Mediator the Life which they who have him have with him is that which he hath as Mediator which the Father hath given to all that believe and is put into the hands of the Son to give unto them To open this great Mystery the more you will find that the Son as God hath Life himself as in a Fountain yea he is Life And as he is Mediator and Redeemer the Father hath given to the Son to have Life in himself John 5.26 And gave him power to give eternal Life to as many as he hath given him John 17.2 And again John 6.57 As the living Father hath sent me and I live by the Father so he that eateth me shall live by me Mark the place Christ was speaking of eating his Flesh and comparing himself to Bread more excellent than Manna and of the singular Benefit which they who made use of him by Faith as Men do eat Bread they should have Life by him But how could he give Life to them that believe He opens that in this vers 57. where note 1. The gracious Act of the Father in sending his Son in our Natures to be a Mediator and Saviour with Commission and Power 2. He who as God the Son had Life in himself receiv'd Life from the Father by whom he lived and this Life he did communicate to all that believed 3. So he that eateth me shall live by me The Benefit and Blessing derived to them that eat him that by Faith apply him is Life and as eating of Bread is the means of living by Bread so believing or spiritual eating is the means of living so he that eateth me shall live by me O! How marvellous is the manifold Wisdom of God in the way of Life as his Grace and Mercy is in bringing forth Life to the Dead in Sin and in bringing Life and Immortality to light by the Gospel Our miserable and helpless condition required no small help but a great and all-sufficient Saviour And so the Life of our Mediator shews the Death of every Sinner and our Deliverance from Death must in order go before though not in time the free Gift of Life It was by an easie passage which seemed wonderful delightful to the deluded minds of our first Parents that we fell under Condemnation and Death but the recovery was hard and two things were to be done for us to the praise of the Glory of Grace 1. The Evils under which we lay were to be removed 2. Our Life and Happiness procured and communicated and both these are done by our Mediator and Saviour I. The Evils under which we lay are contained under that bitter and terrible Word Death which is four-fold 1. We were dead in respect of the Guilt of Sin We were all Filii Mortis As in Adam all die That Threatning In the day thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die hangs over our Heads Gen. 2.17 The Death contained in the Threatning and Curse of the Law Grot. de Satisfac p. 71. the eternal Death especially We are dead and our sed by the Law and we are all guilty before God Rom. 3.19 2. We are all spiritually dead dead in Trespasses and Sins under the power of our Corruptions and sinful Lusts Eph. 2.1 and 5. And you hath he quickened who were dead in trespasses and sins dead to God and all spiritual Good Even when we were dead in sins hath he quickned us together with Christ making us alive to God and Holiness 3. We were dead as to all real and spiritual Comforts born to misery as the Sparks fly upward Comfortless without Hope Eph. 2.12 As Adam was naked and ashamed thrust thorough with Fears and Perplexities driven to invent helpless Shifts for felt necessities Paul did sadly mistake his condition when he thought himself alive and was brisk and well Rom. 7.9 I was alive without the Law once I thought my self well and safe but it was my Ignorance and Senselesness for when the Commandment came by which I was convinced of Sin then sin revived then the Snake appear'd to be alive by that Fire and I died I was a lost man I died and had no hope nor comfort that way 4. We are dead as Death is opposed to Eternal Life in Heaven dead under God's everlasting Wrath which is an everlasting Separation from the Presence of God and the Punishment of the Eternal Fire This is the wages of sin Rom. 6. II. The good which we need and which is procured for us is Life and Happiness All Blessings are comprehended in and presented to us under the sweet and comfortable Word Life and this Life is in the Son Christ and they who have him have it and every Branch and Distinction of Life and that in Perfection 1. He hath in him the Life of Righteousness and through his Righteousness they who believe in him are justified and pardoned and have their precious Life given unto them who were under Condemnation Righteousness and Life are equivalent to have the one is to be secure of the other Rom. 5.17 18. Therefore as by the Offence of one Judgment came upon all to condemnation so by the Righteousness of one the free gift came upon all men to the justification of Life How came this to pass See 2 Cor. 5.21 For he hath made him to be sin for us who knew no sin that we might be made the righteousness of God in him He paid the Ransom and endured the Curse of the Law and as a Sin-offering bare the punishment of our Sin that we migh be made the Righteousness the Abstract put for the Concrete that is that we might be made fully