bed Repentance viz. The Labourers in the Vineyard who came in at the eleventh hour And The Thief upon the Cross But as Preparatory to my enlargement on these Particulars whereby it will be more distinct and instructive I must first premise what is meant by a Death-bed Repentance Now a Death-bed Repentance denotes Two things 1. A finishing that great Work of Repentance which we begun in our Healths and took some care to carry on amidst the Business and Diversions of this World But do now more solemnly compleat at our Deaths by reviewing the State of our Souls and perfecting our Accounts with God This kind of Death-bed Repentance is so far from being a mistake that it is a necessary Duty and is the commendable practice of good and pious Men. But 2. There is a Vulgar Notion of a Death-bed Repentance viz. When a Man then begins to Repent when he comes to dye When a Man hath spent all his Life in the gratifying of his Lusts and hath followed his own vicious Inclinations When he hath denied himself no carnal Satisfactions but hath taken his fill of sensual Pleasures And yet such a Man when his Body is disabled and Death approacheth so that he hath neither time nor inclination to Sin any longer will pretend to be sorry for his Sin and Repent This we call a Death-bed Repentance Now how unsafe and uncomfortable such a Death-bed Repentance is I shall endeavour to convince you by examining the formentioned Particulars I. What is meant by true Repentance The vulgar and common Notion of Repentance is evidently this When a Man hath committed a fault and hath done something amiss and is then sorry for it is grieved and troubled that he hath done it and doth heartily wish it had not been done Such a Man we usually say doth Repent of such an Action But this is not the full adequate Notion of a Gospel-Repentance of such a Repentance as shall find acceptance with God This is but the Repentance of Malefactors at the Gallows nay it is no other than the Repentance of Cain and Judas It is observed That the most profligate condemned Wretch when he comes to dye will be very sorry for what he hath done He will be much ashamed and will have great Indignation against himself to think he should be such a fool to part with his precious Life and all the Comforts and Satisfactions of this World in such a vile ignominious manner to be tied up like a Dog perhaps for the taking of a few Sheep How will such a Fellow fawn upon and flatter the Judge That if he will but spare him O what an honest Man he will then be And yet do but procure his Pardon and let him loose and he is quickly at the old Trade Nay 't is great odds but you have him again by the next Assizes Now will any one pretend that in such a Case as this there is true Repentance Which yet is more evident from those Scripture-Instances of Cain and Judas It seems very probable from the circumstances of his Story that Cain did repent of the Murther of his Brother My punishment saith he is greater than I can bear Gen. 4.13 But because in the Judgment of some Learned Men this is rather an instance of Despair than Repenting-Sorrow I shall not much insist upon this of Cain But as to the other instance of Judas 't is express and undeniable You read his Story Matth. 27.3 4 5. Then Judas which had betrayed him when he saw that he was comdemned repented himself and brought again the thirty pieces of silver to the chief Priests and Elders saying I have sinned in that I have betrayed the innocent Blood And they said What is that to us see thou to that And he cast down the pieces of silver in the Temple and departed and went and hanged himself Here are as signal Instances that Judas did sincerely repent of what he had done as can possibly be given For besides the express Testimony of the Holy Ghost which in plain terms tells us he did Repent and that he himself declared He had sinned in betraying the innocent Blood He further gives this evidence that he was in earnest he not only restores the thirty pieces but in horror and consternation of Mind he went and hanged himself Here is I say in this instance as much Grief and Trouble and Vexation for the Commission of a Sin and as noted evidence that he was heartily sorry for it as can possibly be supposed And yet 't is as plain that this Repentance of Judas was not an Evangelical Repentance such a Repentance as was accepted by Almighty God Our Blessed Saviour who is Truth it self having passed this Decree upon him Wo unto that man by whom the Son of man is betrayed it had been good for that man if he had not been born Matth. 