for being wicked over much There is hardly any sort of Wickedness which you have not wallowed in-That sin particularly which you are now to die for is a most monstrous Crime I can't possibly describe or declare the sins whereby you have made your self an astonishing Example of Impiety punishment Mor. O Sir I have bin a most hellish sinner I am sorry for what I have bin Min. Sorry you say well tell me which of all your sins you are now most sorry for which lyes most heavy Mor. I hope I am sorry for all my sins but I must especially bewail my neglect of the means of grace On Sabbath dayes I us'd to lye at home or be ill imploy'd elsewhere when I should have bin at Church This has undone me Min. And let me seriously tell you Your Despiseing of Christ is a most dreadful sin indeed You have for whole years together had the Call of Jesus Christ to seek an Interest in him you would now give all the world for that interest but you would take no notice of him The Jews of Old put him to a worse death than yours will be this afternoon and by your contempt of Christ you have said the Jews did well to do so How justly might he now Laugh at your Calamity And for these sins of yours besides the direful woes plagues that have already come upon you you are now expos'd unto the Vengeance of eternal fire You are in danger of being now quickly cast into those exquisite amazing Torments in comparison of which the anguishes which your body ever did feel or shall feel before night or can ever feel are just nothing at all and these dolorous torments are such as never have an End as many sands as could lie between this earth the Stars in Heaven would not be near so many as the Ages the end-less Ages of these Torments Mor. But is there not Mercy for me in Christ Min. Yes and its a wonderful thing that I have now further to tell you Mind I entreat you The SON of GOD is become the Son of Man the Lord Jesus Christ is both God man in one Person he is both sufficiently able willing also to be your Saviour He lived a most righteous life and this was that such as you I might be able to say before God Lord accept of me as if I had liv'd righteously He died at length a most cursed death and this was that we might be able to say unto God Lord let not me die for sin since thy Son has died in my room This glorious Redeemer is now in the highest heaven pleading with God for the Salvation of His chosen ones And He pours out his Spirit continually upon them that do believe on him might you then be enabled by his grace to carry your poor guilty condemned enslaved ignorant soul unto Jesus Christ and humbly put your trust in him for deliverance from the whole bad state which you are brought into Oh then his voice is to you the same that was to the penitent Thief This day shalt thou be with me in Paradise Mor. Oh that I might be so Sir I would hear more of these things I think I can't better fit my self for my death than by hearkning to these things Min. Attend then The never-dying spirit that lodges within you must now within a few minutes appear before the Tribunal of the Great GOD in what or in whose Righteousness will you then appear will you have this to be your Plea Lord I experienced many good Motions Desires in my soul many Sorrows for my sin before I dy'd or will you expect to have no other Plea but This Lord I am vile but thy Son is a Surety for the worst of sinners that believe in him for his sake alone have MERCY on me Morg. I thank God for what He has wrought in my Soul Min. But be very careful about this matter if you build on your own good Affections instead of Jesus Christ the only Rock if you think they shall recommend you to God He that made you will not have mercy on you Mor. I would be clothed with the Righteousness of JESUS CHRIST Min But you can't sincerely desire that Christ should justify you if you don 't also desire that He should sanctify you those 2 alwaies go together Is evry lust that has hitherto had possession of your heart become so loathsom to you that it would fill your soul with joy to hear Jesus Christ say I will subdue those Iniquities of thine I will make a holy heavenly a spiritually minded person of thee Mor. I would sin against God no more Min. But I must deal plainly with you You have made it sadly suspicious that your repentance is not yet as it ought to be when men truly throughly repent of sin they use to be in a special manner watchful against that Sin which has bin their chief Sin one of your principal sins which has indeed brought you to the Death of a Murderer is Passion unmortifi'd outragious Passionateness Now I have been this day informed that no longer since than the last night upon some Dissatisfaction about the place which the Authority hath ordered you by and by to be buried in you did express your