Selected quad for the lemma: sense_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
sense_n	life_n	live_v	soul_n	3,806	5	5.7519	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A30616	A narrative of the conversion of Thomas Mackernesse, late of March, in the Ille of Ely who was condemn'd for robbery, &c. and executed at Wisbech, Aug. 19, 1694 : with an account of his penitential behaviour, and discourses with the ministers who came to visit him / publish'd by J. Burroughs.	Burroughs, J.; Mackernesse, Thomas.	1694 (1694)	Wing B6128; ESTC R29165	12,362	41

was precious to him but he shewed strange Zeal for the Salvation of others pitied poor Sinners with bowels of Compassions oft declaring his deep sense of their miserable state who lived careless in the matters of their Souls Eternal Peace and Comfort A little before Execution enquiring of him what Confession he thought to make he said he was not inclined to speak much publickly in that respect for this reason That he judged it useless and at most would only gratifie some who came for nothing else but to hear him tell a long Story of a Vicious Life which was more likely to discompose his own mind than tend to their Edification Moreover he said I cannot affect the Guilty and for others some may believe me some may not The Guilty know themselves I will therefore leave them to God and their own Consciences wishing them true Repentance that they may never come to this miserable End He did not think fit to go out of the World accusing others whom he could no more than accuse and neither bring them to deserved Punishment for what they had done nor prevent thereby their proceeding in the same course of Wickedness No for said he God must convince them and change their hearts which he did and would pray earnestly for to his last He was desirous to imploy all his little space in seeking God and giving up himself to Jesus Christ in humble prayer now and then saying Oh! my Time is short within a few hours yea moments I shall be in Eternity O vain World And thus he prepared himself to Embrace Death with comfort for though any one might see great seriousness in all his Carriage when going to the Place of Execution and when there yet as little sadness appeared as ever did sn any in his condition that was not absolutely stupid and insensible Requesting me oft not to leave him till Death separated us I accompanied him to the Place of Execution where I prayed with him committing his Soul to God he joyned with me with great Ardency Then was sung the latter part of the 39th Psalm by his appointment in singing whereof he seemed Elevated in Heart and Voice above most present At last turning about and looking round on the multitude he took his farewell in these words or words to the like effect Gentle Spectators You are come to see a sinful miserable wretch suffer this Ignominious Death I thank God it is not terrible to me for I trust that I shall find Mercy with God for my poor Soul through the precious Blood of my sweet Jesus You may see here what Sin will bring you to Oh take warning by me take heed of Sin shun Temptations flee Evil Company beware of Sabbath-breaking for by this Sin the Devil begins with many to draw them to all manner of Wickedness so he did with me Oh forsake all your Evil Ways turn to the Lord he is a gracious God Oh vile Wretch that I have so sinned against a holy just and merciful God I have been a Prodigal indeed but I hope now a Returning one Oh that they that have been my Companions in mischief may repent before it be too late I beg of them to fear God and mind their Souls There may be some of them that hear me at this time the Lord touch their hearts Oh do not still go on you are known to God who will call you to account for all one day Think of it I beseech you the Lord give you Repentance and Pardon your Sins that you may not come to this miseable End you see me come to With more to the like purpose Then Resigning himself to God and beging Acceptance with him for the Merits of a Dear and Alsufficient Redeemer he Ended this Temporal and miserable Life Hitherto I have given a bare Historical Relation of what came within my own personal knowledge and I Appeal to God for my Fidelity in the whole For though in some things I may have varied from his precise words which yet I have stuck to as much as is possible I dare confidently affirm that I have not departed from his Sense and the truth in any thing Only let me add farther a few Observations for Spiritual improvement as what may from the Preceding Narrative be inferred First That when God sets sin upon the Conscience and inlightens the mind to see its Guilt the most obdurate sinner cannot withstand the Terrors of Divine Wrath This was most plainly demonstrated in this Man's Case He that had once made a mock of Sin as all ungodly Fools do and no fear of the Great and Terrible Majesty of an Infinitely Holy Just and Omnipotent God did lay constraint upon him but in contempt of Hell and all the Threatnings of Eternal Divine Displeasure