righteous in his sight with that righteousness which is of God compleat and acceptable He was made of God to be righteousness for us that we might be justified and not come into Condemnation 1. Cor. 1.30 2. He hath in him the Life of Grace Sanctification and Holiness He hath a quickning Power in effectual Calling raising out of the Death and Grave of sin and rolling away the stony Heart that the dead in sin may rise to a spiritual Life John 5.25 Verily verily I say unto you the hour is coming and now is when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God and they that hear shall live They shall hear his Voice and they that hear shall live O then most mighty Lord put forth thy Voice and say Awake thou that sleepest and rise from the Dead and Christ shall give thee Life Ephes 5.14 And that our Lamps should never want Oyl our Hearts never want Supplies there is a fulness in Jesus Christ and that to be communicated to all that receive him And of this fulness have all we received Grace for Grace John 1.16 The Life of Holiness conceived and brought forth in Regeneration is encreased and continued by the Mortification and Death of Sin and living to God and both these Powers we receive from Christ Rom. 6.11 Likewise
manifold occasions at home may excuse me from doing much this way except when particularly called or desired And here I have a convenient place to make my most humble and thankful acknowledgments to the Honoured Tho. Catesby Esq for his leave and encouragement given to me and Mr. D. to take pains with the last that were Executed And also I give my publick Thanks with the Offer of my best Services for the like leave given us by the very worthy John Creed Esq our present High Sheriff 4. And I would that such piously affected Sheriffs should not think this to be any Augmentation of their Charge for it is sufficient reward to have the Testimony of a good Conscience for a sincere endeavour to save them that have destroy'd themselves But seeing Sir Francis Nichols gave that pious Example it would become persons of Estate and Piety to add something to it which might be an augmentation to some Minister in Town that shall best deserve it by taking most profitable pains for it and that Gift of Sir Fr. would be enquired after 5 I wish that every apartment in the Prison both for Debtors and Criminals might be provided for with good Books a fair Quarto Bible a good full Catechism or Body of Divinity such as Usher's Sum and Substance of Christian Religion a good Treatise of Conversion or Regeneration and of Holy Living of Judgment and Life to come I will not name any because I would not direct unasked but leave the choice to any well-devoted Benefactor It is a great Inducement to men that have nothing to do to read or to hear the reading of good Books especially on the Lord's Day when they have them provided for them These should be booked down and left in safe Custody when any go away 6. I wish all the Masters of Prisons were such as he was Acts 16. for their own and the sakes of them who are under their Charge It is a place which would require Prudence Gravity Mercifulness and a Hand or Gift of Governing the ill bred and corrupted part of Mankind with a Temper of Mercy and Rigour I have heard some say they did not look to fare so well at home as they did in this Prison O then that there were nothing wanting for the Life of their Souls Be kind to the few that are well inclined and sober be severe toward the prophane and debauched let not a Prison a place of Correction for sin be a School and a Shop for sin 7. I wish that were done which might not be impossible to see done There are some too well bred for such a place that can read let some priviledg or reward be given to such especially to the more sober and serious for reading to them that cannot and let such as cannot and have no employment be bound to hear reverently some time every day but inexcusably every Lord's Day The loss of Liberty and impairing of Health is great pay for the madness or pleasure of sin but to suffer the punishment of eternal Fire is too great for men to expose them to without effectual application of all possible means to save them from eternal Death 8. And because I would not be mistaken as if I were all for publick preaching I do humbly conceive that there is much good to be done by private and particular Conferences with particular persons for one man's case may differ from anothers But then this must be well managed and well followed and requires more time and therefore more proper for Ministers that live near and may visit frequently but when Ministers come from a distance and cannot make frequent Visits preaching must needs be best And why may not leave be given for preaching in the Sessions-House seeing there is no room convenient in the Goal and that there is so short and so safe a passage from the Prison to the Bar Why should it offend any man now to preach in a Sessions-House when it was so ordinary at Cambridge a Shire-Town and an Vniversity And why may not preaching be so publick that many people may hear who are much affected on such occasions Honoured Sirs If I were to make any of these Petitions to