Selected quad for the lemma: death_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
death_n	bear_v	sin_n	world_n	4,338	5	4.9247	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A28412	The Bloody murtherer, or, The unnatural son his just condemnation at the assizes held at Monmouth, March 8, 1671/2 with the suffering of his sister and servant, for the murther of his mother, Mrs. Grace Jones, for which the said son was prest to death, his sister burnt, and his boy hang'd : with a true accompt of their trials, penitent behaviour, prayers, speeches, and circumstances thereunto relating : with letters of several worthy divines.		1672 (1672)	Wing B3259; ESTC R18868	28,377	74

the purity of his hands propitiate for the filthiness of mine let his Blood spilt upon the Cross expiate for that which I have spilt upon the ground O! my heart bleeds within me I could endure a thousand torments but a wounded Conscience who can bear so wofull and so eternally miserable is my condition without the assistance of the Almighty thou art my succour and my terror but I fly from thee unto the from the Tribunal of thy Justice to the bosom of thy Mercy though the Wages of sin is death yet I beseech thee for thy Mercy sake free me though not from Temporal death yet from that which is Eternal that my Execution here may be my passing to Glory O! thou who willest not the death of a Sinner save my Soul though my sins be like Manasses numberless as the Sand like Davids Red as the Scarlet yet thou canst make me whiter than Snow wash me with Hyssop give me a sincere compunction and a perfect abhorrence of my wicked self that I may lay fast hold upon Christ through lively faith and repentance and then welcome torments and death it self then though I die I shall live to this end and purpose to enlighten my mind and dark understanding with those graces that are requisite for a dying man let thy preventing Graces keep me from the Devil my former confederate and now my adversary O! give me Grace not to yield any more to his suggestions Let him not betray my Soul but that I may stand upon my guard and baffle all his assaults that as he overcame me here I may live to conquer him and at my death triumph over him and all his Strategies Lord thou knowest the retirement of my Breast the secrets of my bosom pity my wofull Condition and lift up the light of thy Countenance upon me in order to the removal of this Clog upon my Conscience that I rightly understanding what I have committed may not deceive my self with the show of Repentance and finally through thy Grace and Mercy inherit the Kingdom which my Saviour purchased for me to whom be ascribed all Honour and Glory c. Of Contrition O Holy Lord God who art a Mercifull imbracer of true Penitents but yet a consuming fire to obstinate and perverse sinners shall I approach thee who have so many provoking sins to inflame thy wrath and so little sincere Repentance to incline thy Mercy O be thou pleased to soften and melt this hard and obdurate heart of mine that I may water my Couch with Tears that I may heartily bewail the Iniquities of my life and mourn for my Scarlet sins and blush for my hainous crime strike this Rock O Lord that the Waters may flow out even floods of Tears to wash my polluted Conscience my drowsy Soul hath too long slept securely in sin my life hitherto has been but a sinful dream Lord awake my Soul though it be with Thunder and let me rather feel thy terrors than not feel my sins thou hast sent thy son to heal the broken hearted but Lord what will that avail me if my heart be whole O break it that it may be capable of his healing virtue and grant I beseech thee that having once tasted the bitterness of my sin I may fly from it as from the face of a Serpent and take my Sanctuary in the Arms of my Saviour that I by the showers of thy Grace may bring forth the fruits of a sincere Repentance in the speedy amendment of my life to the praise of thy Name the Comfort of my Friends and the Eternal welfare of my Immortal Soul for Jesus Christ his sake Our Father c. For Patience O Lord God of our Salvation which art the God of Patience and Mercy and givest Comfort and consolation to those that are in misery and distress stay the unbridled Nature of my dear Wife who is now over-whelmed with misery sorrow and distress give her Patience and strengthen her feeble Nature in all discontentedness of mind doubts fears murmurings rage and furious actions in this life let no prophaness enter into her heart but grant her a stayed mind a grave sober and quiet disposition O! thou that so patiently peaceably mildly meekly truly and willingly didst suffer affliction persecution and many hainous and heavy sorrows for us I beseech thee let thy Patience discharge and rule her Impatience and let thine