Selected quad for the lemma: judgement_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
judgement_n	heart_n	young_a	youth_n	1,501	5	9.4198	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A41745	Three sermons preached at the cathedral in Norwich, and a fourth at a parochial church in Norfolk humbly recommending I. True reformation of our selves, II. Pious reverence toward God and the King, III. Just abhorrence of usurping republicans, and, IV. Due affection to the monarchy / by John Graile ...	Graile, John.	1685 (1685)	Wing G1479; ESTC R38763	64,056	194

perhaps the next Step be beyond all possibility of Retreat He that adjourns the Amendment of his Doings to another Day may within a few Moments be cut off from all further acting in this Life And yet how securely do men defer their Repentance and Reformation from Time to Time as if they were the absolute Lords and Masters of Time to recall it or prolong it as they please Of these Persons we may observe three Sorts Some put off this Work to the very End of their Days walking in the Counsel of the Ungodly all their lives and yet hoping to die the Death of the righteous Others think their old Age will be soon enough to become serious and penitent wise and religious Others design to defer their Repentance only to the next more convenient Opportunity when they hope to have better Leisure for it I wish it were as easie effectually to dissuade these Persons from such Delays as it is to discover the great and present Danger of the least of them As for the first The putting off Repentance to the Time of Sickness and the Approaches of Death this is a most unreasonable Presumption and hardly differs from perfect Madness For a Death-bed Repentance is a Thing so very uncertain whether it will prove Sincere and acceptable to God that there cannot be a more prodigious Folly than to commit an Eternal Concern to such an infinite Hazard What Assurance can there be of any ones Sincerity who delays his Return to God till at the very last he be forced to it by the Exigence of his dying Condition 'T is to be feared he is not a free and ingenious but a necessitated and very like to prove a fatally wretched and eternal Penitent who with much Grief and Sadness forsakes his evil Ways when he can walk in them no longer who begins to amend when the Season of Sinning is over and to cast out his ●…usts when Nature it self doth it whether he will or no For although he love his Sin never so passionately he must now leave them and although he hath hated God and Goodness all his days he must now fly to them or else be dashed upon everlasting Misery When a man is tumbling off from the World and sinking towards the Bottomless Pit it is no wonder he should catch at God Being arrived at the Non Vltra of his Evil Ways at the Chambers of Death and the Suburbs of Hell it is no strange thing that he should stop his carreer and begin to give back When he stands upon the Brink of the deep and devouring Gulph of Tophet sees the Mouth of the Infernal Furnace opened to receive him smells the Brimstone hears the noise of the Damned and begins to be singed with the Flames it cannot be supposed that he should leap in without any Reluctancy No no having so near a Prospect of immediate Ruine the natural Desire of Self-preservation will cause him to try his utmost whether there be any possibility of Escape Now he will cry aloud to God for Mercy make great Acknowledgments of the Evil of his former Ways high Professions of his desires to return from them and strong Resolutions to devote unto God a Thousand Lives if he had them to give But it is a great Question whether there be any thing of Grace or Goodness in all this Repentance which is extorted from the dying Sinner by such a pressing Necessity This Repentance so hastily brought forth in the very last Extremity must needs without a Miracle prove an Abortion and wither before it grows up Most even of its fairest Appearances do undoubtedly miscarry and tho' in regard of their Vehemency they are called Early seekings of God yet being so late in respect of the Time when they commence they are as it were prepared for the Triumphs of the Justice and Indignation of God who laughs at the Calamity of those who in their Health and Prosperity have set at nought all his Counsel and would none of his Reproof And what if there be some Hopes that this late Repentance may sometimes prove to be of the right Kind and Effectual to Salvation Let us suppose it possible that the dying Sinner who hath spent his Days in the broad way to Ruin and just finished his Journey thither may in his last minutes retract all his former Course and draw within the hollow of that little Span the vastness of that Action which is necessary to remove the Sins of a whole Life And let us grant it pos●ible that the holy and righteous God may so far even prostitute his Grace ●s to receive to Favour one who hath ●tood out in Rebellion against him to ●he very utmost so long as he was able yet seeing this is only possible and no more will any Wise Man ex●ose himself to such Extremity of Danger because there is not an absolute ●mpossibility of Deliverance Indeed the deferring our Repentance and Amendment of Life until we are ●ust ready to dye is so irrational ●n Act that although very many as ●t sadly falls out through continual De●ays have this great Work to do at that Time yet I suppose there are out few who in their serious Thoughts do really design and forecast a dying Repentance No although men will not yet return from their evil ways they intend not to run on so far until they come to the very Brink of Destruction They resolve to stop in good time as they think and while they may retreat with Safety When the young Man hath rejoyced a little longer in his Youth and walked in the ways of his heart and in the sight of his Eyes he fully intends to return and amend in his old Age soon enough to prevent his being brought to Judgment for these Things But art thou sure O foolish Sinner that thou shalt live to Old Age Alas how suddenly mayst thou be arrested by the cold Hands of Death even in the Heat of thy Youth when thou least thinkest of such a Thing The most flourishing Vigour and Strength is liable to innumerable Dangers and may be consumed in a Moment Somtimes men are taken away without any Warning in the midst of their Pleasures and Enjoyments so that none can be certain of long Life and none are more unlikely to attain it than those who most expect it especially when such Expectation is used as an Encouragement to delay Repentance Such Presumptuous Sinners may very justly provoke God to blast their vain Hopes with a sudden Disappointment When the Rich man in the Gospel having laid up much Goods promised himself many years to enjoy them how sharply and suddenly was he both confuted and confounded with that bitter and surprizing Rebuke Thou Fool this night shall thy Soul be required of thee But suppose men escape the various Accidents of an untimely Death and have their Lives prolonged to many years yet if they run thorow all the Stages of their youth in a Wicked