Selected quad for the lemma: death_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
death_n	good_a	life_n	sin_n	13,827	5	4.6650	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A60550	The true account of the behaviour and confession of the criminals, condemned on Thursday the 15th day of April, 1686 at Justice-Hall in the Old-Bayly viz. Peter Lary, John Toy, Elizabeth Churchill, John Crofts, John Steers, and Rebeckah Rose, of which Peter Lary was this present Wednesday the 21st of April, executed at Tyburn, and the other five repriev'd.	Smith, Samuel, 1620-1698.	1686 (1686)	Wing S4205; ESTC R492265	5,968	4

THE TRUE ACCOUNT OF THE BEHAVIOUR AND CONFESSION of the Criminals Condemned on Thursday the 15th day of April 1686. At JVSTICE-HALL in the OLD-BAYLY Viz. Peter Lary John Toy Elizabeth Churchill John Crofts John Steers and Rebeckah Rose of which Peter Lary was this present Wednesday the 21st of April Executed at TYBURN And the other five Repriev'd THe Ordinary first undertook this service to the Community of publishing the Account of the Behaviour and Confessions of the Condemned Criminals in Newgate that no persons might be imposed upon by others who presumed to Print false Reports concerning them Now whereas some of late have expected that an Account should be given of Confessions to be made at Tyburn This the Ordinary hath endeavoured to bring the dying Malefactors unto but they are somwhat Averse to it there because they cannot be well heard by reason of the Noise of the People besides the Consternation which is upon them being ready to be Executed makes them say little but only thus Take warning not to come to this Fatal Place to which we are brought by the neglect of our Duty to God and Man and usually desire only that the Ordinary would pray with them and that they may do the like for themselves This Account therefore he now gives that on Friday which was the next Day after the Sentence of Death passed upon the aforesaid Criminals he visited them and after he had prayed with them earnestly exhorted them that they would beg of God to make them sensible of their several Crimes that they would look back on the whole course of their Life in asmuch as the just God never leaves Sinners destitute of his preventing Grace till they first harden their own Hearts indulging themselves in some secret Sins thereby strength'ning vicious inclinations to a considerable degree of Atheism because they are not some time discovered and brought to shame He told them that they ought having given Notorious Scandals to make their penitential acknowledgments as publick for the warning of others by their Example of suffering Justice to avoid the same Crimes And that tho' they had quench'd the motions of God's Holy Spirit and resisted the Convictions of their Conscience formerly yet now by this Fatal Stroke drawn upon themselves He loudly calls them to Repentance that so they may escape the Wrath which is to come Upon this they began to be awakened from their Security in an Evil State and to lament their former flagitious Courses which Relenting the Ordinary Encouraged yet advised them not to rely on any slight sorrow for Sin as if this were any satisfaction to God for all the Exorbitances of their Conversations Here he stated the differences betwixt True and False Repentance and the Nature of True Faith in coming to God for Reconciliation by Christ to which they were very attentive On Saturday I visited them again and told them that I expected a further Account from them of their fitness to Dye than what I had already received I enquired what Frame and Disposition of Heart they were in at present Whither they retained those good impressions which were upon them the day before The replyed That they did Then asking them what Hope they had that God was reconciled to them in Christ they replyed That they Prayed and did what they could to obtain the Pardon of their Sins and that they might be saved I assured them that if they were willing to be happy on God's Terms viz. If they desired sincerely to be Holy as much as to be Happy then Christ's sanctifying Spirit would become their Comforter Then I Exhorted them to prepare for the Duties of the Lords Day because it was likely to be the last Sabbath they would spend upon Earth After this they were desirous that I would pray with them again which I did and they promised me that they would take pains with their own hearts in my Absence to fit themselves for a future happy State I told them that they ought to assist one another to the utmost in Order thereunto considering how by their bad Counsel and Example they had misled others into sinful Practices and so dismist them On the Lords Day the Ordinary Preached on this Text the 26 Chap. of St. Matthew the 40 Verse Watch and Pray that ye enter not into Temptation These Words were Christ's Advice to his Disciples when he found them heavy a sleep in the midst of his Agonies in the Night immediately foregoing his being Apprehended to be Crucified He Alarumed them from their Security by enjoyning them to Watch and Pray as being most forcible in Conjunction If we Pray not we disarm our selves Satan gets an advantage of our sloath If we Watch not in Praying and after it to maintain a spiritual Frame we make our Prayer fruitless and ineffectual Prayer keeps us watching and this makes Prayer available 1st We have need to Watch in Praying and to Pray in Watching because Temptations alway await us in our Christian Station 2ly It is very dangerous through carelesness of our Duty to expose our selves to the least approach of a Temptation lest ye enter 3ly Such who Watch and Pray with a due frame of heart shall ordinarily be kept out of