Grace (etiquette)

“ Oh the free-grace of Christ Jesus our Lord! My dear Brother, let us continue instant in season and out of season.—Let us continually preach up free-grace, though we die for it; we cannot lose our lives in a better cause. As I am enabled, I remember you at the throne of grace; in general I sigh out my prayers.—But the spirit, I trust, makes intercession for me with groanings that cannot be uttered.
I have not had much enlargement in preaching, since I have been here; but my heart is often weighed down, and torn to pieces with a sense of my desperately wicked and deceitful heart. ”

“ 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. ”

“ By free grace He holds out to her the sceptre of pardoning mercy; by free grace He clothes her with the royal garments of righteousness; by free grace He enables her to welcome Him and minister unto Him. He is more ready to hear than she to pray, more ready to grant than she to implore. He has loved and will love her for ever, will save her from all her enemies, and crown her with joy everlasting. ”

“ I hope not only for the pardon of my sins, but also for all that may promote thy glory, and the good of my soul, as a holy life and a happy death, the accomplishment of thy merciful designs upon me, and that thou wilt be pleased to form my heart according to thy own. All this I ask purely that I may become more pleasing in thy sight. Imprint thy law upon my heart; grant me grace to observe it faithfully. Look favourably on thy people; bless them, and give them all that thy mercy has designed for them. ”

“ Grace is love that stoops; grace is love that foregoes its claims, and forgives sins against itself. Grace is love that imparts, and this grace, thus stooping, thus pardoning, thus bestowing, is a universal gift. The Apostolic benediction is the declaration of the divine purpose, and the inmost heart and loftiest meaning of all the words which from the beginning God hath spoken is that His condescending, pardoning, self-bestowing mercy may fall upon all hearts, and gladden every soul. ”

“ O Lord our God, according to Thy mercies and the multitude of Thy favours, look upon Thy people, and on me, a feeble man, not according to my sins and my follies, but that they may become worthy of the forgiveness of their sins through this holy body, which they receive with faith, through the grace of Thy mercy for ever and ever. ”

“ Grace is accorded only to tears, to solicitations, to eager desires; it requires to be long courted. Now, do you pray? At least, do you entreat? Do you imitate the importunity of the widow of the Gospel? Do you labour, like Cornelius, the Gentile, to attract that grace by charities and other Christian works? Do you say to the Lord, every day, with the prophet, ie Hide not thy face from me, O Lord, lest I be like unto them that go down into the pit? ”

“ It is love, but it being set on some, and not on others; some are elect angels, some are not; some are elect men, some are not; and this love being so distinguished, is grace, or free favour; and this favour manifested to us as fallen, guilty, hell-deserving creatures, is mercy. I wish you to make these distinctions, as they will open many blessed texts and doctrines of the word. Now as grace and mercy flows to us so divinely, this brings peace indeed, and in fact. ”

“ Look therefore for mercy only in Christ, for his sake rely upon God’s mercy. The terms of the gospel are, repent and believe; gracious terms! Mercy for fetching, nay, mercy for desiring, nay, for nothing but receiving. Dost thou desire mercy and grace? I know thou dost. Even this is the gift of God to desire, hunger after Christ; let desires put you upon endeavour, the work itself is sweet: yea, repentance and mourning itself hath more sweetness in it, than all the world’s comforts. Upon repentance and believing comes justification, after this sanctification, by the spirit dwelling in us. ”

“ For who am I that Thou shouldst so friendly call me? Were I even holier than the angels, yet would I not be worthy of this repast; how then should I be worthy, seeing that I am of impure lips, yea, an abomination and offensive, if Thou doest not make me worthy? Therefore come Thou to my succor with Thy grace, and prepare me. Thou hast said: Whosoever cometh to me, Thou wilt in no wise cast out. Then take my soul into Thy favor, according to Thy great mercies. Dear Jesus, remember that of myself I have indeed much evil, but nothing good; so help [075] me for Thy great goodness’ sake. ”

“ We pray and beseech Thee, merciful God, to grant in Thy goodness that we may spend this day, and all the time of our lives, without sin, in fullness of joy, holiness, and reverence of Thee. But drive away from us, O Lord, all envy, all fear, and all temptations. Bestow upon us what is good and meet. Whatever sin we commit in thought, word, or deed, do Thou in Thy goodness and mercy be pleased to pardon. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil; through the grace, mercy, and love of Thine only begotten Son. ”

“ They that willingly and freely serve Me shall receive grace for grace. But he who desires to glory in things out of Me, or to take pleasure in some private good, shall not be grounded in true joy, nor be enlarged in his heart, but shall many ways be encumbered and straitened.... And if heavenly grace enter in and true charity, there will be no envy nor narrowness of heart, neither will self-love busy itself. ”

“ 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. ”

“ When the Holy Ghost comes upon men with great conviction of their state and condition, and of the use and excellency of the grace of sincerity and humility in prayer, then, and not till then, will the grace of prayer be more prized, and the specious, flounting, complimentary lips of flatterers, be more laid aside. ”

“ He tried to stop his railing and blaspheming, and bring him to a better mind. ‘Does not you fear God’, he says, ‘seeing you are in the same condemnation?’ There is no surer mark of grace than this! Grace shakes a man out of his selfishness, and makes him feel for the souls of others. ”