infirmities strengthen her weakness informe her Ignorance comfort her in sadness and affliction kindle her love and discharge and abandon her fear moderate her anger and passion O Lord grant her true Patience to bear thy Holy Will in all things O Lord her Heart bleeds within her she is brought very low even to the Gates of death though she be reviled reproached bespitted scoffed and abused let her bear it patiently and give her thy Grace and patience to take all in good part whatsoever shall befall her and let her heart acknowledge it to be thy doings and to come from thy Providence and our base unruly minds quiet her Soul in the many disquieting changes and chances in this world and open her Eyes now in her discomfort necessi and need that she may see hope and comfort in thee prosper her in all her endeavours and Actions and grant I beseech thee that she may obtain her hearty desire Make me O Lord a joyfull Mother and speak comfortably to her Soul and tell her that the Lamb of God that taketh away the sins of the World will have Mercy upon her O Lord Jesus it is the Joy of her Heart to hear that thou hast taken and born all our infirmity I humbly mind thee for thy promises for the performance of them all that we may be partakers Prevent her from all evil that may befall her and tearm all things to the best for her good in thee and grant her Patience and thy will be done for Jesus Christ his sake who is the Son of thy Love and our only Saviour Jesus Christ in whose name I further call upon thee saying Our Father c. Besides he had with his own hand noted the most comfortable Promises and places fit for his Condition in the Bible writing down the words at large which since it may possibly be useful to some sin-sick Soul we have here also inserted them in the words of his own Paper as follows Psal 15.14 Deliver we from blood-guiltiness O God thou God of my Salvation and my Tongue shall sing aloud of thy righteousness Let Tears run down like a River day and night give thy self no rest let not the Apple of thine eye cease Lam. 2 18 19. Arise cry out in the night in the beginning of the Watches pour out thine heart like water before the face of the Lord. Hos 13.9 Thou hast destroyed thy self but in me is thine help Job 14.13 14. O that thou wouldst hide me in the Grave that thou wouldst keep me secret untill thy wrath be past If a

that Age which loyally though not always truly entitles us to discretion but he was freed from the Tyranny of the Rod and Ferula and Articl'd with an Attorney an Imploy not unlike to continue and thrive since Pride Fraud Malice Revenge and Contention do daily increase amongst Neighbours But Ludit in Humanis divina Potentia rebus We fondly to our selves great things propose But their Events 't is Heaven alone that knows Whilst his careful and Indulgent Parents feed themselves with hopes of his rising by the Law 'T is alas his destiny most wretchedly to fall by it He wore out his five years Tearm with his Master without any thing worthy of 〈…〉 unless we shall say that by keeping debauched Company learning to drink and other Extravagancies too frequently practised by some I had almost said in this seducing Age by most young Cl●rks he then laid a foundation for the sad Superstructure of his succeeding life and that his ruine may perhaps not amiss be calculated from thence After the Expiration of his said Tearm he continued some time in London making Addresses and Courtship to several Women but not succeeding herein and his father being lately dead leaving him some estate though it seems not enough to satisfie his boundless desires He thereupon returns home to Monmouth and married the Daughter of a Glocester-shire Gentleman with whom as 't is reported he had a competent Portion and one that had it stood with the Decrees of Providence seem'd to deserve a better Match since Fame gives her the commendable Character of vertuous and discreet But since Marriages are first ordained in Heaven before they are consummated on Earth 't is equal vanity in any that have submitted their Necks to that yoke to murmur and complain As 't is for Bowlers when they have made their Cast to cry either Rub or Fly Heaven to some gives agreeable and happy Consorts to assist and support their weaknesses to others lewd and unequal Yoke-fellows for the trial of their patience The first have Reason to applaud its mercy in Hymns of Thanksgiving the last to evidence their own obedience by a cheerful submission in the discharge of their Duties The old Gentleman his father being very tenderly affectionate towards his wife and having other children fot her to maintain left her at his death an estate of about 100 l. per ann for life that was afterwards to descend to the said Henry her son which brings us directly to the