Selected quad for the lemma: death_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
death_n	body_n	soul_n	torment_n	4,875	5	9.1881	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A51916	Sermons preach'd on several occasions by John March ..., the last of which was preach'd the twenty seventh of November, 1692, being the Sunday before he died ; with a preface by Dr. John Scot ; to which is added, A sermon preach'd at the assizes, in New-Castle upon Tine, in the reign of the late King James.	March, John, 1640-1692.; Scott, John, 1639-1695.	1699 (1699)	Wing M583; ESTC R18158	123,796	330

and conducted the Wise Men of the East to the Son of Righteousness At his Resurrection all the Graves were opened and those Patriarchs which had slept for many years had a Goal-delivery and graced the solemnity of our Saviours Resurrection The Holy Martyr Ignatius has left it upon Record that those very Saints who were with our Saviour at Easter had a share also in his Ascention upon Holy-Thursday What wonder then if we find one Penitent Thief converted in a miraculous manner to grace his Crucifixion Christ was now triumphing over Principalities and Powers he was now making a shew of them openly on the Cross That therefore he should bear off the Field the prey which he had taken out of the Jaws of the Enemy was no more than was due to the solemnity of his Triumphs Very pretty is St. Austin's Remark upon this passage Christ saith he in rescuing the poor Thief upon the Cross was but quits with the Devil for the Devil took Man from God out of the midst of Paradise Christ takes this poor Man from Satan when he was no less than in the very Jaws of Hell Satan ruin'd Man on the Forbidden Tree and Christ saves him on the Cursed Tree How proper for this occasion was such an Experiment of this Sovereign Balsom There is then no question to be made but this Conversion of the Thief was an extraordinary Act of Grace Novae insolitae quaedam Divinae Virtutis Efficacia it was saith Grotius an unusual Ray of Divinity which darting at this time into the Thiefs heart wrought such strange and wonderful Repentance in him And indeed the Conclusion will run thus high if we lay all the premised circumstances together that the Grace of God should work in this Thief such a deep sense of his sin such an open confession of it such wonderful Charity for his Neighbour such a miraculous Faith yea such a compleat change all on a sudden and that without means yea as you have heard against means and amidst the greatest Temptations to the contrary All these shew the Conversion of this Thief to have been perfectly extraordinary and such as was designed to Grace the Crucifixion of our Saviour And now I pray what comfort can this example afford to the Clinicks of the Age Do they think that God Almighty is obliged to work Miracles for their Conversion And yet it is a known Rule in Divinity that extraordinary Cases must not be made a Rule Because God did once translate Enoch into Heaven must any of us expect the same Honour and Dignity Because some Saints arose with Christ and ascended with him into Heaven is this any ground for our Faith that we shall rise before the General Resurrection So because God did once in a wonderful manner Convert a poor Thief at the hour of Death we must not presume upon such extraordinary Mercy It will better become us to be terrified at the example of the other Thief We read he was left unconverted and his Soul dropt into Hell sooner than his Carcase was taken from the Cross. If thou dost reject the ordinary means of Grace which God does plentifully afford thee thou canst not promise thy self extraordinary mercy at the hour of Death in all probability it will fare with thee as it did with the Unconverted Thief SERMON VII Luke xxiii 39 43. And one of the Malefactors which were hanged railed on him saying If thou be Christ save thy self and us But the other answering rebuked him saying Dost thou not fear God seeing thou art in the same condemnation And we indeed justly for we receive the due reward of our deeds but this man hath done nothing amiss And he said unto Iesus Lord remember me when thou comest into thy Kingdom And Iesus said unto him Verily I say unto thee to day thou shalt be with me in Paradise I Told you the last Lords Day that I did not design to examine all the parts of so large a Text but only take occasion from them to shew you two things First That there is no encouragement at all for a late Death-bed Repentance in the Example of the Penitent Thief And Secondly Take occasion from the Example of the Impenitent Thief to shew you that a late Death-bed Repentance is a thing most dangerous if not in some sort impossible First I shew'd you at large the last Lords day that there is no encouragement at all in the Example of the Penitent Theif for a late Death-bed Repentance For this example in many things is vastly different from the condition of presumptuous Sinners in our times This in all probability was the first Call that was ever given to this poor Thief the first opportunity that was ever offer'd him to be acquainted with Christ whereas the Clinicks of the Age have had the means of Grace plentifully afforded them they have had Line upon Line and Precept upon Precept publick and private Admonitions to Repent I shew'd you further how wonderful and extraordinary his Repentance was We find here in the Text his deep sense of his sins his humble and publick Confession of his Faults his great Charity and Compassion for the Soul of the other Thief a Faith also strange and Prodigious such as pronounc'd Christ a just and innocent Person when the great Sanhedrim had condemn'd him for a Malefactor such as own'd Christ to have a Kingdom and that a Kingdom of another World such as made him address to Christ for Mercy own him in his lowest degree of Humiliation when all the World revil'd him and his own Disciples forsook him Such a change as this so sudden and so perfect could not be wrought without a Miraculous Power and was design'd as I shew'd you to grace the Passion and Crucifixion of our Saviour but not to encourage presumptuous sinners to delay their Repentance As therefore we cannot think God obliged to work Miracles for the Conversion of bold daring Sinners so we cannot administer any solid comfort to them at the hour of Death from this example of the Penitent Theif All the kindness the Text will allow us to shew unto bold presumptuous sinners is only to awaken them in the time of their health to a serious and timely Repentance from the Dreadful example of the Impenitent Thief This wicked Malefactor as he had lived a most wicked Life so he dies a most miserable Death his Body was not sooner buried in Golgotha than his Soul was hurried to the place of Torments All the Charity of the Penitent Thief is lost upon him all his Admonitions prove ineffectual he dies Reviling and Blaspheming his Saviour and consequently could not be long from receiving the just but dreadful rewards of such final impenitency I come therefore in the next place to shew you from this Example Secondly That a late Repentance is a thing most dangerous if not in some sort impossible The generality of Mankind are ready enough to acknowledge the absolute Necessity of