Temptation or not left in it to themselves If they enter into it they shall not fall under the Power of it Totally and Finally 4ly Pray lest ye my Disciples Enter into Temptation Observe the best of Men cannot promise themselves to be free and exempt from Satans Stratagems or Assaults These are the Tryals of Sincerity the Exercise and strengthening of real Grace The Christians Alarum against Security otherwise we should be good by Necessity rather than Choice If we did not strive for Victory against Sin Satan and the World 5ly Christians must Watch and Pray especially against such Temptations which most beset their present State and Condition of Life or at the approach of Death 6ly Tho' the Lord over-rules Temptations to a good Issue in the Godly yet they are not to expose themselves by security in any expectation of that good which comes by Accident Temporal Victories are got by Fighting but Spiritual by flying the occasion of sinning God is not bound to Aid us in those Temptations which we thrust our selves upon After these Observations raised from the Text the Ordinary proceeded to shew wherein the Nature of true watchfulness consists and in what Respects Prayer in Conjunction contributes to the declining or defeatment of Temptations Then he described some Symptoms in persons lyable to enter upon the Borders of Temptations and some means in the use of which they might be avoided or the effect and prevalencys of them much broken and abated Also he gave some Directions how to get out of the Snare of Satans Temptation when taken therein And assigned some Considerations whereby the several Temptations of Discouragement or Presumption in the approaches of Death may be over-come Lastly he Addressed himself to the condemned

Criminals by a practical improvement of the precedent Discourse to their particular distressed Estate In the Afternoon a Sermon was Preached on the 95th Psalm and the 8th Verse To day if you will hear his Voice harden not your Hearts From which were deduced these general Considerations 1st By what various kind of Voices doth the Lord call upon and invite Sinners unto Repentance 2dly In what Respects are we said to hear and obey these Voices 3dly That by not attending to them the Heart becomes gradually hardened by the deceits of Sin and Satan 4thly That to prevent such obduration of Heart and provocation of God by it It is the Duty of all Persons to day without delay to comply with and improve the distinct voices and Calls of God unto Repentance and amendment of Life These Generals were treated of very pathetically and the Auditory much affected therewith On Monday the Ordinary Repaired to the Condemned Criminals and inquired of them what Divine impressions were made upon their hearts by the Prayers and Sermons on the Lords Day and took a farther Account of their fitness for their approaching Death and they readily complyed with his desires John Toy about 19 or 20 Years of Age said that he was bred a Seaman was the fourth Mate in an East-India Ship had 50 s. per Month Wages might have lived well on the Sea Employment and intended for a Voyage in a Ship now ready to put to Sea But for two Months past he fell into bad Company which miss-led him into some Extravegancies as Drinking and other miss-spending of his time He denyed not the Fact for which he is Condemned Idleness he said brought on the neglect of his Duty to God whereby he took to this unlawful Course of taking money by Violence But he says it is the first Fact of this Nature that he Committed He affirmed that it is no little trouble to him that he hath sinned against clear Light and the frequent Convictions of his Conscience which now Recurr to mind and do aggravate the sins of his miss-spent Life But he hopes if he may obtain his Majesty's Pardon that he shall lead a New Life in serving God and the King Faithfully I told him and the other Criminals how deceitful the heart of man is this hath too often been sadly experienced in some who after they have been Reprieved and set at Liberty have abused God and the King's mercy by the greater aggravation of their sins having been Cut off in a short time by publick Justice for Committing fresh and greater Crimes I admonished them therefore to distrust their own hearts for as much as sincere Repentance is not so easie a work after sin hath been strengthened by custome and that it requires some considerable time to manifest the sound Fruits and effects thereof But some Criminals after they are spared forget the Vows made to God in their distress and their good Resolutions of Reformation vanish when their fears of Death are blown over Upon this they did say that they did pray to God that they might be sincere in their sorrow for their sin and that his Grace hitherto had lead them to Repentance Secondly John Steers was Condemned for breaking up the house of Edward Wiseman on the 4th of March last and Apprehended in the Prosecutors house He said that he was Born in Middlesex at Shadwell that he is Nineteen Years of Age. the Employment he was bred up to was to be a Seaman that he had served his Majesty formerly in the War against the Dutch that afterwards he was entertained as a Soldier at Tangier that since the Demolishing the Forts there he came over into England and wishes that he had not followed an Idle Course of Life This brought him to Poverty and was the temptation of joyning himself to bad Company and to contract acquaintance with some Leud Women He exprest himself to be penitent for all his other sins which he said were many and great It grieved him that he had not observed the Lords Day that he had neglected to Pray that God would daily keep him from Temptations of sinning against