declare what the Lord had done for him and to speak also by way of Counsel to those that came to see his execution When we had withdrawn for two or three hours from him into the Lodge some of us observing in the mean time that he did slumber and as we supposed that he slept also then we all returned to him he lying covered upon the Bed in his cloaths when we came again about him he raised up himself and fell afresh to his former good Discourse Then I sat down by him and did read the 14 verse of the 51 Psalm Deliver me from blood-guiltiness O God thou God of my salvation and my tongue shall sing aloud of thy righteousness I then divided the Verse into these two parts 1. Davids prayer Deliver me from blood-guiltiness O God c. 2. Davids promise and engagement to God upon the granting of his desire And my tongue shall sing aloud of thy righteousness Then I made these Observations from the words of David Viz. 1. Obs Not only a wicked unregenerate man but a gracious godly man may possibly commit a most horrid murther David was blood-guilty 2. Obs The sin of Murther is a very dangerous sin where-ever it is found Deliver now that word implyeth danger Deliver me if David murther he is in danger of damnation 3. Obs 3. Prayer is a work for a person guilty of blood Deliver me this David said by way of desire and supplication yea most of this Psalm sets forth Davids prayer which was preferred upon the account of his bloodshed Prayer is the best way to obtain deliverance from blood-guiltiness 4. Obs From those words O God thou God of my salvation that There is salvation in God for men that have shed blood if those men become penitent and beg that salvation This Note did refresh Nathaniel very much 5. Obs From the Promise And my tongue shall sing aloud of thy righteousness that men who know what it is to have the guilt of sin guilt of blood or any other sin taken away will certainly sing aloud of Gods righteousness faithfulness truth And indeed this poor man did magnifie God and sing aloud of his righteousness making mention of his and his only he desired us to sing Psalms several times with him and to rejoyce with him which also we did About five a clock he fell into such a rapture and extasie of consolation as I never saw nor I beleeve any of my fellow-Spectators for he would shout for joy that the Lord should look on such a poor vile creature as he was He often cried out and made a noise and indeed did not know how to express and signifie fully enough his inward sense of Gods favour saying Must he be an heir an heir of God and a joynt-heir with Jesus Christ a fellow Citizen with the Saints c. He could not bear such a glorious discovery Now that his joy was right Evangelical joy appeareth thus in that mourning and bitterness went before it yea he rejoyced with trembling and could exceedingly often say that he would yet have a deeper and a more thorow sense of sin he could never be sufficiently abased before the Lord. Now the time was at hand that he should be carried forth to Execution but he thought it was not neer enough for he asked several times What a clock is it I demanded why he enquired so concerning the time of the day Would you gladly die said I. Yes yes saith he I desire to be dissolved and to be with Christ which is best of all About seven the Coach came to carry him away the Keeper knockt off his Irons and now he was a freeman indeed for the hand of Grace had before this time taken away the Fetters and Bolts about his Spirit and Conscience I went with him in the Coach and by the way his great desire was as he passed through the Streets to fix his heart more fully on God and to think with more intention and firmness of minde upon the riches the unsearchable riches of Grace In a short time having passed through many thousands of people many of whom prayer for his soul and shewed compassion otherwise to him he came under the Gibbet which stood in Cheapside just over against the end of Milk-street where he had done the murder he went up the Ladder the Executioner standing above him and I below upon the Ladder When he was tied to the Gibbet he began to speak to the people having a Speech written which he purposed to have read through A true Copie whereof followeth verbatim Beloved Friends I Am here a miserable Creature and had not God of his infinite Grace and Mercy looked upon me as sad a spectacle of misery as ever your eyes beheld by reason of my wicked and sinful life And now by the justly hand of God I am come here to die justly for my sins And it is my desire that all that see me or that hear of me might learn this most true Lesson from me that have not learned it from the Word of God in the Scriptures That the wages of sin is death I have been a very great sinner and as I think the greatest of sinners And my desires are that my repentance may be greater then my sins Which I am affraid is impossible to be without the infinite mercy of God who hath graciously promised to accept the will for the deed The particulars of my sinful life I have for all those who shall be pleased to look into it gathered together and given to my Lord Mayors Chaplain and intreated him to have it printed for a timely warning to all other young-men especially to the Apprentices of this City that by my harms they may through the Grace of God learn to beware Good people That which I shall speak unto you is but little because my strength is now but weak Indeed I wish I had more strength that my words might reach not onely unto the ears but unto the hearts of every rebellious and disobedient Child and Servant in this great City yea throughout the whole Nation And my counsel is that every one would take heed of the beginnings of sin I remember when I first was enticed unto evil ways and practices I was tender and fearful of them and trembled to think what those waies might bring upon me but I neither hearkened to the Word of God nor the voice of mine own Conscience which exceedingly checked me but resolved to go on therein and through the Devils enticements joyning with my wicked heart by degrees I grew more bold and hardy in evil waies every day more then other and at last came to be so far hardened in sin and wickedness that evil waies and actions were as familiar unto me as eating and drinking was Truly Sirs This is very true and this I speak by sad experience to warn every one that they would hearken either to Gods Word or unto their own Consciences when
they are first checked for their sins Therefore good people as you love your own Souls take heed of the beginnings of sin and kill sin betimes before it grow too strong for you If I had done so I verily beleeve and think that sin had not at this time thus killed me as now it will certainly do But seeing it is so that I am here brought a poor distressed Captive unto my death by the Tyranny and cruelty of sin it is my desire that I may through the gracious assistance of God be enabled to do a greater mischief unto sin by my death then sin hath done unto me in bringing me to this death which will I hope but kill my body onely although it be a bitter cursed and a shameful death Oh hearken to what I have said unto you and let me for that purpose humbly beg of all that either hear me or shall hear of me and oh that I could prevail with every young person to cast away sin betimes to check it in the first beginning I do seriously think there is no such course to destroy the growing of it in the hearts of men and women as that would be Sirs I am now a dying man and truly if I knew of any better way to ruine sin then other in mine own observation I would surely now tell you For I bless God I can say it truly that I am a real enemie to sin because sin I find is such a great enemy to God to all Mankind and particularly I have found it my greatest enemy that ever I had Oh that I had taken this counsel which now through the great goodness and grace of God I have given to you certainly it would have prevented the growth of sin in this poor sad and now sorrowful soul of mine Certainly I had not now been here as I am to suffer this cursed and