Prevenient grace

“ Grant me grace henceforth, for the love of thee, to hate sin; and out of a just esteem for thee, to despise all worldly vanities.
Have mercy on all sinners, Jesus, I beseech thee; turn their vices into virtues; and making them true observers of thy law, and sincere lovers of thee, bring them to bliss in everlasting glory.
Have mercy also on the souls in purgatory, for the sake of thy bitter passion, I beseech thee, and for thy glorious name, Jesus. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ And, as God's grace enabled rich and delicate persons, women, and even children, to endure all extremities of pain and reproach in times past, so there is the same grace no less mighty now, and if we do not close ourselves against it, it might in us be no less glorified in a time of trial. ”

“ I desire with my whole heart to bewail my sins as they deserve. But the grace of contrition must be thy gift. Bestow it on me then in thy mercy; I beg it through the merits of thy most precious blood and wounds; and since thou wiliest not the death of a sinner, but that he be converted and live, convert me, my God, and I shall be truly converted. ”

“ God, the omnipotent glory and divine Majesty, is charity, for he has sent his only begotten Son to suffer for our sins, and to redeem our drooping souls that lay wallowing in blood, and being dead in fins and trespasses, that by laying hold on Christ, we have free access to the tribunal seat of grace, to cry Abba, Father. ”

“ 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. ”

“ But in respect of the good pleasure of God not to give them grace to repent and believe, which of his rich mercy he gives to others, who have abused what they received no lesse, perhaps more then they, the end is to manifest his justice in them, for the contempt of his grace. For what God doth command, intreat, perswade and promise, that he doth will as he doth command, intreat, perswade and promise it. ”

“ Salvation By Grace And Not By Works. Salvation from sin is by the grace of God. The word “grace” is defined by lexicographers as favor or mercy. Grace is a characteristic in the nature of God which offers mercy or favor though wholly unmerited by the recipient. Man is an offender against God. Through repentance he finds favor or grace in God's sight without any worthiness, excellence or meritoriousness in himself, but because of the merciful nature of the Lord. ”

“ Our business and errand at the throne of grace should be that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need. Mercy and grace are the things we want, mercy to pardon all our sins and grace to purify our souls. 4. Besides the daily dependence we have upon God for present supplies, there are some seasons in which we shall most sensibly need the mercy and grace of God, and we should lay up prayers against such seasons—times of temptation, either by adversity or prosperity, and especially a dying time: we should every day put up a petition for mercy in our last day. ”

“ When we come to ask mercy of God, and to pray for grace to love and serve him, we may plead and expostulate for the bestowment. Is it not thy will, that we should be renewed and sanctified—that we should repent of sin—believe the gospel, and follow after holiness? Is it not thy will that we should become new creatures—love thee—love our duty, and resign ourselves to thy disposal? Is it not thy will, that we should act with propriety under every trial, and discharge with faithfulness every duty—that we should honor thee in adversity, as well as in prosperity? ”

“ The taking away of sin is necessary to our speaking with confidence and comfort either to God in prayer or from God in preaching; nor are any so fit to display to others the riches and power of gospel-grace as those who have themselves tasted the sweetness and felt the influence of that grace; and those shall have their sin taken away who complain of it as a burden and see themselves in danger of being undone by it. ”

“ Help me by your intercession to placate God's wrath, which I have provoked by my sins, and aid me in amending my life and doing penance. Obtain for me the grace to serve God with a willing heart, to be resigned to His holy will, to be patient in adversity and to persevere unto the end, so that, having finished my earthly course, I may join you in heaven, there to praise for ever God, who is wonderful in His saints. ”

“ Persecution? No: "blessed are the persecuted." Temptation? No: "blessed is the man that endureth temptation." All these and all other "afflictions of the righteous" are turned into benefits and beatitudes by the wondrous alchemy of redeeming love. Over-ruled by divine providence and sanctified by divine Grace, they are the occasions and instruments of a salutary discipline, working together for good to those who love God, calling into exercise the holiest feelings and highest faculties of the regenerate soul, and perfecting the believer for his "far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory." ”