26.24 It appears from these premises that there is more required to a saving Gospel-Repentance than trouble of Mind When a Man hath committed a sault he may be sorry for it he may grieve and mourn that he hath done it he may heartily wish it had not been done he may make Restitution of his ill-gotten Goods All this may be done thus far he may proceed and yet his Repentance is but imperfect and shall never find acceptance with a pure and holy God But here you will say If Men may proceed thus far and yet their Repentance is not true and saving How shall we know that we have true Repentance and wherein doth the nature of it consist To this I answer God only can instruct us what is true Repentance That is it is very agreeble to the Majesty and Sovereignty of God to prescribe the Terms and Conditions of Salvation and to appoint his Creatures what they must do how they must behave themselves to be accepted by him Now there is no other way to be informed in this matter but to consult the Holy Scriptures In those Sacred Writings the Divine Wisdom hath sufficiently revealed his Will and hath plainly told us What it is that he required of us and what we are to do that we may inherit Eternal Life We are expresly admonished That without holiness no man shall see the Lord Heb. 12.14 That the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God Be not deceived neither fornicators nor idolaters nor adulterers nor effeminate nor abusers of themselves with mankind nor thieves nor covetous nor drunkards nor revilers nor extortioners shall inherit the kingdom of God 1 Cor. 6.9 10. If ye live after the flesh ye shall die but if ye through the spirit do mortify the deeds of the Body ye shall live Rom. 8.13 Be not deceived God is not mocked for whatsoever a man soweth that shall he also reap For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption but he that soweth to the spirit shall of the spirit reap life everlasting Gal. 6.7 8. For the Son of
A DISCOURSE Concerning a Death-bed Repentance By WILLIAM ASSHETON D.D. Rector of Beckenham in Kent and Chaplain to his Grace the Duke of ORMOND LONDON Printed for Brabazon Aylmer at the Three Pigeons against the Royal Exchange in Cornhill MDCXCVI TO THE KING's MOST Excellent MAJESTY May it please Your Majesty TO accept of this Treatise part of which was preached in Your Royal Chappel before the late Queen Your Majesty's Dearest Consort of blessed Memory That I did not then Present it to the Hands of that Excellent Princess was the Imperfection of the Work I having designed some further enlargement upon that Subject otherwise I should most chearfully have complied with some approving Intimation then given in order to a Command for the Publishing of it The whole being now finished is most humbly submitted to Your Majesty's Censure by Your MAJESTY's Most humble and Obedient Subject and Servant William Assheton THE PREFACE HAVING made my self a Debtor to the Publick for A Plain Method of Devotion for Sick and Dying Persons And one chief part of that Devotion being the Exercise of a true Repentance for the Minister who visits the Sick Person is directed by the Church of England to examine Whether he repent him truly of his Sins lest Men should from hence be encouraged to defer their Repentance to a Sick and Dying Bed as if they might safely enjoy their Sins in their Health because they are admonished to Repent when they come to Dye I have therefore very faithfully examined that matter And have endeavoured in the following Treatise to convince them That though Repentance as all other Graces must be exercised and improved upon the approach of Death for our Lamps must be trimmed when the Bridegroom comes yet A Death-bed Repentance is neither comfortable nor safe THE CONTENTS THE Soul is Immortal and shall be Eternally either Happy or Miserable Page 1. This Life the only time to fit and prepare us for our Future Eternal State Page 2. The Vicious Sensual and Impenitent shall be miserable Ibid. But such as are Obedient to the Laws of the Gospel shall be happy Page 3. Hence it is both our Interest and Duty to take care of our Souls and provide for Eternity Ibid. But this generally neglected and why Ibid. The Case of a Death-bed Repentance strictly examined and in what method Page 5. What is meant by a Death-bed Repentance Page 6. What by true Repentance Page 7. The Vulgar Notion of Repentance Ibid. Which yet as is shewed is no Gospel Repentance Ibid. What Repentance is saving Page 11. How far and in what manner a Sick and Dying Sinner can be able to Repent Page 13. Wicked Men when they come to Dye may remember their Sins Page 16. They may also be very sorry for their Sins Ibid. They may earnestly beg Pardon for their Sins Page 18. They may make very serious Resolutions of Amendment Page 19. They may make Restitution Page 20. Whether all this will amount to true Repentance Page 21. Of the Labourers in the Vineyard Page 43. The Case of the Thief upon the Cross Page 49. The Close Page 61. A DISCOURSE Concerning a Death-bed Repentance 'T IS the faint Dictate even of Natural Reason but the more clear and full Discovery of Revelation That when we dye when our Souls shall be separated from our Bodies when we leave this World we shall not then perish like the Brutes and cease to be but shall subsist and continue in another State and Capacity either of Happiness or Misery to all Eternity And we are further instructed from Divine Revelation in the Holy Scriptures That this present Life this short and uncertain time of continuance in this World is the only space of Probation and Trial to fit and prepare us for our future Eternal State As the Tree falls so it lies There is no Work nor Repentance in the Grave But as Death shall seize us in the same Capacity we shall appear before the Throne of God and shall then be disposed of in an irreversible unalterable State either of Happiness or Misery Those who make their own Will their Law and who are guided and acted by