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Word A Word B Word C Word D Occurrence Frequency Band MI MI Band Prominent
death_n die_v sin_n sinner_n 8,033 5 8.1661 4 true
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ID Title Author Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication) STC Words Pages
A27031 A letter from a minister to a person of quality shewing some reasons for his nonconformity. A. B. 1662 (1662) Wing B14; ESTC R12373 8,893 4

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the Babe a certain assurance of Salvation and keep it in the interim under a suspicion of damnation and this also according to his own perswasion for as he denies it Christendom so also he would deny it Christian burial if it die unbaptized though by the way I see no great reason for it nor can I approve of it but so it is appointed viz. That the Office of the Dead shall nor be used for any who die unbaptized And why not used Because they have no sure and certain hope of a Resurrection unto life concerning such a person and therefore the unbaptized in that Order are ranked with self-murderers and excommunicate But now shall a Minister dare to with-hold so much good from and endeavour so much evil to the souls of poor Infants in denying them their Christendom and all meerly upon the account of some accessories and scrupled accidents invented and imposed by man and nothing at all of the essence of Baptisin it self Besides the impiety and irreligion of such a Process the Minister according to his own faith would be most cruel and unmerciful in so doing and deserved if possible to be unchristened himself again and turn'd among Canibals as one more deeply dipt and baptized in their barbarous inhumanity than any of themselves and yet if he be a true Son of the Church and punctually observe his prescribed rule he must not baptize any Infant without God-fathers and God-mothers without signing of it with the sign of the Cross whether it be saved or damned But these things are hard to assent and consent unto and I cannot do it 3. I cannot approve of the order for the burial of the Dead particularly that passage of it Forasmuch as it hath pleased God of his great mercy to take unto himself the soul of our dear Brother here departed we therefore commit his body to the ground c. My reason is this Because though we be bound to judg according to the utmost Bounds of charity concerning all yea even of those with whom we would not change souls nor be in their condition after death for ten thousand worlds yet positively and peremptorily without all limitation or discrimination to say and avouch concerning every one whom we bury That God in great mercy has taken his soul viz. by death out of the body and taken it to himself this I profess is utterly beyond my faith and of the Gospel also which if I understand aright speaks altogether in another language to impenitent sinners It is past contradiction that thousands are cut off by God in the midst of their sins drunkenness whoring swearing without all signs of repentance from first to last so living and so dying now how can it be said That God took away such persons out of this world by death in mercy in great mercy Inasmuch as at the same instant they were taken away from all possibility of future repentance and amendment of life we may rather fear That God took them away in wrath in great wrath provoked hereunto by the long abuse of his patience and their own impenitency Yet nevertheless the Priest must not only say That God took away all such persons in mercy in great mercy but moreover positively affirm That God took them to himself that is into Heaven if we believe the Lords-Prayer Our Father which art in Heaven there God is said to be in a most eminent manner Scripture saith expresly That neither Adulterers nor Fornicators nor Drunkards shall ever go to Heaven yet in a perfect opposition when I bury a known Adulterer Fornicator Drunkard I must declare and avouch that his soul is assuredly gone thither I dare not thus damn a person while he is living and yet save him when he is dead Nor yet again can I commit his body to the ground in a sure and certain hope of a Resurrection unto eternal life which words must necessarily be spoken with reference to the person then interred inasmuch as they are the continuation of the foregoing declaration viz. God's taking his soul to himself Besides it follows which puts it out of doubt in the last Collect or Prayer That when we shall depart this life we may rest in him viz. Christ as our hope is this our Brother doth Alas I am so far from having any sure and certain hope of his Resurrection unto eternal life and salvation that I rather have a sure and certain fear of his Resurrection unto eternal death and damnation Madam These are some of my Objections against the first Declaration which stop up my way from conforming Your most humble Servant A. B.