holy communion should be given accorcording to Canonicall injunction to all men upon the end of their lives making a sincere confession of their sinns and being truly penitent why not to them also who suffer death for their offences for which the Fathers of that Councell give their reasons which are too long and numerous to be inserted in this place If Calvin's judgement with this Councell's satisfie not hear yet the compleatly learned and most judicious Divine Hieron Zanchius who in his Epistles l. 1. p. 155. printed at Hanovia in Octavo 1609. saith expressly That the holy Commnuion may and ought to be given to sick persons for their spirituall comfort who also p. 421 422. setteth down the resolution of the Ministers of Geneva that where the Communion is given privately to sick persons the custome herein is not to be rashly abrogated upon certain conditions viz. of their true faith and contrition for their sinns So then to put a period to this weighty doubt the whole Christian Church asserts that the communion ought to be given if it be earnestly desired by them to all persons ready to die so our Church of England so Calvin so Zanchius so all sober Christians maintain and none oppose it but onely those who being of an hot temper and unruly dispositions the ofspring of Cham as St. Austine l. 1. de Civit. Dei well attests have overthrown the Church's wholsome constitutions in this particular and some others of great importance to their shame and our great disturbance To conclude this discourse concerning the care which was had of this poor Gentleman's Soul in his restranits It pleased God to move the pious heart of the right Honorable and truly Noble the Dutchess of Richmond to send from Cobham Hall her Domestick Chaplain Master Gunton a religious and learned Divine to visit him which he did on Friday the 10th and discoursed to him of Death of Repentance and the sufficiencie of Christ's blood or the efficacy of his meritorious death whereat Master Sonds as I have it under Mr. Gunton's hand was very attentive as he ever was to all good instructions and Mr. Gunton for his furtherance in devotion prescribed him the 25. 38. and 51. Psalmes which he frequently perused for I found him one day reading in the Bible in which he took delight and perceiving some leaves turn'd down I ask'd him by what means or by whose directiō he read those proper Psalms he told me that a Minister who came to visit him order'd him to do it whereupon I turn'd down leaves at the 7. Penitentiall Psalmes of which two of the former are a part likewise at the 4th of Gen. v. 7. If thou dost well c. So God to Cain c. which Shewes that there was a dore open for mercy if he would have repented of his sin and at the 18. and 33. ch of Ezekiel wee added to these that soul-establishing Chap. the 8. to the Romans These and many more with the Psalmes and Chapters for the day appointed by the Churches rubrick were besidees his private prayers the ground of his devotion meditation and practice whilst he was in Prison From whence he was after the commendation of his soul to God first by Master Higgons then by my self in private conveyed in mourning habit on horseback to the place of Execution many Gentlemen attending him with my self and that reverend Divine When he came to that place being dismounted from his horse he stood like a mournful penitent whilst a discourse for half an hour and more was uttered by me concerning the hainousnesse of sin in generall and of his murther in particular together with the nature of Conversion the parts and properties of it To which was adjoyned the freenesse of God's mercy in the Lord Jesus to all repentant sinners this done with an exhortation to the people to entertain a charitable and Christian perswasion of the Truth and sincerity of Master Sonds his conversion to the Lord the penitent standing at my right hand a prayer was conceived to commend his sad and mourning soul to God This ended he having-meekly and humbly submitted himself to death hee went up the Ladder and standing in the midst of it with great modesty and meeknesse hee desired the prayers of those that were present he likewise with erected hands and eyes did beseech God to forgive him his sinnes against his Father and Brother and praied in few words for a blessing on his distressed Father and closed all with this resignation of his soul into the hands of his Maker saying with a soft voice for his nature was not to speak either aloud or much God's will be done and Lord receive my soul After which words the Executioner did his Office and his body after it had hung a good while being cut down was put into a Coach and carried to a Church not farre from Maidstone the place is called Bersted where it lies interr'd expecting a joyfull resurrection through the mercies of the Lord Jesus A Postcript to the whole Kingdom IT is a true saying of Saint Augustine Deus non respicit quâ morte sed quales ex hac vitâ eximus God regards not what death we die as in what frame of spirit we are when we give up the Ghost A man may go to Hell upon a feather-bed and to Heaven dying on a Gibbet The