occasion that first excited this inconsiderate wicked young Man to the horrid thoughts of murthering her He found this rate of living above what his estate or Practice of Law which he followed in the Country could maintain and would often be borrowing money of his Mother somtimes pretending one urgent occasion and then another which she like a kind Mother for several times very readily supply'd him with At last finding by his often requests her small Exchequer would soon be exhausted and that he wasted it vainly and profusely she grew more reserved and less free to part with her money which put him into a rage and the devil takes hold of the opportunity to mind him of 100 l. per ann to come to him after her death and suggested that she liv'd too long hereupon without fear of God or regard to his soul he like an unnatural Villain entertains thoughts of sending her out of the world hellish thoughts and infernal resolutions which will not only strangle those that embrace but confound all that hearken to them he consults about this bloody business with his will not his conscience with his wicked heart but not with his precious soul His faith is so weak towards God and so strong with the devil that he will not retire with grace but advance with impiety His wilde youth hath no regard to her Reverend Age nor hath all the blood that streams in his veins power to prompt him that 't is derived from hers which he goes about most inhumanely to spill he is hellishly resolved on the matter and now proceeds to the manner of her Tragedy He proposes to himself several ways for to murther her and the Devil who is never absent on such hellish occasions makes him as well industrious as vindictive and implacable in the contriving and finishing it At last having a servant a Boy of about fifteen years of Age named George Bridges the son as is reported of a Butcher he resolves to make him his Confederate and Confident in this black design whereupon preparing him with fair words obliging him to secrecie with horrid Oathes and Imprecations and tempting him with a Promise of five pounds in Money and a new suit of Cloathes for his infernal service in the business he discovers to him his intentions of killing his Mother and engag'd him therein But she seldom going forth they knew not how to bring about their wicked purpose though for a Moneth together they waited for an opportunity At last he inspires them with a stratagem which took effect to all their Ruines Thi● wicked Son and his young Villain privately steal several Sheaves of Corn out of a Barn his Mother had in the Fields not above a quarter of a Mile distant from Monmouth Town and carry them down to a small Wood about two Furlongs beyond the said Barn on a River-side call'd Munnow being a place designed for Executing their Inhumane Villiany having thus laid the Train and spread his Nets for the Life of his Innocent Mother this graceless Son on Wednesday the Eleventh of October last past like a cursed Hypocrite under the officious and specious pretences of care and diligence invites his tender Mother to her own bloody Funeral coming and acquainting her that she had certainly lost Corn out of her aforesaid Barn and that he had often told her so but she would never beleeve it but now he could make it appear if she would be pleased to go with him thither and that she would do very well to look after it Hereupon through his much importunity she condescended and went with him towards the Evening in her Slippers to the Barn where seeing Corn scattered towards the afore-mentioned Wood he told her it was gone that way to his knowledge for says he if you go but a little further you shall find several Sheaves of your Wheat which she yielding to came to the Wood-side but was very unwilling to go in till by his Intreaties she was prevail'd upon and according to his Stories found indeed several Sheaves but meets also with a Death no less cruel then unexpected for as she was stooping to take up some of the ears of Corn and rubbing them in her hands to see whether they were thresh'd or no this graceless inhumane and unnatural Wretch her Son attended with his aforesaid Confederate George Bridges who had waited on them thither discharges a Pistol at her from which she received a mortal shot with a slug or loget in the right side

