sinned and he repented of it in some degree and as an instance of it made restitution of the price of blood but had not recourse by faith and Gospel repentance to that blood of atonement and therefore died as a sad instance and dreadful example of horrid dispair and indeed no sin except that one unpardonable one against the Holy Ghost is exempted from forgiveness upon a true repentance And to take away doubt in this the Scripture hath particularly mentioned the greatest sorts as actually forgiven to sincere Penitents As particularly The Blasphemies of Saul the Fornications of Magdalen the extortions of Zaccheus the Murder and uncleanness of David the drunkenness and incest of Noah and the Robberies of the Thief upon the Cross But as there may be an error on this hand so there may be and possibly is more frequently on the other hand toc in relying too confidently upon the pardoning mercy of God in Christ without those Gospel preparations of heart which will sit us to receive it And this seems to be the sin of those very confident but very much mistaken fiduciaries mentioned and reproved by our Saviour Mat. 7. 21 22 23. Not every one that saith unto me Lord Lord shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven but he that doth the will of my Father which is in Heaven Many will say unto me in that day Lord have we not Prophesied in thy name and in thy name cast out Devils and in thy name done many wonderful works And then will I profess unto them I never knew you depart from me ye that work iniquity And if they would guide themselves between presumption and despair it will behave them to take the Advice of St. Peter to Simon Magus so Acts 8. 22. Repent therefore of this thy wickedness and pray God if perhaps the thought of thy heart may be forgiven thee He saith not and so certainly it shall be this possibly might be too confident a presumption to depend upon but if perhaps that an humble hope may be allowed to seek after The carriage of Benhahad to King Ahab may well become them The Kings of Israel are merciful Kings says he and so they The God of Israel is a merciful God this they may with fulness of Faith believe and peradventure he will save us this they may with an humble hope desire And to accommodate a little to this purpose that expression of Queen Esther They may go into the presence of God by humble supplication and prayer and say if we perish we will perish praying unto God we will perish imploring his Grace we will Perish rolling our selves upon his mercy in Christ Jesus and it is possible God may be more merciful to us then we are apt to think he will when we reflect upon the great defect of our death bed repentance The rest I shall refer to the Conduct of their spiritual guides of which number I am bound in duty to be one and shall request them often to read these seven Psalms 6 32 38 51 102 130 143. Paraphrased into Prayers by Bishop Taylour which I have provided for them at my own charge A small Treatise called The Penitent sinner provided for them by the care of the Court of Aldermen and these two Prayers the one taken out of Doctor Patricks Devout Christian the other from Bishop Taylour and with a small alteration accommodated to their condition A Prayer for condemned Malefactors written by Dr. Patrick in his Devout Christian O MOST holy and righteous judge of the whole world give us sinful and miserable wretches leave to prostrate our selves before the throne of thy Grace and to implore that mercy which we have formerly despised or abused We are not worthy we confess to lift up our eyes towards heaven and it becomes us in the greatest dejection of spirit to sigh and groan under the Load of our sins which have been so great and many so bold so presumptuous and shameles that when with an awakened mind we reflect upon them we are ready to sink into Hell and utterly despair of any mercy O God how have we hated instruction and our heart despised reproof And have not obeyed the voice of our teachers nor inclined our ear to them that admonished us How swift have our feet been to run into evil and how backward and averse have we been to any thing that is good O the injuries that we have done our neighbours the abuse of our selves and thy good creatures the prophane contempt or neglect of thee and the duties of thy worship and service * Here let them reckon up the blasphemies debaucheries and violences that they have been guilty of The remembrance of all this is dreadful the burden is intolerable How shall we appear before thee at whose rebuke the mountains quake since we cannot think of our appearance before an earthly judge without shame and affrightment of spirit O Lord work in us a greater dread of thee with a greater shame and confusion of face now that we are in thy presence For which end represent unto us essectually the wickedness the baseness and vileness of our evil doings as well as the guilt and just desert of thee O that we could hate and abhor them more than death which we expect shortly to suffer for them Bestow on us that ingenuous and godly sorrow which worketh repentance and unfeigned purposes of amendment of life If thou through thy great mercy and unexpected providence shouldest grant enlargement of it These purposes come too late indeed we may justly think to find acceptance with thee and therefore not without great fear and trembling and a great sense of our undeserving we look up unto thee acknowledging thy infinite goodness if thou wilt vouchsafe but the smallest hope of mercy Mercy mercy Good Lord cast us not quite out of thy sight for Jesus sake who gave himself for us to redeem us from all iniquity It is the beginning of some mercy and an earnest we hope of more that thou hast made us sensible of our offences Help us to manifest our sincerity by making free and open