Coup de grâce

“ Had very comfortable feelings yesterday in meeting. Oh, it was joyful to believe that God was near to bless and to forgive. This evening, I have longed to commit my soul and its keeping into my Father's hands. Oh for a little more faith in His infinite, everlasting mercy! To come even boldly to the throne of grace, is the high calling even of those most in need of mercy. ”

“ While at Thy feet we fall,
And humbly with united cry,
To Thee for mercy call.
The guilt is ours, but grace is Thine,
O turn us not away,
But hear us from Thy lofty throne,
And help us when we pray. ”

“ Thy mercy has carried me to this hour. If I have done any good, it has been through the operation of Thy grace; and for the evil that I have done I have not been visited with any great judgment, nor given over unto death. I am yet in the land of the living; the living shall praise Thee, Lord; with a most thankful spirit do I kneel before Thee, Father of spirits, for I have provoked Thee every day, and Thou hast had mercy upon me. ”

“ There is no one, O my Lord, who can deal bountifully with me to whom I can turn my face, and none who can have compassion on me that I may crave his mercy. Cast me not out, I implore Thee, of the presence of Thy grace, neither do Thou withhold from me the outpourings of Thy generosity and bounty. Ordain for me, O my Lord, what Thou hast ordained for them that love Thee, and write down for me what Thou hast written down for Thy chosen ones. My gaze hath, at all times, been fixed on the horizon of Thy gracious providence, and mine eyes bent upon the court of Thy tender mercies. ”

“ Thank God, that we are yet pirsoners of hope, that a Throne of Grace is erected, and that sinners may now obtain mercy and find grace to help them in their time of need. I beseech you, therefore, to improve these precious privileges, while as yet pardon may be obtained. Lay down the weapons of your rebellion, and fight against God no more. ”

“ Thou didst once a wretch behold, In rebellion blindly bold, Scorn Thy grace, Thy power defy: That poor rebel, Lord, was I. Once a sinner, near despair, Sought Thy mercy seat by prayer; Mercy heard, and set him free: Lord, that mercy came to me. Many days have passed since then, Many changes I have seen; Yet have been upheld till now; Who could hold me up but Thou? Thou hast helped in every need; This emboldens me to plead: After so much mercy past, Canst Thou let me sink at last? No, I must maintain my hold; ’Tis Thy goodness makes me bold; I can no denial take, When I plead for Jesus’ sake. ”

“ Take away, O Lord, from our hearts all suspicion, indignation, anger, and contention, and whatsoever is able to injure charity and diminish brotherly love. Have mercy, have mercy, Lord, on those who entreat Thy mercy; give grace to the needy; and make us such that we may be worthy to enjoy Thy grace, and go forward to the life eternal. ”

“ In compassion to us thou hast not stirred up all thy wrath, but, when an intercessor has stood before thee in the gap, thou hast turned away thy anger."
II. They are taught to pray to God for grace and mercy, in reference to their present distress; this is inferred from the former: "Thou hast done well for our fathers; do well for us, for we are the children of the same covenant." 1. They pray for converting grace: " Turn us, O God of our salvation! in order to the turning of our captivity; turn us from iniquity; turn us to thyself and to our duty; turn us, and we shall be turned." ”

“ Then he explained how one can pray in the midst of work and turmoil; the heart needs no ceremony to ask the help of the Heavenly Father. There are no doorkeepers or guards at the gates. There the humblest kind of prayer, the silent aspiration, "Lord, be merciful to me a sinner," goes straight, unimpeded, to the throne of grace. ”

“ Give unto Thy servants grace in their sight, that we may go forth in peace, and return if it be Thy will in safety, to the honour and glory of Thy Name, through Jesus Christ our Lord.
'O Almighty God, Father of Mercy, we cry unto Thee in our sorrow and distress, most humbly confessing that we have most justly provoked Thy wrath and heavy indignation.
'We know, O Lord, that this is a dispensation of mercy, a gift from Thee, to be used, as all things may be used to Thy glory. Yet, O Lord, suffer not our unworthiness to hinder Thy work of mercy! ”

