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A30736 A Serious advice to the citizens of London by some ministers of the Gospel in the said city upon occasion of the horrid murder and dreadful death of Nathaniel Butler, an high malefactor. Calamy, Edmund, 1600-1666. 1657 (1657) Wing B6286; ESTC R209007 10,096 23

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A SERIOUS ADVICE TO THE CITIZENS OF LONDON By some MINISTERS of the GOSPEL in the said CITY Upon occasion of the HORRID MURDER And DREADFUL DEATH OF NATHANIEL BUTLER An high Malefactor Beloved in Christ AS we thought it a great duty lying upon us before the execution of the sentence of death upon Nathaniel Butler to lay out our selves to the utmost for the promoting of his spiritual and eternal good in frequent praying with him or for him in endevouring to convince him of the superlative greatness of his sins and in spreading the freeness of the grace of God in Christ before him according to the penitential workings we observed in him So having done our duty to him who is dead under the stroke of justice and as is hoped with some success too through the grace of God for which we bless him we humbly judge there is a further duty incumbent upon us unto you the inhabitants of this famous City who have been spectators of this Tragedy in a serious recommending of this providence to you and the duty which it calls for Psal. 9 16. The Lord is known by the judgment which he executeth And surely this latter Age though an Age full of sin hath not set before you a more dreadful instance of mans sinfulness and Gods justice though in the end sweetned much with mercy then that which in and upon this notorious Malefa●tor hath been laid before your observation And therefore we cannot here be silent but must take this advantage with all humility and affection to your souls good plainly to open our hearts to you By some we know before hand we shall be sleighted and censured as men too busy and may be as men too credulous but in the presence of God we can say our aim is publick good and the discharge of our consciences and therefore we are not discouraged And we are not wholly without hope but that some benefit may be reaped from these few lines which here with all sincerity we do present upon that late providence which hath been before you That providence we say which like the Cloud is on one side very dark on the other side bright very dark as to the mans sin but bright as to Gods mercy unto him as is believed T is the daily and inward grief of our spirits God knows it that our Ministry is so successeless that we see so little fruit of the word preached by us that in a City where there is such plain and powerful preaching such horrid sins should be committed This is a lamentation and shall be for a lamentation But possibly some secure sinners may be a little startled and awakened by this terrible judicial hand of God and so a word setting in with this providence may be more effectual then many in an ordinance We cannot but comply with the will of God in the use of all means for the furtherance of your salvation And oh that God would so bless this dispensation that you all may hear and fear and sin no more Touching the sad occasion we will not inlarge upon that the hainous murder the abominable uncleanness the wicked theft of which Nat Butler was guilty of the former but once which we speak not by way of extenuation for that 's too much of the two latter very often as also the shamefulness and dreadfulness of his death these we pass over as being very well known to all of you Neither shall we interest our selves in any narrative of the workings of God upon his heart during his imprisonment and at his execution though herein we could speak much as being for the most of us very often with him in this time and narrow observers of him Nor shall we expatiate upon some of those great truths of the Gospel which this famous instance doth lead us to Namely that sometimes it pleases God in the sovereignty and prerogative of his grace to ceaze upon the greatest sinners and out of the coursest rubbish to erect the monuments of his unlimited mercy 1 Tim. 1. 16. The Lord doth sometimes take the vilest wretches and hangs them out as patterns of his infinite love that the freeness of his grace may be admired and the greatest of sinners may be incouraged but still in the way of Faith and Repentance we do not we dare not limit the Grace of God as to exclude this Notorious and Bloody sinner from it nay we have good hope that through the infinite Mercy of the Father and the All-sufficient Merits of the Son he is accepted to eternal Life Indeed when we consider the horribleness of his sin the greatness of his joy after a short humiliation yet deep and through we hope we easily conjecture that some will question both the prudence of any publication and the truth of his Conversion But we will meddle with neither of these leaving men to jude of the former and God alone who searches and knows the heart to judge of the latter Waving therefore all these things our only design and businesse in this application is to press upon you the inhabitants of this City to some of whom we are more neerly related in our respective Charges the several duties which do naturally result from this Providence We would exhort you in the first place To be thankful to God for his Restraining Grace which though it be short of his Renewing Grace yet t is with all thankfulness to be valued Oh! bless the Lord who keeps you from those sins which this poor Wretch was guilty of that you are not Adulterers Theeves nay Murderers and Malefactors to be punished by the Iudge this is the Lords mercy 1 Cor. 4. 7. Who makes you to differ from others Have not you the same Natures Have not you the Seed and Spawn of all wickedness in you And should God leave you to the baseness of your own hellish hearts would not you also run to all Excess of sin and that with Greediness too When you read over this sad Story we beseech you lay your hands upon your hearts and say What a mercy is it I was neither the Murderer nor the Murdred We desire you to mourne over the crying sins that are to be found amongst us Oh! the Scarlet sins that swarm in London even in London Swearing Drunkenness Uncleanness Profanation of the Lords Day Contempt of the Gospel and of the Ministry thereof nay even Blood-guiltiness is to be found amongst us Should not your Souls like the Soul of Righteous Lot be vexed within you for these things 2 Pet. 2. 7 Should you not all come up to be Ezekiel's mourners in the remembrance of them Ezek. 9. 4 Especially considering that these things are done in times of Reformation and in a place of Vision even in London where the Light of the Gospel shines so gloriously where the Word is Preached so plentifully and powerfully even there these abominations are to be found Will you not lay them to heart And what