confession of our crimes and taking the shame of them before others and by acknowledgment that we are unworthy to live and by earnest admonishments to all to be warned by our example and to cease betimes to do evil and learn to do well O that we could glorifie thee O God a little in our latter end after this manner And till we come to receive our deserved punishment help us to spend our time in bewailing our sins in humbling our selves before thee for them in setting our hearts against them in studying and admiring with the greatest affection the holy life of our Lord Jesus in calling other offenders to repentance and exhorting them thereby to give thee glory Deny us not we beseech thee the grace thus to employ our selves that we may have some tast of thy mercy and the fear of death may be abated by some hope that when our soul shall be parted from the body it may be received into everlasting mansions through Jesus Christ our Lord In whose name and words c. A Prayer for Penitents by Bishop Taylour SON of David Blessed Redeemer Lamb of God that takest away the sins of
the world have mercy upon us O Jesu be a Jesus unto us thou that sparedst thy servant Peter that denied thee thrice thou that didst cast seven Devils out of Mary Magdalene and forgavest the woman taken in adultery and didst bear the convert Thief from the Cross to the joys of Paradise have mercy upon us also for although we have amassed together more sins than all these in conjunction yet not their sins nor ours nor the sins of all the world can equal thy glorious mercy which is as infinite and eternal as thy self We acknowledge O Lord that we are vile but yet redeemed with thy precious blood we are blind but thou art the light of the world we are weak but thou art our strong Rock we have been dead in trespasses and sins but thou art our resurrection and our life Thou O Lord lovest to shew mercy and the expressions of thy mercy the nearer they come to infinite the more proportionable they are to thy essence and like thy self Behold then O Lord fit objects for thy pity Our sins are so great and many that to forgive us will be an act of glorious mercy and all the praises which did accrue to thy name by the forgiveness of David and Manasses and St. Paul and the adulteress and the Thief and the Publican will be multiplied to thy honour in the forgiveness of us so vile so unworthy wretches that we have nothing to say for our selves but that the greatness of our miseries are fit objects for thy miraculous and infinite mercy Despise us not O Lord for we are thy creatures despise us not for thou didst die for us cast us not away in thine anger for thou camest to seek us and to save us Prepare us for death and take away the bitterness of it Pardon our sins and purge us from them first of thy Grace make us fit for the inheritance of the Saints in Light and then bring us to it for the sake of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ In whose name c. CHAP. V. Instructions suited to the Condition of those who have their Education in the Hospital of Christ Church HItherto I have discoursed such things as I thought proper for the Instruction of Prisoners and among those the worst of them Malefactors and if I had consulted the order of Dignity I should have placed these last but I purposed in this discourse to pursue the rules not of honour but of Christian Charity and therefore have allotted the greatest share of my directions to those that most need it the greatest offenders herein following the example of my Saviour who bestowed a great part of his time and pains upon Publicans and sinners and came with a design not to call the righteous but sinners to repentance I proceed now to such as may be supposed to be of a more teachable temper more succeptive of instruction and have more opportunities for it as living under a strict Discipline and under the happy opportunities of a very advantagious education in the Hospital and School of Christ Church And here before I proceed any farther it will not be improper thankfully to take notice of the goodness of God towards this City in that he hath from time to time raised up so many generous Spirits among us and enclined them to such noble instances of Christian Charity For there is scarse any necessity that humane nature is lyable to but here Provision is made for the relief of it If men be infirm in their senses and disturbed in their brains there is provision for them in the Hospital of Bethlehem If weak and infirm in their Limbs or wounded in St. Bartholomews and if Children be Fatherless or which is the next degree of misery to it discended of such Parents as have not where withal to bring them up they are cloathed and fed and Educated in Christ-Church an Hospital erected by King Edward the sixth a Protestant Prince to the confutation of that Vulgar calumny then and still common among the Papists that men of our Religion have renounced not only the merit but also the practice of good works and as this Hospital is of Royal extraction so is it of Honourable Government The Governours of it being always some of the most Eminent Senators and Commonours of London and in the House they have all things necessary for the feeding and cloathing and lodging and instructing of those Children Male or Female that are under their care and therefore to those that are here Educated My first Direction shall be to be thankful to God who hath so plentifully provided for them There is a gracious promise in the Psalmist When my Father and Mother forsake me the Lord taketh me up Psal 27. 10 and again to the same import Psalm 146. 9. the Lord careth for the strangers he helpeth the Fatherless And again Psal 147. He feedeth the young Ravens when they call upon him the observation is common out of Plin. 10. 12. and Aristo Hist Animal 6. 