end which Divine mercy proposes to its selfe cannot be prevented by humane means and if God intends his glory by mans shamefull death I see not but that I and all here should magnifie him for it It is Gods mercy to make us witnesses of the judgments of others that we may be forwarned ere we have an occasion of sinning in our selves So then if his Mercy and Justice his Justice in punishing his Mercy in releasing and giving a sinner time to repent If these two Attributes be advanced by Master Sonds his death we have all great cause to sing an Hallelujah to God It is said Heb. 11.4 of Righteous Abel that being dead he yet speaketh This is meant of his faith for which his sacrifice was accepted and by which he has left us a lesson behind him how to offer up our prayers and services to the God of Heaven Thus our young Cain that killed his elder Brother being dead yet speaketh He by his shamefull death 1. Bespeaketh the proud Gallants of this Age who minde the outward dresse of their bodies more then the inward ornament of their soules that starve the latter and pamper the former that spend whole mornings in decking a rotten carcase and sleep away those houres that they should imploy in Prayer and reading of the holy Scriptures with other Godly books Men if I may so call them that look like Monsters pictures of Phancie and walking Emblems of vanitie These he in a manner bespeaks thus Look upon me who have been guilty of your vanity and idlenesse and know that the eye of Justice never sleeps so that
A MIRROVR OF Mercy and Iudgement OR An Exact true Narrative of the Life and Death of Freeman Sonds Esquier Sonne to Sir George Sonds of Lees Court in Shelwich in Kent Who being about the age of 19. for Murthering his Elder Brother on Tuesday the 7th of August was arraigned and condemned at Maidstone Executed there on Tuesday the 21. of the same Moneth 1655. Deus vindictae gladium Misericordiae oleo perungit James chap. 2. verse 13. For he shall have Judgement without mercy that hath shewed no mercy and Mercy rejoyceth over Judgement LONDON Printed for Thomas Dring and are to be sold at his shop at the Signe of the George in Fleetstreet neere Cliffords-Inne 1655. TO THE DISCONSOLATE Sr. GEORGE SONDS c. Sad Sir BEing a stranger to your person I shall bee secured I presume from prejudice and freed from the worlds censure whilst it cannot be imagined or said without an high guilt of malice that in compiling this work which I did too at others requests I aimed at any other interest or had any design but onely the glory of God in the manifestation of his mercy and justice I confesse Sir I had a little acquaintance with your mourning penne in a most Christian and Fatherlike letter to your sorrowing condemned Son Dated Aug. 20. wherein you acted the part of a tender Father and more of a Divine as appears by your large and pious exhortations advising him not to despair of mercy and forgivenesse For that mans sinne cannot be so great but God's mercy is greater and that Hell is only full of impenitent souls pressing him to beware of self-deceiving to deal plainly and clearly with his God by judging and condemning himself for his matchlesse sin and not to doubt but upon his humble and hearty sorrow for it he should find that made good to his soul which the Theef upon the Crosse heard from the sweet lips of our Lord Jesus This day shalt thou be with me in Paradise Besides this to him I had the sight of two Letters more by you written to the honored Sir Humphrey Tufton Knight and Baronet Sheriffe c. one dated August 15. the other 16. Wherein you did most humbly beg and intreat it is your own phrase that he would be pleased to respite the execution for a short time upon this ground which was the chiefest cause of your earnest request that it might conduce much to the good of your Son 's poor soul And of this you were assured by a few lines from me the night before he should have suffered and so fallen into the bosome of Aeternity which that it might be of joy and everlasting happinesse was the subject of your prayers and pen which joyned issue with our Ministeriall actings and assistances of which he had by Gods blessing a plentifull measure You said well in your Letter to him that it was not all the prayers and tears and cries of all the godly Ministers about him nor the earnest beggings of your selfe his Father nor the Churches publick intercessions which could work his conversion and obtain a pardon for him unlesse his heart went along with ours and combined with our holy endeavours unlesse he begg'd it of God himselfe with earnest supplications you said truely that all would be in vain The hottest Sun cannot make a dead Tree live nor the strongest blowing kindle fire in a dead cole if there be no sap in the root the Sun doth but dry and not enliven the Tree and if no heat of fire lies under the Ashes all the blowings will never make it to burn These are your own words Then bespeaking your Son you adde this I hope thou hast some sparks of grace in Thee though deeply buried under a world of rubbish and I hope all those gody bellowes you mean the