Selected quad for the lemma: death_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
death_n	eternal_a	life_n	soul_n	14,602	5	5.1897	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A60148	St. Peter's sin and true repentance amplified and improved in a discourse occasion'd by the publick profession of repentance made by T.W., who after eleven years slavery in Turkey renounc'd his baptism and Christianity there ... / by John Shower.	Shower, John, 1657-1715.	1692 (1692)	Wing S3684; ESTC R10197	15,206	39

is most eligible under any great Passion of Grief or shame But here is a Conjunction of both It is an Argument of his Sincerity to retire in secret to mourn He cannot well be thought to dissemble his Grief who chuses no other Witness but the Omnipresent God 3. It may be attributed to his Prudence and Discretion Considering the Malice and Fury with which they proceeded against Christ he could not rationally expect if he were known to be a Disciple of Christ by an open declaration of him to meet with much better Entertainment than his Master had and thereby he might lose the opportunity of testifying his sincere Repentance by his future Diligence and Resolution in preaching the Gospel Besides what Service could he render his Master by so bold an Action What Obligation was he under to hazard his Life when there was no apparent Necessity to warrant his doing so Especially having such late experience or his own Weakness notwithstanding his former Resolutions of Constancy He was bound both in Prudence and in Conscience to avoid Temptation and therefore to quit the Place and Company where he had met with the Temptation that occasioned his Fall He did well therefore that he went out But that is not all For Secondly There is a second proof of the sincerity of his Repentance Which is his Bitter weeping He went out and wept bitterly Not only is the secrecy and retirement that He chose for his sorrow an Argument of his Sincerity But we are likewise to consider That this his Grief was extraordinary and his Tears abundant As the Phrase of weeping bitterly does import and is so used in other Places Isay 22.14 Chap. 33.7 * You that are come here to testifie your Repentance for having denyed Christ and renounced your Faith in Turky ought to take notice of this and imitate the repentance of Peter as I hope you do Doubtless with his Tears was joyned a free and hearty confession of his Sin Bewailing his Folly Acknowledging his offence Earnestly imploring Pardon and Forgiveness For if his Grief was too big for words we may well perceive the inward Remorse of his Conscience and smart Reflections he made on himself to some such purpose as this O my Soul What have I done Have I denyed and abjured the Author of Eternal Life for fear of a temporal Death Did I not once acknowledge Christ to be the Son of the living God And have I since denyed him with Oaths and Curses and Imprecations Did I not promise to lay down my Life for his sake and though all should forsake him yet I would not And have I yet disowned and denyed him at the voice of a Damsel O what Unfaithfulness what Weakness what Wickedness Thus to deny and forswear my Lord Have I denied thee O my Saviour before the wicked * And you may say so as to the Mahometans and Turks Jews and may'st not thou justly deny me before thy Father and his Holy Angels Did I disown that I ever knew thee And may'st not Thou at the great Day bid me depart amongst the Workers of Iniquity saying I know you not Did I joyn my self in Company with thy Haters and Despisers and Murtherers And may I not be rejected condemned and punished with them O that my Head were a Fountain that I might weep continually That the Fault of one Night might be Lamented by me all the days of my Life Lord was I not warned and cautioned and expresly foretold that my Confidence would betray me and let me fall And yet so foolish was I and ignorant so heedless and unwary so unmindful of thy Friendly Admonitions so forgetful of thy Monitory Prediction as thus literally to fulfil it by my Triple Denial To this purpose we may suppose he did accuse and condemn himself and that with the deepest Remorse and Anguish of Spirit which his Tears do more than intimate owning himself an Apostate Wretch a Condemned Malefactor unworthy to live a Son of Death To whom the common Light of the World was too great a Favour and outer everlasting Darkness a deserved Portion Thirdly But this is not all For he further testified his Repentance by his Carriage and Behaviour * And you that now profess your Repentance here for having renounced Christ and Christianity ought to take notice of this afterward That in two Particulars 1. By the lively Remembrance of that Sin and Humble Confession of it upon all Occasions 2. By more