shameful death which I am justly to suffer both from God and Man for my most foul horrid and bloody sin The taking away the life of him who was unto me as dear as my Brother which sin I hope God for his Son Jesus Christ his sake hath in mercie to my poor Soul forgiven This sin this bloody sin I hope the onely wise merciful gracious and good God hath sanctified for the everlasting good of my poor Soul He who is able to bring light out of darkness and good from the greatest evill can by his infinite goodness bring from this sin of mine which is the destruction of my Body the eternal salvation of my Soul This is a Mercy never to be forgotten by my friends that although I have been so unhappie as to stain their Names and Reputations here yet I hope through the grace mercy and goodness of God I may be their joy and rejoycing hereafter Oh this sin that the Devil was suffered to tempt me to commit my wicked heart consenting thereunto I have observed since my imprisonment this blood-guilty sin was as a punishment of my other sins which I went on in without considering whither I was going Had I truly and timely repented of my former sins I verily beleeve and am fully perswaded I had prevented this this foul this horrid sin for which I can never be too much affected nor afflicted Yet nevertheless this sin I hope through the grace of God hath been a rousing and an awakening sin to me it hath caused me to call to remembrance all my former sins and to be humbled for them and I hope through the gracious assistance of God I have truly repented of them all I thank God for his mercy I can truly say that I am now another manner of Creature then formerly I was Formerly God came not into my thought with any joy and content but now to think of God is exceeding precious to my soul To think of the name of God and of his Son Jesus Christ is the chief joy and rejoycing of my soul This is some change and I think a great change and I hope a good change formerly I sinned with great delight and now through the grace of God I delight not in any sin nay I can truly say more I do now through Gods grace hate and loath sin and this I know to be true for I do even hate my most beloved sin The sin of Uncleanness which I do advise all Young-men to watch and pray against and for the more effectual prevention thereof to live very temperately and soberly making no provision for the flesh to fulfil the lusts thereof This sin I bless God for his grace I can now truly say I hate it I hope if I were to live as many years in the world as I may do moments I should through the grace of God never commit more And the sin of Lying which formerly I made no conscience of I think I can truly say now through the grace of God thar I truly hate it as a wicked sin and Lying now is so base an evil in my sight that I could not be hired to tell a lye no not I hope if I had the promise of my life givenme which in my condition is the greatest gift which man can bestow upon me yet I hope even for my life to save it from this terrible death I should not be tempted to sin against so good a God who hath given me the hopes of an eternal life and delivered me from a thousand times a more terrible death nor against my blessed Redeemer who died to take away my sins and who hath thus graciously looked upon me so vile so wicked and so miserable a sinner as I have been and hath shewed mercy upon me not for any worth that is in me who am the unworthiest of all men but for his own names sake because mercy pleaseth him To whom therefore be glory for ever Amen I have now declared unto you the grounds I have of my hope that I have made my peace with God through Jesus Christ and have obtained through his grace and mercy my perfect reconciliation to God and my blessed Redeemer Jesus Christ I shall in the next place in deep humility as being very sensible that I have wronged very many and therefore I do here humbly beg my pardon from all the World for all the wrong and injury that I have in any kind done unto any one And indeed I should be glad if I could to make restitution to every one but that I am not able to do and therefore I must content my self with begging their pardon and forgiveness which I do here desire from every one man woman and child even for Jesus Christ his sake whom it is that they themse ves must all fle unto for his pardon or else be miserable for ever and as they desire the Lord Jesus should forgive them all their wrongs done against him so I hope they will for his sake forgive me all mine committed against them And as I have desired my pardon and
brought him to Execution and from thence conveyed to Gregories Churchyard London where about Noon he was burled That Evening at S. Gregordes Church a Sermon was preached by Mr Randolph Yearwood the Lord Majors Chaplain there being a great confluence of People The Substance wherof take as followeth I JOH 3.15 Whosoever hateth his Brother is a Murderer and ye know that no Murderer hath eternal Life abiding in him THE Apostles intent in this Epistle was and indeed my design in this Sermon is to promote true love in mens hearts towards one another His Arguments are many which he propoundeth as so many provocations to love Consider these seven 1 Arg. 1 John 5.9 10 11. He that saith he is in the light and hateth his brother is in darkness even until now He that loveth his brother abideth in the light and there is no occasion of stumbling in him But he that hateth his brother is in darkness and walketh in darkness and knoweth not whether he goeth because that darkness hath blinded his eyes as though he should say Love surpasseth hatred as far as light excelleth darkness Arg. 2. Men are not of God but they are the children of the Devil unless they love as brethren This is plain and manifest 1 John 3.10 In this the children of God are manifest and the children of the Devil whosoever doth not righteousness is not of God neither he that loveth not his brother 1 Joh. 4.7 Beloved let us love one another for love is of God and every one that loveth is born of God Arg. 3. He that Ioveth not knoweth not God for God is love 1 Joh. 4.8 Arg. 4. A man otherwise cannot clear up his love to God 1 Joh. 4.20 If a man say I love God and hateth his Brother he is a Lyar. For he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen how can he love God whom he hath not seen Arg. 5. 1 John 4.10.11 Herein is love not that we loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins Beloved if God so loved us we ought also to love one another Arg. 6. If you love the Brethren ye have passed from death to life 1 Joh. 3.14 We know that we have passed from death to life because we love the brethren Arg. 7. The last Argument is drawn from the dreadful estate of a man that loves not his brother 1 Joh. 3.14 He abideth in death he is a murderer he hath not eternal life abiding in him And now I am returned to the words which I intend to handle Whosoever hateth his Brother is a murderer and ye know that no murderer hath eternal life abiding in him Here we have two things very remarkable 1. A description of a Gospel-murderer for in the sense of our Law meer hatred doth not make a murderer Whosoever hateth his Brother is what is he a Murderer 2 A declaration of the damnable state of such a murderer And ye know 't is a known case that no murderer hath eternal life abideing in him Let us consider the first of these two truths in the words of the Apostle viz. Obser 1. Whosoever hateth his Brother is Murderer It is requisite to say something by way of Explication to this truth and then by way of Application Whosoever 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 every one every malicious man without exception whether he be reputed good or bad holy or unholy if he hateth his brother he is a murderer if he be rich or poor high or low Magistrate or Minister whosoever he be if he hate he is here included in the indictment of murder Whosoever is a term of universality Hateth By hating two things are hinted in Scripture 1. A comparative respect This first is plain in Gen. 29 30. And he went in also unto Rachel and he loved also Rachel more then Leah 31. And when the Lord saw that Leah was hated that is was loved less then Rachel Luk. 14.26 If any man come to me and hate not his Father and Mother and Wife and Children and Brethren and Sisters yea and his own life also cannot be my Disciple Now 't is not lawful properly and indeed to hate a mans self or his Relations though he might gain heaven thereby Observe Luke the Evangelist saith cap. 14.26 If a man hate not brethren he cannot be Christs Disciple and John the Apostle affirms Whosoever hateth his brother is a murderer So that we must take the term hate in some places to signifie a less degree of love so in Luke He that loveth not Christ more then himself more then his Wife or Children more then Brethren or sisters cannot be my Disciple as suppose a man must either forsake Jesus Christ or else his natural and near relation this for saking of them and cleaving to Christ the Scripture expresseth by hating of them not that men hate or may lawfully hate their Friends but they love them less then they love the Lord Christ So Matth. 