Selected quad for the lemma: duty_n
Text snippets containing the quad
|
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
|
slandering And I 'll refrain from this cursing and swearing I 'll be more careful to sanctify the Sabbath I 'll not only frequent the Church but for the future I 'll no more be guilty of vain Sports and Pastimes on the Lord's-day And on the Week-day tho' I must follow my worldly Business yet I 'll do it in dependance upon God's Providence I will never more neglect to pray unto God but do now resolve Morning and Evening to bend my Knees to my Creator and Redeemer Lastly As an evidence that he is sincere He may make Restitution and Satisfaction in several instances He may declare that he bears no Malice but doth freely forgive all the World He may likewise restore his ill-gotten Goods and may give satisfaction to those he remembers to have wronged And not only so but for the close of all he may be large in his Charity in Reversion and by his last Will and Testament may bequeath a bountiful Legacy to the Poor All this may be done and it is the utmost that can be done upon a Death-bed 3. Let us now impartially examine Whether all this will amount to true Repentance Such a Repentance as shall find acceptance with a Pure and Holy God 1. Wicked Men when they come to Dye may remember their Sins But such remembrance being no other than the exercise of a natural Faculty is neither Repentance nor any part of that Saving-work The vilest Wretches do but too much remember their Sins and please themselves in that Carnal Satisfaction they had in the enjoyment of them But you will say this is not the Case For such a dying Sinner doth not barely remember his Sins but he remembers them with Shame and Sorrow and is much troubled for the committing of them And this Trouble and Sorrow and Compunction of Mind we hope will be accepted as true Repentance To this I answer Such a dying Sinner is indeed very much troubled and is under great anguish and perplexity of Mind But let us now strictly examine what 's the occasion of all this Consternation Is he sorry that he hath offended God that he hath transgressed the Laws of so gracious a Majesty This pretence is not probable when we reflect upon his former Conversation He who made his own Will his Law and never denied himself in any Carnal Enjoyment but tho' God himself in his holy World hath expresly delared That such and such things ought not to be done yet because of some present Pleasure and Profit he is resolved to commit them He who was not only pleased with his Sin but gloried in his Sin and boasted in his Sin 't is very unaccountable that such a Man all on the sudden should be thus sorry for his Sin 'T is strange that his Judgment and Appehension of things should be thus changed in a moment For his Conviction I 'll suppose him to be restored to his former Health and Vigour and that the former Passages of his Life in any instance could be repeated Being under such pleasing Circumstances can he then honestly and conscientiously make this Expostulation of Joseph How can I do this great wickedness and sin against God 'T is true the Man is now troubled but for what 'T is not for his Sin which he never had any Quarrel against but in plain terms it is for the punishment of his Sin He is indeed thus far troubled for his Sin He is very much out of Humour that he can Sin no longer that he hath lost his relish and inclination to it It makes him heavy and lumpish that all his pleasant Days are pass'd and gone and that nothing now remains but a sad Reckoning and Account Rejoyce O young man in thy youth and let thy heart chear thee in the days of thy youth and walk in the ways of thy heart and in the sight of thine eyes but know thou that for all these things God will bring thee into judgment 'T is this Judgment this Reckoning and Account that makes him quake and tremble When a poor dying Wretch who hath neglected God and his Duty all his life long shall be now convinced by the decays of Nature that his Soul must immediately be torn from his Body When he looks upward and there beholds a just Judge ready to pronounce a sad Sentence upon him When he casts his Eye downward and there observes that place of Horror that flaming Furnace just ready to receive him When he now sees and considers these things which formerly in the days of his Vanity he had no leisure to think on and further reflects that all this Misery is now brought upon him by his own folly and that with a very little care and forecast it might have been prevented Being under such sad Circumstances as these 't is but a natural Love of a Man's self 't is no other than an instance of Self-preservation to be troubled and perplexed In plain terms This anguish of Mind for the Happiness that is lost and the Torments that shall be endured is the very Worm of the Damned that dieth not And if such Sorrow and Vexation as this is true Repentance then those miserable Creatures shall sadly repent to all Eternity But 2. The dying Person is not only sorry for his Sin but also makes Confession of it and very humbly begs Pardon for the sake of Jesus Christ And will not this be accepted as true Repentance I answer We are indeed assured by St. John If we confess our sins he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins 1 John 1.9 But what kind of Confession shall be accepted the Holy Scriptures must inform us In these Sacred Writings we are often admonished that it is not an Historical Confession 't is not a bare-acknowledgment that we have done thus or thus but it is a Penitential Confession shall find acceptance Whoso confesseth and forsaketh his sin shall find mercy Prov. 28.13 A sick dying Man may indeed confess his Sins but how far he can be able to forsake his Sin that is to amend and reform shall be considered in its proper place But you will say He not only confesseth but he begs pardon for the sake of Jesus Christ and we have a gracious promise that at such a time we shall be heard Call upon me in the day of trouble I will deliver thee and thou shalt glorify me Psalm 50.15 And our Blessed Saviour hath assured us Whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in my name he will give it you John 16.23 Now here is a poor languishing Creature in great distress and trouble and will not God accept him for the sake of Jesus Christ I answer All the Promises of God in Jesus Christ are Yea and Amen that is most sure and certain But then you must also know these Promises are conditional and the performance of them on Godâ—s part doth suppose certain Qualifications and Conditions on our part Having therefore these promises dearly beloved let