breath of the Ministers will blow that away and make thy fire of true repentance and godly sorrow burn clear and make thee able truly to say with the prodigall Father I have sinned against Heaven and against Thee and am no more worthy to be called thy Son Then he will embrace thee in the armes of his mercy he will feast thee in his heavenly mansions and say unto thee Thou wert lost but now art found thou wast dead to sin but now thou art alive in Christ c. Oh happy sadnesse if it produce this joy Oh happy death if it procure thee this blessed life Happy change to leave a sinfull world and a sea of misery to go to an haven of blisse c. These are the breathings of your Soul and as you presaged and wished there we hope your converted Son is now beholding the glorious face of his Lord Jesus Now Sir Who but the malitious who look with a squint eye upon all good intents and actions will not say that you had in you towards your provoking son the same bowells that David had in him towards his Absalom Who can imagine that he can be guilty of discouraging severity to his child to whom he used too much cockering indulgence in his life and of whom he was so charitably carefull and forgiving before his death I confesse that the sweetest Wines turn to the sharpest vinegar and the best love abused into hatred and the worst displeasure An act of disobedience and contempt of command from one whom we have admitted into a deep affection is ever entertain'd with greater dislike repaid with frownes neglect and slighting Thus a command from you his Father in reference to his elder Brother being not obeyed forced you to a paternall severitie to threats c. which were not a sufficient ground to provoke him to that bloody act unlesse a melancholy passion h being deeply in love with a fair Gentlewrman together with a Diabolicall suggestion had Gods grace for a time deserting him possessed his heart and carried on his hand to attempt and act so horrid a sin Sir You do like a Christian in the close of your Letter to him in charging your selfe with a fault for which it may be God brought on you this heavy judgment It was old Elie's sin your too much softnesse and gentlenesse Do so no more my Son was Eli's 1 Sam. 2.14 the same your oft and soft expression as you attest to him You say You ought to have gone higher and I believe you did when you went to your heavenly Father by prayer for amending what was amisse in him but to go higher in passion might have made you fallen lower in his and your friends esteâ—m And it is a piece of your Sonnes glory that in all his sufferings restraints and high provocations from one of your unworthy servants he never discovered any passion or impatience but meekly with a composed countenance used to pray for him and the rest of his barbarous revilers and say God forgive them A moderate correction and reproofe carried on with moderation becomes the persons of Masters to their Servants Tutors to their Pupills
his Family conveyed to the Keepers house and the next day being Thursday the 9th of this Month brought to the Bar after his pre-examination before Sr. Michael Livesly Sr. Tho. Stiles with other Justices where the Indictment was read that charged him upon the two Statutes of Stabbing Murther and being asked what he could plead for himself against the charge of kiling his brother he cryed Guilty and shewed a great willingness to suffer death for that barbarous fact as appear'd by his mild composed behaviour then at the barre which strook the Judges and Justices with the other Gentlemen of the County then present with an astonishing amazement Having thus pleaded guilty he was carried to the Dungeon in the Gaole where condemned persons are alwaies put whither divers persons resorted unto him and finding him in that loathsome place there being nothing but a Jakes to sit upon asked him if he were not sick and how he could endure it He replyed That it was more pleasant to him then his Fathers Dining-room which is as I hear a place of great Magnificence nor drank one drop till tenne at night so soberly patient was he then and all the time of his imprisonment till death From the Dungeon he was carried that night to Master Fosters house again and the next morning being Friday August 10. condemned to die after which sentence the Judge having advertised him to consider the foulnesse of his fact demanded of him the motives he had to commit it and pressed him thereunto for the clearing of his Conscience and satisfaction of the Country Whereupon he answered That he had done it in his examination before the Justices The Judge reflecting then upon him put this question to him Whether he had nothing else to say to testifie his remorse for his horrid murther He then being slow of speech and of a reserved nature made no answer but delivered the Petition to the under Sheriffe Master Maurice Eede to present it to the Judge who at the Petitioners request caused the same to be read in Court which was accordingly effected A Copy of the Petition To the right Honorable the Judge and the rest of the Honorable Justices of the peace for the Assize and