than ordinary forwardness and zeal to testifie his Love to Christ and propagate the Faith of the Gospel 1. By the lively Remembrance of that Sin and humble Confession of it It is reported in Ecclesiastical History that ever after when this Apostle heard the Crowing of a Cock he would either fall upon his knees or in some other manner express his Repentance and bless God for his Recovery Others say that he was wont to rise at Midnight and spend the time between Cock-crowing and Day-light in penitent Devotion We find somthing agreeable to this in the Instance of David after his Adultery and Murther Psal 6.6 I made my bed to swim and watered my Couch all night with my Tears His Bed brought to Remembrance his Adultery with Bathsheba and his Couch revived the Thoughts of his Murther of Uriah For we find him on his Couch when he Signed the Order for the Death of Uriah The Romanists who are apt to turn every thing into Superstition began that practice of placing a Cock upon the top of Towers and Steeples to put people in mind of this Sin of Peter and his Repentance by that Signal 2. The truth of his Repentance was confirmed by his extraordinary Zeal and Forwardness afterward to express his Love to Christ and propagate the Christian Faith It is true we do not find that after he went out from the High Priests Hall that ever he saw his Master again till he was risen from the Dead But we find that he came early in the Morning on the Third day unto the Sepulcher and was the First that went down into it John 20.6 And we find him desirous to testifie a peculiar Affection to his Master John 21. begin For when Peter and the other Disciples were fishing at the Sea of Tiberias our Lord appears on the shoar The Apostle John said unto Peter It is the Lord ver 7. Then Peter to make haste to meet him only girts his Coat about him and casts himself into the Sea while the other Disciples not above Two Hundred Cubits from Land come by Ship to meet him After a short Dinner it may be past in Silence for we read in the Twelfth Verse that when Jesus said unto him Come and Dine yet none of the Disciples durst ask him Who art thou seeing they knew he was the Lord. But Jesus says unto Simon Peter Lovest thou me more than these He answered Yea Lord thou knowest that I love thee And being asked again he replies

confident in our selves The Instance of this Text should make us humble and cautious and fill us with a Holy Fear because they who are able to stand their ground against some sorts of Temptation may yield and be overcome by others 4. Let us all reflect with shame and sorrow upon our selves That in too great a degree we have imitated the Sin of Peter We have denied our Lord as well as he tho' not after the same manner yet with as high Aggravations and sometimes more criminal ones Have we not denied Christ by our Actions though not by our Words By having a form of Godliness but denying the Power of it Tit. 1.16 By professing to know God and Christ when in Works we deny and dishonour him 2 Tim. 3.5 We have not been scared from the Profession of his Name and Truth by threatening Dangers and the fear of Suffering yet have we not forsaken and disowned him by the Lusts of the Flesh the Lusts of the Eyes and the Pride of Life contrary to our Baptismal Covenant Though we are not Apostates by a formal Abjuration of his Holy Religion as to Doctrine and Worship yet do we not practically contradict the Principles and Rules of it Do you not deny him to be King by not kissing his Scepter submitting to his Authority and keeping his Commandments by not walking as his Servants and Subjects in universal Faithful Obedience according to the Oath and Covenant we are under Do you not deny him to be the Great High-Priest by not depending on his Meritorious Righteousness and prevailing Intercession as the Ground of your Acceptance with God for Pardon of Sin and Eternal Life Do you not Deny him to be the Great Prophet by chosen Ignorance and wilful unbelief under all the Teachings of his Word and Spirit Notwithstanding the bright Revelation of his Gospel that we injoy and have so long injoyed Do we not deny and disown him to be our Lord and Head and Captain and Saviour by thwarting his Example and refusing to walk in his Steps For Instance by Drunkenness and Gluttony when He was the greatest Example of Temperance and exact Sobriety By Haughtiness and Pride when he has left us a Pattern of the deepest Humility By Covetousness and Uncharitableness and want of Compassion to the Poor when Charity and Love and Kindness towards all was exemplified in his whole Course Yea there are many who profess themselves Christians who not only Deny Christ as Peter but betray him as Judas Who sell their Consciences for Temporal Profit and the gain of a