done more for you than a Brother or Sister can do Can a Mother forget her Child saith the Prophet Isa 49.15 But can a Child forget a Mother Could you forget what pains she underwent in bearing what trouble in nursing what care in providing for you But then if you consider yet further How suddenly you thrust her out of the world whereby she was deprived of time to put the affairs of her Soul in order it may more humble you and consider whether depriving her of space to call on the Lord for mercy you may not have hurt her Soul more than her Body especially if she was taken away in an unprepared estate And further all this was done not rashly in your drink or passion but was a premeditate and deliberate act of your Soul Oh! how doth my Soul bleed at the consideration of your horrid Sin mine Eyes are not dry whilst I write I know not how yours are in reading it As t' was an act of your hand your body was guilty of the Sin but as it was a deliberate act your Soul is partaker in the guilt and both Soul and Body defiled with your Mothers blood But alas my Brother the act is not all though bloody the corruption of Nature and Fountain that sent forth those bitter streams is to be bewailed The Cause is worse than the Effect that deep pollution of your Nature and that corruption which put on this wicked act is to be bewailed The sins of your life which provoked God to give you up to shed a Mothers blood are to be lamented It is like by committing many other sins and by neglecting to serve God your heart came to be hardened by degrees and so from one wickedness to another till at last you adventured on this high crime Think then I beseech you in how full a manner your Heart was under the dominion of the Devil and what quiet and peaceable possession he had of your Soul so that if this sin had not been committed you might have perished for your other transgressions And now I beseech you to consider whether it doth not concern you to think in what a woful estate your Soul is when a studied and deliberate slaughter of a Mother fills up the measure of your sins what hope remaineth of escaping Eternal misery without deep and sound Repentance when the Scripture saith expresly that Murderers are shut out of Heaven Rev. 22.15 I write not this to drive you to despair but to draw you to Repentance And oh that you would cast your self down in the dust and bitterly bewail this bloody and black sin with the sins of your life which prepared you for this Oh that you would be continually on your Knees begging for Pardon and Peace Oh that your head were a Fountain of Tears and that you could weep day and night for the wrong you have done not only to your own Soul but also to him that made you and her that bare you Great sins must have great Repentance 't is not true except it he very deep 't is not true except it be for all as well as some 't is not true except it be for sin as sin t is not true except it bewails original corruption as Davids Repentance of his Murder and Adultery left not his depravity unlamented Psal 51.5 Now that you may not miscarry this great work of such high concernment but that your Repentance may be Repentance unto Salvation never to be repented of I beseech you for Gods and your own Souls sake to observe and follow these directions 1. Beware of whatsoever may be an hindrance to the true humiliation of your Soul Take heed of too much company or bad company privacy or retiredness may be much for your advantage vain company will have vain discourse desire all such to depart from you whose discourse tends not to your Souls profit let only such be conversant with you who will help you in your work which is to fit your self for an happy Eternity 2. Take heed of worldly and vain discourse loose not precious time in unprofitable talk spend not your Breath otherwise than in penitent sighs groans and prayers and in giving warning to such as come about you to avoid the sins which brought you to this sad condition 3 Take heed of pleasing your appetite in taking too much drink or in a too liberal use of meats be much in fasting which is an help to Prayer and let the diet you take be moderate and mean as becomes one that judgeth himself unworthy of life or comfort abstinence from the enjoyments of this life is a great help and furtherance of mortification and humiliation Bishop Atherton found that by shutting the Windows making the room somewhat dark was helpful to humiliation 4. Take heed of thinking that if your life pay for your Mothers you do thereby make satisfaction to God for though that be some satisfaction to the Law of the Land yet not to God who is only satisfied by the death of his Son Jesus Christ which satisfaction you must lay hold on by Faith and apply the blood of Christ to wash away the foul sins of your Mothers blood And such faith cannot be separated from true repentance therefore you must practice the one that you may be assured of the other 2. Embrace all means that may further and promote you in the way and work of Repentance 1. Read much in the Scriptures and such Soul-searching Books as may help to awaken direct comfort and further you in the way of Salvation especially look much into those books as treat of Conversion Repentance and the last things as