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spirit_n	according_a	father_n	son_n	5,248	5	5.4119	4	false

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A26064	A discourse concerning a death-bed repentance by William Assheton ...	Assheton, William, 1641-1711.	1696 (1696)	Wing A4032; ESTC R4704	23,063	76

man shall come in the glory of his Father with his angels and then he shall reward every man according to his works Matth. 16.27 And the Son of God being made perfect he became the Author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey him Heb. 5.9 And St. Paul doth plainly admonish us That the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels in flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God and that obey not the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ 2 Thes 1.7 8. From these places of Scripture to omit many others it evidently appears That actual Holiness and actual Obedience to the Laws of the Gospel is the indispensible Condition of Salvation And consequently to be only Sorry for our Sins to be troubled that we have done amiss unless this Sorrow do bring forth fruits meet for Repentance that is unless it be attended with actual Reformation and Amendment it is not a true and Evangelical Repentance such a Repentance as God hath promised to accept 2. I am to examine How far and in what manner a Sick and Dying Sinner can be able to Repent And this I shall best perform by a plain representation of matter of Fact Whilst I faithfully remind you how or in what manner you may happen to dye 1. You may dye suddenly This hath been many a Man's case and you have no assurance to the contrary but it may be yours If some hidden Distemper do not thus extinguish the Lamp of Life your own Sin and Folly may then puff it out You may happen in some private Quarrel unexpectedly to dye at the point of a Sword and so may fall a Sacrifice to your Lust to your Malice or Revenge But whatever may occasion your Death if it be sudden it is then impossible for you to Repent upon your Death-beds And if you have not taken care in your life-time to perform that great Work then according to the Laws of the Gospel you are utterly lost and undone for ever For except ye repent ye shall all likewise perish 2. You may dye raving Mad or stupidly Sensless There is a sufficient Mass of vicious corrupted Humours or as Physicians phrase it of Morbisick Matter in any of your Bodies as may occasion these sad Symptoms and dismal Effects And if this be your case where then is your Death-bed Repentance It is necessary to Repentance even in the vulgar Notion of it that you should not only remember your Sins but should also be sorry for them But now supposing your Distemper is either a Frenzy or a Lethargy or in any other instance of such a nature as shall wholly deprive you of your Memory and Understanding your Repentance is then impossible But 3. Supposing it is neither thus nor thus with you but that God in his Mercy gives you a slow and easy passage out of this World Suppose your Distemper is so gentle that it neither distracts you with Pain nor disorders your Faculties but that as we phrase it You have your Senses to the last In such a case as this which is the most favourable that can be supposed I will now examine how far any Man who hath spent the time of his Health in Sin and Vanity can be able to Repent 1. Wicked men when they come to die may remember their Sins which they seldom think on in the time of their Healths The generality of men are so wholly taken up with the Designs of This World that they have neither leisure nor inclination to think of the Next In what a hurry such men do spend the Day is very obvious to observe and at Night being loaden with Wine and Business they sleep over their Cares and their Sins together But when some lingring Disease shall confine them to their Chambers or nail them to their Beds when their Sleep is departed from them and that they lie rowling and tumbling and wishing for the Day Then they are at leisure to consider their Ways and to remember what they have done and to recollect the former Passages of their Lives 2. Wicked men when they come to die may not only remember but also may be very sorry and much troubled for their Sins and may likewise make a penitent Confession of them This evidently appears from the former Instance of Judas who was not a little troubled for betraying his Master and as freely makes confession of his Fault I have sinned in that I have betrayed the innocent Blood And this is undeniable even from daily observation Those who visit Sick-Beds and hear the dying Groans of departing Sinners are best able to tell you how they will lament their former Lives and what wretched Sinners they have been And at such a time they will be very free and ingenuous in their Confession with a thus and thus have I done and withal they may mightily judge and condemn themselves for it If ever you have been laid upon a Sick-Bed with the Terrors and Apprehensions of another World before you then I appeal to your own experience for the truth of what I have now said 3. Wicked men upon their Death-Beds may not only make a sorrowful Confession of their Sins but also they may earnestly beg Pardon for them There is a Principle of Self-preservation in the most vicious carnal man which prompts him to be solicitous for deliverance from an imminent Danger A noted Instance of this you have in Seamen such men especially the common Sailers are not usually over-zealous in Religion and yet in a dangerous Storm or in a leaky sinking Ship those who seldom named God unless in Oaths and Execrations will now fall to their Prayers And thus the most graceless sensual worldly Person when he comes to die and hath the prospect of another World immediately before him when he sees the Infernal Pit open to receive him O with what earnestness will he deprecate the Divine Vengeance How passionately will he pray unto God to spare him to be gracious to him to pardon and forgive him Nay even those who have been so careless and unconcerned that they could never in their whole life-time be persuaded to remember our Blessed Saviour's Passion in the way of his own Institution in the Holy Sacrament yet these very Persons on their Death-bed will pretend to remember it They will then plead his Merits and Satisfaction and will beg God's Pardon for the sake of Jesus Christ This likewise as to matter of Fact is undeniably evident 4. Wicked Men when they come to dye may further make very serious Resolutions of amendment of Life And in such cases this is the noted Language of a Death-bed O what a wicked Wretch have I been I have done thus and thus But if God will now please to spare my Life and restore me to my Health I 'll become a new Man I 'll no more be guilty of such Intemperance I 'll be wanton and lascivious no more I 'll take heed of lying and