their own vicious sensual Inclinations they shall be eternally miserable Or according to our blunt way of expressing it in our English Language They shall be Damned that is they shall be condemned to that state of Misery which the Justice of God hath prepared to be the sad Lot and Portion of all impenitent Sinners But on the other hand Those who follow the Divine Conduct and are obedient to the Laws of the Gospel such Persons through the Mercy of God and the Merits of Jesus Christ shall be saved and preserved from the Wrath to come And shall be placed in that happy State and Capacity where they shall not only be freed from Misery but shall further be secured in the unalterable enjoyment of an unexpressible Happiness and Satisfaction From these Considerations you are fully convinced that it is both your Interest and Duty to take care of your Souls and provide for Eternity But the sad mistake is this and it is the ruin of thousands you fancy it is time enough hereafter to entertain such Thoughts You have so much Diversion and Employment in the World that you have little or no time for the Duties of Religion But when you have settled your Affairs and dispatched this or that When you have improved or cleared your Estates When you have taken in this Mortgage finished that Purchase c. When the hurry of these things is over and that you can call your Thoughts your own then you promise your selves to be very Religious that is when you have done with this World you will provide for the next When your Bodies begin to be crazy and your strength to decay When you are laid upon a Sick-bed and have lost the relish of sensual Pleasures then you fancy you shall have both leisure and inclination to repent of your Sins and to beg Pardon for them And whenever you do Repent tho' it be but upon your Death-bed God who is very merciful hath promised to accept you I appeal now to your own Consciences if this is not the very Language of your hearts But know that your hearts are deceitful and take heed lest they be further hardned through the deceitfulness of Sin That I may therefore awaken your Consideration and convince you of your danger in trusting to a broken Reed That I may make you sensible how unsafe it is to depend upon a Death-bed Repentance I shall very distinctly examine that matter By shewing 1. What is meant by true Repentance 2. I shall enquire How far and in what manner a Sick and Dying Sinner can be able to Repent 3. I shall desire such Persons sadly to consider What small hope there is that such kind of Repentance should find acceptance with God 4. I shall examine those Two noted Scripture-instances commonly mentioned in favour of a Death
man shall come in the glory of his Father with his angels and then he shall reward every man according to his works Matth. 16.27 And the Son of God being made perfect he became the Author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey him Heb. 5.9 And St. Paul doth plainly admonish us That the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels in flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God and that obey not the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ 2 Thes 1.7 8. From these places of Scripture to omit many others it evidently appears That actual Holiness and actual Obedience to the Laws of the Gospel is the indispensible Condition of Salvation And consequently to be only Sorry for our Sins to be troubled that we have done amiss unless this Sorrow do bring forth fruits meet for Repentance that is unless it be attended with actual Reformation and Amendment it is not a true and Evangelical Repentance such a Repentance as God hath promised to accept 2. I am to examine How far and in what manner a Sick and Dying Sinner can be able to Repent And this I shall best perform by a plain representation of matter of Fact Whilst I faithfully remind you how or in what manner you may happen to dye 1. You may dye suddenly This hath been many a Man's case and you have no assurance to the contrary but it may be yours If some hidden Distemper do not thus extinguish the Lamp of Life your own Sin and Folly may then puff it out You may happen in some private Quarrel unexpectedly to dye at the point of a Sword and so may fall a Sacrifice to your Lust to your Malice or Revenge But whatever may occasion your Death if it be sudden it is then impossible for you to Repent upon your Death-beds And if you have not taken care in your life-life-time to perform that great Work then according to the Laws of the Gospel you are utterly lost and undone for ever For except ye repent ye shall all likewise perish 2. You may dye raving Mad or stupidly Sensless There is a sufficient Mass of vicious corrupted Humours or as Physicians phrase it of Morbisick Matter in any of your Bodies as may occasion these sad Symptoms and dismal Effects And if this be your case where then is your Death-bed Repentance It is necessary to Repentance even in the vulgar Notion of it that you should not only remember your Sins but should also be sorry for them But now supposing your Distemper is either a Frenzy or a Lethargy or in any other instance of such a nature as shall wholly deprive you of your Memory and Understanding your Repentance is then impossible But 3. Supposing