“ And grant unto us, O Lord, through Thy clemency, that we may all together, and equally every day of our life, please Thy divinity, and be rendered worthy of the aid of Thy grace to offer Thee praise, honour, thanksgiving, and adoration at all times, O Lord. ”

“ Happy are those sinners who by the sincerity and fervor of their repentance will have at the last day their Judge, Redeemer, and God, for their advocate and patron! The first and most important grace which the Church teaches us in her litany most earnestly to ask of God is, that He vouchsafe, in his mercy, to bring us to this true penance.
Mercy is the property and the favorite attribute of our divine Redeemer; and tinder is not so soon kindled by fire when applied to it, as the divine mercy blots out all sin when it is implored with a heart full of confusion and truly penitent. ”

“ In the depth of troubles we learn the sufficiency of grace. Well may they "glory in tribulations also," who have learnt in them the most profitable lessons of grace—proved in them how ample is the provision of grace, and realized in them the certainty of the triumph of grace. I know not whether all soldiers love the thought of war—some do; there are many who pant for a campaign. ”

“ And we're thankful to God, who turned suffering into strength, and grief into grace. Offering thanks in the midst of tragedy is an American tradition, perhaps because, in times of testing, our dependence on God is so clear. ”

“ Prayer and supplication to the throne of mercy for that grace which can change all hearts, convert misery into happiness, and set humble chastised penitence by the side of undeviating virtue,—prayer and supplication for a poor stricken sister, and for our sinful selves, is our fittest employment now. ”

“ Such is the deceitfulness of sin, or the vanity and purblindness of the human heart, that the very regularity and abundance of the Divine mercies, instead of increasing, are apt to restrict our gratitude. We take, as a matter of course, what ought to be received with humblest thankfulness. An old writer has well said, “Need will make us beggars, but grace only thanksgivers. Gratitude opens the hand of God to give, and the heart of the suppliant to receive aright. Thankfulness for past mercies is an important condition of success in pleading for additional blessings.” ”

“ Arise, call upon thy God; we are here crying every man to his god, why dost not thou get up and cry to thine? Art not thou equally concerned with the rest both in the danger dreaded and in the deliverance desired?" Note, The devotions of others should quicken ours; and those who hope to share in a common mercy ought in all reason to contribute their quota towards the prayers and supplications that are made for it. In times of public distress, if we have any interest at the throne of grace, we ought to improve it for the public good. ”

“ And here we offer, and present unto thee, O Lord, ourselves, our souls and bodies, to be a reasonable, holy, and lively sacrifice unto thee; humbly beseeching thee, that all we, [Pg 250] who are partakers of this holy communion, may be filled with thy grace and heavenly benediction.
Then was said,
Glory be to God on high, and on earth peace ”

“ They shall have grace, not only to serve God, but to serve him cheerfully and with gladness, and that shall make the service the more acceptable to him; for, when we sing in the ways of the Lord, then great is the glory of our God. ”

“ But this marvellous homeliness may no man fully see in this time of life, save he have it of special shewing of our Lord, or of great plenty of grace inwardly given of the Holy Ghost. But faith and belief with charity deserveth the meed: and so it is had, by grace; for in faith, with hope and charity, our life is grounded. ”

“ Mercy and truth are so met together, righteousness and peace have so kissed each other, that it is now become not only an act of grace and mercy, but an act of righteousness, in God, to pardon the sins of penitent believers, having accepted the satisfaction that Christ by dying made to his justice for them. ”

“ And Mercy is a working that cometh of the goodness of God, and it shall last in working all along, as sin is suffered to pursue rightful souls. And when sin hath no longer leave to pursue, then shall the working of mercy cease, and then shall all be brought to rightfulness and therein stand without end.
And by His sufferance we fall; and in His blissful Love with His Might and His Wisdom we are kept; and by mercy and grace we are raised to manifold more joys.
Thus in Rightfulness and Mercy He willeth to be known and loved, now and without end. ”