6. that of all other Birds the Ravens are observed soonest to forsake their young ones and therefore by an argument à majori ad minus If God so sufficiently provide for the young Ravens when the dams forsake them much more will he provide for us who stampt with his Image are much more valuable then many Ravens when our Parents either through want cannot or through unnaturalness will not maintain us Of this providence of God towards such helpless Children there are diverse instances in profane stories that famous one of Cyrus exposed by his own relations and by a wonderful providence nourished by strangers Of Romulus and Remus deserted by their Parents and nursed by a Wolf and harboured by a Shepherd Or if the credit of these relations be as suspected as the Faithfulness of their first reports There are instances in sacred writ to prove his Faithfulness to the abovementioned promise and that when Parents have forsaken Children he hath taken them up When Ishmaels Mother despairing of his life had forsaken him and laid him gasping his last for ought she knew or could do to help it in the Wilderness the Lord took him up He opened a new Spring of Water and opened her eyes to see it and so the Child was preserved Gen. 21. 19. When Moses his Parents also had forsaken him for they durst not stand by him any longer and laid him down among the rushy flags the Lord took him up He provided him of a Saviour the Kings own Daughter and of a Nurse the Child 's own Mother and so he was preserved too But to the Children here maintained I need not multiply instances of
Malefactors I proceed in the next place to those that are greater and have incurred the danger of death and these are to be considered under two several though near in time yet in nature very different circumstances before their Trial and after it Before their Trials we find them full of fears and sollicitudes and careful thoughts What the witnesses will depose against them what plea they themselves may make against their depositions what verdict the Jury is likely to bring and what sentence the Judge may pronounce upon them Now natural it is for men that are in trouble to be affected with such fears and sollicitudes as these and as it is natural so if these cares rise not to too inordinate a degree it is allowable too in the permissions of religion Jacob was afraid of his brother Esau and his fears made him seek to appease him by a present David was afraid of his Persecutour King Saul and his fears made him seek so many Subterfuges our Saviour himself had some natural reluctancy against that bitter Cup and he prayed very earnestly that it might pass from him and when St. Paul was accused by Tertullus and others he made very curious and artificial defences for his life And so may Prisoners too when they are Indicted very allowably make all just defences that their case will admit all such Pleas for themselves as their cause will bear and all prudent arts that their wit not aided by lies and falsifications can direct them to But while Prisoners are mindful of all those methods of defence which self preservation will put them upon as men they should not be neglectful of those religious considerations which become them as Christians They should with the same sollicitude prepare for that great account at the last day as they do for that at the Old Bayly they should remember that he that is to judge them hereafter is God and not man that there will be no need of witnesses to depose against them their own consciences which they stiâ—e now will impartially testifie against them then and supply the place both of witness and Jury too by bringing in a righteous verdict against them and making them as condemned of God so also self-condemned in the secret convictions of their then awakened spirit For the raising of such thoughts as these are within their souls let the Prisoners frequently consider and meditate upon every word in that suitable Text of Scripture 2 Cor. 5. 10. We must all appear before the judgment Seat of God that every one may receive the things done in his body whether they be good oâ— bad Some young sinners by the reason of the tenderness of their age are below the cognizance of such Courts as these and there are years at which sentence of death cannot be passed against an offender but all must appear before that judgment Seat both young and old Some sinners are so great as to aw Justice and when a Tyrant holds the Scepter and establishes iniquity by a Law no Court is so high as to take cognizance of him and to call him to account but none is great enough to deliver himself from the hand of God for hiâ— justice is armed with an infinite power whereby to execute the awards of his wrath upon the most obdurate sinners Some sins are so secret that the eye of man which sees not the heart can not discover them and therefore the justice of man cannot punish them but God searcheth the hearts and tries the reins and he will judge the secrets of men by Christ Jesus Men can only kill the body but he can cast Body and Soul into Hell-fire they can inflict only temporal death God eternal and everlasting Fire here may burn the body for a while which punishment is sometimes inflicted upon women for petty treason but as that fire burns the body so it consumes it and the fierceness of the flame and the pains of the offender have both a speedy conclusion but that fire burns for ever and the sinner hath an everlasting duration to endure those flames in This judgment and the consequences of it they should often meditate upon and no time more proper than this wherein they are to pass to that temporal judgment which bears some faint resemblance with the Eternal Now it is a proper time for them to set their souls in order before God to endeavour to make their peace with him