it is neither thus nor thus with you but that God in his Mercy gives you a slow and easy passage out of this World Suppose your Distemper is so gentle that it neither distracts you with Pain nor disorders your Faculties but that as we phrase it You have your Senses to the last In such a case as this which is the most favourable that can be supposed I will now examine how far any Man who hath spent the time of his Health in Sin and Vanity can be able to Repent 1. Wicked men when they come to die may remember their Sins which they seldom think on in the time of their Healths The generality of men are so wholly taken up with the Designs of This World that they have neither leisure nor inclination to think of the Next In what a hurry such men do spend the Day is very obvious to observe and at Night being loaden with Wine and Business they sleep over their Cares and their Sins together But when some lingring Disease shall confine them to their Chambers or nail them to their Beds when their Sleep is departed from them and that they lie rowling and tumbling and wishing for the Day Then they are at leisure to consider their Ways and to remember what they have done and to recollect the former Passages of their Lives 2. Wicked men when they come to die may not only remember but also may be very sorry and much troubled for their Sins and may likewise make a penitent Confession of them This evidently appears from the former Instance of Judas who was not a little troubled for betraying his Master and as freely makes confession of his Fault I have sinned in that I have betrayed the innocent Blood And this is undeniable even from daily observation Those who visit Sick-Beds and hear the dying Groans of departing Sinners are best able to tell you how they will lament their former Lives and what wretched Sinners they have been And at such a time they will be very free and ingenuous in their Confession with a thus and thus have I done and withal they may mightily judge and condemn themselves for it If ever you have been laid upon a Sick-Bed with the Terrors and Apprehensions of another World before you then I appeal to your own experience for the truth of what I have now said 3. Wicked men upon their Death-Beds may not only make a sorrowful Confession of their Sins but also they may earnestly beg Pardon for them There is a Principle of Self-preservation in the most vicious carnal man which prompts him to be solicitous for deliverance from an imminent Danger A noted Instance of this you have in Seamen such men especially the common Sailers are not usually over-zealous in Religion and yet in a dangerous Storm or in a leaky sinking Ship those who seldom named God unless in Oaths and Execrations will now fall to their Prayers And thus the most graceless sensual worldly Person when he comes to die and hath the prospect of another World immediately before him when he sees the Infernal Pit open to receive him O with what earnestness will he deprecate the Divine Vengeance How passionately will he pray unto God to spare him to be gracious to him to pardon and forgive him Nay even those who have been so careless and unconcerned that they could never in their whole life-time be persuaded to remember our Blessed Saviour's Passion in the way of his own Institution in the Holy Sacrament yet these very Persons on their Death-bed will pretend to remember it They will then plead his Merits and Satisfaction and will beg God's Pardon for the sake of Jesus Christ This likewise as to matter of Fact is undeniably evident 4. Wicked Men when they come to dye may further make very serious Resolutions of amendment of Life And in such cases this is the noted Language of a Death-bed O what a wicked Wretch have I been I have done thus and thus But if God will now please to spare my Life and restore me to my Health I 'll become a new Man I 'll no more be guilty of such Intemperance I 'll be wanton and lascivious no more I 'll take heed of lying and
urged in favour of a Death-bed Repentance is The Thief upon the Cross YOU read his Story Luke 23. from Verse 39. Our Blessed Saviour being crucified between two Thieves One of them railed on him saying If thou be Christ save thy self and us As if he had said If thou art what thou pretendest to be a Christ a Saviour if thou art not a Cheat and Impostor save thy self and us But the other answering rebuked him saying Dost not thou fear God seeing thou art in the same Condemnation And we indeed justly that is we were justly condemned and we justly now suffer the Sentence of our Condemnation For we receive the due reward of our Deeds but this Man hath done nothing amiss that is he is an Innocent Person whom the Jews and Romans do thus barbarously Murther And he said unto Jesus Lord remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom As if he had said Tho' these contemn and revile thee as mean and despicable yet I acknowledge thee to be a Great Lord and that thou hast a Kingdom to dispose on And Jesus said unto him Verily I say unto thee To day shalt thou be with me in paradise that is immediately after thy Death thou shalt go to a place of Happiness and there abide with me as a Member of that my Kingdom which thou ow askest for This is the Story of the Thief upon the Cross