“ Mercy, therefore, is mingled with the stern judgment of the prohibition.
outlines and suggestive comments.
We often speak of retribution as if it always lay beyond the grave, and the day of grace as extending through the whole life of man; but such is not the fact. Retribution begins with many men here. The day of grace terminates with many men before the day of death. There are those who reach an unconvertible state, their characters are stereotyped and fixed as eternity. The things that belong to their peace are hid from their eyes. ”

“ Whereupon then can I hope, or wherein ought I to trust, save in the great mercy of God alone, and in the only hope of heavenly grace?
For whether I have either religious brethren, or faithful friends; whether holy books, or beautiful treatises, or sweet chants and hymns; all these help but little, and have but little savour, when grace forsaketh me, and I am left in mine own poverty. ”

“ I own that I am disposed to say grace upon twenty other occasions in the course of the day besides my dinner. I want a form for setting out upon a pleasant walk, for a moonlight ramble, for a friendly meeting, or a solved problem. Why have we none for books, those spiritual repasts—a grace before Milton—a grace before Shakspeare—a devotional exercise proper to be said before reading the Fairy Queen?—but, the received ritual having prescribed these forms to the solitary ceremony of manducation, I shall confine my observations to the experience which I have had of the grace, properly so called; ”

“ Therefore, we must also preach the word of grace and the promise of forgiveness, by which faith is taught and strengthened. ”

“ Full glad and merry is our Lord of our prayer; and He looketh thereafter and He willeth to have it because with His grace He maketh us like to Himself in condition as we are in kind: and so is His blissful will. Therefore He saith thus: Pray inwardly, [3] though thee thinketh it savour thee not: for it is profitable, though thou feel not, though thou see nought; yea, though thou think thou canst not. For in dryness and in barrenness, in sickness and in feebleness, then is thy prayer well-pleasant to me, though thee thinketh it savour thee nought but little. ”

“ There's mercy in every place,
And mercy, encouraging thought!
Gives even affliction a grace,
And reconciles man to his lot. ”

“ For it is most impossible that we should beseech mercy and grace, and not have it. For everything that our good Lord maketh us to beseech, Himself hath ordained it to us from without beginning. Here may we see that our beseeching is not cause of God's goodness; and that shewed He soothfastly in all these sweet words when He saith: I am [the] Ground.—And our good Lord willeth that this be known of His lovers in earth; and the more that we know [it] the more should we beseech, if it be wisely taken; and so is our Lord's meaning. ”

“ According to the Christian tradition, grace is not earned. Grace is not merited. It’s not something we deserve. Rather, grace is the free and benevolent favor of God -- (applause) -- as manifested in the salvation of sinners and the bestowal of blessings. ”

“ Full preciously our Lord keepeth us when it seemeth to us that we are near forsaken and cast away for our sin and because we have deserved it. And because of meekness that we get hereby, we are raised well-high in God's sight by His grace, with so great contrition, and also compassion, and true longing to God. Then they be suddenly delivered from sin and from pain, and taken up to bliss, and made even high saints. ”

“ WE humbly implore thy mercy, O Lord, for ourselves also: we beg pardon for all our sins; we desire to detest them, and to renounce them for ever. All our hope is in the multitude of thy tender mercies, from which we confidently expect forgiveness, through Jesus Christ; and to be one day, through him, admitted into the company of the blessed apostles and martyrs, in thy heavenly paradise. In the meantime we desire to offer thee daily, through him, all honour and glory. ”

“ If we, as he deserves it, resolve to pay to the God, who had mercy upon us, with thanksgiving or trust, with praises or glorifications, let us glory before him of nothing more than that we are known of Him! ”

“ Grace was in all her steps, Heaven in her eye, In every gesture dignity and love. ”

“ Let thy Priests be clothed with justice, and let thy saints rejoice. I will freely sacrifice to thee, and will give praise, O God, to thy Name, because it is good.
Let my soul be filled as with marrow and fatness, and my mouth shall praise thee with joyful lips.
AFTER MASS.
Make thy face to shine upon thy servant; save me in thy mercy, O Lord; let me not be confounded, for I have called upon thee.
I stretched forth my hands to thee; my soul is as earth without water to thee. ”