by earnest prayer to seek his pardon and forgiveness and whether they live or die they will find the spiritual benefit of such thoughts as these are if the latter be their dreadful Lot they have by this means begun their preparation for death but if through the mercy of God the former be their more pleasing portion they may assure themselves that such men as are prepared to dye are by that means much more fit to live And now that I have brought the Prisoners to the Old Bayly it will not be long before they know their several Dooms Some have the Sentence of Death pronounced upon them Some are cast for their Lives but by the mercy of the Bench are set aside for Transportation or for Clergy or are left to the mercy of the King For the first of these the ensuing Chapter is designed to the others I now Address my self and first to those who are for Transportation who are usually the most in Number And here a very slender observation may soon suggest to us that the condition of convicts after their Transportation beyond these as differs little from that of those that are in Bridewell unless in the duration of their evils For when they are set down upon the place of their Banishment they are delivered to a seven-years bondage ingaged in hard labours exposed to great drudgeries and treated with very much scorn and contempt and insolence and usually the reason why this mercy is shewed to them for the sparing of their lives is because they are reputed to be but young Malefactors having never before been legally convicted of such crimes as are punishable by death and therefore before they proceed to the remainder of this Chapter I desire them to read what they find in the former Chapter concerning the breaking off their sins by repentance and improving their present afflictions of shame and slavery to spiritual purposes And to these directions I shall add these that follow First That they would be perswaded to observe the mixture of Judgment and mercy which is very apparent in their present condition mercy in that their lives are spared and Judgment in that they are to spend the remainder of their lives in so much hardship and misery and then to turn the expostulation of the Apostle Rom. 2. 4 5 6 7 8 9. into an exhortation to themselves and that they would not despise the riches of Gods goodness and forbearance and long suffering which ought to lead them to repentance neither treasure up to themselves
a brand in the hand some the lash and publick whippings but those are violations of the Eighth Commandment and both of them place men in the Number of those Thieves of whom St. Paul hath said expresly that they shall not enter into the Kingdom of God 1 Cor. 6. 10. He that shall kill a man in his heat and passion is counted here not guilty of Murder but Manflaughter but both these are violations of the sixth Commandment and both make us liable to the judgment to come Nay more that very passion which we make the alleviation of our crimes here is counted Murder in the the sight of God For so our Saviour expresly asserts Math. 5. 21. 22. Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time Thou shalt not kill and whosoever is angry with his Brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment and whosoever shall say unto his Brother Racha shall be in danger of the Councel but whosoever shall say thou fool shall be in danger of Hell-fire Where we see different degrees of causeless anger have different degrees of punishment but all of them are violations of that Commandment Thou shalt do no murder and all punishable more or less in the judgment to come And as for those that are acquitted here let them examine whether they are clear before God and if of that crime whether of others as great perchance and as crying in the account of God And to them who escape with life and liberty as well as to others is appliable that of our Saviour unless ye repent ye shall all likewise perish My second exhortation to such is that for the time to come they would endeavour to live without offence in the sight of God and man New mercies require new acknowledgments and we have no way of shewing our gratitude to God but by doing things that are pleasing in his sight God hath granted them life let them improve it to his honour they have had the pardon of the King let them seek forgiveness of God also they have dishonoured themselves and their profession let them endeavour to adorn the Gospel for the time to come by a more spotless conversation Let them heartily repent of all their publick and private crimes against God and against men that when they come to dye they may be fitter to dye than they were when they were Tried for their Lives and for this among other things let them pray in this or such like address to God A PRAYER O LORD our God we acknowledge before thee our manifold transgressions the sins of our hearts the sins of our Lips the sins of our Lives our unclean thoughts our filthy discourses all our unrighteous actions we are here Prisoners in one place but very different is the Lot which thy Providence hath assigned to us such of us O Lord whose days thou hast measured out to the oppressour give us grace to repent of those sins which have caused this punishment and the less mercy we find with men the more let us find with God As many of us as have found thy mercy in our Lives and Liberties give us grace to be sensible of thy mercies and to live closer with our God who hath delivered our feet from falling and our soul from the snare and our life from the Grave Let the shame we endure make us truly sensible of those sins that have caused it and however we have had disgrace here let us not be confounded when we stand in judgment make us mindful of thy eternal judgment and prepare us for it that when we come to die we may be fitter