little Money Who undervalue the Bloud of the Redeemer and all the Riches of his Grace for thirty pieces of Silver preferring their Ease and Honour and Wealth before his Presence and Favour c. Who is there my Brethren that has not in some sense sinned like Peter with the like Aggravations as his Fault was attended with Have we not sinned after the knowledge of the Truth after we have confessed that Jesus is the Lord after we have owned him to be our Lord and our Jesus after we have promised and protested by Baptism and frequently since by the repetition of that Covenant at the Lords Table that we would obey and serve him as long as we live Have we not denied and dishonoured him after we have been adopted into the Family of God and enjoyed the Priviledges of his House after eminent and special Mercies and peculiar Favours as well as Peter after we have been convinced and awakened and resolved and begun well and held out against Temptation for a little while Have none of us after this revolted from Christ and returned to folly Have you not retracted your vow contradicted your Experience dishonoured the Holy Name by which you are called and denied the Lord of Glory that so willingly was a Sacrifice for you Yea have you not been called to Repentance again and again by the Preaching of the Word as well as Peter by the crowing of the Cock and yet remain impenitent to this Day Nay further Many of our Sins are more aggravated than the Sin of Peter Peter denied Christ it is true but it was in the House of Caiaphas But some of us deny him even in his own House and Temple Peter denied him but it was in the midst of Enemies But we do so in his own Family amongst his Disciples and Children which is an higher Aggravation of our Sin than his * And this poor Man in Turkish Slavery under great and sore Temptations which he long resisted Peter denied him but it was when his Spirit was overwhelmed with fear and surprizing Trouble Whereas we deny and disobey him in the midst of Peace and Plenty Peter denyed him but it was under the Apprehension of a Temporal and cruel Death that might be the Consequence of Owning him But blessed be God we have no such Temptation On the contrary if we deny him it is in despight of the threatening of temporal and eternal Death So that our Apostacy from Christ and practical denyal of him is more criminal in several respects than the Fault of Peter Lastly Therefore as we have imitated his Sin let us imitate him in his Repentance too We have heard that the Second Call awakened him to Repentance when our Lord looked upon him But how many Calls from God have some of us had how often hath Christ looked upon and spoke to us and knocked at the Door of our Hearts by his Spirit Shall we not then obey his Voice to repent As soon as Peter remembred his Sin you have heard that he left the Place where he contracted his guilt he avoided the Company that had been a snare to him Oh imitate him in this continue not to frequent such Places and such Company where you have been ensnared and defiled and met with prevailing Temptations to sin Concerning Peter you have heard that he expressed his Repentance by bitter Weeping Oh imitate him in this and not only say you are sorry but give some convictive Sign and Evidence of it that you do in earnest Repent and bring forth fruits meet for Repentance Concerning Peter you have heard that he manifested the truth of his Repentance by his future zeal and Diligence by his extraordinary Love to Christ and Concern for his Honour and Fidelity in his Service O follow his Example if you would ever have the Comfort and Reward of unfeigned Repentance and not onely sin no more but be doubly diligent in circumspect and holy walking 'T is sad to consider how much formal superficial counterfeit Repentance there is in the World Men say they are sorry they have done amiss they acknowledge their Faults and it may be fetch a sigh or mutter a Groan or drop a Tear in a serious mood or upon some solemn occasion But in a few Days it may be sooner are the same again The Convictions and serious Impressions they had upon the Lords-day are very often lost and gone before the return of the next Sabbath The Vows and Resolutions they make at the Lords Table are not remembred and observed for an entire Moneth but there is sad work for a new Repentance before the monthly Season comes about After solemn Professions of Repentance they are as bold and venturous upon Temptation as ever as unmindful of their holy vows as ever as careless and fearless and so as easie a Prey to the Devil as before Have you not reason to reflect upon this and therefore to go home and weep bitterly as Peter did This would be a happy improvement of this Example The Lord grant it may have such Effects Amen FINIS