swaggered it out in those ways that lead directly to Eternal perdition till the Lord graciously let in some beams of Holy Light into his Soul then how horrid were his Sins and how dreadful the apprehension of their just desert Oh the Agonies that I saw him in How did he Tremble And the thoughts of having to do with an Angry Almighty God will shake the Hearts of the stoutest Sinners for Who knows the power of his Wrath Who can dwell with Everlasting burnings Secondly That when Men come once seriously to consider Death Judgment and a future State the necessity of a Christ for their Souls will presently and evidently appear to them Did not Men cast these out of their Thoughts it could not be that they should live at ease set so light by a Saviour as the generality of them do Alas Men put the evil Day far from them and look upon Death Judgment and things of another World as at a vast distance or at most not absolutely certain and so their Preparations for Eternity are but Languid Remiss Heartless and Insignificant But let Death look them in the Face and their Minds be possessed with Sober Lively Believing Apprehensions of the grand important matters of a World to come then give them a Christ and nothing but a Christ is the load and earnest cry of their Souls Oh the worth excellency and necessity of that pretious Christ that they had long before vilified and rejected Thirdly If the Lord please to put a poor Sinner upon sollicitous care and concern for Saving the Soul no means will be neglected no diligence in the use thereof wanting for that end especially they will be much in Prayer Cry oft and mightily to the Lord for Grace and Mercy Give God and their own Souls no rest till they find both Nothing more remarkable than this in the present instance What a price did he set upon Prayer as appears by this that he gladly accepted the Prayers of any though of never so mean capacity and though at first he could only Pray with others help yet upon my pressing him to exercise himself in Prayer using his own expressions and telling him when he pleaded he could

added I could instruct him better then he knew of himself Now said he I am Resolved to Prepare my self for Dying though at first when I returned from the Place of Tryal and Condemnation to Prison many Vain Projects came into my Head of preventing my Execution And truly said he all along I have cherished flattering but false hopes of Escape never once admitted a serious thought of Death till I heard the Judge say Mackerness You shall Die And then those Words struck me to the Heart yet for a time I stifled that Allarm till on a Sudden my Mind Labouring hard under many Temptations to the contrary and overcoming them I was fully determined to a Vigorous and Serious Application to the Things of another Life Hereupon I Endeavoured to help him what I could in the Great work he had to do for his poor Soul Desired and Assisted him to look into himself that he might discover the Vileness and Deformity of his Depraved Nature that Fountain of Corruption from which all the Evil of his Life proceeded spending some time in such Discourse as I thought most conducive throughly to inform him of his Lost Undone Estate not without some fruit I at last commended him to God by Prayer so left him that Night promising to come again the next Night Accordingly I went and found him at Prayer himself and in much the same temper of Mind though still more hopeful He declined a multitude saying He desired no company but that which might do his Soul good For now he found all was vanity wished he had looked into his own heart when he came first into Prison and desired a few days longer to have prepared for Death but since that was impossible feelingly declared That the worst place in Hell would be too good for him if he did not industriously improve every Minute of this little Time In Prayer he did with great eagerness catch hold of the expressions I used Repeating them over again with more than ordinary fervency When I importunately begged of God that those poor Sinners including the rest of the Prisoners and particularly that poor Woman that suffered with him might be as Firebrands pulled out of the burning he vehemently cryed out Firebrands indeed Lord And when I added A Christ good God for these miserable Souls he cryed aloud A Christ and nothing but a Christ weeping as he spake with much more to the like purpose giving various expressions of a Heart in some good measure broken with a true sense of sin and misery thereby seeming desirous to speak with me alone but could not that Night by reason of much company and therefore deferred it till Morning Coming again the next Morning he did ingenuously open to me the state of his Soul and acquainted me how Satan that malicious and subtile Adversary did watch for Advantages against him to obstruct his Proceeding in the great Business of his Soul's Salvation manifested more Self-Detestation accompanied with Pathetical and Ardent Longings after Christ Now I observed in him some