hang'd if it were so and once he wish'd he might be hang'd if ever he play'd agen and therefore said he God is just in bringing me to such a death as this And when Anger shall break out into Blows Quarreling and Fighting between Neighbours that ought to live in peace there is great Evil in it This miserable creature before us acknowledgeth that it was so with him In his mad passions he car'd not who he did strike or hurt It is not good for them that have lawful power to strike others to do it in passion It is not good for Parents to strike their children or Masters their Servants or School-masters their Scholars in heat of Anger leâ—t they become guilty of breaking the sixth Commandment A moral Heathen when his servant had committed a fault that greatly inâ—enâ—ed him said to him If I were not angry with theâ— I would strike thee but I will stay till my passion is over before I punish thee Again a spirit of Revenge is an evil thing it is Murder in God's sight 1. Joh. 3. 15. He that hateth his brother is a Murderer Hatred never rests but in the destruction of the thing haâ—ed To say no more here Cruelty is a degree of Murder and a great Evil and most of all for men to be cruel to those that stand in nearest Relation to them as this Malefactor owns that he has been whom they ought to love dearly is an high degree of Inhumanity No man that acted like a man ever hated his own flesh To be cruel tho to a Servant or Slave is a very sinful thing Nay Cruelty tho to a Beast argueth a murderous bloody Disposition The Scripture saith a good man is merciful to his Beast They then that make themselvs sport with Putting dumb creatures to misery do very sinfully Yet that has been practised here of later years in the open Streets especially on one day of the year To do it at such a * I intend the Cocksâ—alings on Shrâ—ve Tuesday Time is vanity Heathenish Superstition besides to make sport with exercising cruelty on dumb creatures which had never bin miserable had not the sins of men made them so it is a wicked thing and ought not to be among those that call themselvs Christians Infor. 3. If Murder be such a Crime as hath been shewed It is then a sorrowful thing that so many of the Children of men should be found guilty of this Evil. There are some places of the world where Murder is a common sin The dark corners of the earth are full of the habitations of Cruelty And there are many in the world that call themselvs Christians who nevertheless delight in shedding innocent blood Persecutors are Murderers Bloody Papists are in the Scriptures charged with Murder on this account it is said of them they repented not of their Murders Rev. 9. 21. namely of their murdering the Saints of God for their Religion for the Truth sake and because they would not comply with their Superstitions and Idolatries That Mother of Harlotâ— the Church of Rome she has made her self drunk with blood many Millions of Saints have been murdered by her Persecutors are Cain's Children O how many are there going up and down the world with Cain's bloody clubb in their hands to this day It was Luther's Saying Cain will kill Abel to the end of the world But besides this That which the Civil Laws of Nations make to be Murder is frequent in some places A late Historian reports that in the the Kingdom of France * See Trap. on Genes 9. 6. within the space of ten years there were known to be no less than 6000 Murders committed And in popish Countries they have Sanctuaries for Murderers (i) Vide Câ—â—â— a Lapide in Deut. 19. A man that has bin guilty of wilful Murder if he does but run into a Church as they call it or into a Monastery he is protected in those bloody places of Refuge Their Writers plead for this And tho no convicted Murderer did ever escape the stroke of Justice in this Land which is a matter of rejoicing yet it is a very sad thing that any in such a place as this should be found guilty of such a Crime that men should do so wickedly in a Land of Vprightness but so it has been Divers have been executed for this sin formerly and here is one that is to be executed for it this day And there have been several Murders committed among us the Authors of which are not yet known Some have bin so monstrously wicked and unnatural as to embrew their hands in the blood of their own Children who they are God knowes and will find a time to judg them and one day we and all the world shall know who they are Besides these several others have bin under vehement Suspition and tryed for their Lives on the account of this sin We have all cause to pray for New-England as the Lords People of old were directed to do in case of an uncertain Murder Deut. 21. 7. 8. They shall answer say our hands have not shed this blood neither have our eyes seen it Be merciful O Lord to thy people Israel whom Thou hast redeemed and lay not innocent blood to the people of Israels charge and the blood shall be forgiven them Be merciful O Lord to Thy people in New-England and lay not innocent blood to their Chaâ—ge VSE 2. For Exhortation There is a double Exhortation before us 1. Hence men should beware that they do not become guilty of this Sin. It is in Man's corrup-Nature Nothing is more natural than a spirit of Revenge as we see in little Children which discovers that the Children of men bring murderous natures into the world with ' em Hence the Apostle declaring what men by nature are saith that their feet are swift to shed blood Rom. 3. 