them not yea many a time turned he his anger away and would not stir up all his wrath Multus in co suit ut averteret iram suam Musc The words are He multiplyed to turne away his anger as they multiplyed to provoke it he multiplyed to turne it away and so at length overnumbred their sinnes with his mercies that they were not destroyed And when the same people of the Iewes elsewhere seemed to confront Gods Judgements with their obstinacy by persisting in their sins as if they meant to contend with God whether he should prevaile in punishing or they in sinning yea when in all reason if we look upon it with humane judgement their punishment should have been increased rather then mercy should have been extended to them Behold how admirably the Lord breaks out into a way of mercy Isa 57.17 18. Isa 57.17.18 For the iniquity of his covetousnes was I wroth smote him I bid me was wroth and he went on frowardly in the way of his heart I have seen his waies and I will heale him I will lead him also and restore comforts unto him and to his mourners What Logick can draw an argument of mercy from this Topick I have seene the frowardnesse of his waies Their sinne was a foul sin committed against their experience of the evill of sinne he had made them tast of the fruit of their doings and Gods eye is a pure eye and cannot behold iniquity so that one would have thought God would have concluded I have seen his waies and I will punish him but that he should conclude I have seen his waies and I will heale him is an astonishment As it was the commendation of Theodosius his clemency sweet disposition Theodosius that it was to him as if he received a benefit if he might have an opportunity to forgive an injury So it is the excellency of divine bowels that the Lord is very desirous to forgive be cause mercy pleaseth him and will rather somtimes make an occasion then want one to take up his displeasure when it is incensed against his people if they be not in themselves yet in a capacity of mercy he will waite til they be that he may be mercifull to them It is observable upon what ground the Lord seems to take up a resolution never to destroy the world any more by a floud Ge. 8.21 Gen. 8.21 I will not again curse the ground any more for mans sake for the imagination of mans heart is evil from his youth He drowned the world before Gen. 6.5 because the imaginations of mans heart were evill Gen. 6.5 and will he now spare it because the imaginations of mans heart are evill Gen. 8.21 what riddle is this is the evill in mans heart any lesse then it was or is it lesse hatefull in Gods eye then it was neither so nor so but the Lord having now smelled a sweet savour in Noahs sacrifice Gen. 8.21 which

prevaile by Judgements or by mercies some must be brought in by an earth-quake others will be brought in as easily by a still voice Thirdly He waits because he is a God of Judgement to know when the giving in of mercies will bring God most honour and when Gods hand will be most clearly seen to give in mercies so that they may be convincing mercies thus he waited on his stiff-necked people that he might be mercifull to them even till Antiochus had broken all their power so that there was no help to be expected and then the Lord came in with Michaels deliverance Dan. 12.1.7 when he shall have accomplished to scatter the power of the holy people Dan. 11.1.7 for then they could see that their help was from God Thus he waited upon the wastful Prodigall till he had spent all so that he must either have God or nothing Luk. 15. and then the Fathers imbraces are sweet and welcome Luk. 1. Before I come to the Use of the Prophets doctrine which the text presents you let us consider whether this age be not one of these sometimes wherein God wonderfully suspends his Judgments and waites upon a provoking people that he may be mercifull to them Are we not astonished and like unto them that dreame this day while wee looke upon the God of our salvation answering us as he doth by terrible things in his righteousnes doing terrible things that we looked not for whereby the moūtaines even the mountains of enemies and opposition do flow down and tremble at his presence he that hath formerly drawn out the sword and bent his bow and like an enemy fought against us giving Iacob to the spoile and Israel to the robbers has in the midst of wrath remembred mercy and when he saw that there was no man and wondred that there was no intercessor his own Arme hath brought salvation to him and his righteousnes it sustained him Who would have thought in a few months past that we should have seene such a change in England in so short a time that our solemn fasts the fast of the 4th monetle and the fast of the 5th and the 7th and the 10th month should be turned into solemne feasts of joy and gladnes that our thanksgiving dayes should over number our dayes of humiliation Yet am I so farr from the opinion of laying aside our humiliations in these times of rejoycing as if they were inconsistent with our joyfull feasts that I conceive the duties of humiliation and rejoycing spiritually performed very helpfull one to another and to spiritualize one another blessings obtained by prayer and fasting cannot but affect the soul and raise