to die and fitter to give an account to God Lead us O Lord by thy councel guide us by thy grace give repentance and pardon here and bring us to thy glory hereafter through our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ In whose c. CHAP. IV. Considerations suited to the condition of Malefactors as are actually under the sentence of condemnation for death WHat hath been already written in this discourse is designed to prevent if possible mens wretched arrival at the height of wickedness and by such considerations as the nature of the subject would suggest to stop their carier in wickedness before they proceed from lesser crimes to those that are Capital But there always was and always will be a generation â—f men that are reprobates to every good work that have their consciences seared with a hot Iron that turn a deaf ear against all good Counsel and harden their hearts against all good advice and as for these seeing milder Methods will do no good upon them necessity enforces to practice those that are more severe God says nay which is more swears that he does not delight in the death of a sinner but that he should turn from his wicked way and live but yet it is consistent both with his Justice and mercy to make death the Portion of such as by their wickedness pursue it and to make Perdition the inheritance of those that by the obstinacy and perverseness of their way unavoidably run upon it And the same method is very consistent with the rules of Justice and mercy among men Nay very often it is that severity upon offenders is mercy to the innocent and compassion to the wicked is cruelty to the just for the slackening of Justice encreases the number of Malefactors and if severe laws were not made and executed against Malefactors honest men would not be safe but the Nation would be soon overrun with Robbers and Murderers and all sorts of evil doers for as Solomon observed long ago Because Sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily therefore it is that the heart of the Sons of men is thoroughly set in them to do evil Eccl. 8. 11. Righteous therefore and just it is that the wages of sin should be death death eternal by the Law of God and death temporal by the Laws of God and man but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord But to what acts of Faith and repentance to direct the Malefactor that he may lay hold of that eternal life will require much Spiritual skill and prudence The Right Reverend Bishop Taylour and the Learned Doctor Hammond and some others have written diverse things very accurately towards the Lessening of that esteem which some men have of the efficacy of a death-bed repentance If I should here lay down their opinions in express terms as they have delivered them in all probability I should drive those whom I now write to into utter despair but if I should endeavour to assert and maintain the contrary those surriving Malefactors into whose hands this Book shall come would in all likelyhood make use of it as a further encouragement to delay their repentance to the hour of death Seeing therefore it is hard to Minister to the comfort of some without giving occasion to the Presumption of others I
towards the support of those that are in an afflicted condition For it is not afflict on that entitles to the particular Patronage of God but either the causes oâ— it when it is for righteousness sake or ouâ— Christian deportment under it but setting aside these two considerations a man is never a whit the more a Child of God for being chastised nor does any man entitle himself to those promises that are made to mourners by having drawn trouble upon himself by his own folly and extravagance or injustice or unrighteousness for there are afflictions that are not chastisements but judgments not the effects of God's fatherly correction but of his just indignation The Midianites were distressed yet not a jot the more to be accounted God's people for it Pharaoh severely scourged by God yet not the more a Saint upon that account Those Nations that oppressed Israel had their time of being led into Captivity as well as others and yet no Title to those promises made to Captives Good men ought to humble themselves under those Fatherly corrections which the Wisdom of God thinks fit to exercise them with But evil men should be awakened by those judgments which are sent to them for their obduracy in their sins and which fall upon them as the results of their sinful follies Secondly When the Prisoner has discerned his sins in their punishment in the next place â—â—t him endeavour to be troubled for them â—nd to repent of them and in his restraint mourn over the miscarriages of his Liberty and study to redress them Sadness and pensiveness of spirit is an usual attendant of this condition and happy is it when carnal grief is improved into spiritual sorrow for sin and transgression For Godly sorrow worketh repentance not to be repented of saith the Apostle 2 Cor. 7. 