10.37 He that loveth Father or Mother more then me is not worthy of me and he that loveth Son or Daughter more then me is not worthy of me 2. Hating is taken for a very strong disrespect and a mighty implacable disaffection in the heart of one man towards another mans person insomuch that a man cannot find in his heart to say well of or do good unto another but he can find in his heart to speak all manner of evil and act all manner of mischief hurt and wickedness against another This is our Apostles sense He that hateth his brother i.e. he that sheweth no pitty or compassion to but prejudice cruelty and indignation against his brother is a Murderer This is utter hatred according to that in Judg. 15.2 I verily thought thou hadst utterly hated her Brother 1. Natural brother Mat. 4.18 And Jesus walking by the sea of Galilee saw two brethren Simon called Peter and Andrew his brother 2. Kinsman and Country-man Rom. 9.3 4. For my brethren and kinsmen according to the flesh who are Israelites 3. A Christian one obedient to Christ Mat. 12.48 49.50 Who is my mother and who are my brethren And he stretched forth his hand towards his Disciples and said Behold my mother and my brethaen for whosoever shall do the will of my Father which is in heaven the same is my brother Heb. 3.1 Wherefore holy brethren partakers of the holy calling 4. Any humane creature man woman or child Mat. 7.3 4. And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brothers eye meaning in the eye of any other person but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye Or how wilt thou say to thy brother to any man Let me pull out the mote out of thine eye and behold a beam is in thine own eye Acts 17.26 And hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth Is a Murderer That is in his desire and
design and in God's sense and esteem who searcheth the heart As a man that doth not commit the act of Adultery is an Adulterer nevertheless if his heart lust after a woman Mat. 5.28 So if a man never lay violent hands upon another yet if his heart disaffect and hate him he is a Murderer And ye know that no Murderer whether he be a Murderer in the sense of this Scripture or any other hath eternal life abiding in him that is hath the promise of eternal life or the evidence of it abiding in him Do not conceive from this clause that a man who was at any time guilty of blood by murthering another or hating another cannot be saved or enter into life for Manasseh David and others were blood-guilty but upon repentance were pardoned I doubt not of Nathaniel Butlers life eternal though he did destroy and take away the life of his Brother because God gave him repentance and humiliation The meaning is this No Murderer hath eternal life abiding in him if this man abide in his malice hatred and under his murder impenitent and stupid Is he whosoever he be that hateth another a Murderer Then Vse 1. Examine your selves Is Hatred so hainous a sin How may we know then whether we are not haters of any man Now Hatred is manifested thus 1. By refusing to rebuke thy brother or neighbor for his sin Lev. 19.17 Thou shalt not hate thy brother in thine heart thou shalt in any wise rebuke thy brother and not suffer sin upon him Prov. 13.24 He that spareth the rod hateth his son 2. By keeping without cause at a distance from men Gen. 26.27 And Isaac said unto them Wherefore come ye to me seeing ye hate me and have sent me away from you If ye cry Away with him away with him to banishment imprisonment Away with such an one out of my sight I cannot endure this or that person in my sight Thou art an hater and a murderer See Judg 11.7 And Jephtah said unto the Elders of Gilead Did not ye hate me and expel me out of my fathers house 3. Warlike language Gen. 37.4 They hated him and could not speak peaceably to him When men cannot give one another a good word what is this but malice and hatred in the heart Gen. 49.29 The archers have sorely grieved him and shot at him and hated him Bending the bow and shooting bitter words speak out bitterness and hatred within 4. Lying in wait for rising up against and mortally wounding another Deut. 19.11 But if any man hate his neighbor and lie in wait for him and rise up against him and smite him mortally that he die c. Rev. 17.16 These shall hate the whore and shall make her desolate and naked and shall eat her flesh and burn her with fire Harsh usage shews hatred Try your selvs by these and other Scripture-signs and try impartially Vse 2. Exhort men to lay aside their sin See what the word chargeth upon 't 1. 'T is from the Devill as love is of God 1 Thes 4.9 Ye are taught of the Devill to hate 1 John 4.11 12. This is the Message that ye heard from the beginning that we should love one another not as Cain who was of that WICKED ONE meaning as Cain was a man of cruelty and hatred so he was of the Divell hatred is all hatcht in Hell O then retain it no more in your hearts 2. It proves a man to be yet unregenerate Titus 3.2 3. For we our selves also were sometimes foolish and disobedient deceived serving divers lusts and pleasures living in MALICE and ENVY hatefull and hateing one another But after that the kindness and love of God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 appeared c. It s too too apparent from this passage that the kindness and love of God hath not wrought kindly upon mens hearts so long as they live in malice envy and hatred how can a man be a cut throat and a Christian at the same time a man of hatred and a child of God 3. Thou art a murderer I have here transscribed some suteable passages of a very reverend Godly man I mean Mr. Joseph Caryl who in his excellent exposition upon the 5th Chapter of Job and 2 verse speaketh thus concerning wrath So in like manner wrath is said to slay a man first because it thrusts him headlong upon such things as are his death he runs willfully upon his own death sometimes by the dangerousness of the action when a casuall sudden death surprises him sometime by the unlawfulness of the action which brings him to a legal judiciary death Secondly his wrath is said to kill him because his wrath is so vexations to him that it makes his life a continual death to him and at last so wearieth him out and wasts his Spirits that he dies for very grief and so at once commits a threefold murder First he murders him intentionally against whom he is wroth Secondly he really murders his own body And thirdly he meritoriously murders his Soul for ever except the Lord be more merciful then he hath been wrathful and the death of Christ heale those wounds by which he would have procured the death of others and hath as much as in him lies procured his own This is true of hatred as well as of wrath for he that hateth his brother is a Murderer 1. He murthers his Brother whom he hates hatred is a wishing and seeking for at least in heart the slaughter death and destruction of his Brother when the Apostle John affirmeth whosoever hateth his Brother is a Murderer his meaning is he is a