any of you you would grant me these or teach and advise me to make better I have but one humble request to every of you That you would pardon my making of your Honoured Names publick without your leaves or knowledge and that you would accept this little Present And one Request I have to make to God for you in particular and for all your Honoured Relations and Families my most obliging Friends That you may all so have the Son and the Beginnings and Foretastes and First Fruits of Eternal Life here that you may have it in its fulness in Heaven Honoured Sirs Your most obliged Servant in Christ Edward Pierce Mr. S. D. to the Reader BEing desired by my dear Friend and much Honoured Brother in the Work of the Lord Mr. Pierce to peruse the Narrative of the occasion of his preaching the Sermon annext and of the Behaviour of the Condemned Persons for whose sakes it was preached I have diligently read it over and find that he hath given so faithful and exact an account in every particular that I remember not any thing necessary to be added by me but my hearty Thanks to Mr. Pierce for the great pains he took with those poor ignorant Souls in order to their Salvation and my Humble Requests to Almighty God that he would raise up more such publick Spirits to serve him in their Generation and that this Sermon which was then received by the Prisoners and a Crowd of other Auditors with so much satisfaction may now it s published by the Blessing and Grace of God accompanying it become effectual to the begetting and encreasing of saving Faith and Knowledge in all such as read it So prayeth Thine in the Lord Jesus S. D. The Author being remote from London the Reader is entreated to amend or pardon the Errata of the Press Books Sold by J. Robinson CAtechism made Practical The Christian Instructed I. In the Principles of the Christian Religion Positively in the Shorter Catechism II. In what he is to Refuse and what to Hold Fast in the Greatest Points of Controversie and how to confute Errors and Defend the Truth III. In the practice of several Duties Viz. 1. The Practical Improvement of the Holy Trinity 2. Baptism 3. Prayer And 4. Preparation for the Lord's Supper 12o. Pleas for Moderation and Compassion c. And Submission to the present Government of K. William and Q. Mary The Epitome of the Bible in English Verse useful for Children price 6 d. bound A Present for Children Being a Brief but faithful Account of many Remarkable and Excellent Things uttered by three young Children to the wonder of all that heard them To which is added A Seasonable Exhortation to Parents for the Education of their Children Published by William
Son seeing that is no less than to put off the having of Life Who would run his Life upon such an Hazard seeing their are so many Enemies that seek our Damnation and work it by gaining the time of our delaying Can any Business or Pleasures in the World be thought of that Consequence as for them to venture the loss of eternal Life Many Men given much to the Pleasures and Vanities of Life have cast them off and fallen to the study of the Law or to follow their Business when but some Branch of their Estates have been in Question much more when the whole was in Danger Oh! how diligent and wise for the World and careless for a World to come are Men Put on Consideration and know for certain that the greatest matters of care and diligence meet in this one Life for this Life comprehends in it the whole of a Man's Estate He who hath not Life hath lost all in one and both these inestimable things and both these inestimable things an everlasting Kingdom an Heavenly Treasure a Crown of Life and Glory and that Life in the possession whereof the blessed Saints shall rejoyce for ever and in the privation of which the miserable and damned shall weep and lament for ever And this Punishment of Privation of Life will be the more intolerable when it shall come upon the Unbeliever for this Cause of his not having the Son For not having the Son who is the Son of God's love infinitely amiable and dear to all that love their own Nature for he is the Son in our Nature and now in our Nature glorified All Men think themselves honoured in the Honour of their Blood and Kindred and esteem the Person that is advanced But such is the Nature of Unbelief that it moves to no Estimation or Love to our Lord in Glory who hath promised Glory to all that believe and follow him and can see no excellency in him who is highly exalted and hath a Name that is above every Name The not having of the Son is upon Refusal and Contempt in Deeds if not in Words And because this Privation of Life is for Unbelief and Refusal the loss will be the greater for the Punishment of Unbelief must needs be great because Unbelief is a great sin and we need not go further than this Text to prove it Unbelief and not having is the undervaluing neglecting and refusing the only two things that cannot be valued the Son of God and everlasting Life O that I could say something that may enter and stick to the Heart Hath God been pleased to make manifest the Mystery of Redemption by Jesus Christ which hath been hid from Ages Col. 1.26 and now will ye not look into