self with a most unruly Passionateness Mor. Sir I confess it and I was quickly sorry for it tho' for the present I was too much disturbed 'T was my folly to be so careful about the place where my body should be laid when my precious SOUL was in such a Condition Min. Truly you have cause to mourn for it Secure the welfarre of your soul and this now pinion'd hang'd vile body of yours will shortly be raised unto glory glory forevermore And let me put you in mind of one thing more I doubt you han't yet laid aside your unjust Grudges against the Persons concerned in your Conviction Condemnation You have no cause to complain of them and you are not fit to pray much less are you fit to dye till you heartily wish them as well as your own soul if you die malicious you die miserable Mor. I heartily wish them all well I bear Ill-will to none What a lamentable thing is this Ah this is that which has brought me hither Min. What do you mean Mor. I over-heard a man mocking scoffing at me when I stumbled just now he does very ill I have done so my self I have mock'd scoff'd like that man and see what it hath brought me to he may come to the like Min. The Lord forgive that foolish hard-hearted creature But be not too much disturbed Mor. Yonder I am now come in sight of the place where I must immediately end my dayes Oh what a huge Multitude of people is come together on this occasion O Lord O Lord I pray thee to make my Death profitable to all this Multitude of People that they may not sin
like that of Despising the Word of God. For this is the Condemnation that Light is come into the world and men love Darkness rather than Light. And How shall we escape if we neglect so great Salvation They that shall be found guilty of neglecting the great Salvation offered in the Gospel cannot escape the wrath of God to the utmost of it And this is true not only concerning such as have lived under the constant Preaching of the Gospel and yet remain and live dye in a natural unconverted estate but of them also that might hear the Word of God but will not concerning Such Christ saith It shall be more tolerable for Sodom and Gomorrah at the day of Judgment than for them Mat. 10. 15. This dying man now that his Conscience is awaken d saith It is a terrour to him to think I might have heard the Word of God preached many a time but refused it He neglected to hear Sermons not only on Lecture dayes but on Lords-Dayes too when he was a Servant he was wont as himself saith on Sabbath-Days to go out into the Fields and there to profane the Lords Dayes at the very time when he might and ought to have bin hearing the Word of God and since he had a Family his custom was to keep at home when others were attending the publick Worship of God. And he told me that he did foolishly please himself in thinking that he had sufficient reason to stay at home because he had not clothes good enough to appear publickly in whenas the mony that he mis-spent in drink would have procur'd him Cloatheing Let others then by his Example be warned against this evil lest they provoke God and feel sorrow for it as he has done I doubt there are very many in this great Town guilty of his sin in this particular perhaps some that are professors of Religion which is dreadful to think on I hear some say that there are many Hundreds nay some Thousands in this place that seldom hear a Sermon preached from one end of the year to the other if that be so it is very lamentable What is like to become of the souls of such profane persons If they that are in place of power be they Superior or Inferior Officers can possibly redress this evil they will certainly do a Service acceptable to GOD and to our Lord JESUS CHRIST But I proceed to the Second Exhortation If Murder be such a Crime as has bin declared then Let whoever has been guilty of this Sin be humbled for it and repent of it As for Interpretative Murder many are guilty of that O how many have by Debauchery Intemperance shortened the lives of themselvs or others let such repent and turn from their sins unto God. But I hope there is none in this vast Assembly that has bin guilty of that Murder which is by the Law of God and of the Land a Capital Crime excepting one man and one such person there is here present unto whom I shall now particularly apply my self Do you then hear that your soul may live This is the Last Sermon that ever you shall hear Time was when you might have heard Sermons but would not and now you shall not hear them tho' you would For as God said to him This night thy soul shall be required of thee so I say to you in His Name This night thy soul shall be taken from thee This night your soul shall be in Heaven or Hell for ever You are appointed to dye this day and after death commeth the Judgment As soon as your Body is