it unto a greater pitch of spirituall thankfulnesse and when mercies have made the soule to rejoyce in God it cannot but mourne over sinne more ingenuously then before If mercies will not work with a people this way when God gives them in after judgements they will be but lucida intervalla presages of greater Judgemēts to follow Sim. like the Sunshine between two dread full stormes or rather like a reviving between two fits of a feaver when the patient dyes of the latter Chorazin that had been lift up to heaven by mercies and the great works that were done in her was afterwards thrust down to hell in Judgements Ingentia beneficia ingentia flagitia ingentia supplicia If great wickednesse follow great benefits great punishments shall follow great wickednesse as is confessed by Ezra 9.13.14 Ezra 9.13.14 Repentance and reformation is the point that we must be brought unto either by Judgments or mercies and since former Judgements have not brought us to it O that the Lord would melt our hearts this day with his astonishing mercies that our hard and frozen Spirits which would not be broken hitherto by the hammer of his Judgements might now be softened by the fire of his mercies And truly honorable and beloved mercies especially when they are given in to an undeserving people as our mercies are are very proper premises and principles of godly sorrow and shame for sin seeing that this is promised as a fruit of mercy I have looked into the Book of God to see whether God hath been wont in former times to bring in his people to repentance and reformation by deliverances and mercies For if God have never gone in such a way with a people heretofore I should feare that notwithstanding our many and wonderfull publick mercies wherewith God hath at present blessed our Land we should have an after-clap and be brought back again into the refiners fire and furnace of affliction that our drosse which is not yet severed from us may be purged out and our filthinesse depart from us which is the way whereby God ordinarily prevailes with a people in that kind And of all the hopefull presidents I could find wherein God hath brought in a people by mercy this is the most eminent Ezek. 36.31 32. Applied Ezek. 36.31.32 Then shall yee remember your own evill wayes and your doings that are not good and shall loath your selves in your own sight for your iniquities and for your abominations Not for your sakes doe I this saith the Lord God be it known unto you be ashamed and confounded for your own wayes O house of Israel You may look upon Israel in this chapter as Englands parallell in our present condition They had defiled their own land with the bloud that they had shed and with their Idols yea they had profaned the name of God among the heathen also and therefore the Lord had powred out his fury upon them V. 17-21 v. 17 -21 but the Lord pitied them for his own holy Name which they had profaned and he resolved to sanctifie his great and holy Name by delivering them from captivity and setting them at peace in their own Land V. 21-25 v. 21 -25 And further he would reform them according to his covenant and make them a holy people and their land which had been laid waste a fruitful land v 25-31 V. 25-31 And when the Lord shall have done all this and that without the least desert of theirs as the Lord bids them take notice of it Be it known unto you then shall they repent and be ashamed He is a stranger to England that hath not seen England like unto Israel in their sinnes it hath been defiled with bloud and idols whereby the Name of our God hath been profaned and like to Israel in their punishments the Lord hath powred out his fury upon them and like unto Israel in their deliverances and mercies God is now sanctifying his holy Name which we had polluted by delivering us and making way to settle us at peace in our own land The Lord make England like unto Israel in their repentance and reformation also Now because the undeservednesse of mercie and that they are given to those that could not expect them has a great influence upon the heart

as appears in that God presseth it so often v. 21.22 32. I desire to set before your judicious cōsideration three things How to mourn in the sight of present mercies Directions that may help us to a mourning frame of spirit in the sight of our great mercies that we may loath our selves in our own sight this day for our iniquities and be confounded for our own wayes First Let us set our sins this day at least some of them in the sight of our hearts together with our mercies David looks upon both together while from his mercies he reflects upon himself when his people offered so willingly toward building the Temple 1 Cro. 29.14 Who am I and what is my people So wee while we look upon the mercies that God hath heaped on us may sit down astonished say Who are we and what is our people are we not an Apostatizing nation we werefallen from our Primitive reformation there is yet a spirit of whoredom in the midst of us to oppose reformatiō to this day Let us look upon Ierusalem how severely the Lord dealt with her for abusing his love and turning aside to spirituall fornication as we have done Ezek. 16.38.40 Ezek 13.36.40 I will judge thee saith God as women