Murderer of that Brother whom he hateth and he is so because he hateth him 2. He that hateth his Brother is a Murderer more then once he doth not only murder his brother but himself by bringing eternal death upon himself for hateing his Brother he that murders himself is felo de se a Self-murderer is manifest from these words and ye know that no murderer meaning a malicious man hath eternal life abiding in him To be a murderer is 1. A crying sin Gen. 4.10 And he said what hast thou done the voyce of thy Brothers blood cryeth unto me from the Ground If men would think what am I doing now I am hateing my Brother I am murdering in Gods account and murder is a loud sin Surely then we should harbour no hatred Murder 2 It is a very reproachful shameful sin considered in the act that followes it to prove a man guilty of willfull murder renders him a shame to himself a blot to his relations thou that hatest art a murderer O be ashamed of this shameful hatred 3. Murder is a sin that sets the vengeance of God against a man the very Barbarians beleeve that vengeance and death will fall strangely and speedily on Murderers Acts 28.4 And when the Barbarians saw the venemous beast hang on his hand they said among themselves very confidently no doubt this
The Penitent Murderer BEING AN Exact Narrative Of the Life and Death of NATHANIEL BVTLER Who through Grace became a Convert after he had most cruelly murdered JOHN KNIGHT With the several Conferences held with the said Butler in Newgate by the Right Honorable the LORD MAIOR and several eminent Ministers and others As also his Confession Speech Prayer and the Sermon preached after his Execution with several useful Admonitions and excellent Discourses Collected by RANDOLPH YEARWOOD Chaplain to the Right Honorable the Lord Major of the City of LONDON Deut 13.11 And all Israel shall hear and fear and shall do no more any such wickedness as this is among you London Printed by T. Newcomb for J. Rothwell at the Fountain in Goldsmiths-Row in Cheapside and Tho. Matthews at the White-horse in the New Buildings in Pauls Church-yard 1657. London Saturday Sept. 12. 1657. Reader THis is that Exact Narrative concerning Nathaniel Butler which was some time since promised to come forth by my appointment under the hand of Randolph Yearwood Robert Tichborne Major To the Right Honorable Sr ROBERT TICHBORNE Kt Lord Major of the City of LONDON My Lord You have done being directed and enabled from on high many noble and good actions for this City the Government whereof is yet yours But really my Lord the right honorable act was this your personal and frequent visiting Nathaniel Butler when he lay a prisoner in Newgate His soul certainly was precious in your eyes and this engaged you to send others and to go your self to see him several times I verily believe you will see him yet once more not as a Malefactor in an obscure disparaging Goal but as an Angel of God in the Kingdom of Christ whither I am confident he is gone and you are going Before he went he desired me to give you humble thanks for all the favor he had received from you or by your means from others He was very thankfull to your Lordship and the rest of the Honorable Bench for his Fortnights Reprieval confessing that Court to be both just and merciful Just in condemning his body to death and merciful in sparing his life for some weeks after the Sentence upon design to save his soul And truly you may safely conclude that his soul is safe And is not such a Conclusion a rich Requital of all your Exhortations Tears and Prayers My Lord I shall rejoice to see you grow and abound yet more and more in Righteousness Holiness and as the Elect of God bowels of Mercies which will render you like unto and well liked of by the LORD of Lords To whom I leave you and remain Your Lordship's Servant RANDOLPH YEARWOOD THE EPISTLE TO THE READER Reader THE Malefactor mentioned in this following Narrative was none of mine acquaintance till for his horrid fact he was apprehended and imprisoned So that it was not any Relation of mine to him that put me upon this publication but I undertook this work as judging it of general concernment to all men both good and bad 1. As to the bad If thou art an evil wicked man er woman then this Narrative with the annexed admonitions and sermon c. much concern thee to make thee if possible penitent and truly reformed 2. Art thou a gracious good man or woman then thou hast reason to rejoyce on carth as God himself and the Angels of God rejoyce in heaven ever one repenting sinner Luke 15.7 and 10. I doubt not but thou wilt be well satisfied by the following Lines concerning the true conversion of a very hainous Offendor Now good Reader grant me one request not to look upon the following Discourses as a bare story or a piece of News and so having read and seen it there is an end But read and consider read and pray that this great and extraordinary passage of divine Providence may profit thy Soul which is the desire of my heart and Soul to God himself Otherwise I could not be as indeed I am thy Well-wisher Friend and Servant RANDOLPH YEARWOOD Three Conferences held with Nathaniel Butler during his Imprisonment by the Right Honorable the Lord Major under his Lordships own hand WHen Nathaniel Butler was first apprehended and brought before me he was in exceeding great burden of Spirit full of tears free to confess the Fact with all the aggravations thereof and was sollicitous for nothing but a few days respit for his poor Soul it seeming to me that nothing at that time was on his thoughts but what should become of his Soul At my first Conference with him which was about five or six days after his Condemnation I found him very ready to acknowledge his actual sins and to charge himself with them and the aggravations that did accompany them and this with sad tears of complaint and indignation against himself and his sins but did take no notice of his sinful Nature Which my self and a Friend with me Mr Griffith of the Charter house perceiving We endeavoured by Scripture to shew him his sinful Nature as the Root of all his sinful actions which he diligently hearkened to and was affected with but acknowledged his former Ignorance herein and that he had not so expresly before thougth hereof or been instructed hereabout and what he heard and received at this time among other Particulars was so far blest and wrought into his soul that to our selves and as we heard to others he did from that Night following much insist upon and bemoan his sinful nature and the state of sin he was born in as well as or together with those sinful acts he was guilty of At my second being with him after applying the free grace of God and Christ crucified to his faith for the pardon of his sins I asked him whether his heart could most willingly receive that pardon or a pardon for his life and bid him consider and tell me what his heart said in that Point After a little pause he made me this Answer That indeed he did not desire to live longer in this world for he had found sin so bitter a thing and himself so prone to sin that if he should live longer and sin against God it would be much more bitter to him then death and he did heartily Blesse God that had brought him to the hand of Justice and did truly love the party who as he thought was the Instrument to discover him acknowledging that the Devil had tempted him to lay violent hands on himself and after that temptation to fly beyond the Sea which if God had suffered him to do and so escaped Justice he might have gone on in his former course of sin without Repentance but did truly bless God that had delivered him from these temptations and had brought him to that condition that then he was in he did acknowledge with much thankfulness to God man the mercy of a few days between death and judgement and that God had given him so great a share in