dead your immortal soul must appear before the great GOD and Judg of all and a Sentence of everlasting Life or Everlasting Death shall be passed upon you Are you willing when those Chains which are about you shall be taken off that your immortal soul should be hang'd in everlasting Chains Are you willing that when your Body is removed from the Prison your Soul should go to the Spirits that are in prison You have complain'd that you have bin in a Dungeon and had little light there but are you willing to go where you shall never see light Are you willing that when your Body is delivered from this Dungeon your Soul should go into that Dungeon where is Blackness of darkness for ever If not I charge you in the Name of God to hear and obey his Word yea that Word which you have many a time despised I have spoken so often to you in private since your being Apprehended that I shall not need to say much now only a few words 1. Consider what a sinner you have bin The Sin which you are to die for is as red as Scarlet and many other sins hath your wicked life been filled with You have been a stranger to me I never saw you I never heard of you till you had committed the Murder for which you must dye this day but I hear by others that have known you how wicked you have been and you have your self confessed to the world that you have been guilty of Drunkenness guilty of Cursing Swearing guilty of Sabbath-breaking guilty of Lying guilty of secret Uncleanness as Solomon said to Shimei Thou knowest the wickedness which thine own heart is privy unto so I say to you And that which aggravates your Guiltiness not a little is That since you have been in Prison you have done wickedly you have made your self drunk several times since your Imprisonment yea and you have bin guilty of Lying since your Condemnation It was said to a dying man Dost not thou fear God seeing thou art under Condemnation Oh what a sinner have you bin for since you have bin under Condemnation you have not feared God. And how have you sinned against the Gospel What Unbelief what Impenitency have you bin guilty of Consider 2. What Misery you have brought upon your self on your Body that must dye an 〈◊〉 ed death you must hang between Heaven and Earth as it were forsaken of both and unworthy to be in either And what Misery have you brought upon your poor Children you have brought an everlasting Reproach upon them How great will their Shame be when it shall be said to them that their Father was hang'd not for his goodness as many in the world have bin but for his wickedness not as a Martyr but as a Malefactor truly so But that which is Ten Thousand Thousand times worse than all this is That you have without Repentance brought undoing Misery upon your poor yet precious Soul not only Death on your Body but a Second Death on your never-dying Soul. It is said in the Scripture That Murderers shall have their part in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone which is the Second Death Rev. 21. 8. O tremble at that I remember a Man that was condemned and Executed in this place some years ago that had been a Souldier and as stout a spirited
against his brother that had murdered him But that This is a grievous sin is manifest 1. In that it is a most unnatural thing Creatures of the same kind are not wont to destroy one another Naturalists observe concerning Wolves that though they be cruel creatures they will never kill one another therefore if Men do so they are worse than Wolves Tygers so that Murder is an unnatural and a monstrous Wickedness 2. The Vengeance which is wont to follow this Sin proves that it is an horrid and hainous Transgression There is a peculiar Vengeance that does pursue this sin at the heels of it The Gentiles had the motion of this fix'd in their minde hence those Barbarians could say No doubt this man is a murderer whom tho' he escaped the seas yet Vengeance suffereth not to live Act. 21. 4. ‖ Ethnici Dicen tanquam deam filiam Jovis colebant in Plut. l. de ser a vindict Dice daemon dicitur The Heathen esteemed dike the word there used for Vengeance as a Deity that would not suffer great Sinners and in special Murderers to go unpunished Temporal Vengeance pursueth this Sin. Hence they that have been guilty of it seldom live long in quiet Bloody and deceitful men shall not live out half their days Psal 55. 