Goal-delivery holden at Maidstone The humble Petition of Freeman Sonds Humbly sheweth THat your condemn'd Petitioner finding the guilt of the blood of his Brother crying for judgement and that according to the Law and justice a decree is passed against him for death Therefore in respect of the shortnesse of the time since your Petitioner committed this horrid murther and finding the guilt and sin to be so great before God and man he humbly in due obedience to your Honours beseecheth you in the bowells of mercy and tender commiseration of him in Jesus Christ that your Honours would be pleased to adde a few daies longer to his life that in a deeper and more sensible apprehension of his fact he may more penitently in remorse and sorrow of conscience make his peace with God and reconcile himself to his deservedly and highly offended Father that so not onely he may die in a more setled peace of conscience but also testifie unto the world the sincerity of his Petition And he shall pray c. Freeman Sonds To this Petition the Honorable Judge Crook condescended so far as to defer his death till Wednesday the 15. of August this was assign'd onely by word of mouth and not by speciall warrant which together with many weighty reasons referring to the poor soul of the condemn'd and to clear some scandalous reports thrown upon his Father and him by a wicked foul-mouth'd servant these with the two forenamed letters from Sir George Sonds to the High-Sheriffe in the behalf of his Sonne were the cause that the young Gentleman was not on that day executed He had a weeks reprieve from Wednesday till Tuesday the next week and was executed on that day fortnight on which his Brother by him was murthered In all which time how he demeand himself in sighs and tears and groanes in his bed in mournfull confessions and prayers to God and in frequent reading of his holy word especially such Psalmes Chapters as were commended by several Divines to his Devotions this was evident and well known to us who in our private prayers and exhortations endeavoured the conviction and conversion of his soul to God who is the Father of mercies and forgivenesse and never rejected penitent and humble sinners which made Saint Austine thus bespeak him in his devout Meditations Et si ego commisi unde me damnare potes at tu non amisisti unde salvare soles Although Lord I have commit that for which thou mightest justly damn me yet there is mercy with thee which thou still retainest for which I hope thou wilt save me And again Si ad veniam nos vocasti veniam non quaerentes quanto magis veniam impetrabimus postulantes Seeing thou hast inviited us to accept of a mercifull pardon when we did not seek it how much more shall we find mercy when wee earnestly sue for it Thus he in his meditations C. 39. It is not in the power of man to outsinne mercy I except that peccatum ad mortem 1 Joh. 5.16 that sin unto death that sin which he that is born of God sinneth not v. 18. I mean that damning sin against the Holy Ghost which is as Zanchy determines it an open and malicious rejecting of the truth or opposition of God's word against the light of knowledge and that opposition joyn'd with an hostil persecution of those that are the defenders of it Saint Paul then Saul when he was a persecutor and Blasphemer 1 Tim. 15. came near this sin as Calvin proves acutely on the 1 Ioh. 5. but doing what he did ignorantly through unbeliefe hee was exempted from the staining guilt of it Now so long as this Gentleman could not bee charged with this sin which carries death and damnation in the nature of it and for as much too as all godly Ministers in Kent and other parts thought him fit to be put into their publick prayers no man can be so wanting to Christian charity as not to entertain a beliefe or hope of his Salvation especially when they may charitably conclude from his ensuing humble confession as also from his daily practises in Prison of which you shall have an account from his praiers and holy purposes of redeeming the time he vainly spent if God spared his life of which he had no hope and lastly from his godly precepts which I took from his mouth and set down in writing before his death from all these may be inferred that God who gave him grace to repent hath crown'd his Repentance with reception into mercy and forgivenesse His confession taken from his mouth on munday the 13 th of August by Mr. Edmond Crisp a Gentleman who is a picture of a true friend another Achates a pattern of fidelity