it but reject the Counsel of God as the Lawyers did against themselves Luke 7.30 Hath God so loved the World that he sent his only begotten Son that whosoever believeth in him shall not perish and now he is sent to you who have as much need of him as any in the World will you not have him Is there Salvation in no other and will you not have him Do you no more value the Grace and Love of God in his Son Christ Nor the love of Christ in humbling himself unto Death even the Death of the Cross for you And now he is at the Right Hand of God in possession of his Kingdom and is able to save all that come to God by him and will you not have him and Life by him Oh then you must perish Then you must have no part in the Tokens of God's everlasting Love no Saving Benefit of all the Cost our Lord hath been at to redeem you no Joy or Consolation by the Spirit no Communion with Saints in Glory nor Light Rest Peace in your own Souls for ever No pardon of Sin or Peace and Comfort by it nor any other Blessing of Grace Obj. But some may say If I have not Life then I shall die A. So you shall But you hope you shall be extinct and be no more but that shall not be eternal Death will not be like the blowing out of a Candle which shall never be lighted again No if you are Unbelievers and Atheists of that sort the everlasting Pain and Torment shall convince you of your wicked Error and of the loss of not having Life And this should be a 2. A Second effectual Motive to have Christ and Life for else you shall not have Life but enough of Death the first moment Oh! how bitter and dreadful will it be to Eternity All they that hate me love Death Prov. 8. vers ult They love the way and the sins which deserve it This shall be the Punishment of all Unbelievers Oh! who would make light of Christ and Life that shall be condemned if they have him not to Death Eternal Death A word containing innumerable and endless Evils The loss of God and Heaven will be a Death The sight of Hell and Devils with Millions of Workers of Iniquity under Condemnation will be Death Death not an End of the Sinner but of his Happiness If the Flames shall never be quenched as they shall not as Christ hath declared whose word is true Mat. 25.41 And this everlasting Fire is called everlasting Punishment vers 46. If the Punishment shall be everlasting it will follow that they who are punished must live in it and endure it for ever And Men may as well say that the blessed of the Father shall not go into everlasting Life as that the wicked shall not go into everlasting Punishment As long as the Punishment shall endure they shall endure that have deserved it and shall be condemned to it Oh! what a cursed Death will this be Oh! how miserable will an immortal Body be with an immortal Soul All the Miseries of the Damned are set forth by the Name of Death Every drop of the Rivers of Brimstone every Spark of the unquenchable Fire every Tear that the Damned shall drop every Gnash of their Teeth every Bite of the Worm will be a Death O Death How full of Stings This Death will be a Death of Separation from God and Good When Christ shall bid the wicked depart from him then all presumptuous Thoughts all fond Imaginations all vain Hopes all carnal Confidences and all that ever they deceived themselves withal shall depart from them and under this Death they shall weep and roar for ever Now if the Life everlasting with God in Heaven were no better than a Prisoners Life upon Earth or of a Persecuted Protestant kept from Sleep and tortured by Dragoons the Devils black Regiments and bare-fac'd Wolves the Consideration of this fearful Death should make all Men that have any Consideration desire and prefer the Son's Grace before the whole World But when the Life that is entail'd upon Believers is a Son's Life in the Kingdom of God an Heirs of Life what desperate Folly and Madness is it for any
and the other the Friday Mr. D. preached the Wednesday after I had been in private with the Prisoners clearing some necessary things to them for their Profit as we had good reason to hope they were not unprofitable Hearers after hearing that Sermon When I came about the time appointed on Friday I did not a little wonder to see so many stand in the Street before the Prison-Gate and a Crowd within and the Room in which I did intend to preach as my Brother had done so full that there was no getting in As soon as I came within the Gate the Mistress of the House in her Husbands Absence desired me shewing a great Concern in her Speech 〈◊〉 Countenance that I would preach in the Seâ— house for the Crowd was too great for the 〈◊〉 I foreseeing what Offence some would 〈…〉 that new thing and how I should be censuâ—… 〈◊〉 offered to preach in the Prison-yard or in any other convenient place The Officers of the House press'd me to preach in the Sessions-House for the Debtors stood in need of and would be glad of a Sermon as well as others and they could easily and safely bring all of them into the Bar there being a Vault to convey the Prisoners from the Prison to the Bar up a Trap-door Being overcome by their Reasons and Earnestness I consented to that which was most convenient and safe for the House