Now this I think is not only the falsest, but the most Pernicious and Mischievous Doctrine that can be, for it plainly takes away the necessity of a good Life, since that is not necessary which a Man can any way hope to be saved without; and so tends to encourage Men to continue in their sins,…681 a mostly german debate on conversion and salvation Thomas Beverley was somewhat out of the mainstream and quite independent in his ministry but in his book on deathbed repentance his fundamental position was not exceptional, but rather more lenient than many others: ”A good death receives Being from a holy Life, else there is not such athing in Nature,no not in Grace,except by Miracle of Grace.”679 He also stated ”There must be a Living to God before a Man dyes to God.”680 Equally, William Payne, a London priest of some distinction and according to Walker something of a hardliner, argued in a book on repentance that this scene at Golgotha was no ground for any doctrine about salvation as it had not been argued by Christ or any of his Apostles. The beginning of a very long sentence clearly explains his position: Payne further questions the general view of St Dismas and his meeting with Jesus. Was his crime only a rare transgression in a good life? Had he started his repentance long ago and had it maybe already borne fruit? Was this not a singular and exceptional case, not really relating to the criminal but demonstrating the power of Christ and his cross?682 The idea of deathbed repentance thus is for Payne not only groundless, but also dangerous. William Whiston, at a time when he still was accepted as an Anglican, saw the story of the penitent sinner as fundamentally contradictory to the message of the entire Bible, ”the Indispensible Necessity of a Holy and Religious Life here, in order to the Enjoyment of Eternal Happiness hereafter.”683 Whiston then proceeded to claim that a holy life ”is absolutely necessary to Eternal Salvation.”684 The criminal was a sinner, 679 Beverley 1692 in the preface without page numbers. 680 Beverley 1692 p 5. 681 Payne 1708 p 225 sqq (quotation p 227), see also Walker 1982 p 28 sq. 682 Payne 1708 p 230 sqq. 683 Whiston 1709 p 1. 684 Whiston 1709 p 3 sqq (quotation p 3). 194
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