Heavenly Father and thine by redemption O most gracious Redeemer Lord Jesus Christ receive my soul at its departure out of my body and strengthen me O God the Holy Ghost the comforter that I may encounter with death cheerfully and tast of that bitter cup gladly of which my Saviour hath drunk deep before and for me and suckt the poyson out of it so that I believe it shall onely prove a wholsom potion to release me from the power of sin to redeem me from misery and to restore my soul to an everlasting life in Glory Which God of his infinite mercy vouchsafe unto me for the merits of my Lord Jesus This prayer is the very sense of my soul and the desire of my mournfull heart FREEMAN SONDS A Miscellanie of divers remarkable passages and practises of Mr. Freeman Sonds and others during his imprisonment Written by a Godly and learned Divine Mr. Theophilus Higgons Rector of Hunton nere Maidston and delivered to me Aug. 23. who have as he desired in his letter inserted some particulars to his observations Sect. 1. IT is generally reported in Maidstone concerning Sir George Sonds the Father of Master Freeman that no Religious duties have been performed in his Family Master Freeman Sonds told me that by this report his Father was greatly wronged for it was a constant course said he in our Family that after Supper my Brother read a Chapter in the Bible one night and I another by my Fathers appointment afterwards he said prayers himselfe all the servants being present This also is constantly affirmed since by Master Charnock Sir George his Setward who hath dwelt with him twenty years and saith farther that besides the former publick duty his Master prayed by himselfe privately Prayers also as he saith were often said before dinner So then we must not impute that bloody act of the young Gentleman so much to a want of Education in Religion as to a want of grace for the present which God did withdraw from him for a time when he was under a strong temptation and without which grace supporting and preventing us the Best may fall into the Worst of sinnes so that the most fortified Christian being weak if we respect his naturall condition may rightly and to Gods glory say with Saint Austin C. 6. Soliloq Tentator defuit et ut deesset tu fecisti locus et tempus defuâ—t et ut deessent tu fecisti Affuit tentator non defuit locus non defuit tempus sed ut non consentirem tu me tenuisti Lord the Tempter time and opportunitie of place was wanting and all these were so by thy grace and blessing The Tempter came and assaulted my infirmity I wanted not opportunity of time and place yet that I should not consent to him Thy goodness prevented me Blessed be the Lord for his grace and mercy Let him that thinketh he stands take heed lest he fall A proud presumption and want of pitty to others is the first step to ruine and miserie in our selves Item Whereas some in Maidstone reported that Sir George Sonds in his Letters to his Son Freeman being in durance at Maidstone did not reprove as he ought his sonnes great offence but daub'd it over c. This report is malitious and false for in his first Letter about August 13. and in his second August 20. the day before his Sons execution he wrote very sharply and fully to him about the greatnesse of his sin and stirr'd him to a very deep repentance with serious and hearty prayers to God in his behalf This appears by his words cited in the Epistle of this book S. 2. MAster Freeman Sonds hath been loaded here with many grievous calumniations It was reported that he being at first committed to the common Gaole August 8. Wine was sent for him and divers Gentlemen with him drank freely he shewing no signe of repentance or remorse for his great offence I charged him with it his answer was and it was true confirmed by some of the said Gentlemen that they had not one drop of Wine nor any Beer and that for his part he who was of the temper of those Rechabites Jer. 35.6 drank no Wine nor strong Beer at any time This is most true of him as the other report's most false comming from the father of lies who is too busie in the hearts and tongues of the men of this Age who reported likewise most falsely that the Devill appeared to Master Freeman Sonds in a visible shape and that he had a conference with him This was strongly denyed by the young Gentleman two howers before he dyed who said he was only overcome by a strong suggestion from that old Serpent the enemy of mankind Let those that report such things maliciously beware lest for their uncharitablenesse God give them up also to Satan who may tempt them to commit the like or a worse sin Item It was reported here that for the space of three or foure years he had never taken a Bible into his hands and had no sign of Religion I asked him of it his answer was as before Sect. 1. that every second night he read a Chapter in the Bible and surely he had it then in his hands besides many other times but to have it in the hands is nothing unlesse a man have it with delight and love in his heart And as he ever prayed with his Father at night so Master Charnock aforesaid assured me that when they went to bed in two severall Chambers his Brother and he did upon their knees at their bed-side pray unto God in private and this was their constant course by imitation or injunction from their Father And it is farther testified by George Guthbert of little Chart who had the custody of him at the house of Master Foster Keeper of the Prison and truckled under him every night from August 8. to August 21. when he dyed that Master Freeman Sonds did duly every morning as soon as he arose and every night before he went to bed fall down upon his knees at his beds-side and prayed by himselfe Also I testifie that I saw