the Auditory and for me tho it was a large place And to this day I know not how otherwise to have done so well nor had I any ways to avoid it either by refusing to preach because the Assembly was so great or desiring them to depart and go about other business If either of these had been suggested to me at that time I hope I should have rejected the Temptation I foresaw not the Auditory nor desired the place It was not my Zeal nor my Vain-glory that led me to the first occasion of visiting nor to this of preaching And this may satisfie my Friends and those others that they did wisely forbear to give us trouble for this Service for which we had Authority sufficient to have born us out The Reasons for Printing this plain Sermon enlarged are not to vindicate my self nor condemn others but purely for the Excellency of the Subject the very Sum of the Gospel and pertinency to all praying that God would pardon its Defects and make it profitable to many more than those that heard it several of whom desired a Copy of it and I could not deny their Request and some of my Fellow-labourers and Brethren hearing what the Subject was have perswaded me to print it But the prevailing Reason is taken from God's Glory alone and desire of saving Souls I have nothing to say to any particular Man But why so angry Why so troublesom to themselves What Evil had I or my Fellow-Servant done Know ye not yet what Spirit ye are of I should be glad if this Evil Spirit were cast out for its own sake I was very much taken with a Story I read of Mr. John White a very Judicious Divine He liv'd a while in a House that was haunted his Maid-Servant complained much of the trouble in the House He chid her for going near the haunted Chambers and bad her keep within the compass of her own business One Night the Spectre after Mr. White was laid down in his Bed came to his Beds Feet opened the Curtains and looked upon him to which the fearless Minister said If thou hast nothing else to do stand there and I will go to sleep Was ever poor Ghost more blew'd So I would say to this restless Spirit If thou wilt not go to rest and hast nothing else to do I am resolv'd to do my Masters Work as well as I can when call'd unto it and not be scared or frighted from it by thee I trust that he who was a Shield to me from Dangers in Evil Times will do as much for me in better times He who walketh uprightly walketh surely And so good Night Judge charitably of the Success of our Endeavours which in short was as followeth And first of the Woman We might have looked for better Fruit from a Branch of that Stock from which she sprang had her Parents lived to have seen her past the years of dangerous and foolish Youth Her Parents left her young with other Children and her Friends gave 60. l. with her to a Trade in the Exchange There the old Deceiver and Murderer would soon find her out and draw out her Inclinations to suitable Actions and bring her such Confidents and Acquaintance as could serve his Designs upon her When she came to set up she came into the Country and followed the Calling of a Milliner travelling with Horses Her Husband went about as a Bedder he had married and buried a Sister of a Family that for Estate might live reputably at home but delighted in the rambling course of Gipsies and this Man had learn'd the Cant and followed that kind of Life with his Relations Some of her Friends betrayed her to this Marriage as she said and others were against it and she and her Family were so well known that they were constrained to go a great way before they could be married Because of this Marriage and meeting sometimes with the Gipsies in their Travels and being present when as she constantly affirmed to her Death the Gipsie her Husband's Brother-in-law kill'd the Inn-keeper she was counted one of that Crew but she constantly affirmed that she understood not their Cant nor their way of living and could never endure that her Husband should have any Familiarity with them She had a ready Wit and Speech a great stout Spirit but too little knowledge she was more apprehensive than the poor Fellow was but came short of a preparedness to die After that we had opened the Nature and Desert of Sin in general we came to those particular Sins for which they were condemned and when I aggravated their Sins from the Ignominy of the Punishment that such Offenders were thought unfit to live among Men she stomach'd the Expression and cried bitterly through Pride and the sense of the dishonour of the Death she was condemned to and slew out in angry Expressions at her Prosecutors We gave way to her Passion and made as good use of it as we could for her Consideration of the shamefulness of sin and a far worse End to come without Repentance I laboured to convince her of the Truth of what I had said and went on to other things She confessed freely she had been a great Sinner but not guilty of several sins which she named nor of that for which she was to die altho Mr. D. told her he was sent for while he left us by some Persons of Quality upon the Grand Jury who remembred the Evidence against her and looked upon her as a very ill Woman yet she persisted in the Denial of the