the hearts and prayers of his people he did several times throw himself on the free grace of God in the blood and merits of Jesus Christ alone for his Salvation renouncing all but Christ acknowledging that he beleeved to be washed from his bloody Fact and all his other sins by no means but by the blood of Jesus Christ At my third and last time of being with him which was the night before he died I indeavoured to hold forth to his faith from Scripture the glorious state in heaven to all Eternity that Jesus Christ had purchased and was in the possession of for true believers and into which such souls should immediatly enter when they leave the body and abide there with Christ their Head for ever To which he gave very great heed and attention and though his lips said little yet to my apprehension his soul spake very much for it wrought in his body as if it were raised up by Faith through what was held out to him even to the admiring of that grace and glory The working of his soul was mixt with Tears as I conceive of Joy for he mentioned nothing of the fear of Death though he was often minded of it how neer it was at hand nor did I then perceive any paleness in his face or sinking of Spirit the Symptomes of the fear of Death But that those workings of his Soul were reachings after that glorious Inheritance held out in Rom. 8.17 To be heirs of God joynt heirs with Christ which Scripture was then opened to him And that glorious inheritance set forth by the concurrence of several other Scriptures with an indeavour to give him a View by the eye of faith of that which in a very few moments after his soul should to all Eternity be made partaker of in joy and glory with Christ in Heaven which was infinitely more then could be expressed or conceived and this I judge did make his Soul so work within him After some time in prayer I parted with him and almost the last words I had from him were these He told me he was really offended with himself because he hated sin no more which had caused him to offend God so much he told me Satan was busie to perswade him That all his Faith and Repentance was false but he had beleeved the Divel too long and he would trust him no longer but now cast his eternal soul on the free grace of God in the Blood of Christ alone for Salvation renouncing himself wholly In this resolution and frame of Spirit I left him And as I am informed through the free grace of God he did abide and increase in it to his last breath Upon the whole I am truly perswaded from that Work of God that I observed to be wrought in him and the degrees of it that though his former life was full of all wickedness his soul exceeding ignorant of God and his own sinful nature all that time and his Repentance and Faith in Christ very late yet that the free grace of God who is not bounded to time did make both his Faith and Repentance true and do beleeve he is with Christ in glory I do not give this Publike Attest to encourage sin but to magnifie the free grace of God in Jesus Christ to Sinners and I do assure whosoever reads this that poor soul which is the Subject of it found sin to be exceeding bitter before he had any tast of the sweetness of Gods free grace in Christ Hoping this may be of Publike Use I am free to Attest it with my Name September 10. 1657. Robert Tichborne Major A brief Account of a Visit given to Nathaniel Butler a Prisoner in Newgate upon the Friday before he suffered by Tho. Case a Minister of the City of London wherein he made these following Observations THE said Nathaniel Butler expressed 1. A deep sense of that desperate Bloody fact which he had committed which he loaded with all the blackest aggravations that might be especially with this Consideration That for ought he knew he had destroyed body and soul with oue blow He had begg'd and obtained a space of Repentance from his Judges but had not afforded his Brother one moment to beg pardon at the hand of God This Consideration stuck so deeply upon his spirit that it had well nigh sunk him into despair had not God sent in some relief by the hand of one that visited him in prison in the instance of Manasseh who having sacrificed his sons unto Devils and shed much other innocent blood upon his repentance finding mercy did not despairingly afflict himself with the consideration of what became of the souls of those whom he had so cruelly murdered Secret things belong unto the Lord c. 2. He exprest not only sense of the guilt of Blood but a right Gospel-notion of the sinfulness of sin All sin the least sin not as destroying only but as defiling not as contrary to the Creature in the effects of it but as contrary to God in the nature of it A grieving of the Spirit a crucifying of Jesus Christ afresh a most unworthy requital of the love of a crucified Saviour 3. He discovered also that which indeed was the thing which I came purposely to the Prison to enquire after viz. A right apprehension of Original sin the Corruption of his Nature which he lookt upon as the Fountain and Spring-head of his Murder Theft and all other actual wickedness bewailing them all with David in their first source and spring Behold I was born in sin and in iniquity did my mother conceive me Ps 51.5 In a word He had as right a notion of the state of Unregeneracie as ever I found in any new Convert 4. He exprest also an high appretiation of Jesus Christ not only for pardon of sin but for power against sin not only to deliver the soul from the wrath to come and everlasting burning but from the state of Nature As a Fountain of Holiness as well as a Fountain of Happiness 5. An high apprehension and admiration of Free-grace in pardoning such a sinner as he was Which he exprest with much self-abhorrencie as one that had no regard to the Sabbath never acquainted himself with the Bible or Catechism never prayed And if a good Thought were entring his heart he would thrust it away from him with greatest indignation The pardon of these with other sins he admired in some such language as the Apostle did 1 Tim. 1.13 6. God had vouchsafed him a sweet taste of the Promises some whereof most suitable to his condition God had pitched his soul upon which he repeated with so sweet a relish as a man might perceive his soul was even ravished with the sence thereof 7. Wonderfully did he bless and admire the goodness of God in calling such a cruel enemy to mankind as he was in murdering his Brother into the prayers compassion and care of so many of his precious
as all along he was ready to take all occasions of a full free and impartial confession of Sins cloathing them with their agravating Circumstances to make them out of measure sinfull His high admiring thoughts of the Love and Grace of God several ways he expressed in a most serious affectionate manner both in generall and in reference to himself and his sence of his interest in them He was much in Repetition with thankful wonderment of many proomises of God some I had before spoken of in preaching and some others such as set forth Gods readiness to pardon the freeness largeness and unchangeableness of the Pardoning mercy of God and again and again speaking in the words of Paul And that such an one as I should obtain mercy Such an one as I find mercy Admiring the distinguishing grace of God towards him that when other Prisoners though in lesse danger then himself of Death whom we then heard above makeing a noise were without thought of Sin or God God should snatch him as a Fire-brand and that in such a way making sin so great sin to be overruled to his great good He expressed his appretiating thoughts of Gods promises savourly descanting upon them and comfortably applying them to himself saying I could formerly find no thing desirable in a Promise or any Word of God it was a burthen to me but now that the promises were the rejoycing of his heart He said Satan had sorely winowed and buffeted him but Christ was on his side And using the words of the Apostle This is our rejoycing the Testimony of our Consciences he added God hath said whosoever repenteth and beleeveth shall find mercy and be saved my Conscience telleth me and witnesseth to me that I unfeignedly repent and really beleeve in Christ and I am one of those Whosoever therefore Christ is mine c. As to his Condition in general from what I found or otherwise