a very good Prayer-book which he brought in his pocket to Maidstone the Title of it is Crums of Comfort a book full of good instructions and divine meditations Printed the thirty sixth time and many can witnesse upon their knowledge that being in the Keepers house he did read the Scripture and the Practise of Piety every day especially that content of the joyes of Heaven S. 3. AND as touching his disposition I found that true which was commonly reported by his friends that as he was no Drinker so no sweater no curser no lyar nor prophane in his conversation He resolved to fast on every Tuesday so long as he lived because on that day his Brother was murthered and could hardly be induc'd to eate that Tuesday night which was before the Wednesday morning on which day he should have suffered if
reprover Thus of late have I with some others of my judgement and profession met with a sort of men who I thank God cannot meet with me nor reach me with a just reproofe men whose teeth are spears and arrows their throat an open Sepulchre and their tongue a sharp sword whose common trade it is to invent crimes with defamatorie calumnies that so they may wound the persons and blot the reputations of those whose actions are built upon Scripture-grounds and carried on with good intentions It is said that the ink of the Cuttlefish poured into Lamps maketh the bravest and most exact pieces of painting to be seeen with horrour as dressed with ugly shapes so these wicked tongues stirr'd up by malicious envie which has for its companion as her picture is in Lucian detraction or calumny when they have cast their poison upon the light colours of a life or action that is innocent make it appear with hideous deformity But I shall not dip my pen any farther in the ink of confutation to discover the men and their malice who have rais'd a dust in Maidstone and the adjacent parts which has flown into their own eies as they that spit against the wind defile themselves I could describe their persons at large from true informations that two of them had been Mechanicks and Tradsemen in the City of London one of which Mr. T.D. is much spoken of for his profitable employment about Mr. Sonds and how he wrought upon him and so far won his good opinion that he desired him to lodge with him this is constantly reported though it be most false for Mr. Sonds utterly denied this thing and said He troubled me so much in the day with his weak and simple discourse that I had no reason to desire his company in the night Yet this is made a great matter to magnifie Mr. T. D. and to vilifie us the true Ministers of Christ sent by him which cannot be said of them There is a great stir too about Mr. I. D. another Mechanick which was his first degree to the Ministry who pressed with another beardlesse youth at the place of Execution to speak unto Mr. Sonds who stood then between my self and that reverend Divine Master Higgons it was forsooth to make him sensible of his sin of which it was conceived by him and his fraternity that he had no sence so rash and uncharitable are they in their censures But we suspecting truly and justly that his speeches might disturb the poor Gentleman whose soul was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to speak in Chrysostom's phrase most quietly composed and fitted God be blessed for its passage to eternity being assured of this wee would not give way to this unseasonable intruder to whom I said thus it is known with great moderation and mildnesse that wee could not but thank him for his good intention to the soule of the dying Gentleman but not approve of his indiscretion which defaces learning and sowres Religion both which without discretion are disordered wild and furious Moreover I said that if he had given a visit to the Gentleman at his Chamber before his death when he should have met with us to witnesse his piety then I would have commended his Charity c. But there are Solifugae those that hate the light love to do what they do in private Christ ever spoke in publick they love to make disturbance he is the God of order and Prince of Peace Are these then the messengers or servants of our Master Jesus Are these who have disturbed the Church of Christ and rent his seamlesse Coat by schisms and Heresies fit persons to quiet a distress'd conscience I pray God that be not true which I said then to this Master I. D. and his companion it was that I fear'd himself and that other made that unseasonable motion to conferre with Master Sonds being at the point of death more to be talk'd of by the people then out of love to his soul otherwise he would have been more tender then at that time to disturb it which is now I hope out of the reach of malice freed from the power of sin and Satan and in the bosome of Abraham in that place of rest which is provided for the faithfull and all true Penitents But who are such was Mr. Sonds sir 2. Quaeries which I shall answer briefly and so I trust satisfie all parties who have loaded us with reproaches and harsh unchristian Censures for giving the Sacrament to him 1. As it is an hard task to prescribe a