23. Either they are cut off by the Sword of Civil Justice or if their Murders happen to be undiscovered a secret Curse of God follows them Often times they are themselvs Murdered as both Divine and humane Records do abundantly declare Nay tho men should truly repent of this sin and are then thro' the Merit of Christ saved from everlasting Punishment yet not from Temporal Judgment I cannot tell whether ever any man that was found guilty of this sin did escape Temporal Judgment at last When David had caused Vriah to be Murdered he did repent of it most deeply and unfeignedly yet God punished him severely as to outward Judgments he saw but few comfortable dayes after that the Sword never departed from his house I have read of a man that fought a Duel and murdered his Adversary who afterwards was very penitent and for several years an eminent instance of exemplary piety but at last he was smitten by the immediate hand of God so as that Blood gushed out of all the passages of his Body and he dyed suddenly The Relator notes upon it that tho' God forgave him as to eternal yet not as to temporal Vengeance But especially Spiritnal Vengeance follows this Sin The Murderers Soul is filled with hellish horrour of heart so that he is as it were Damned above ground and in hell whilst he is yet alive The avenger of blood pursues his soul Murderers have confessed that as soon as ever they had commited the bloody fact they felt the flames of Hell fire in their consciences and this we see in Cain therefore after he had murdered his Brother he cried and roared out that his sin was greater than could be forgiven his punishment greater than could be endured And some think that the mark which the Lord set upon Cain was a gastly guilty Countenance that he had Hell Horror in his countenance as well as in his Conscience And without Repentance everlasting vengeance will follow that Sin. It s said No murderer has eternal life 1. Joh. 3. 15. that is without true Repentance And if he has not eternal life then I am sure he has eternal death and Damnation If the Murderer were only to have the life of his body taken from him tho' in a painful shameful accursed way that were a light matter but there is an eternal Curse a weight of everlasting vengeance heavier than Mountains of Lead that shall press his Soul to death world without end Murder then is a fearful sin Propos 3. The Murderer is to be put to death by the hand of Publick Justice And this confirms the former Propositions concerning the greatness of this Sin. Men may not pardon or remit the Punishment of that Sin. Among the Jews there was no City of Refuge for a wicked or wilful man-slayer and it is said in the 31 verse of this Chapter You shall take no satisfaction for the life of a Murderer which is guilty of death but he shall surely be put to death This sin shall not be satisfyed for with any other punishment but the death of the Murderer There are some Crimes that other punishment less than Death may be accepted of as a Compensation for the wrong done either by some Mulct or Fine in their Estates or some other Coporal Punishment less than death but in case of Murder no Fine or Imprisonment or Banishment or corporal punishment less than death can be accepted You shall take no satisfaction for the life of a murderer And indeed Equity requires this by the law of Retaliation it is meet that men should be done unto as they have done to others and that as limb should go for limb so Life for Life But besides that there are two Reasons mentioned in the Scripture why the Murderer must be put to Death Reas 1. That so the Land where the murder is committed may be purged from the guilt of Blood. For Murder is such a sin as does pollute the very Land where it is done not only the person that has shed blood is polluted thereby but the whole Land lies under Pollution until such time as Justice is done upon the Murderer Thus in the 33. v. of this Chapter this is given as the Reason why no Satisfaction might be taken for the life of a Murderer so shall ye not pollute the land wherein you are for blood it defileth the land and the land cannot be cleansed of the blood that is shed therein but by the blood of him that shed it One Murder unpunished may bring guilt a curse upon the whole Land that all the Inhabitants of the Land shall suffer for it So that Mercy to a Murderer is Cruelty to a People Therefore it is said concerning the Murderer Thine eye shall not pity him but thou shalt put away the guilt of innocent blood from Israel that it may go well with thee If the Murderer be not punished it may go ill with the Whole all may fare the worse for it if the sin be not duly punished there is a partaking in the guilt of it Reas 2. Because man is made in the Image of God. This reason is mentioned Gen. 9. 6. Whosoever sheddeth mans blood by man i. e. by some man in Authority proceeding in an orderly way of Judicature as the Hebrew Expositors do rightly interpret the words shall his blood be shed for in the Image of God made He him Hence there is Sacrilegious Guilt in this Sin. Amongst the Romans (d) Sueton in Tiber. cap. 58. if a man did but strike his Servant near the place where one of their Emperours lay he was to dye for it because that was look'd upon as