heard I conceive there are many things very remarkable 1. As to his sin committted 1. That this great Sin was clearly a judiciall sin the punishment of former Sins for which God left him 2. That as it was the deserved fruit of a bad Cause so it was the accidentall cause of good fruit the Lord overshooting Satan in his own bow when and by what meanes he took to make sure of him God startled and roused Conscience which would not with the noise of lesse guilt be awaked and humbled the Sinner c. Secondly It seemeth to me very observeable as to the Work of God upon him that it was so orderly gradual he being first bound up partly through his ignorance in which he had been brought up partly through the amazing guilt that with an overwhelming stupifying power came upon him he afterwards by degrees and that at last to such a measure of clearness and distinctness of Understanding in the things of God had an extraordinary beam of divine light darted into his Soul and that by degrees his sence of the sinfulness of sin increased as I have been credibly informed to a deep humiliation not without horror and so ingenious confession And then upon the alone and most sufficient foundation of the rich and precious promises of the Gospel he was raised up to the apprehension of mercy and at last of his particular interest in it 3. The hand of the Lord upon the hearts of his People Magistrates Ministers and other Christians in some measure evidencing the thoughts of God towards the poor man to be thoughts of Peace and good-will In that favour he so high an Offendor found to have time of repentance and reconciliation who himself gave none to his Friend In the means afforded him and manifold helps for his spiritual advantage which he in my hearing took notice of with admiring thankfulness Sermons Visits generall pitty of Gods people in the importunate enlarged fervency of Ministers and Christians in praying for him scarcely to be parallel'd in the memory of men THO PARSON Some PassAges between Nath. Butler and a Friend of his that came to visit him which have been omitted in the other Conferences Friend HOw do you Nathautel N. Butler Very well blessed be God only I must tell you that even now here were with me some Popish Ladies who asked me concerning my Faith and what Religion I did intend to die in I told them in the true Protestant Religion of the Church of England They answered if I died not in the Roman Catholick Religion I could not be saved and prest it with several Arguments Pray inform me therefore what is this Popish Religion Fr. It is such a Religion that dares not trust in Christ alone without mingling their own merits with the merits of Jesus Christ Nath. That is saddest Religion in the world for me I shall never be of that Religion clapping his hand on his brest for I am the vilest wretch that lives I have not a good thought to trust to I must be saved only by the merits of Christ if ever I be saved The same Friend watching with him the night before he dyed wished him to think of the free mercy of God in Jesus Christ that God should call him at the eleventh hour He answered I desire to be vile in mine own eyes and admire free grace About five of the clock that morning he was to suffer death he was raised to a high pitch of joy and cried out Oh sirs help me Help me to glorifie God! shew me how to do it I cannot do it enough I cannot contain my self yet suspecting himself he asked those about him Was it so with you and with you when God wrought on you They replied it was Oh then said he it is right blessed be God Come let us sing the 100 Psalm which he sung with much alacrity About an hour after they knockt off his shackels now said his Friend Come Nat. now thy shackles are off I will get thee out and thou shalt run thy old course and have money enough and take thy fill of lust and pleasure again He seriously replied Really Really Really clapping his hand on his breast if I know my own heart I would not for ten thousand worlds lose the opportunity of this morning I am now going where I shall never sin again So leaving the dark Dungeon wherein he was Prisoner in order to his execution he uttered these expressions to his friends about him O this dark Dungeon The best Room that ever I came in and this contemptible Bed the best that ever I lay in AN EXACT NARRATIVE Of the Life and Death of NATHANIEL BUTEER With the several Conferences held with him by the Right Honorable the Lord Major and several eminent Ministers As also his Confessions Speech Prayer c. together with the Sermon preached the Evening after his Execution BEfore I enter upon the Narrative give me leave very briefly to premise how Nathaniel Butler behaved himself before this Murther committed viz. That he was a
seed of Jacob seek ye me in vain Isa 55.7 Let the wicked forsake his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts and let him return to the Lord and he will ABVNDANTLY pardon The word abundantly he used to pronounce with an emphasis for he saw his eyes being now annointed with spiritual eye-salve that he had multiplied sins exceedingly and that he stood in absolute need of the Lords abundant multiplied pardons whereof he had good hope through this good word of Isaiah Ezek 18.23 Have I any pleasure at all that the wicked should die saith the Lord God and not that he should return from his wases and live 30. Repent and turn your selves from all your transgressions SO iniquity shall not be your ruine 31. Cast away from you all your transgressions whereby ye have transgressed and make you a new heart and a new spirit for why will ye die O house of Israel 32. For I have no pleasure in the death of him that dieth wherefore turn your selves and live ye Ezek. 33.11 Say unto them As I live saith the Lord here the poor Prisoner would note to his comfort that a repenting sinner hadnot onely the Word and Promise of God for forgiveness but the Oath of God to give such a finner the greater assurance of pardon I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked but that the wicked turn from his ways and live Turn ye turn ye see the importunity of God with poor sinners for the good of their souls from your evil ways For why will ye die O house of Israel Micah 7.18 was a place pleasant to his soul Who is a God like unto thee that pardoneth iniquity and passeth by the transgression of the reranant of his heritage He retaineth not his anger for ever because he delighteth in mercy Vers 19. He will turn again as one doth when his anger is gone he will have compassion upon us he will subdue our iniquities and thou wilt cast ALL their sins into the depth of the Sea Now I shall give you a short List of some New Testament Texts whereby the Lord conveyed Counsel and Consolation to this doubting staggering poor Wretch Matth. 18.11 For the Son of man is come to save that which was lost Joh. 3.14 15 16. And as Moses lifted up the Serpent in the wilderness even so must the Son of Man be lifted up that whosoever beleeveth in him should not perish but have eternal life For God SO loved the WORLD that whosoever this word whosoever he he spake with joy beleeveth in him should not perish but have everlasting life Now saith Nathaniel Butler I am one to whom this word speaketh and therefore God gave the Lord Jesus Christ for my soul I beleeve in him and therefore I trust to live eternally through him according to the gracious terms of the Gospel John 6.37 and him that cometh to me I will in no wise here he would repeat and reiterate these words in NO WISE CAST OVT in NO WISE in NO WISE cast out 1 Tim. 1.15 This a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners of whom I am chief 1 Tim. 2.5 6. For there is one God and one Mediator between God and Men the Man Christ Jesus who gave himself a ransom for all to be testified in due time In hearing reading and conferring upon these and many more Scriptures he would often say to me and others these are good Scriptures brave Scriptures are they not brave Scriptures He would make very diligent and frequent search into his soul concerning the sincerity of his sorrow and