just period to the best mans repentance to say after he is fallen he must repent such a day week or month or else never hope to rise for the holiest soul may take long and dead sleeps in fearfull sins as is evident in David who after the murther of Uriah c. between whose sin and his sorrow for it tenne months had well nigh passed as then in the former case it is an hard matter to prescribe c. So it is as difficult a task to describe the parts of repentance and the true properties of a penitent who is in a right frame of Spirit to receive the Holy Sacrament However what I said upon the suddain God assisting me at the place of Execution about half an hour before Mr. Sonds died I shall now make of the same a short repetition 1. That repentance is sound which is grounded upon the consideration of Gods goodnesse and mercy to a soul in the Lord Jesus 2. This consideration begets that heart-compunction or grief of minde which is by the Apostle 2 Cor. 7.10 tearmed Godly sorrow that worketh repentance unto salvation not be repented of A grief or heartie sorrow that we have offended our good God our heavenly and most loving Father Upon which sorrow there followes in the soul of a true penitent first a change in the Mind or Judgment disproving or disallowing that evill which we have ungodlily committed and approving of the contrary good which by us was omitted Secondly upon this there followes a change of the will which repudiates or declines that evill and embraces with a delightfull choice the good which formerly was refused and enclines to it as its chief joy and content resolving for the time to come to act or do it To this change of the will succeeds in true a Convert a change of the heart or affections hating and detesting that sin wherein we have offended joyn'd with a love and prosecution of that good duty which we did not and is to be done These be the parts and degrees of an Evangelicall repentance which being seconded with a religious practice that crownes all are the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by which we discern true Converts And having discern'd these in so short a time as was allotted to the deceased Master Freeman Sonds as you have had a full narrative in the former discourse we conceiving that God in mercy to his poor soul had given him a true sight of his sinnes with a sence of his mercy in the Lord Jesus presum'd we might after his Absolution minister unto him the blessed Sacrament which is not without great danger to those that refuse to give it to be denied to any that are not notoriously scandalous and wicked and shall having heartily desired it as a Sacrament of their Union and Communion with Christ in his merits humbly confesse their sins in the face of the Congregation Wil now any man dare call us Dawbers of sin or say that wee Blanch it with a gentle connivence when that wee ground our practice upon such strict principles The Lord rebuke Satan in the mouths of such revilers For a close of all I shall take leave to give an account of what I heard the last Lords day September 1. at Saint Peters Pauls Wharf delivered by their Godly and learned Teacher Master M. to that most Christian Congregation where I my selfe with many did receive to our great Comfort the Holy Communion His words punctually set down are these which suit with my judgement and are the very sense of the soules of the other Divines that did attend Master Sonds in his restraint they being the summe of that Doctrine which wee preach and professe and I hope none will say they savour of loseness He that accounts it a slight and easie taske to be humbled for sinne and sue for pardon hath not yet learnt how dreadfull it is to offend God and how joyous to please him To be humbled for sinne in its guilt because exposing to wrath and eternall death this may be meerely from a principle of servile feare To bee humbled for sin in its filth as defiling the Conscience and polluting the soul this may be meerly from a principle of ingenuous shame But to be humbled for sinne as offensive to God loathsome to so sacred a Majesty and Divine a goodnesse this is the very 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and full growth of repentance as to contrition whose rooting is that of a dutifull love and filiall feare whereby the humiliation becomes purely evangelicall and most acceptable unto God through faith in the blood of Jesus To the blessing of the same Jesus I commend this work proceeding from a principle of love to souls and driving at the main end of all the honour and glory of God in the establishing of weak converts and the conversion of poor dejected sinners and I shall onely supplicate the Divine goodnesse to turn the hearts of our enemies that their tongues may instead of censuring us be fiilled with with his praises who gave grace to Mr. Sonds to repent heartily of his misdoings that by his example as others may be scared from self dependency and presumption so sinners not despairing may turn and be converted to God the God of pardon and Salvation Glory be to God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 FINIS