him But he hoped that he would give him Faith and Repentance to fit him for another World That he doth not dispair of Gods mercy but endeavour what he can to make peace with him through Christ that death might not be terrible unto him Thirdly Peter Lary Condemned for stealing a silver Tankard value 5 l. of the goods of Thomas Earl This Lary having been an Old Offender tho' young in Years about Fourteen changed his Name to Wright but confess'd to the Ordinary that his True Name is Lary that his Father is an Irish Man but travelling into Flanders set up there a Victualling House and that himself was Born there but his Father meeting with disapointments in his Trade came into England and is now a Soldier The Youth acknowledged that he kept bad Company had been a great Swearer and a Lyer denys not that he stole the Tankard The Ordinary found him very ignorant in Religious Concernments and therefore took more pains in instructing him He says he is sorry for all his sins and that if he may be Transported he would not do any ill thing for all the World Fourthly John Crofts of the Parish of Stepney was Condemned for breaking up the House of John Wells and stealing thence one silver Poringer with other Goods he was taken in the Prosecutors House and had been an Old Offender He told the Ordinary that he is one and twenty years of Age that he was Born in the County of Norfolk and served out his Apprenticeship with a Broad Silk-Weaver but his Friends not being able to set him up in his Trade he fell into bad Company That he had been Guilty of Breaking the Sabbath and neglecting to improve the opportunities which God gave him for to amend his life That he did not pray that he might shake off his bad Acquaintance tho' sometimes he resolved so to do That by sinning against the frequent Convictions of his Censcience by degrees it became so senseless that he adventured to Commit most sort of sins without any check or restraint but he hopes that this sad Sentence of Death which God and Man hath righteously inflicted upon him hath been a means to awaken his Conscience that hereupon he hath endeavoured to call to mind his great sins and to beg of God that he would give him true Repentance for them That he hopes he shall make his peace with him through the Merits of Christ and then he shall not be afraid to dye 5ly Eliz. Churchill of the Parish of St. Peter Condemned for stealing three pieces of Guinea Gold March the 12th last from John Russel which she denyed not at her Tryal She is 35 years of Age was Born at Newcastle upon Tyne Her first husband lived in Wapping near the Chappel he was Mate to a Master of a Ship and she lived with him a 11 Years Afterwards she married to a Gold Wyre-drawer who lived in Moor-fields by whom she had several Children two of which died of the Small-pox and a third as he was playing fell into the Town ditch and was drowned She Confess'd that the sudden loss of these Children presently the one after the other grieved her almost to distraction but she did not improve that afflicting providence of God as as she ought to bring her to a sincere repentance for all her sins Also she had a good Father who gave her Religious Education but she forsook the ways of God for a Year and an half before this sad distress came on her to be Condemned She said that poverty upon her present husband who is now a Souldier was the occasion of falling into this crime that she is now convinced of the many sins of her life yet she is at times doubtful of the truth of her faith and repentance because she now finds that by reason of great guilt contracted it is very hard truly to rely on Christ for salvation The Ordinary incouraged her to believe because God's grace is all-sufficient to support her under those dark dismal apprehensions which she hath of her spiritual estate and upon further inquiry he hopes she is truly penitent Sixthly Rebekah Rose Condemned with John Steers for Burglary and Felony She was Born in Middlesex is now 24 Years of age she sayes that she is very much troubled that she went against the council of her nearest Relations in marrying one Biggs who was very lately Executed at Tyburn and fears that God blasted her for such disobedience to her Parents that she had good Education but led an ill life which aggravates her sins That she married three Weeks before last Christmas to one Rose a person of very ill note that she kept a Victualing house in East-smithfield till she committed this Fact and that her heart failed her in the doing of it which makes her sin the greater She confess'd that she had been an ill liver but Poverty drove her to commit this Crime for which she is Condemned She says that she desires to become a true Penitent and resolves by Gods Grace to amend her Life if she may be spared from the Execution of the Sentence passed upon her The Two Women before mentioned are Reprieved upon their being quick with Child The Ordinary Exhorted them that they would not pervert this Respite from Death to an occasion of greater Security and Impenitence but redeem precious time to the best advantage of their Souls This is all the Account which the Ordinary can give of the Criminals Condemned this Sessions About 10 of the Clock this Mornin Peter Lary was put into a Cart at Newgate and conveyed to the place of Execution where the Ordinary prayed with him and he Exhorted the Spectators to take Warning by him after which the Ordinary sung part of a Psalm and so concluded with a Prayer after which he was turned off Dated this 19th day of April 1686. Samuel Smith Ordinary This may be Printed R.L.S. April the 21st 1686. LONDON Printed by E. Mallet next Door to Shipton's Coffee-House near Fleet-Bridge 1686.