From whose Example Carnal Licentious Persons do thus encourage themselves in their extravagant Practices We are fully convinced of the necessity of Repentance And we do as fully resolve some time or other to Repent But why should we be so forward to disturb our Pleasures and neglect our Business as to do it now since we may Repent hereafter at better leisure And tho' we should be so far diverted as not to Repent till our Death yet we have here an encouraging Example we shall then be accepted This Thief had been very notorious and extravagant an Offender of the first Rate and yet when he calls for Mercy tho' it was with his last Breath his Lord remember me when thou comest into thy Kingdom was comfortably answered with a This day thou shalt be with me in paradise And therefore tho' the greatest part of our Lives like this Thief 's may have been spent in Sin and Vanity yet if we can but say Lord have mercy upon us with our last Breath we shall likewise be accepted To this I Answer 'T IS a dangerous thing to presume on God's Mercy And so provoking is such Presumption that if the bare saying of these words Lord have mercy upon me would save thy Soul it may so happen through the just Judgment of God thou mayst not be able to do it Thou mayst dye suddenly or thou mayst dye Stupid or raving-mad But suppose thou hast both Breath and the use of thy Reason to say these words here is very slender encouragement from the Example of this Thief that a dying Sinner who never repented till his Death shall then find Mercy For to prove the Validity of a Death-bed Repentance from the Example of this Thief Two things are supposed 1. That this Thief was a very wicked Man 2. That he continued in his Sin and did not repent till the time of his Death Now if neither of these Two can be proved then the Case of this Thief is not parallel nor a firm foundation for the Validity of a Death-bed Repentance 1. It doth not appear That this Thief was a very wicked Man He is called indeed a Thief and dies as a Malefactor But now a good Man and who is so in the general Course of his Life may by surprise and the violence of a Temptation be guilty of a very bad Action of which he afterwards doth sincerely Repent The very Case of David and Peter But further he is called indeed a Thief in our Translation 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the Greek Latro in the Latin But what these words do properly signify we must further examine It was the Character of Barabbas that he was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Robber So we Translate it John 18.40 But what kind of Person he was may be infer'd from other places of Scripture It is said of this Barabbas That for a certain sedition made in the city and for murther he was cast into prison Luke 23.19 And St. Mark tells us Chap. 15. Ver. ◠There was one named Barabbas which lay bound with them who had made insurrection with him that is at his Instigation and Procurement He was it 's probable the Ringleader and Captain of the Rebels The which conjecture is further confirm'd by the story of this Barabbas in St. Matth. 27.16 They that is the Jews had then a notable prisoner called Barabbas 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Now the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sigfies an Eminent Person a Man of Note and Quality This Barabbas then was the Head of the Party Who as Zealots for their Nation and Religion had made a rising against the Romans in which attempt being unsuccessful they were punished as Malefactors And yet this Barabbas tho' the Captain-General of a Party is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Latro a Thief And in Confirmation of this I must further observe to you That the word Latro which is now a term of Ignominy and Reproach and is usually translated a Thief or a Robber did anciently signify no more as the best Authors inform us than a hired Souldier And Latrocinari pro Militare is noted Language in Plautus So that this penitent Thief as great a Malefactor as he is usually supposed was no worse for ought we know to the contrary than a Souldier who hapning to be on the wrong side was punished as a Malefactor But now supposing 2. That this Thief had been a very wicked Man which is more than was ever yet proved against him yet How do we know that he did not Repent even long before he died And if so if he had formerly repented then his Case is nothing to the purpose nor can his Example with any shew of reason be urged in favour of a Death-bed Repentance But supposing 3. That this Thief was 1. A very wicked Man not a Souldier as the word may be render'd but a Thief and a Robber in the strictest Sense And supposing 2. That he did not Repent till his Death Yet I shall shew ex abundanti that his Example ought not to be urged in favour of a Death-bed Repentance As will more fully appear by examining the Circumstances of this Thief 's Conversion 1. 'T is possible he never heard of Christ till his Crucifixion If he was a Gentile and not a Jew 't is highly probable he never did For Christ at first was not sent but to the lost sheep of the house of Israel And the Commission Go teach all Nations was not enlarged till the day of his Ascention If this was his Case How could he believe on him of