10. But the sorrow of the world worketh death For our grief for our losses may stir up the impatience of our spirit against God and the dispensations of his providence towards us The desperateness of our circumstances may lessen our hope and faith and dependance and Christian relyance upon him and the reflection upon the rigour and severity of our Prosecutors and Creditors may possibly Minister to the useless purposes of inward malice and secret revenge and all this is productive of sin and sin of guilt and guilt of death But when our sorrow is directed against our sin as the sourse of our trouble all this is prevented and that grief which in others is the cause of sin and death is by this means made the happy occasion of repentance and life For he that looks upon his riot as the original of his poverty and those troubles which ensue upon it will in likelyhood be for the time to come more in love with temperance He that accuses his sloth as the ground of his evils will at present commend in the secret approbation of his own conscience that diligence which God hath made both his interest and his duty and hereafter practice it when God by his enlargement shall give him the happy opportunity to do so And if the Prisoner discover that the Curse of God hath rotted his estate and blasted all his unjust designs denied him those riches which he sought as the reward of iniquity and given him that poverty for the punishment of his sin which he endeavoured to avoid by the pursuit of it he is in a fair way of returning to his duty and such a man in all probability will use his Liberty to better purposes when God in his good time shall restore him to it and commit himself and his Affairs to God in well doing following God and his Providence in the ways of justice and paths of righteousness casting all his care upon God who careth for him 1 Pet. 5. 7. I know and have often with sadness of spirit observed that quite contrary is the usual practice of Prisoners Their own folly hath perverted their way and they fret against God Their sloth and negligence their excess and riot have brought them to poverty and they repine at providence They have disappointed deceived and delayed the just expectations of their creditors and they accuse their rancour and severity their cruelty and unmercifulness and lay that blame upon them which they ought to take upon themselves These are the usual miscarriages of most Prisoners and in some others there are greater than these And that place which should be the School of repentance is made to them the Nursery of sin they knew what it was to want before they came thither and there they learn to cheat they lay under all the temptations to it before and there they learn all the Arts of it or perchance they came in Knaves and go out Theives Before they knew how to over-reach their Neighbours now learn how to Rob them be ore practiced all the unjust arts of the Shop now learn those of the Highway too were very bad men when they came to Prison and grow worse by their converse with men as bad or worse then themselves were unjust enough in their inclinations before and among men more skilful in the mysteries of iniquity than themselves learn all the art and cunning of it But several men have several inclinations and there are some that grow worser by their Imprisonments but in other instances of sin they have time enough and to spare lying upon their hands and they spend it in Diceing and Carding and all sorts of Gaming have sorrow and sadness lying upon their spirits and endeavour to drown it by Tippling and Carowsing Are of a malicious temper and shew it in fretting against their Creditors and praying for their ruine or perhaps not only of a malicious spirit but profane too and vent both the one and the other in vile Oaths and horrid urses and deep imprecations against their adversaries And those that they take to be the contrivers or promoters of their misery And thus affliction which well improved is the best spiritual Physick in the World proves often an occasion of the greatest sin but if we will not be wanting to our selves we may soon find that a Prison that deprives us of all other opportunities of thriving wants not its conveniences nay happy opportunities too For the exercise of repentance in the several parts of it and here as elsewhere may a man religiously and virtuously disposed practice those important duties of contrition for sin and confession of it and humiliation for it and reformation of life which if he cannot shew here constantly in some of those outward actions which are the demonstrations of it to men and for which he wants the opportunities in that narrow Scene of action yet he may always practise it in the inward acts of it such as Faith and Patience dependance upon God and resignation to his will in the sincere purposes and resolutions of outward which before God the searcher of hearts are always accepted and in
wrath against the day of wrath and the Revelation of the righteous Judgment of God who will render to every man according to his deeds To them who by patient continuance in well doing seek for Glory and Honour and immortality eternal life but to them that are contentious and do not obey the truth but obey unrighteousness indignation and wrath tribulation and anguish upon every soul of man that doth evil of the Jew first and also of the Gentile Those that are thus Transported they have Captivity for their punishment and in that Captivity they may discern something of the severity of God towards them but not greater severity then God hath heretofore shewed towards sinners and in the same kind of punishment too that of slavery Manasseh sinned against God and his punishment was he was taken Captive by the Captains of the Kings of Assyria and as such bound in Chains and carried to Babylon Zedekiah sinned against God and for his sin he was exposed first to the scorn of Nebuchadnezzar in his bondage and then in his cruelty in the loss of his eyes and what was dearer to him then his eyes his Children And it is no more then what was threatned by Moses to rebellious Israel Deut. 28. 