15. because there is a marvellous Propenâ—â—â—y in Man's nature unto this sin Should not the Lord either by special or common Grace restrain them how many would soon become guilty of Murder it self Yea and those too that don't believe any such thing concerning themselves When the Prophet Elisha told Hazael what a prodigious Murderer he would be What said he am I a Dog that thou shouldst have such thoughts of me But in a little time he appeard to be as curs'd a Blood-hound as ever the Prophet had said to him O then beware of this sin And therefore take heed of giving way to wicked Passions Lesser sins make way for greater And especially take heed of great sins For many a man by being guilty of other great sins has provoked the Holy GOD to leave him unto this sin too The poor condemed Malefactor who stands here in the sight of this congregation does acknowledge that he hath by living in other sins provoked God to leave him unto this which he must now dye for And he warns others especially Young Men to
an affront put upon his Imperial Majesty so he that shall kill a man that is made after the Image of God puts a Contempt upon the DIVINE Majesty there is Treason against God contained in the bloody Bowels of this Sin. Upon this account it is indeed a greater sin to kill a good man that has the Image of God renewed in him than to kill a wicked man. Nevertheless that also is a Capital Crime for all men have something (e) Calvin Rivet Pareus in Gen. 9. 6. of Gods Image remaining in them not only in that every man has an immortal soul and is in that respect more like the immortal God than any other creature in the world and in that men have a dominion over the Creatures which is one part of Gods Image on that account does the Apostle say that Man is the Image and Glory of God. 1. Cor. 11 7. But also in that the Law is written in the hearts of men by Nature (f) Ames Theol. lib. 1. cap. 14. though God has executed spiritual death upon Mankind for Adam's Apostasy after a dreadful manner yet he has moderated that punishment hence men in a natural estate yet close with some practical principles of Piety Righteousuess as That God ought to be worshiped that Men should do as they would be done by and the like and many natural men yet have an image of Vortue they have something like Grace a shadow of it they hate flagitious Crimes and approve of a morally honest Conversation These things shew that there are some Remainders of the Image of God in men therefore he that shall murder such a creature is worthy of death But thus for the Doctrinal handling of the Truth before us I proceed to make some Application 1. By way of Information 2. For Exhortation Infor. 1. This Doctrin justifyeth the Authority here in respect of the Sentence of Death which has been passed on the Murderer who is this day to be Executed There is a man standing before the Lord and among His people this day who has done just as my Text expresseth he hath smitten his Neighbour and that with an Instrument of lorn too with a cruel Spit made of Iron the thing proved by several Witnesses and the man that was hurt dyed of that wound therfore he that has smitten him is a Murderer and must surely be put to death Tho' for a long time he denied it nevertheless since his Condemnation he has acknowledged it and yesterday he confessed to me that he had in his Rage murdered the man whose death and blood has bin laid to his Charge he told me that the other gave him some ill language whereby he was provoked and that he said to him if he came within the door he would run the Spit into his Bowels and he was as wicked as he said he would be so that he is guilty of Murder Therefore none ought to blame Those in Authority for causing the Murderer to be put to death Conscience to God to the People under their Charge and to their own Souls also has necessitated them to do what they have done in this matter Let every one remember that Scripture Prov. 28. 17. A man that doth violence to the blood of any person shall flee to the Pit let no man stay him if he has shed blood to the Pit let him go and flee thither let all convenient Speed be used in the Execution of Justice that so the Land may be cleared from blood and let no man in Authority stay him let no private person solicit for him But let us be thankful to God that we are under such Magistrates as will do Justice and Execute Judgment punish Sin according as the Word of God requires that it should be done Infor. 2. Hence Those Things which have a tendency to and a degree of Murder in them must needs be evil e. g. Rash sinful Anger is an evil thing Murder begins there 'T was said of those Brethren in Iniquity Simeon Levi That Instruments of Cruelty were in their habitations for in their Anger they slew a man cursed be their wrath for it was cruel Gen. 49. 5. 