“ O, when a God of grace is upon a throne of grace, and a poor sinner stands by and begs for grace, and that in the name of a gracious Christ, in and by the help of the Spirit of grace, can it be otherwise but such a sinner must obtain mercy and grace to help in time of need? ”

“ Let these things, therefore, be a further caution to those that sit under the glorious sound of the Gospel, and hear of the riches of the grace of God in Christ to poor sinners.
To slight grace, to despise mercy, and to stop the ear when God speaks, when he speaks such great things, so much to our profit, is a great provocation. ”

“ But let thy mercy, O most gracious Father, come upon us; and, showing us the riches of thy glory, make us vessels of thy mercy, prepared unto thy glory;5 and where sin abounded, let grace more abound.
Behold, we forbear threatenings to others, that we may have thee our Lord propitious to us in heaven. Put thou also on us, as thine elect, the bowels of mercy, benignity, humility, modesty, patience, that we may be kind to one another, compassionate, and forgiving one another, even as thou in Christ hast forgiven us; to no man rendering evil for evil ”

“ But my love to your grace, and good hope that you take my meaning well, hath enforced me to signify unto your grace, that unless your grace do more quietly show your pleasure in things wherein you will debate with other men, and hear them again graciously say their opinions, when you do require it, that will ensue whereof I would be right sorry, and your grace shall have just cause to repent, that is, that no man shall dare speak to you what he thinks, though it were never so necessary. ”

“ 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. ”

“ And if He find in your most noble heart such an obedience unto his will, that your Grace, without murmuration and over-much heaviness, do accept all adversities, not less thanking Him than when all things succeed after your Grace's will and pleasure, then I suppose your Grace did never thing more acceptable unto Him since your first governance of this your realm. ”

“ For I beheld the property of mercy, and I beheld the property of grace: which have two manners of working in one love. Mercy is a pitiful property which belongeth to the Motherhood in tender love; and grace is a worshipful property which belongeth to the royal Lordship in the same love. Mercy worketh: keeping, suffering, quickening, and healing; and all is tenderness of love. ”

“ But you are mistaken, when you consider, as inclinations incompatible with piety, those warm propensities toward pleasure which are born with you. From the instant that grace shall have sanctified them, they will become dispositions favourable for salvation. ”

“ 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; ”

“ He says, ‘My grace shall be sufficient for thee.’ Therefore we are to strive ourselves. He shows us the right way, but if we seek out other paths, or if we sink into indolence waiting for an angel to come and move our idle hands or stir up our languid wills, can we reasonably blame Him? ”

“ We must, on the contrary, to speak correctly, say that the substance of such Passive Prayer, taken in its specific acts, is free, meritorious, and operated within us by a grace that acts together with us.” “It is the attraction to the acts which the soul now produces which, as by a secondary and counter-effect, occasions a quasi-incapacity for those acts which it does not produce. ”

“ II. The unsearchable riches of gospel-grace, which are to be the matter or our praise, v. 2. In the gospel, those celebrated attributes of God, his mercy and his truth, shine most brightly in themselves and most comfortably to us; and the apostle, where he quotes this psalm, takes notice of these as the two great things for which the Gentiles should glorify God (Rom. xv. 8, 9) , for the truth of God and for his mercy. We that enjoy the gospel have reason to praise the Lord, 1. For the power of his mercy: His merciful kindness is great towards us; it is strong (so the word signifies) ”

“ Still, I think you limit the grace of God, as if people must be very good first, in order to deserve it, and then he will come and add his grace to their goodness. Whereas grace has been most conspicuous in the most notorious sinners. ”

“ True grace is much more excellent than any spiritual gifts whatever. And faith, hope, and love, are the three principal graces, of which charity is the chief, being the end to which the other two are but means. ”

“ Yet since visible signs of themselves have no efficiency ordained for grace, although representative of its nature, it was necessary that they should by the author of grace be appointed to signify and should be blessed in order to sanctify; so that there should be a representation from natural likeness, a signification from appointment, and a sanctification and preparedness for grace from the added benediction, through which our soul may be cured and made whole. ”

“ Here the pride of the heart is awfully manifested—wanting to bring in God a debtor to him for his paltry, ragged, rotten, worm-eaten cobweb righteousness. The grand design of grace is to humble the heart, and to cause us gratefully to acknowledge that all we have and all we are out of hell is favor and mercy indeed. ”

“ All we shall think of is our own sinfulness, and God’s mercy; and we shall come eagerly, if not boldly, to the throne of grace, to find grace and mercy to help us in the time of need; crying, ‘Purge thou me, O Lord, or I shall never be pure ”

“ The case, however, is altered by the Lord’s mercy, so that he loves the most who owes the most, if he yet obtains grace.” See how the catholic doctor most plainly declares that the very love which prompts every man to an ampler love appertains to the kindly gift of grace. ”

“ May you be partakers of the Divine favor, the source whence every blessing is derived.
I think it necessary, once for all, to give the several acceptations of this word grace which occur in the sacred writings.
1. The word χαριν signifies in general favor or benevolence, but especially that favor which is powerful and active, and loads its objects with benefits. [43] : Fear not, Mary, thou hast found Favor, χαριν, with God. [44] : And the child grew - and the Grace of God, χαρις θεου, the favor of God was upon him. [45] : And Jesus increased in Favor, χαριτι Grace, with God and man. ”