Death Judgment Heaven and Hell it would do well also to get such Books as have been set forth of penitent Malefactors as Bishop Atherton Nathaniel Butler Thomas Savage and others who being cast into Prison for great crimes were through Divine mercy brought to Repentance and left the world not without hope of Salvation read also the Penetential Psalms and labour to get your heart affected by reading and be not contented except you profit by it 2. Meditate much on the guilt of your last great sin and the former that led you to it wast no thoughts about the world or worldly things think much how God might possibly chastise your Parents for their worldliness in and by you for whom it may be they were more careful to provide than for their immortal Souls And think also of your own ingratitude who requited a dear Mother so evil as to take away her life whose greatest fault it may be was that she was too eager to make you great and rich in this world Think also of the strict Justice and severe vengeance of God whose wrath is a consuming fire and also who is a terrible avenger of Innocent blood which cryeth for vengeance think also what is like to become of the Body and Soul of that poor wretch who was your Companion in guilt and

God of Heaven and Earth for thee and my poor child or Childrens welfare when born I do beseech the for Jesus sake to feare God and pray Continually to him to endue thee and thy poor child or more with grace wisedom and understanding and to give thee a contented mind in what estate Soever he is pleased to set thee That thou mayst take all things with a true religious and satisfied eye praising him in every thing and doing no wrong to any man but what good thou canst to all never covering any mans estate or plenty of Riches but satisfied with any small competent maintenance wherewith to supply thee and my poor Child or Childrens bodies in this life and to make you more sensible of a better which is to come I should have bin very glad to have heard thou wert safely delivered of thy burden before I die But since it pleaseth Almighty God that it shall be otherwise I desire thee to be contented and to bear all the Lords dispensations very patiently who I hope will turn all things to the best for thee in short time As for my suffering an ignominious and terrible death I conjure thee not immoderately to afflict thy self about it Oh! consider how flight and trivial the momentary pains I can here go through are in comparison of those inconceiveable endless torments which I must confess my self justly to have deserved bless the Lord with me that he hath dealt so gently as to awaken me to a sense of my horrid sins That I now see the sinfulness of sin of all sin and the need of a Iesus Through whose pity grace and mercy I stedfastly hope though my body suffer for a moment yet my poor soul shall be pardoned freed and absolved from eternal damnation And that he will make thee and all the Worid take example by me not to offend so good and gracious a God And as for my Sister Mary who is to suffer with me or presently after I do hereby assure thee and all the World as I have a soul and hope for salvation she is as clear free innocent and guiltless from having any hand in contriving plotting or knowing any thing of my Mothers death before or after as any of her Prosecutors or of the Officers who took me upon suspicion until they themselves did suspect me And therefore I think it is some just and deserved affliction which God is pleased to lay upon me for the sins of our Parents not but that we have deserv'd this and ten thousand times more for the sins we have commitred our selves However I desire thee hence to consider how angry the Lord is with us sometimes when he is pleased to inflict such punishment upon her for leud living and committing such sins as are termed with all people small and little made of amongst men in our times Consider I say my dear Heart my dear Life my dear Self what odious and hateful a thing the least sin is in the sight of Almighty God since she poor wretch is now to be burnt to death for lewd living wantonness lying living merrily and idlely Oh my dear Wife go sorrowing to thy Grave for the days of thy vanity and that idle merry life thou hast formerly lived in Do not buy such trifles and indeed a nothing but sorrow at so dear a Price as the love of so holy a God and a happy Eternity O my dear heart it cannot choose but make thee tremble to read it as well as me to write it what sins have I committed in killing my Mother and what Punishment have I deserved for such great sins when my poor dear Sister is punish'd for so small offences as people term them but great with God How ought I to pray the Lord to pardon me so great faults and that for so small pains and little punishment