man as most in the World who when he came to dye thus expressed himself to a Minister that treated with him about his Soul I said he never knew what Fear meant tho' I have bin amongst drawn Swords and before the Cannons mouth I feared not death but now you tell me of a Second Death it makes my Soul to shake within me That 's a Death the Thoughts whereof may make the soul of the stoutest Sinner in the world to tremble for that 's a death which is ETERNAL The things which are seen are temporal but the things which are not seen are ETERNAL The death of the Body that 's seen and is soon over but what becomes of the Soul when a Sinner dyeth they that stand by him do not see but if he dye impenitent the Death which is not seen takes hold on him and it is eternal The God against whom he has sinned liveth for ever to punish him And a fearful thing it is to fall into the hands of the ever-living God. O run not into the mouth of the Second Death into the wide Mouth of the fiery Pit which has devoured Millions of Millions of immortal souls and know you for certain that if you die impenitent your Damnation will be no ordinary one for you have not only transgress'd against the Law of God with a high hand but sinn'd against the Gospel too The Sermons which you have heard formerly or might have done will be as so many witnesses against you before the Judgment seat of Christ the 3 Sermons which have bin preached to you in publick since your Condemnation the pains that has bin taken with you in private by one or other of the Lords Servants all these will aggravate your Condemnation when you shall be judged again before all the world at the last Day if you dye impenitent Consider 3. There 's yet a Possibility that your soul may be saved Notwithstanding all that has bin spoken to you don't despair repent but do not despair I would not have you say as Cain did My sin is greater than can be forgiven The Lord is a merciful God. Tho' Men cannot forgive you God can and He will do it if you unseignedly repent believe on the Lord Jesus There is infinite Merit in the Death of Christ if your bloody soul be wash'd in his blood it shall be made whiter than the Snow That Sin which you must now dye for God has forgiven to others upon their true Repentance Manasseh filled the streets of Jerusalem with innocent blood but when he humbled himself and besought the Lord for Mercy God was entreated of him O therefore Repent and then though your Body must dye your Soul shall live and not dye I have but two words more to say to you and then I shall take my leave of you for ever 1. Be sure that you be sincere in your Repentance Many times men under Fears will seem very penitent whenas they do but flatter God with their mouths and lye unto him with their tongues Thus it was with Pharoah and with many a sinner whose hard heart was never broken nor changed we see often that sinners on sick beds when they behold Death Eternity before their eyes will confess their sins and promise Reformation but if the Lord spare restore them they are the same that they were before And we have known Instances among our selvs of men that when they have bin Captive and in Turkish Slavery they have pretended to a sense of those sins which provoked the Most High to bring that misery upon them and have written seemingly pious penitent Letters to their Friends but now God has delivered them they are as vain as profane as ungodly as ever in their lives before nay some of them worse For the Truth is if men be not humbled and converted by such signal Dispensations many times they are judicially everlastingly hardned They never leave sinning until they have sinned themselvs into Hell past all hopes of Mercy or Recovery To come nearer to you I have known some more than one or 2 or 3 that have bin condemned to dye and whilest they remained under that Sentence they seemed very penitent but they were pardoned for they had not bin guilty of Murder as you have and since that have bin as wicked as ever O then look to your self that you do not dissemble with GOD and Man and your own Soul too And let not the Fear of Punishment only but the Sense of Mercy break your heart 2. In this way of sincere Repentance Betake your self to the City of Refuge Go to Christ for Life The wilful man slayer had as you heard but now no benefit by the City of Refuge so shall impenitent Sinners have no Salvation by Christ but they that have a real sight of their Sins and flee from the Avenger of blood unto Christ for life He is ready to succour them Poor man has the fiery Serpent stung thy soul then look unto the Brazen Serpent look unto the Lord Jesus that you may live and not dye forever Build your hopes of Salvation on Christ His Righteousness alone Don't think you shall be saved only because good men have pray'd for you or for the Confession of your sins which you have now made or for the sake of any thing but CHRIST And I pray the Son of GOD to have Compassion on you The Last Expressions solemn Warning of James Morgan As they were in Short-hand taken from his Mouth at the Place of Execution Mar. 11. 