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A54823 Christ alone our life The great case of every man's life and death determin'd by the sentence of God, in 1 John 5.12. Opened and applied in a sermon preach'd in the Sessions-House at Northampton, Sept. 9th. 1690. to some prisoners the day before their execution: and now published with enlargements, for the further benefit and service of souls. With a narrative of the behaviour of the prisoners. By Edward Pierce, M.A. rector of Cottesbrook in Northampton-shire. Pierce, Edward, d. 1694. 1691 (1691) Wing P2161; ESTC R218929 83,820 193

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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 Se● house for the Crowd was too great for the 〈◊〉 I foreseeing what Offence some would 〈…〉 that new thing and how I should be censu●… 〈◊〉 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