Oh praise the Lord all the days of thy life for his goodness and mercy towards us both in this life and that which is to come Keep the day that I am put to death as a solemn Fast from diet but especially from sin with Prayers and Thanksgiving to the end of this thy mortal life Retire and confine thy self to a solitary and solid way of living have as little to do with any in worldly affairs as thou canst let thy house be in some retired place free from frequent Resorters unless it be they who fear God and live soberly and godly in this present wicked world let such be thy Comforters and Companions ●live like the Ostrich and Pellican Comfort thy self in nothing but in the Lord God bring up mine and thy poor childe or children always in the fear of the Lord And whatever thou doest be continually in prayers for them and thy poor self My dear Mall And when thou art most under affliction and distress in this life be then most frequent fervent in prayers before God confessing all thy sins even those thou mayst count small as well as great and presumptuous sins desiring pardon and forgiveness and grace and abstinence for the future be humble m ek and lowly at all times but especially when thou art before Almighty God I would have written more large unto thee but I refer my self to the bearer who will I hope satisfie thee fully and how and when I was put to death I can say no more but my Dearest Dear farewel Farewel on Earth Thy dying Husband hoping to meet in Heaven Monmouth March 11. 1671. Henry Jones After this being brought into the place where Execution was to be done which was in a Cellar belonging to George Sadler the Goaler After several pious and devout Ejaculations he spake to the Spectators to this effect ' That he came very willing to suffer death since the crimes he had committed were so odious both in the sight of God and man That he acknowledged he no longer deserved to tread on the face of the earth or to look up to Heaven That he had been a very wicked Liver from his youth up and that the burthen of his sins would be much more grievous to his soul then the weight that was to press his body to death had he not a firm belief and assured hope That his blessed Saviour would preserve him from sinking under them whose Promise it is Come to me all ye that are heavy laden and I will give rest to your souls He exprest himself deeply affected with the sense of his guilt in drawing in his boy to be a sharer in the horrid Act He exprest himself now in Charity and reconciled to all the world but his wicked self He confest it was covetousness and extravigancy or rather covetousness to maintain extravigancy that first put him upon this wicked Act of murthring his dear and tender Mother he wish'd that all the World might take warning by him not to get a habit and live in a custom of sinning though only in things which we count little things and venial

blood of Iesus and that he was going to take possession of Ioys unspeakable and endless ravish'd with the apprehension thereof he could not only go through but welcom the greatest pains that in this World could be inflicted George Bridges his unhappy servant stood his trial was found guilty of the Murther and condemned to be hang'd which was accordingly ex●cuted on Saturday March 16. last past He seemed very sorrowful and penitent and confessed he did cut his Mystriss's Throat after she was shot The Prayer used at his death was as follows A Prayer at the Execution of George Bridges O Eternal God and Father of mercies in much pity and compassion behold this weak and rrembling Malefactor who in all Humility begs the remission of his sins and follies who with shame and sorrow casts himself down at thy feet and confesses his manifold and insufferable wickednesses his ignorance of thy Law and contempt of holy duties his falshoods and lies dissimulations and hypocrisies cruelties and blood-guiltiness He confesses O God that he has deserved the heaviest of thy wrath to beseparated from the comforts of thy Presence and the Glories of thy Kingdom But blessed be thy Name that thou invitest sinners to thy ●elf and offerest them Pardon upon repentance that thou hast sent thy only Son into the World to die for such and ●ast promised salvation upon their true Confession and deep Humiliat on O holy God who art full of long-suffering ●nd patience have mercy upon this fearful miserable sinner ●nd pardon him his ignorance and anger and all the errors of his life and hear his earnest groans now in the time of his affliction and trouble O what shall we say to thee thou Preserver of men thou takest no pleasure in seeing the blood of thy children thou wouldst not have any to die in his transgressions O God of mercies pity and pardon this timorous dying person and clense his