“ That is evangelical repentance, that flows from a sight of Christ, from a sense of his love, and the hopes of pardon and forgiveness through him. Kindness is conquering; abused kindness, humbling and melting. What a wretch was I to sin against such grace, against the law and love of such a kingdom! (2.) It is a great encouragement to us to repent; "Repent, for your sins shall be pardoned upon your repentance. Return to God in a way of duty, and he will, through Christ, return to you in a way of mercy." ”

“ Note, Hope of mercy is the great encouragement to repentance and reformation; and though there be but some glimmerings of hope mixed with great fears arising from a sense of our own sinfulness, and unworthiness, and long abuse of divine patience, yet they may serve to quicken and engage our serious repentance and reformation. Let us boldly cast ourselves at the footstool of free grace, resolving that if we perish, we will perish there; yet who knows but God will look upon us with compassion? ”

“ 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? ”

“ Thus grace has abounded, and the free gift has come upon all, and the gospel has gone forth proclaiming redemption to every creature. "By grace ye are saved, through faith; and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God; not of works, lest any man should boast." By grace ye are loved, redeemed, and justified. By grace ye are called, converted, reconciled and sanctified. Salvation is wholly of grace. The plan, the process, the consummation are all of grace.
"Where sin abounded, grace hath much more abounded." "Through the offense of one, many were dead." ”

“ 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. ”

“ A true desire of mercy in the want of mercy, is mercy itself; a desire of grace in the want of grace, is grace itself; a constant and earnest desire to believe, repent, and to be reconciled to God, if it be in a touched heart, is an acceptation of God, a reconciliation, faith and repentance itself. ”

“ 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 ”

“ While I pray daily for grace to walk as becometh the gospel of Christ, in holiness and righteousness, as an evidence of being delivered from my enemies, and from the hand of those who unjustly hate me, that while they intended me evil, God meant it unto good. ”

“ 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. ”

“ We feel, indeed, a sure and certain hope that these two fellow-creatures, once sinners, but by God's grace afterwards saints, have found mercy with God, and will live with Christ for ever; but to pray for the same mercy at his gracious hands for the sake of their merits is repugnant to our first principles of Christian faith. When we think of merits, for which to plead for mercy, we can think of Christ's, and of Christ's alone. ”

“ Surely, if it is God who has been withholding His presence, who has been discovering the sin, who is calling for its destruction, and a return to obedience, surely we can count upon His grace to accept and strengthen for the life He asks of us. It is not a question of what you can do; ”

“ And as the Christ, who had previously been known more in His pardoning, quickening, and saving grace, is again sought after as a real deliverer from the power of sin, as a sanctifier, He comes and takes up the soul into the fellowship of the sacrifice of His will. ‘He put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself,’ must become true of us as it is of Him. ”

“ These promises of mercy and grace shall have as real an effect upon the souls of believers, for their sanctification and comfort, as ever the rain had upon the earth, to make it fruitful. [2.] That according to the different errands on which the word is sent it will have its different effects. If it be not a savour of life unto life, it will be a savour of death unto death; if it do not convince the conscience and soften the heart, it will sear the conscience and harden the heart; if it do not ripen for heaven, it will ripen for hell. ”

“ They do not relax our obligations to watchfulness—to prayer—to an avoidance of evil—and to the cultivation of the spirit and habits of devotion, but increase them; and the reciprocal influence of our exertions, and of the concurrence of Divine strength, is so nicely balanced in the purpose of grace, that while we are compelled to ascribe to God the honour of our preservation and final salvation, yet we are made responsible for every act of transgression and disobedience. ”

“ Those are the worst of ungodly men who turn the grace of God into lasciviousness, who take encouragement to sin more boldly because the grace of God has abounded, and still abounds, so wonderfully, who are hardened in their impieties by the extent and fulness of gospel grace, the design of which is to reduce men from sin, and bring them unto God. ”