68. Ye shall be sould to your enemies for bondmen and bondwomen and no man shall buy you that is when they should commit iniquity with greediness their sins would make them so vile in the eyes of God that he would sell them into the hands of their enemies for Slaves and Drudges and their enemies should count them so vile too that they could not think them worth the buying So that that bondage which God inflicted sometimes upon Kings and Princes nay frequently upon his own People too when they sinned against him and departed from him by their transgressions ought not to be repined against by Malefactors as it were too severe a punishment upon them by the hand of God for their transgression but contrari wise they ought to be thankful to the mercy of God that he hath spared their Lives and thereby given a space for repentance which if they consider it aright is a mercy of very great value and of so great value that their gratitude for life ought to overballance those murmurings which they usually entertain upon account of the sufferings of it of this opinion was Jeremiah when he and his Nation were under the like circumstances in Captivity in a strange Country Wherefore says he should a living man complain a man for the Punishment of his sin Lament 3. 39. in which sentence there are almost as many Arguments as words and every one of those Arguments suitable to the Subject now in hand God is the Creator of all things man his Creature why therefore should man complain when he is afflicted The clay against the Potter the workmanship against the maker man that is but dust and ashes against God the Lord of all his Soverainty will bear him out if he disposes of his Creatures as he in his wisdom thinks most fit therefore they ought not to complain especially when they consider that they are sinful men and that their afflictions are but the punishment of their sins No great wonder if upright Job complain that he is afflicted more then the scorners Jeremiah then those that deal treacherously holy Daniel and righteous Shadrack Meshack and Abednego then their accusers and tormentors but unjust it is that sinners complain under their just and deserved punishment when they reap but the very fruit of their doings More it would become them to acknowledge that God is just and righteous in all that he does and in all the corrections which he does inflict and that he has punished them less then their iniquties deserve and then in â—ustice he might have done if he had been extream to mark what is done amiss and therefore that they ought to be humbled and accept of the Punishment of their iniquities and bear the indignation of the Lord because they have sinned against him Especially considering that he hath given them a Portion among those that are living God had not been unrighteous if he had taken away the sinner in the midst of his sins and then as the Tree fell so it wouldly as death left them so Judgment would find them and as they died in the Commission of sin so they would rise hereafter to the inflictions of wrath but God hath been merciful in that he hath given them a life though a life very full of misery to repent in a space though that space surrounded with many afflictions to make their peace with God This Goodness of God ought to lead them to repentance in order to which end let them Secondly Live under a constant sense of Gods omnipresence and that wheresoever they go and into whatsoever parts of the World they are sent by Banishment Gods eye follows them He fills the Heaven and the earth and the Heaven of Heavens cannot contain him his greatness is unsearchable so that there is no flying from his presence nor can any man hide himself in secret places that God should not see him They may fly their Country but they cannot fly from the presence of God if in a strange Land they retain the sins of England thither the Vengeance of God can follow them there the Justice of God can find them out prove their Plague and their scourge there as well as here but if in a forreign Country they repent of their sins committed here Gods Grace is as near to them there as here his mercy is over all his works and his goodness reaches to the utmost corners of the earth And though their Fathers see them not and their Friends know not their condition yet God is as present to them there as here and is ready to receive the Prayer of the Captive the petition of the stranger the supplication of the Banished and to grant his pardon to the poorest most afflicted Penitents At the Sessions some are found not guilty by their Jury or obtain the benefit of their Clergy or the gracious pardon of the King which if they consider it aright is a mercy very highly valuable and as it is the happiness of these men that they have their Lives and Liberties so it is their disadvantage that their Liberty is attended with the disgrace of having once held up their hand and how to improve this dishonour to spiritual advantage they have been taught in the forecited Chapter and together with those directions let them take these directions that follow First Now that they are free from the Tribunal of man that they would endeavour to set all accounts right between them and God For very possible it may be that an offender may be either free or guilty to a lesser degree in these counts below but perfectly guilty in that court above Here some things are accounted felonies some petty larcenies some deserve only by the law
think it not safe to handle that point in a Treatise which will be read both by the condemned and reprieved But judge it more prudent to leave the Conduct of the souls of dying men in that particular to those Ministers that shall visit them near the approaches of their death For the supply of which in such cases I suppose there is some provision made in all places of this Nation but in this City very plentifully They have a particular Minister allotted to them whose duty it is wholly to attend this affair to his assistance there are allotted by the order of the Honourable the Court of Aldermen and upon the motion of the Right Worshipful the present Sheriffs the Ministers of Ludgate and both the Counters and Diverse other Ministers of this City out of their Pious compassion towards them very frequently contribute their spiritual aids who may privately Minister to them such comfort as their condition is capable of without danger of occasioning presumption and spiritual security to other Malefactors who at such times are not within hearing But such other considerations as I may safely let down without this danger I shall here insert First The condemned Malefactor ought humbly to confess his sins and this when accompanied with other requisites of repentance has a promise of pardon So we have it expressed by the beloved Disciple St. John 1. 