guilty soul in the blood of the immaculate Lamb which speaketh better things then that of Ahel Return O Lord deliver his soul O save him for thy mercies sake For in death there is no remembrance of thee in the Grave who shall give thee thanks Blessed God thou hast said thou wilt hear the prayer of two or three Will thou not attend unto the cries an● tears of a Multitude who are at thy Throne of grace in behalf of this poor wretch who by the Seductions of the devi● and his own hearts lusts was drawn to commit a black an● horrid wickedness to plot and contrive the de●th of hi● Mistriss and to lie in wait for her fall For thy Name-sak● O Lord pardon his iniquity for it is great The trouble of his heart are enlarged O bring thou him out of his d●stresses O most Gracious Father let not this sad and timerou● Sinner sink under the burden of his transgressions and cal●mities To thee alone he makes his complaint and Prayer And he trembles at thy judgements let not the evil Spiri● and his feares prevaile in the time of his trouble and sorrow and dissolution O God we beseech thee give thy afflicted servant a pe●fect and sound repentance and assurance of thy favour tell him that thou hast seal'd his Pardon to him with t●● blood of Jesus that thou hast accepted his Confession a●● hast heard his g●oans and that he shall quickly be tak●● from a miserable and sinful world to a Celestial Mansion 〈◊〉 dearest Lord take from thy poor and sinful servant all ino●dinate fear of death and give him earnest desires after C●lestial pleasures and when his soul shall take a farewel● this world let thy holy Angels carry it into the Regions eternal joy peace and felicities for Christ Jesus sake o● dearest Lord. In whose Name and words we further pra● Our Father c. As for Mary Jones though she from first to last protested her innocency yet it being proved Not only that she stay'd up for her brother that fatal Night the Murther was committed but that very Night washed his bloody Clothes beat the Chil●ren for enquiring after their Mother and since ●ndeavoring to flie for it all which was testified with several other circumstances by two credible Witnesses she also was hereupon found guilty as consenting to the Fact and condemned to be burnt Which Sentence was executed the same day that the Boy suffered viz. Mar. 16. she being drawn along with him on a Sledd and burned at a Stake nigh the Gallows She to the last insisted on her Innocence and gave Certificates thereof to several Persons under her own hand with most solemn Protestations and begged of the Lord on the day she was to die That he would please to shew some sign or token to clear her to the world which some will have to be Answered by the stubborn Horses refusal to go on with the Sledd when she came against the Church going to the place of suffering the falling down of part of the Church-wall then a strange Meteor and Storm with I know not how many other Prodigies but wiser men judge all these to be but raised stories or at best forced observations of some melancholy and credulous Heads 'T is certain her sex youth and vehement denial of being privy to the Fact were very powerful Advocates to plead for pity in the spectators breasts whose tears at her death seem'd almost enough to quench the flames she was exposed to she said not much at the stake but what ten●ed to declare her innocency in the particular fa● charged though having bin a grand sinner she a●knowledged she had otherwise duely deserved t● worst she could suffer And concluding her discour●● with a Protestation that she freely and heartily di● forgive all the world The Prayers following were put up for her as she sto●● at the Place of Execution a numerous throng acco●panying each word with sighs and tears A Prayer at the Execution of Mary Jones O Eternal and most merciful God who hast made the way 〈◊〉 troubles and afflictions the way to Jerusalem and everlasti●● pleasures Look in abundant mercy upon a sorrowful sin 〈◊〉 soul upon a wretched and vile sinner who hath none to he●● and deliver her O pardon and forgive her all her secret sin lusts and passions her averseness to religion and vertue and h●● want of love to Prayer and holy Offices to the Word of G●● and pious Christians her easie yieldings to the assaults of S●tan and violent resistings of the motions of thy Spirit H●● slavish fears and distrust of thy Providence her greediness of t●● world and neglect of the things above the omissions and lu●● warmness of her Prayers and whatsoever has provok'd the● lay this great punishment upon her O God we beseech thee 〈◊〉 ●●e be guiltie of the charged crime of taking away the lif● 〈◊〉 her Mother let a River of tears run down her cheeks and w●●● her clean in the blood of the Holy Jesus If she was not c●●scious to that fearful