85 / 6. I Pray God that I may be a Warning to you all and that I may be the last that ever shall suffer after this manner in the fear of God I warn you to have a care of taking the Lords Name in vain Mind have a care of that sin of Drunkenness for that sin leads to all manner of sins and Wickedness mind have a care of breaking the sixth Commandment where it is said Thou shalt do no Murder for when a man is in Drink he is reaready to commit all manner of Sin till he fill up the cup of the wrath of God as I have done by committing that sin of Murder I beg of God as I am a dying man and to appear before the Lord within a few minutes that you may take notice of what I say to you Have a care of drunkenness ill Company and mind all good Instruction and don 't turn your back upon the Word of God as I have done When I have bin at meeting I have gone out of the meeting-house to commit sin to please the lust of my flesh Don't make a mock at any poor object of pity but bless God that he has not left you as he has justly done me to commit that horrid sin of Murder Another thing that I have to say to you is to have a care of that house where that wickedness was commited where
your serious Attention Doct. The Lord Jesus Christ in His Gospel graciously earnestly inviteth all the Children of men to Look unto Him by Faith upon Him for SALVATION When the no less unexpected than un deniable Request of the dying man who now stands in in this Assembly that I would allow him this Morning a Discourse proper for his uncomfortable Circumstances was yesterday brought unto me I cold not suddenly think on any thing more accommodated unto all the Persons Services which are before me than that which I have now pitch'd upon The Body of this Congregation can't hear of a more important thing than this of Looking unto Jesus Christ for Salvation Men and Brethren This is the One thing needful The little flock of Communicants unto whom I am by by to administer the Holy Supper cannot be excited unto a fitter work than this of Looking unto Jesus Christ for Salvation Christians this is our Errand hither The poor condemned Malefactor who is here listening to one of the three last Sermons that ever he is like to fit under before his Encounter with the King of Terrors cannot be put in mind of any thing that will more tend to prepare him for his near approaching death than this of Looking unto the Lord of Life for Salvation Life Poor man do you hearken I 'll study to make this whole hour very particularly suitable serviceable to you and methinks a man that knows himself about to take an eternal Farewel of all Sermons should endeavour to hear with most earnest heed The God of Heaven grant that Faith may come unto you by your Hearing It is a very pretious Repast which is thus brought unto you O immortal Souls It comes from the Land flowing with milk honey The ensuing Propositions may carve it out unto you The 1st Proposition that arrests our thoughts is 1. That to Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ is to Look unto Him for Salvation These blessed things are equivalent each to the other and herein we have both the Act of Faith and the End of Faith. fairly suggested unto us ¶ As for the Act of Faith that is a Looking The Faith of God's Elect hath in the Scripture several Bodily Actions used as the Metaphors Shadows of it There is the Action of the Hand for the sake of which in Joh. 1. 12. Faith is said to be a Receiving of Jesus Christ There is the Action of the Mouth in Resemblance of which in Joh. 6. 54. Faith is said to Fat the Flesh of Jesus Christ There is the Action of the Foot in regard of which Joh. 6. 35. Faith is said to be a Coming unto Jesus Christ Thus likewise the Action of the Eye is here improved to denote the Christ-ward motions of soul which the Believer hath There is indeed a 3 fold Look which the beleeving Soul in its Agonies does give towards the Lord Jesus Christ There is a Look of Desire a Look with a Wish yea with a Groan a Look with a Lord help me Such a Look as the hoarse Lâ—per gave in Marc. 1. 40. when he came to Jesus Christ beseeching Him kneeling down unto Him. There is also a Look of Dependance a Trusting a Rolling a Relying Look a Look accompanied with the Language of the Psalmist in Psal 25. 2. O my God I trust in thee And there is a Look of Acknowledment producing both of these Many things doth the Believer dâ—scern confess to be in that Jesus whose Name is Wonderful Counsellor The mighty God the Everlasting Eather the Prince of Peace But these 2 things especially One thing of which he is sensible is that Jesus Christ is a mighty Saviour owning that in Heb. 7. 