A DISCOURSE Concerning a Death-bed Repentance By WILLIAM ASSHETON D.D. Rector of Beckenham in Kent and Chaplain to his Grace the Duke of ORMOND LONDON Printed for Brabazon Aylmer at the Three Pigeons against the Royal Exchange in Cornhill MDCXCVI TO THE KING's MOST Excellent MAJESTY May it please Your Majesty TO accept of this Treatise part of which was preached in Your Royal Chappel before the late Queen Your Majesty's Dearest Consort of blessed Memory That I did not then Present it to the Hands of that Excellent Princess was the Imperfection of the Work I having designed some further enlargement upon that Subject otherwise I should most chearfully have complied with some approving Intimation then given in order to a Command for the Publishing of it The whole being now finished is most humbly submitted to Your Majesty's Censure by Your MAJESTY's Most humble and Obedient Subject and Servant William Assheton THE PREFACE HAVING made my self a Debtor to the Publick for A Plain Method of Devotion for Sick and Dying Persons And one chief part of that Devotion being the Exercise of a true Repentance for the Minister who visits the Sick Person is directed by the Church of England to examine Whether he repent him truly of his Sins lest Men should from hence be encouraged to defer their Repentance to a Sick and Dying Bed as if they might safely enjoy their Sins in their Health because they are admonished to Repent when they come to Dye I have therefore very faithfully examined that matter And have endeavoured in the following Treatise to convince them That though Repentance as all other Graces must be exercised and improved upon the approach of Death for our Lamps must be trimmed when the Bridegroom comes yet A Death-bed Repentance is neither comfortable nor safe THE CONTENTS THE Soul is Immortal and shall be Eternally either Happy or Miserable Page 1. This Life the only time to fit and prepare us for our Future Eternal State Page 2. The Vicious Sensual and Impenitent shall be miserable Ibid. But such as are Obedient to the Laws of the Gospel shall be happy Page 3. Hence it is both our Interest and Duty to take care of our Souls and provide for Eternity Ibid. But this generally neglected and why Ibid. The Case of a Death-bed Repentance strictly examined and in what method Page 5. What is meant by a Death-bed Repentance Page 6. What by true Repentance Page 7. The Vulgar Notion of Repentance Ibid. Which yet as is shewed is no Gospel Repentance Ibid. What Repentance is saving Page 11. How far and in what manner a Sick and Dying Sinner can be able to Repent Page 13. Wicked Men when they come to Dye may remember their Sins Page 16. They may also be very sorry for their Sins Ibid. They may earnestly beg Pardon for their Sins Page 18. They may make very serious Resolutions of Amendment Page 19. They may make Restitution Page 20. Whether all this will amount to true Repentance Page 21. Of the Labourers in the Vineyard Page 43. The Case of the Thief upon the Cross Page 49. The Close Page 61. A DISCOURSE Concerning a Death-bed Repentance 'T IS the faint Dictate even of Natural Reason but the more clear and full Discovery of Revelation That when we dye when our Souls shall be separated from our Bodies when we leave this World we shall not then perish like the Brutes and cease to be but shall subsist and continue in another State and Capacity either of Happiness or Misery to all Eternity And we are further instructed from Divine Revelation in the Holy Scriptures That this present Life this short and uncertain time of continuance in this World is the only space of Probation and Trial to fit and prepare us for our future Eternal State As the Tree falls so it lies There is no Work nor Repentance in the Grave But as Death shall seize us in the same Capacity we shall appear before the Throne of God and shall then be disposed of in an irreversible unalterable State either of Happiness or Misery Those who make their own Will their Law and who are guided and acted by their own vicious sensual Inclinations they shall be eternally miserable Or according to our blunt way of expressing it in our English Language They shall be Damned that is they shall be condemned to that state of Misery which the Justice of God hath prepared to be the sad Lot and Portion of all impenitent Sinners But on the other hand Those who follow the Divine Conduct and are obedient to the Laws of the Gospel such Persons through the Mercy of God and the Merits of Jesus Christ shall be saved and preserved from the Wrath to come And shall be placed in that happy State and Capacity where they shall not only be freed from Misery but shall further be secured in the unalterable enjoyment of an unexpressible Happiness and Satisfaction From these Considerations you are fully convinced that it is both your Interest and Duty to take care of your Souls and provide for Eternity But the sad mistake is this and it is the ruin of thousands you fancy it is time enough hereafter to entertain such Thoughts You have so much Diversion and Employment in the World that you have little or no time for the Duties of Religion But when you have settled your Affairs and dispatched this or that When you have improved or cleared your Estates When you have taken in this Mortgage finished that Purchase c. When the hurry of these things is over and that you can call your Thoughts your own then you promise your selves to be very Religious that is when you have done with this World you will provide for the next When your Bodies begin to be crazy and your strength to decay When you are laid upon a Sick-bed and have lost the relish of sensual Pleasures then you fancy you shall have both leisure and inclination to repent of your Sins and to beg Pardon for them And whenever you do Repent tho' it be but upon your Death-bed God who is very merciful hath promised to accept you I appeal now to your own Consciences if this is not the very Language of your hearts But know that your hearts are deceitful and take heed lest they be further hardned through the deceitfulness of Sin That I may therefore awaken your Consideration and convince you of your danger in trusting to a broken Reed That I may make you sensible how unsafe it is to depend upon a Death-bed Repentance I shall very distinctly examine that matter By shewing 1. What is meant by true Repentance 2. I shall enquire How far and in what manner a Sick and Dying Sinner can be able to Repent 3. I shall desire such Persons sadly to consider What small hope there is that such kind of Repentance should find acceptance with God 4. I shall examine those Two noted Scripture-instances commonly mentioned in favour of a Death