Selected quad for the lemma: death_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
death_n	bring_v	life_n	soul_n	7,766	5	4.9105	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A47525	An exhortation to a personal and national repentance a sermon / preached at St. James Church, Westminster, Feb. 5, 1688/9 by Tho. Knaggs ...	Knaggs, Thomas, 1660 or 1-1724.	1699 (1699)	Wing K663; ESTC R36232	11,547	38

these God that searcheth the heart who knows all things and understands the greatness of our crimes expects that our sorrow for their commission shu'd be greater than the delight and pleasure we took in them If a bare Acknowledgment and Confession of sin were enough to put it away Judas might have as good a plea for himself as any Saint in Heaven and might justly be plac'd in the Catalogue of Penitents 'T is very unreasonable to believe that God shu'd be pleas'd with that mans Repentance who never forsakes his sins till he had no more time left him to sin in There can be little of godly sorrow in such a Repentance and as little hopes that it will be acceptable to God I know there are two passages in Holy Scripture much read and remembred and to which some men fly as a refuge for a Death-bed Repentance The first is that of the Labourers that came into the Vineyard at the Eleventh hour Mat. 20. and yet receiv'd Equal Wages with those that had born the heat and burden of the day But alas this Example is misus'd and misunderstood for these Labourers came in assoon as they were call'd and the reason why they stood so long idle was because no man had hired them Had work been offered them sooner they wu'd not have refus'd it Thay came in assoon as the Lord of the Vineyard commanded them and therefore were not faulty Besides that Parable of our Saviour's relating to the Labourers is rather a representation of a Heathen man that never heard of Christ till a little before his Death whose late Conversion shall not render him unworthy of a full Reward But this is a quite different case from Christians who made a Covenant with Christ in Baptism and enter'd into vows and promises to serve him to keep his holy will and commandments and walk in the same all the days of their life Who notwithstanding that Covenant neglect to perform it all their life long and do then only repent when they have no time left to repent in He that came in at the Eleventh hour wronght one hour but he who comes not in till the twelfth the time of working then is past and no reward in justice is to be expected where no service is done The other instance which some men lay hold of to shew the validity of a Death bed Repentance St Luke 23 is that of the good Thief who was sav'd even at the last hour and was in Paradice the same Day with Christ This is brought as a binding Argument by such who put off their Repentance till the last hour The Case is plainly thus Christ was then at the point of Death and therefore to manifest his power and glory and to convince the World of his Godhead when even the Apostles themselves either doubted or did not believe it did upon the Thiefs confessing it and saying Lord remember me when thou comest into thy Kingdom make this Answer Verily I say unto thee to day thou shalt be with me in Paradice This was a particular Act of Christ and the whole of it miraculous and ought not to be made a general rule nor do we find in all the Bible the like promise made to any man Because Christ received the Thief into favour at the last hour upon such a wonderful Repentance and Faith as his was therefore we may hope for the same is a Dangerous Conclusion and whoever doth it endangers the loss of his Soul It is not a bare sorrow for sin that brings us to Heaven but a walking in newness of life which inclines God to pass by our former misdoings The Thief upon the Cross had this purpose which surely he would have put in execution if Death had not prevented him Tho he was accepted because he ador'd Christ when he saw him dying there is no reason for other men to presume for the like favour at the last hour who have despis'd him now he is reigning in Heaven If men will presume to live profanely because they think 't is possible they may dye as happily as that Thief did then he may murder more souls by his Repentance than ever he did bodies in all the Robberies that ever he committed Seeing then there is great hazard and danger in late Repentance it is our wisest way to make it an early business and so to live that when we come to die our Souls may be receiv'd into Heaven that where Christ is there they may be also Thirdly The danger and unreasonableness of impenitency will appear in this Some there are when sickness and pain seize them then they resolve against their sins and purpose to be holy and good men if God will be so merciful as to restore them to their former health and set them upon their Legs again Purpose and Resolution are indeed very necessary towards Repentance but are most lame and imperfect and signify nothing without performance and consummation He that resolves against his sins when he is sick and after God has restor'd him to health sins as much as before is a vain man but no true penitent To resolve to repent and not to repent is to break our resolution and faith to mock God and to play at fast and loose with the Almighty To see a man in his sickness smiting on his breast and complaining of the wickedness of his heart and seeming so sorry for it that one who sees or hears him wu'd think his heart is broke within him and yet assoon as he is well again to take no care to lead the residue of his life either in the fear or to the glory of God Such a mock Devotion such a pang of Piety will be so far from appeasing the Almighty or disposing the man for pardon that it even justifies the sentence of Condemnation out of his own mouth The promises we make to God of Amendment of life are due debt The promise one man makes to another may be made good either one time or other either in his life time by himself or after his Death by one that he shall appoint But if we make a promise to God of Amendment and Reformation we ought to do it ourselves This is a concern that cannot be left to the care of an Executor to perform for us when we are dead and gone He who says I do repent but turns to his sins again repents of his Repentance and makes his latter end worse than his beginning For a man to be truly penitent he must lament his sins in lamenting he must punish them in punishing he must hate them and that this severity may not be counterfeit it must last as long as he lives A forsaking our sins with a perseverance in all that is good must be the certain proof of the truth of our Repentance From the danger there is in impenitency as to particular persons let us pass to that of a publick Nation Jerusalem wu'd not know her