6. And ouâ— Lord Jesus Christ in His Exposition of the Sixth Commandment shews that rash Anger is a degree of Murder Mat. 5. 21 22. You have heard that it was said by them of old time Ye shall not kill and whosoever shall kill shall be in danger of the Judgement but I say unto you that whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the Judgment There is Man's Judgment-seat and GOD's Judgment-seat Murder makes a man be in danger of the former sinful Anger exposes him to the latter Not that all Anger is sinful there is an â—nger that is good when a man is angry in God's cause moved with zeal indignation because God is dishonoured that 's very good and a man may sometimes be angry in his own cause too and yet not sin Be angry and sin not But when men are angry without a just cause that 's Evil. When they are angry more than they have cause for that they are all in a flame for a meer trisâ—e when as one well expresses it a man shall suffer the (g) v. Mâ— Câ—â—â—ocks Supplement cap. 9. p. 368. Becoâ— of his soul to be sit all on â—ire at the landing of every small Boat that 's a foolish and evil thing or when men shall be angry longer than they ought to be an implacable spirit is a vile murderous spirit Anger rests in the bosom of sools Sinful Anger is poysâ—â— which as soon as ever a man has taken it into his mouth he shall spit it out again And when Anger shall break out into Curses and wicked Imprecations that 's wicked Anger This condemned man that stands here confesses that he was wont in his passion to curse all near him He murdered many a man with his bloody tongue before he was left of God to murder any with his hand His mouth was full of Cursing Bitterness before he shed blood And when men in their Rarge imprecate curse themselvs it s a very evil thing there are some that will say They wish they might be hang'd if such a thing be so and many times the righteous Judgment of God brings that very evil upon 'em There is a Printed Relation concerning (h) Sr. Gerv. Elways mention'd by Mr. Howel in his Londinop by Mr. Ball of the power of Godliness l. 4. c. 3. p. 329. by Mr. Leigh in his Body of Divinity Lib. 4. Cap. 16. P. 445. a Person of Quality that was hang'd for a Crime laid to his charge and when he came to dye he confessed that he had been much addicted to that sinful Recreation of Card-Playing and that many times when the Game went otherwise than he wish'd for he would in his passion wish that he might he
I have â—in partly ruind by But here I am and know not what will become of my poor soul which is within a few moments of eternity I have murder'd a poor man who â—â—d but little time to repent and I know not what is become of his poor soul O that I may make use of this opportunity that I have O that I may make improvement of this little little time before I go hence and be no more O let all mind what I am a saying now I 'm going out of this world O take warning by me and beg of God to keep you from this sin which has bin my ruine His last words were O Lord receive my spirit I come unto thee O Lord I come unto thee O Lord I come I come I come THE CALL OF THE GOSPEL APPLYED Unto All men in general and Vnto a Condemned Malefacto in particular In a SERMON Preached on the 7th Day of March. 1686. At the Request and in the Hearing of a man under a just Sentence of Death for the horrid SIN of MVRDER By COTTON MATHER Pastor to a Church at Boston in N. E. The SECOND EDITION Psal 89. 1. I will sing of the mercies of the Lord for ever with my mouth will I make known thy Faithfulness to all generations Nulla species Peccati tanta est qua non sit Superior JESUS Orig. Printed at Boston by Richard Pierce 1687. To the Reader ALtho' my Consent to the Publication of the ensuing Sermon had no small Objections to Encounter with for First The short time allow d me for Preparation after I was by the littleexpected dying Desire of a poor man diverted from my spending the whole of the Sabbath with a bereaved Congregation to which my help was promised and Next the Regard to be had unto the Administration of the Lords Supper which now in the Absence of an Honoured Relation that kindly answered my Engagement elsewhere I was to keep some Eye unto both necessitated me to want in this Discourse that Accuracy that full pertinency which might recommend iâ— unto the Iudicious Nevertheless so long as among all the Faults in it I found not this That it was not dâ—signed to do good and so long as among all the Pleas which in a curious captious age my love to my own râ—pose brought against â—he omitting of it I never met with this That It was impossible any good should be done by it I have at the urgent Importunity of others ventur'd to deliver it into the Hands of as many as shall think themselves concerned to peruse it Praying that it may reach touch the hearts of them to whom a Christ should be a Pearl of great Price till they LOOK unto HIM and be SAVED Cotton Mather The CALL of the GOSPEL unto All the Ends of the Earth Apply'd especially unto a poor man under the just Sentence of Death for the Crying Sin of MVRDER Isai XLV 22. LOOK unto Mâ— and be ye SAVED all the Ends of the Earth THESE Words give unto us the most Joyful Sound that ever the Children of Death had the favour of Some of us doubâ—less can with a most Distinguishing and Experimental Relish profess concerning this Oracle of God as some other persons have concerning some other Passages in the Sacred Pages â—â—e would not have had this Sentence left out of our Bibles for the riches of both the India's Yea who among us all at the reading of these glad â—ydings unto us can forbear joyning with the Rapturous shouts of Heaven with that Angelical and Evangelical Out-cry in Luc. 2. 