kindly Beginnings of True Repentance which I laboured to Promote with utmost diligence He shewed me several Books lent to him concerning which he asked my Advice My Reply was That he had not time to Read Books and that I judged it best to lay them all aside except the Bible and a little Book Intitled A Guide for Heaven because it contained Excellent Directions for a saving close with Christ I directed him to several Texts of Scripture which I desired him to Peruse and Meditate upon in my absence He thankfully accepted my Directions and when I returned in the Evening he saluted me on this manner Welcome welcome Guest indeed I can now tell you that you and none but such as you are that come to do my Soul good are welcome to me One might read a marvelous change of his inward Disposition in his Countenance he seemed transported with more than ordinary sense of the Quickening and Comforting Influences of Divine Grace I have been considering saith he the Advice your gave me and Meditating on those Scriptures you directed me to And Oh! I see it is Nothing but a Christ will do me good Oh the Sweet Promises that God hath made to Returning Sinners Blessed be God I am out of Hell I had thought I had been in Hell in the Night I saw as it were Hell Gaping the Devil Roaring and my own Conscience Condemning me to the Pit of Hell and indeed crying out with Horrour Blood gushed from my Nose Some that lay in the Room with me said I had been in a Slumber whether I was or no I could not well tell but thought I might be so However when I found my self out of Hell Oh how it affected me Then he Wept and Melted kindly saying Oh what a Wretch am I that I should Sin against so good a God as this who hath declared himself so ready to forgive I am resolved to lie at his Feet I am convinced that I am a lost undone Creature out of Christ It is not all I can do that will or can save me Were I to Live my days over again and spend them in nothing but Prayers and Tears that could not Save me no it is nothing but the mercy of God in Christ that must save me and upon this will I trust I am resolved that at the last I will lay my self wholly at the Feet of God's Mercy in Jesus Christ and there I will Die This he utteered with raised and enlarged Affections They have brougt my Coffin and I am not afraid to see it proceeded he I thank God I can freely Lie down in it These Shackles about my Leggs are as if they were not I do not regard them My Heart is so cheared with the consideration of the Pretious Promises God hath made to poor perishing Sinners and Why not to me And Why not to thee indeed said I. She Loved much to whom much was forgiven Ah Reply'd he it is much must be forgiven me Much indeed More to this purpose passed between us Several other Ministers were with him that Day and Prayed with him as he told me what Discourse they had with him I know not On Tuesday Morning being the day before his Execution after some Conference for the settling his Faith and Hope upon a right bottom cautioning him against all the delusions of a subtile Tempter and self-deceiving Heart that he might not be confident in himself or any thing else but only in the sure Word of Truth he broke out into a most Pathetical Rapture not without a Flood of Tears Admireing the Love of God to Man in Christ Jesus so as was wonderful to behold and next to inexpressible Thus he continued for about a quarter of an hour his Heart seemed as if it would break in pieces before it could get vent it seem'd to me impossible such Words as then flowed from his Mouth should proceed from any other than an Heart truly

touched and broken with godly Sorrow and that felt indeed what the Love of God in Christ meant Oh how did he abase himself saying There was no Creature upon Earth more loathsome than he was to himself by Reason of Sin adding He had been the Devils Vassal and Drudge hurried on by him to all manner of Evil and that now God should touch his Heart with remorse make him sensible of his Sin he did admire with greatest thankfulness One sitting by and speaking of Assurance that Christians should labour for it as a most excellent thing He answered If the Lord will not give me the assurance of the Pardon of my Sins before I die yet if he will but inable me to Hope in his Mercy to seck him wait and trust in him I will praise him I spent the greatest part of this day with him in Prayer Instruction and Exhortation He was not without some damps upon his Spirit that Afternoon signifying his fear of miscarrying oft loading himself with his Sins as exceeding the common size And yet durst not but own that the Merits of Christs Blood and Mercies of God through him were infinitely more and greater Verily it was marvellous to me to observe the Methods of Free Grace with this Poor Man How the Lord by a holy Fear and awakening Apprehensions of the evil of Sin and eternal Misery preserved him from carnal Security and Presumption And also upheld him from sinking into horrid Dispair by letting out some Tokens of his Love and Mercy to