would not easily beleeve that his repentance was true or that he had right to the precious promises of the Gospel But by much speaking to him by many good people that he would applie Christ and also by seeking unto God for a spirit of Faith for him he did begin to act a faith of recumbency and adherence being as he often said perswaded that the Lord Jesus Christ was able to save to the uttermost and willing to save such as come unto God by him yet he could not come up to that full assurance of hope and confidence as he desired and we also desired heartily on his behalf So that sometimes he would break forth and say How can I that have been gurlty of all sins whatsoever almost as Murder Fornication Theft c. challenge or apply a pardon He was much afraid of running upon either of these two Rooks that is presumption or despair I told him that diffidence and despair was the strongest presumption against God saying to him Is it not presumption for a man to dis obey God and not to beleeve him Now the command of God in his glorious Gospel is that men weary of and heavy laden with sins should come to Christ that they might find rest to their souls The design of God said I in the Scriptures is not to give some feeble weak hope of pardon but a lively hope and a firm expectation of salvation to all that mourn and really repent Which so wrought upon him that for the space of some daies before his suffering death it pleased the God of all comfort to give him joy and consolation and sometimes strong consolation insomuch that he would at times express very great inward gladness which all that knew his former mournings were glad to see and glorified God for giving him the joy of his salvation for he was so satisfied concerning the favour and mercy of God towads him in Jesus Christ that he rather now desired death then feared it as seeing death through Jesus Christ without a sting On the Lords Day towards evening the Lord Mayor to whose Conference I refer you went the third and last time to visit him for the next day he was to die and my Lords advice very much refreshed his spirit it being his Lordships design to speak of Heaven with the glory and joy of that Kingdom and to establish the Prisoners thoughts thereon After his Lordship had left him he seemed to be very chearful in his spirit blessing God that he should put it into his Lordships heart to condescend so far as to pray and confer with such a despicable poor wretch as he was heartily thanking his Lordship for his abundant love That night being his last night I kept him company in Newgate so did divers others continuing with him in the Dungeon or Hole for so the Keepers call it till towards midnight conferring with him and endeavouring to comfort him to the end he delighted all the time of his Imprisonment in Christian Company and spiritual Discourses but in his last night he was very much carried forth to spend himself about spiritual things So that we judged it meet to leave him alone a while lest being altogether without rest and refreshment in his body he might thereby be made unfit for the service of the next day intending then to
your sins Having finished his Speech he then called on the Lord by Prayer intreating the people to join with him He prayed with an elevated voice and with many tears this Prayer following O Merciful GOD which according to the multitude of thy mercies doest so put away the sins of those which truly repent that thou remembrest them no mnore Open thine Eye of Mercy upon me wretched Sinner that I am who most earnestly desire pardon and forgiveness of all my former sins and particularly for my late horrid Blood guiltiness Lord if it be not too late and I trust no time is too late for thee to shew mercy wash away this blood of my Brother which sticks so close to my soul in the blood of my Saviour O let me call him so which was shed for my sins and the sins of the whole world Let not the voice of my murdered Brothers blood cry louder for vengeance then the blood of our crucified Jesus be heard to cry for pardon Give me Lord a truly penitent heart and then accept of that penitent heart of mine which is thine own gift Given me plenty of brinish tears but first steep and wash those tears of mine in the wounds of thy Son Make me here to abhor and loath and judge and condemn my self that in thy great day hereafter The great day of the Lord I may not be condemned eternally both body and soul Renew in me most loving Father whatsoever hath been decayed by the fraud and malice of the Devil or by mine own bloody carnal will and frailness Cause me to set all my sins before my face and then do thou cast them behind thy back Cause me to spread all my sins before thee my God as Hezekiah did the the blasphemous Papers of Rabshekah and then do thou blow them away with the blast of thy holy Spirit And forasmuch as I do humbly and earnestly desire to put my trust only in thy mercy Impute not unto me my former or latter sins the sins of my body and the sins of my soul sins of omission or sins of commission sins which I have done to please my self or others sins against the First or against the Second Table against thee my God against my Neighbor or against mine own Sonb Let this first death of mine which I am now ready to pay in satisfaction to Man's Law be acceptable in thy sight O God and so do thou deliver me from the second death Deliver me from my Blood guiltiness O God and take me yet into thy favour through the merits and blood shedding of thy most dearly beloved Son Jesus Christ Amen! Amen! Wretched man that I am who shall deliver me from my blood guiltiness who shall deliver me from this body of sin and death Lord have mercy upon me a sinner Christ have mercy upon me a sinner Lord have mercy upon me a sinner A Merciless a Profane a Thieving a Bloody sinner Lord though I had no mercy upon my Brother yet do Thou have mercy upon me For Lord I have so much the more need of mercy for my soul by how much I had so little mercy upon his life Lord I confess with horror of soul that I killed him suddenly giving him no time to prepare for death Yet Lord I must confess to thy great glory and goodness that Thou hast given me time and respite to repent before I die He then desir'd me as I stood upon the Ladder to pray for him which I also did he joining therein very solemnly I then having done prayer asked him how he did He told me he doubted not of doing well he laid all behind him and would go to Christ alone for life and salvation saying Now I am lanching into the Ocean of Eternity Then he delivered to me the written Speech desiring the Executioner to forbear Turning him off till he lifted up his hands and said Lord Jesus receive my soul I then took him by the hands and took my leave of him After he had stood still a little while in a way of Ejaculations with his Cap over his eyes he lifted up his hands and said the words aforesaid Then the Executioner did his office and he was a dead man in a few moments And in a few moments more who knows which of us will not be dead men also Oh consider therefore all you that yet are alive the following Admonition An Admonition to all persons whatsoever especially to Parents and Children Masters and Servants c. TO Parents and Masters of Families hear what the Lord faith to you Ephes 6.4 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it is a putting of a thing into the mind an urging and pressing of it an informing and instructing the mind Leigh crit sacâ—â— Now this Text tells you of two very great faults viz. First In case admonishing of Children and Servants be totally omitted where 's then your obedience to God who leaves their Education to your care Nay instead of giving good advice and examples to Youth you many times I mean many Heads of Families rather ruine them by living without Knowledge and without Conscience your selves Oh consider this and acquaint your selves with God and with Jesus Christ that you may be able to acquaint all committed to your nurture with the fame God and with the same Lord Jesus Christ the knowing of whom is the excellencie of knowledge