14. Glory to God in the â—â—gâ—est on earth peace Good-will towards men Behold the Saviour of the world is this day speaking unto you ye Congregation of the Lord Arrayed in His white garments He looks thro the Windows of His bright Ivory Palace and â—tereth an Invitation to you which Blessed are your ears that hear this day This 45 th Chapter of that which we may not ineptly â—â—st the Gospel according to Isaiah seems the Close of a Sermon begun at the 40 th chapter of that admirable Book whose Gospel-strains are so abundant that in the New-Testament some have counted perhaps about threescore Quotations from it and good old Ambrose hence advised Austin unto a peculiar frequency in the Reading of it Isaiah signifies the Salvation of God now that very thing especially in the more promissory Conclusion of his Prophecy is very much the Subject of his Ministry The Princely Prophet is predicting perhaps about 200 years before the Accomplishment thereof the Reduction and Redemption of the captiv'd Jews from Babylon together with the very name of the Persian Emperor Cyrus who should be the â—â—â—â—rument thereof and thereupon he assigns the several reasons of this stupendions Dispensation One ground thereof laid down is that the Nations of the world far and near might be brought to abandon their Lying vanities and to acknowledge the Only true GOD with Jesus Christ whom He hath sent At the mention of this there immediately falls in the gracious invitation to those Nations which we have now to insist upon wherein we may observe 1. The Subjects which are call'd upon These are all the ends of the earth even the Gentiles in all quarters of the world whose Vocation is here foretold The poor souls whose natural Distanse from the Church of God and whose moral Distance from the Love of God was exceeding deplorable 2. The Object propounded for these to converse withal This by that Expression Me is determined to be the Lord Himself But who Truly it is God the Saviour it is the Lord Jesus Christ a Devotion to whom should come instead of the Homage which men had bin wont to yeild unto their other Images of God and Deliverance by whom is the Antitype of what the Lords people had of old by other â—â—viours To confirm this Interpretation I find the Chaldee Paraphrase rendring this Me by My Word using the Term of Meemar which belongs to the 2nd Person in the adorable Trinity 3. The Act to be applyed hereunto This is to Look namely with an Eye of faith of repentance In this Clause there seems to be an Allusion to the Looks that the ancient Israelites had bin wont to give unto the Brazen Serpent which if that great Reformer Hezekiah had not made meer brass of it might for ought I know be still abus'd to vain vile Superstitions among ' em 4. The End of the Whole T is said Be ye saved and the intent of that is Double it is both be desireous that ye may be saved it is be assured that ye shall be saved The two fold End both finis Operis and finis Operantis both the Design the Event is to be Salvation Salvation SALVATION but what a Word is That It is a word that does contain more than any man can conceive From hence then This Doctrin of GOD your Saviour does challeng
us who dwell in houses of Clay whose Foundation is in the dust which are crushed before the moth did I say so Nay this is not the worst of our Character we are not only undeserving creatures but also Hell-deserving sâ—inners When our first Father began a desperate War against the Omnipotent God we were part of the mad Regiment involved in his persidious Treason and our Emnity against our Maker has from our very Cradles been so enormous that we should long ere now have bin Devils-in-flesh if the checks of Restraining Grace had bin taken away And what unreasonably vitious lives have we been leading ever since a Rational Soul apparently acted in us How have we bin every moment sinning against the Law of God transgressing every precept of Love to God to man Yea how grievousâ—ly have we bin sinning against the Gospel too fearfully grieving sleighting and shamefully affronting a Redeemer that for many a day besought us to be reconciled unto God! This have we been done And Ah Lord doest thou open thine eyes upon such ones What if the Lord Jesus Christ had now only spoken unto us such fiery wrathful words as those in Isa 1. 23. Aha I will ease me of mine enemies avenge me of mine Adversaries or those in Luc. 19. 