him now and then He was ever most humble when most raised with any Hopes of finding acceptance with God through the Lord Redeemer Having left him three or four hours in the Evening I visited him again at which time People came thronging into the Chamber so as created some trouble to the Keeper and He looking round on them dropt several seasonable and weighty Exhortations to them saying Come see the Fruit of Sin and what it will bring you all unto if you don't take warning by me and turn to the Lord by true Repentance I mean not you shall all come to Shackles and a Halter but to such an Hell in your Consciences Oh I have felt a Hell in my Conscience Then looking upon his Coffin Ah saith he I am thinking a House a Town a Countrey nay a Nation could not hold me not long ago and to morrow I must be confined within the narrow limits of that little room Look Sirs what they that have most must have at last but their length a Coffin Then shaking his Head saith he I may truly say with Solomon All worldly things are but Vanity and Vexation of Spirit Vexation of Spirit indeed to me Spending again some time in calling upon God with and for him he was sweetly affected in the Duty and cryed out Lord thou hast said Whoso is weary and heavy laden let him come to thee for rest for his Soul and he shall find it I am heavy laden with the Burthen of Sin it is a heavy Burthen that I have lain under these three or four days but thanks be to God it is lighter than it was Lord thou hast said He that cometh to thee thou wilt in no wise cast out It growing late he desired the Company might be dismist and I left with him alone I desired we might sing an Hymn before they went away all readily assented to it he joyned with us with a very audible and chearful Voice After we had done he said Blessed be God I can sing with chearfulness Did you not Mind me how chearfully I sang My Heart is very much refreshed with the Consideration of Gods Mercy so that it affected the Hearts of all that were present there were not many dry eyes in the Room though full of People who were astonished at what they saw and heard When all the Company was departed he told me his Companions that came to visit him said Look how he is fallen in two or three days shaking his Head and lifting up his Hands he retorted Oh happy fall for me would to God I had so fallen sooner Blessed be God for this fall it is the happiest fall that ever I had After a little pause To Morrow said he my poor Soul must take its flight out of this Body Oh that it might flie into its Saviours bosome I signified to him that I had thoughts of staying with him all Night he told me he could have been glad of it but for some reasons we omitted it He Prayed me to come Early in the Morning and then not to leave him till I saw him Executed He most Affectionately thanked me for the Service I had done him praying God to reward me I told him my work was wages excusing my self that I came not sooner to visit the Prisoners telling him it was oft in my mind so to do but a Sinful Shame prevented me Oh! said he Would to God you had come sooner And truly I found a General Acceptation among all the Prisoners beyond what I could expect I mention this only to encourage my Brethren in the Ministry to visit poor Prisoners You cannot tell till you try how welcom you may be to such distressed Souls and how serviceable for their Eternal welfare The general greeting I had from this poor Prisoner after my second visit was Welcome Welcome Here I cannot omit the Civility of Mr. Bloodwick their Keeper who did readily admit of any that might be helpful to the Souls of those under his charge and the peculiar excellency of Mrs. Bloodwick is worth taking notice of by whose over-sight the Prison is kept with great neatness whereas other Prisons are so filthy as renders it very prejudicial to the Health of those that visit them here it is not so the Nicest persons need not fear being offended with ill scents But to digress no further I left him that Night promising to be with him Early in the Morning Soon after Four I went to him we spent most of the time till Nine in Discoursing of what he had Read after I left him and in Prayer The frame of his Spirit still remained Humble Tender and in good measure Spiritual Death and Judgment were now Solemn things in his Account and the thoughts thereof lively and influential on his whole deportment He laboured with mighty concernedness how to Die Well pressed all about him with strong Arguments to live better than he had done especially he strictly admonished and charged his Wife who had been a copartner with him in all his villany that she should immediately Reform and what straits soever she came into still to depend upon and trust in God following and serving him in ways of true Religion and Godly Fear to keep her self from the snares of evil company which had been Ruinous to him so dangerous to her already and is one of the greatest Engines of destruction the Devil uses in the World Not only the Life of his own Soul