25. He is able to save to the uttermost them that come unto God by Him. Another thing whereof he is not unsensible is that Jesus Christ is a Merciful Saviour owning that in Joh. 6. 37. Him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out After this manner does the Believer look to the Saviour upon the everlasting Hills from whence comes all his help But upon what Motive for What ¶ As for the End of Faith that is SALVATION This the Apostle grants in 1. Pet. 1. 9. where he speaks to Christians about the end of their Faith the Salvation of their souls That which the Believer doth purpose to himself by his Addresses to Jesus Christ is that he may be rescued from all the Calamities which his Fall from God hath brought upon him and that he may be made partaker of Benefits contrary thereunto by the means of an All-sufficient a Compassionate Jesus the Mediator There are indeed especially three things which the Believer does look unto the Lord Jesus for His first Look is with that glance in Psal 119. 122. Lord Be surely for thy servant for good He would behold Jesus Christ as the Lamb of God appearing before divine Justice in his room adding unto this Cast of his Eye this Throb of his heart Oh let Jesus Christ take away all my Sins with all the wants woes which thereby I become obnoxious unto He would have Jesus Christ to remove all the guilt that lies upon him to enstate him in the Favour and Fellowship of God and to procure for him all Blessings whatsoever especially spiritual Blessings the Blessings of the upper springs the sure Mercies of the Covenant by His own Obedience Intercession His Next Look is with thatsigh in Plal. 25. 4. Shew â—e thy wayes O Lord Teach me thy paths There is an Eye-salve which he petitions unto this Lord our healer for He flyes cryes unto Jesus Christ as that son of sorrow did of old Lord that I may receive my sight He would have Christ to remove all the blindness of his mind to reveal unto him the happiness which is not seen and which is eternal and to discover unto him all that he must know do in order to his obtaining of it His Look is with that Aim in Psal 119. 5. Oh that my mayes were Directed to Keep thy statutes O God! He submits unto the ruling Will of God while he Emplores the Saving Grace of Jesus Christ He reckons that the Most High by saying I have â—â—â—t my Son to bless you by turning you away from your Iniquities hath told him of a Blessedness a Loving kindness which he hath infinite cause to say Amen unto He would have Jesus Christ to remove all the Disorder of his Will to incline him so that he may refuse the evil choose the good and to shield him against all the ruining attempts of the World the Flesh and the Devil for evermore This all of this Faith is beck'nned for in this one word Look unto Me. And these are the Christward Looks which must be given by you whose eyes will be within a few dayes clos'd by the cold hands of grim Death if you would not roar in outer worseâ—han
sitting on a pale horse that vision is now before you and it cannot but be very terrible and affrighting but the main terror lies in what comes after Hell followes it Hell followes Death hard at the heels Death is but the door between the two worlds that lets the soul of a Christless sinner out of this world into Hell. The Second Death after the first is the misery of the first and the first would be compartively but a small matter were it not for the second 7. Finally Consider you have no time to get sin pardoned wrath turned away if it be not done already but between this and Death into the very Borders and under the Sentence of which you now are In the grave there is no repentance no Remission Eccl. 9. 10. Before 4 dayes more pass over your head and Oh how swiftly do they fly away you will be entred into an Eternal unchangeable state of weal or woe and of Woe it will be if speedy and thorough Repentance prevent it not Thus far by way of Conviction Awakning My 2nd Word is principally by way of Counsel Unto which I shall promise a Word of Encouragement lest what has bin said may seem to harsh and severe to a man in his Condition But the Wound must be opened searched before the Plaister be laid on and there is a Plaister as large as the sore the Lord in mercy make it stick Know then That notwithstanding all that has bin spoken there is Hope in Israel concerning this thing There is a way found out reveal'd by God for the Turning of His Anger even from such sinners The bloud of Jesus can wash away the guilt of the sin of sheddng man's blood for which no Ransome may be taken by man yet God haâ— found out a Ransome and does now graciuosly offer thee the benefit of it Paul was a Murderer and yet pardoned Manasseh made the streets of Jerusalem to swim with innocent bloud and yet was forgiven Nay the greatest Murderers that ever were in the world even those that imbrewed their wicked hands in the bloud of the Son of GOD were many of them converted reconciled to God and are now in heaven beholding the Glory of that Christ whom they Crucifyed Act. 2. And several others who were under the same Condemnation were exhorted in the following Chapter to repent to be converted and were thereupon promis'd that their sins should be blotted out ver 29. It is true that no murderer hath eternal life 1. Joh. 3. 