9. If we confess our sins he is Faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness So in Hosea 14. 2. Take to you words that is of confession and supplication and turn to the Lord your God say unto him take away all iniquity and receive us graciously so will we render the Calves of our lips For this pardon upon a true and sincere confession Solomon depends by Faith in his Prayer at the Dedication of the Temple 2 Chronicles 6. 36 37 39. If they sin against thee for there is no man that sinneth not and thou be angry with them and they turn and pray unto thee and say we have sinned we have done amiss we have dealt wickedly then hear thou from the Heavens even from thy dwelling place their Prayer and their supplication and forgive thy People which have sinned against thee and that Faith that Solomon had in this Prayer of his was founded upon that promise which we find in Lev. 26. 40. 42. If they confess their iniquity and the iniquity of their Fathers with the trespass that they have trespassed against me and that also they have walked contrary unto me Then will I remember my Covenant That is his Covenant of mercy and forgiveness And suitably to the Faith of Soloman and the promise of God David found it Psalm 32. 5. I acknowledged my sin unto thee says he there and my iniquity have I not hid I said I will confess my transgressions unto the Lord and thou forgavest the iniquity of my sin And where the sin against God is complicated with injustice towards men as in condemned Malefactors it always is there it is requisite that the sinner confess to men and shew his Zeal against unrighteousness by discovering the combinations of wickedness that he hath been acquainted with for it is hardly conceivable that they thoroughly repent of their unrighteousness who at their death desire it should go unobserved and unreformed and unpunished in others Secondly These confessions where they are accepted with God are always accompanied with a deep sorrow and contrition of Spirit for those sins that we acknowledge otherwise they are Hypocritical but together with this they are often a sacrifice acceptable to God Psal 51. 16 17. For thou desirest not Sacrifice else would I give it thee thou delightest not in burnt offerings the Sacrifices of God are a broken and contrite Spirit a broken and a contrite Heart ô God thou wilt not despise And so to the same effect we find it in the Prophet Isaiah ch 57. v. 15. For thus saith the high and the Holy one that inhabiteth eternity whose name is Holy I dwell in the high and holy place with him also that is of a pure and contrite Spirit to revive the Spirit of the humble to revive the heart of the contrite ones Thirdly To that repentance that will find pardon there ought to be joyned a forsaking of sin and we are to explain the place before cited 1 St. John 1. 9. by that other place from whence it seems to be taken Prov. 28. 13. He that covereth his sins shall not prosper but whoso confesseth and forsaketh them shall have mercy And by this the Scripture every where describes saving repentance calling it a turning from our evil ways returning from the folly of the wicked to the wisdom of the righteous cleansing our hands and purifying our hands with many other expressions importing a thorough reformation of the whole man in life and heart and lip many parts of which because they are always wanting in the late conversion of old Transgressours the above mentioned Divines have very much doubted of the efficacy of such a death-bed repentance to the great intents of mercy and pardon and if it be said sincere intentions are often accepted by God instead of performances it is possible it may be as difficult to distinguish between the integrity Hypocrisie of mens purposes as between the truth and falseness of their conversion and therefore it is more prudent to leave the decision of such questions to the Oral solution of such Divines as shall either out of Duty or Christian Charity visit them then to deliver it in Printed rules where it may be read by those who have more need to be pressed to a speedy Conversion then be perswaded of the efficacy of a late repentance Fourthly After such acts of confession and contrition and repentance as the condition of the Malefactors is capable of let them cast themselves upon God by a holy Faith and reliance mixed with fear and trembling both these conjoyned are and neither of these single is suitable to the condition of these condemned sinners They ought to have a Faith in the mercy of God as sufficient to pardon the greatest sinners that return according to the terms of the Gospel for else it were in vain to pray to God if we thought him wholly inexorable but this Faith of theirs ought to be joyned with a holy trembling for fear lest their repentance should not be such as God will accept and lest their preparations should not be according to the Preparation of the Sanctuary or else their Faith may soon degenerate into presumption Where the first is wanting men run into despair This seems to be the sin of Cain who said as it is in the marginal interpretation of our Bibles and suitable enough to the signification of the Hebrew verb 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 there used My iniquity is greater then that it may be forgiven This seems to be the sin of Judas he knew he had