that break wedlock and shed bloud are judged and I will give thee bloud in fury and jealousie We are also a Covenant-breaking people and having taken the name of God in vaine how should the Lord hold us guiltlesse this brought wrath upon Israel and Iudah unavoidably the house of Israel and Iudah have broken my Covenant Isa 11.11 Ier. 11.11 Therefore I will bring evill upon them which they shall not be able to escape We have been and are apt to say a Confederacy to such as God would not have us say a Confederacy to and to cover with a covering but not of Gods Spirit as our Prophet complains Isa 30.1 we subject Religion and the things of God Isa 30 1. to carnall ends being led by carnall policie in matters of conscience and highest concernment too much verifying in that of old Mater peperit filiam et filia devoravit matrem Policy hath alwaies been a clog to Religion and would never suffer former ages to adventure upon a through reformation the Lord keep our generation that we dash not against the same rock Though the Lord hath pronounced them cursed that trust in man Ier. 17.5 and make flesh their arme Ier. 17.5 we are full of carnall confidence lifted up or cast down according as outward means and humane probabilities do ebb or flow like Israel we seek God when we need him Psa 78. in a low condition and when we are delivered we forget him Psal 78. We are guilty of self-seeking every man looks for his gaine from his quarter as Paul complained all men seek their own none the things of Jesus Christ To be acted by a private Spirit in publike undertakings doth not only blemish the beauty but alters the nature of the undertaking and makes that sinfull which if acted with a publique Spirit had been commendable and glorious 2 King 10.30 Jehu in cuting off the house of Ahab did according to the word of the Lord but because he had ends of his own in doing it Hos 1.4 the bloud of Ahab is put upon his account We suffer Gods House to lye wast while we dwell in seiled houses by division and errors truth is fallen in the street and confusion hasteth and yet we look on and lay it not to heart We turn head against Jesus Christ like those that break his bands and cast away his cords from them Psa 1. we refuse his easie yoke and cast off his light burden as if we were of their mind that said wee will not have this man rule over us Luc. 19.21 Luc. 19.21 All this scumme is in the midst of us untaken away and all this drosse and much more is in us in the very fire of Gods Judgements so that in our filthinesse is lewdnesse Now consider Gods usuall manner of proceeding with such sinners He will set his face against them and they shall be slain before their enemies c. Lev. 26.17 Lev. 26.17 and if they walke contrary he will punish them seaven times more and seaven times more and seaven times more for their sinnes and at last walke contrary unto them in fury The like also when Israel grew incorrigable as England hath been and would not return to the Lord what gradations of Judgment are mustered up against them Amos 4.6 Amos 4.6 2ly Consider Gods admirable patience towards us above his former dear people he bare with their maners in the wildernes 40 years but what 's that to fourscore years patience wherein he hath born with England and all these yeares what pride and contempt what abominations hath God put up at the hands of a foolish Nation And is not England yet destroyed She hath boyled in Sodoms lust but she is not consumed with Sodoms fire she hath committed Israels iniquities but she hath not suffered Israels punishments God did exalt his mercy in sparing the rebellions of Israel Ezek 20.14.17.22 Ezek. 20.14.17.22 when it was breaking forth against them three times yet still he wrought for his own names sake but how often hee hath restrained his wrath when it was ready to break out against England and wrought for his own names sake to spare us in turning his wrath away I appeal unto you In all this if we consider how God hath out-gone I say not our desert but even our faith our prayers and expectations in the greatnesse multitude of his blessings giving them in most seasonably when we were upon the brink of ruine by his own hand so that we may say If it had not been the Lord who was on our side we had been swallowed up And that he should doe all these after so much patience wherein he hath many a time turned his wrath away notwithstanding our many and provoking sinnes wherewith we have pressed the Lord as a Cart is pressed that is full of sheaves so that he hath groaned under us as it were and complained of our unkindnesse Micah 6.3 O my people what have I done unto thee and wherein have I wearied thee Testifie against me What hard heart can yet tread upon such bowels Whose eyes would not run over in looking upon those divine meltings and say It is known unto us this day that not for our sakes but for his own holy names sake which we had polluted the Lord hath done all this we are ashamed and confounded for our own wayes Blessed are all they that wait for him Vse The use which our Prophet makes of his own Doctrine is of Exhortation to a duty Wayt upon the Lord backed with the encouragement of a promise Blessed are all they that wait for him He that of meer goodnesse turnes