15. and that Drunkards shall not inherit the Kingdom of God 1. Cor. 6. 10. and yet the next words say ver 11. such were some of you but you are washed sanctifyed justifyed If all Sins and Blasphemy against the Son of Man may be forgiven Mat. 12. 31. 22. then this Sin against one of the sons of men may be forgiven too God can pardon great sins yea therefore or the rather pardon them because great Psal 25. 11. And He does delight where Sin has abounded to make Grace super-abound Rom. 5. 20. And so I come to my word of Counsel And Oh let my Counsel be acceptable to thee before thou be driven out from among men put beyond all possibility of hearing or taking counsel 1. See be yet more affected with this deplorable condition and let thy soul be afflicted at the thoughts of it and especially at thy sin that has brought thee into it I urge this again because thou canst not be too much concerned thereabout 2. Look upon all thy life past let this solemn hand of God upon thee bring all thy sins to Remembrance Consider how thou hast walked in a Course of sin from step to step and let all thy Actual sins lead thee back to the Sin of thy Nature the evil Fountain from whence all these bitter streams have issued and let all put together make thee vile in thine own eyes and make thee to abhor thy self for the same 3. Beg hard for a broken heart that may unfeignedly mourn for sin that being burdened with it thou mayst most bitterly weep and sigh groan under it Such sins as thou standest Convicted of call for the deepest Humiliation Contrition It s the bane of multitudes of Sinners in the world that their Convictions of Sin were but sleighty and their Humiliation superficial and so their Conversion not real God will prick thee to the heart yea and break thy Heart all to pieces for thy sin if ever he pardon thee Also bemoan thy self for all thy Prophanness Loosness Sensuality which has exposed thee to this great sin at last Bewail all those evils which the holy God has to charge thee with thy Rending His Sacred name by Curses Oaths wronging His Truth by Lying Abusing his good Creatures to Excess Making thy Belly thy god and sacrificeing the Lord's Blessings thereunto which he lent thee for His own Use and Service And especially for thy rejecting of his Gospel of which great and horrible sin thou art convicted out of thy own mouth while thou wert profaning his Sabbaths neglecting to give thy Attendance on the publick Worship and so turning away thine Ear from Hearing the joyful sound by which thou mightst have been forever blessed Let all these be remembred and be as Gall and Wormwood to thy soul 4. Acknowledge an Holy Righteous hand of God in leaving thee to this great Transgression Confess what thou hast done and give glory to God for what He has done Say He is just for I have sinned Yea and glorify him for this that He can make even this Sin at least the punishment Attending it a means to bring thee to Repentance for all the rest of thy sins which else thou mightest have gone on securely in unto endless Perdition This prodigious sin of Murder together with thy being brought to Condign Punishment for the same may through the Soveraign Grace of God who can bring good out of evil be an occasion by its loud cry of blood in thine ears to awaken thee out of that sleep from which thou mightst else have never awakned till everlasting burnings had awakned thee The Lord blessed Manasseh's being brought into Chains to put him upon seeking the God of his Fathers and the same God can bless this Chain with which thou art now bound as a means to bring thee to everlasting Liberty It 's one of the Lords wayes of Dealing with men to bring them to good viz. when they are bound in Fetters and holden in Cords of Affliction to shew them their work and their Transgression that they have exceeded in and then to open their ears to Discipline and to command them to return Job 36. 8. 9. 10. Yea and he can cause them to return by Sealing Instruction at such a Time and in such a way Thus can the Lord bring back thy soul from the pit tho' thy body must go thither It is I confess a strange