Secondly A word to men of care but of very little care in this thing I grant you use prayer and you read Sermon-notes sometimes and the Scriptures themselves among your people at home but how often and how earnestly is that exercise Alas once it may be on the Lords day and then no great regard had how they profit or whether they profit or no so that something be done though nothing come by it by way of benefit to their Souls 'T is a wonderful weakness in many great Professors of Religion who will pray and beg of God strongly upon their knees for Light Knowledge Grace and Holiness to be given to their dear Children and to their Servants and yet these very persons will contribute little or nothing besides good wishes towards the conversion and welfare of souls that by their importunate supplications seem to be precious in their eye If praying be all you have to do for your Family what mean then those many Scriptures that command the doing of many other duties besides praying with and praying for your people and if prayer onely be not enough why do you onely pray Indeed 't is well done to wish well to them that dwell with you though it be part it is the least part of your duty doth not the Lord look for much more from you doth he not charge Fathers and Mothers and Masters to instruct rebuke correct their Children and Servants and to call them to account concerning their profiting in Gospel knowledge I am confident the carelesness of you in these things is that which renders Preaching so
man meaning Paul is a murderer whom though he hath escaped the Sea yet vengeance suffereth not to live Rev. 21.8 But the fearful and unbeleeving and abominable and MVRDERERS heart-murderers and hand-murderers and whoremongers and sorcerers and idolaters and all Liers shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone which is the Second death T is not torture enough for a Murderer to die only once God hath designed for him a second death an eternal death no Murderer remaining a man of hatred hath eternall life abiding in him the Devil himself will as soon be saved as he that hateth his Brother Rev. 22.15 For without are Dogs sorcerers and whoremongers and murderers malicious angells devills and malicious men devils incarnate must be excluded together heaven is no place for men of hatred and malice Three Objections Object 1. But some may say 'T is no danger to hate a poor man Prov. 14.20 The poor is hated even of his own e Neighbour but the rich hath many Friends no man nor God himself as some men think mindeth the poor man Obj. 2. A man surely may hate him that speaketh evil that prophesieth damnation against me as in 1 King 22.8 And the King of Israel said to Jehosophat there is yet one man Macaiah the son of Imlah by whom we may enquire of the Lord but I hate him for he doth not prophesie good concerning me but evil Obj. 3. He hateth me saith another he is mine enemy may I not hate him Matth. 5.43 Ye have heard that it hath been said Thou shalt love thy neighbor and hate thine enemy but I say unto you Love your enemies or else you will prove your own worst enemies for it is death the second death to hate a poor man an enemy or any man Is hatred a Man-murdering sin and a Soul-murdering sin Then take heed of helping on this hatred any way As there are ways to provoke to love which few love to walk in so there are tricks and devices of the Devil to drive on the design of hatred in mens hearts that he may drive men to destruction Decline especially naming men by this or the other name of reproach D. Hall late Bishop of Norwick who was a very worthy learned and godly man in a small Treatise of his called Pax terris p. 44. speaks thus Damnentur ad imum usque barathrum illa nominum opprobria Lutheranorum Calvinianorum Arminianorum Puritanorum Praelaticorum Presbyterianorum Independentium quae fidei ejusdem professoribus vulgò objectari solent i. e. Let those terms or names of reproach and disgrace saith he of Lutherans Calvinists Arminians Puritans Prelaticals Presbyterians Independents which are commonly objected to the Professors of the same faith let them be condemned to the lowest hell I am confident they were coined there and they prove an occasion of much hellish hatred among Christians It 's often known that one man hateth another meerly because he passeth in the world under one or other of these dividing names whereas it may be the man deserves no such name but if he do I am fure it is not fit nor Gospel-like to leave loving a man of a different minde in some circumstantial matters of Religion You will not be able to come off in the day of account by this plea. Indeed I hated such a man and I thought I did well for he was called an Episcopal man or a Presbyterian or an Arminian or Anabaptist or a Schismatick and Sectary The Lord God will demand Was not such a man thy brother was he not thy neighbour nay did he not fear my name notwithstanding this or that nick-name maliciously put on him and shouldst thou have hated thy Brother thy Christian Brother a man that lived in all good conscience by thee considering this startling Text Whosoever hateth his Brother is a murderer and ye know O then hate no more that no murderer hath eternal life abideing in him Lastly We see the excellency of Love in 1 Cor 12. ult and yet shew I unto you a more excellent way 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 'T is the way of life as hatred puts mens lives in hazard and jepoardy so love looks after the saving of life it permits others to be in peaceable possession of their own lives and then love to brethren is an evidence of that mans life eternal that loves his brethren 1 Joh. 3.14 We know we have passed from death to life because we love the brethren Hatred is deadly and perillons to men every way and love is of a soul-protecting tendency Love is excellent and lovely in this respect A Philanthropie in us a love to men as men and a love to regenerate men as such assures our hearts we are in the path-way to heaven as malice and hatred is the high-way to hell from which the Lord of heaven deliver your souls 'T is the way the high-way to Heaven a man never goes after God till he walks in love Ephes 5.1 2 Be ye therefore followers of God as dear children and walk in love as Christ also hath loved us So long as men caled Christians live in bitterness wrath anger and clamour evil speaking and in malice they are the Children of the Devil for him they obey but when we are kind one to another TENDER-HEARTED forgiving one another even as God for Christs sake is ready to forgive us this God-like and Christ-like life this love-life is a lovely evidence of our following God our heavenly Father as dear children and of following our dear Lord and Saviour Consider Ephes 4 end and Ephes 5.1 2. and I hope that context will make smooth and sweeten your rough and bitter spirits towards each other mutually A Recollection of the sum of two Discourses between S. T. and N. B. in Newgate on Thursday Aug. 13. and Thursday Aug. 20 1657. both continuing several houres HAving by the Providence of God upon due occasion and call bin with N. B. as an eye Ear witness among others of the wonderfull grace of God to him in his last dayes to the rejoycing of my heart and being desired and prest to contribute some thing to the Narrative by those worthy persons concerned in the publication thereof I shall do it very briefly according to my best knowledge and remembrance My first address unto him was to know what serious sense he had of his hainous sin and his soules condition In answer to which he did in a very mournfull manner largely lay open the strong convictions he had upon his conscience of the sinfulness and damnableness of his sin ennumerating himselfe the several aggravating circumstances thereof with the time and manner of his conviction which began not untill his imprisonment and fetters began For albeit he was followed and filled as he said with distraction amazement and disquietment from the time of the fact making him restless in all places Yet he told me he had no solid conviction of his sin