bed Repentance viz. The Labourers in the Vineyard who came in at the eleventh hour And The Thief upon the Cross But as Preparatory to my enlargement on these Particulars whereby it will be more distinct and instructive I must first premise what is meant by a Death-bed Repentance Now a Death-bed Repentance denotes Two things 1. A finishing that great Work of Repentance which we begun in our Healths and took some care to carry on amidst the Business and Diversions of this World But do now more solemnly compleat at our Deaths by reviewing the State of our Souls and perfecting our Accounts with God This kind of Death-bed Repentance is so far from being a mistake that it is a necessary Duty and is the commendable practice of good and pious Men. But 2. There is a Vulgar Notion of a Death-bed Repentance viz. When a Man then begins to Repent when he comes to dye When a Man hath spent all his Life in the gratifying of his Lusts and hath followed his own vicious Inclinations When he hath denied himself no carnal Satisfactions but hath taken his fill of sensual Pleasures And yet such a Man when his Body is disabled and Death approacheth so that he hath neither time nor inclination to Sin any longer will pretend to be sorry for his Sin and Repent This we call a Death-bed Repentance Now how unsafe and uncomfortable such a Death-bed Repentance is I shall endeavour to convince you by examining the formentioned Particulars I. What is meant by true Repentance The vulgar and common Notion of Repentance is evidently this When a Man hath committed a fault and hath done something amiss and is then sorry for it is grieved and troubled that he hath done it and doth heartily wish it had not been done Such a Man we usually say doth Repent of such an Action But this is not the full adequate Notion of a Gospel-Repentance of such a Repentance as shall find acceptance with God This is but the Repentance of Malefactors at the Gallows nay it is no other than the Repentance of Cain and Judas It is observed That the most profligate condemned Wretch when he comes to dye will be very sorry for what he hath done He will be much ashamed and will have great Indignation against himself to think he should be such a fool to part with his precious Life and all the Comforts and Satisfactions of this World in such a vile ignominious manner to be tied up like a Dog perhaps for the taking of a few Sheep How will such a Fellow fawn upon and flatter the Judge That if he will but spare him O what an honest Man he will then be And yet do but procure his Pardon and let him loose and he is quickly at the old Trade Nay 't is great odds but you have him again by the next Assizes Now will any one pretend that in such a Case as this there is true Repentance Which yet is more evident from those Scripture-Instances of Cain and Judas It seems very probable from the circumstances of his Story that Cain did repent of the Murther of his Brother My punishment saith he is greater than I can bear Gen. 4.13 But because in the Judgment of some Learned Men this is rather an instance of Despair than Repenting-Sorrow I shall not much insist upon this of Cain But as to the other instance of Judas 't is express and undeniable You read his Story Matth. 27.3 4 5. Then Judas which had betrayed him when he saw that he was comdemned repented himself and brought again the thirty pieces of silver to the chief Priests and Elders saying I have sinned in that I have betrayed the innocent Blood And they said What is that to us see thou to that And he cast down the pieces of silver in the Temple and departed and went and hanged himself Here are as signal Instances that Judas did sincerely repent of what he had done as can possibly be given For besides the express Testimony of the Holy Ghost which in plain terms tells us he did Repent and that he himself declared He had sinned in betraying the innocent Blood He further gives this evidence that he was in earnest he not only restores the thirty pieces but in horror and consternation of Mind he went and hanged himself Here is I say in this instance as much Grief and Trouble and Vexation for the Commission of a Sin and as noted evidence that he was heartily sorry for it as can possibly be supposed And yet 't is as plain that this Repentance of Judas was not an Evangelical Repentance such a Repentance as was accepted by Almighty God Our Blessed Saviour who is Truth it self having passed this Decree upon him Wo unto that man by whom the Son of man is betrayed it had been good for that man if he had not been born Matth. 26.24 It appears from these premises that there is more required to a saving Gospel-Repentance than trouble of Mind When a Man hath committed a sault he may be sorry for it he may grieve and mourn that he hath done it he may heartily wish it had not been done he may make Restitution of his ill-gotten Goods All this may be done thus far he may proceed and yet his Repentance is but imperfect and shall never find acceptance with a pure and holy God But here you will say If Men may proceed thus far and yet their Repentance is not true and saving How shall we know that we have true Repentance and wherein doth the nature of it consist To this I answer God only can instruct us what is true Repentance That is it is very agreeble to the Majesty and Sovereignty of God to prescribe the Terms and Conditions of Salvation and to appoint his Creatures what they must do how they must behave themselves to be accepted by him Now there is no other way to be informed in this matter but to consult the Holy Scriptures In those Sacred Writings the Divine Wisdom hath sufficiently revealed his Will and hath plainly told us What it is that he required of us and what we are to do that we may inherit Eternal Life We are expresly admonished That without holiness no man shall see the Lord Heb. 12.14 That the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God Be not deceived neither fornicators nor idolaters nor adulterers nor effeminate nor abusers of themselves with mankind nor thieves nor covetous nor drunkards nor revilers nor extortioners shall inherit the kingdom of God 1 Cor. 6.9 10. If ye live after the flesh ye shall die but if ye through the spirit do mortify the deeds of the Body ye shall live Rom. 8.13 Be not deceived God is not mocked for whatsoever a man soweth that shall he also reap For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption but he that soweth to the spirit shall of the spirit reap life everlasting Gal. 6.7 8. For the Son of