27. Those mine enemies bring hither and slay before me Verily I say unto you he would be clear in his speaking and just in his judging so What if he should appear unto us in the black garments of all-desolating indignation with keen Darts consuming Thunder-bolts in his hand What if he should appear in flaming fire to take vengeance on us that have not known God nor obeyed his Gospel Surely this would be no more than a proper and a proportionable Dispensation But instead of this the winning Language which with bowels full of such Philanthropy as this King's wedding a Queen out of our poor Family His taking our Nature to subsist in his Second Person doth evince and encline Him to have unto us he speakes unto us is O Look in o Me and be SAVED Yea and in this thing he doth with a Riddle of Free Grace destinguish us from by dignifying us above uncountable Multitudes of our Fellow-creatures our Fellow-criminals If we do look through the earth and into Hell we shall soon see our selves lifted up to heaven by the Invitation which our Lord Jesus has given to us to Look unto Him for Salvation Let us we especeally in this Wilderness that that like Gideon's Fleece enjoyes these Dewes of Heaven when the rest of the world is dry may do it take a view of all the Visible World and see what incredible Millions in every Generation there are that either never had one beam from the Sun of Righteousness falling on them but drop down into the Land of Darkness without hearing a word of Him or at least are by their blind Guides muffled up in such Ignorance as proves to them the Mother of Destruction Alas Alas for the people that perish for lack of vision that sit in the region of the shadow of death But here in a little Spot of ground that t other day the Devil was worshiped in there now are the Colonies whom the Invitations of Jesus Christ have known above all the Families of earth This is much But take a view likewise of the howling people in the Invisible world Who are there in the fiery dismal Vault below There are vast Legions of Devils in that place of torment but unto which of those apostate spirits has our Lord Jesus said I would have thee to look unto me There is an innumerable number of our Race too gone down into that formidable Pit but unto none of those does the Lord Christ ever say Thou mayst be saved by me if thou wilt No those Invitations are our Prerogative Wonderments where are you Halleluiahs where are you Syrs let us place the utmost of them upon this misterious Love. But we are sottish our unaffected rocky hearts are insensible of our obligations to the Lord Jesus Christ Then wonder O ye Angels give Thanks O all ye ministring Spirits Let the Morning stars in the upper Regions throughout eternal Ages think honourably of the Saviour whom we are unapt to acknowledge for his remembring us in our low estate because his mercy endures for ever O how how shall we enough extol the merâ—iful High-Priest whose Look unto me and be saved has bin vouchsaved unto us Is this the manner of men O Lord No no. Then Let the people praise the O Lord let all the people praise thee since Thy way is known upon the earth and Thy SAVING Health among all Nations But This is not all the Good-Speech of our Lord Jesus Christ unto us There 's some-what more that remains to be said unto us all and particularly unto that Condemned Malefactor here who is never to see the Light of another Sabbath in the world It was a pathetic word of the Apostle to his Corinthians in 2. Cor. 6. 1. We beseech you that receive not the grace of God in vain Wherefore VSE I I. O Let every one of us now Look unto Jesus Christ by Faith for SALVATION If he say unto us Look unto me let not us be such prodigies of madness as to reply No we will not look unto thee It is a sweet intercourse between God and man which the prophet prescribes in Jer. 3. 22. where the Call of God is Return ye backsliding children and I will heal your backslidings and the Echo of man is Behold we come unto thee for thou art the Lord our God. O that there might now be such a Communion between Christ and us His Call is Look unto Mee and be saved let our Return be Behold we look unto thee for thou art the Lord our Saviour Do not I entreat you do not give unto the Lord Jesus Christ such a daring and damning Answer as that in Jer. 44. 16. As for the word spoken to us in the Name of the Lord we will not hearken thereunto It is a thing declared by the Lord Jesus Christ concerning these Gospel-times Zech. 12. 10. Men shall look upon me and morn Now shall a like thing be brought to pass within these walls this day How shall so great a thing as this be gained A sad part of this Congregation t is to be doubted are too much like the Leviathan Their hearts are as firm as a stone as hard as a peice of the nether Milstone The sword of him that layeth at them cannot hold Alas what shall be done for them Unto Thee O Lord do I how my knee O Father of spirits and of mercies look down with thy tender mercies on the spirits of the unperswadeable Children And O Thou that hast the keyes of David in thy hand Open open our hearts as thou didst Lydia ' s of old and effect by thy mighty power that we may look unto thee believe God forbid that
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
A SERMON Occasioned by the EXECUTION of a man found Guilty of MURDER Preached at Boston in N. E. March 11th 1685 / 6 Together with the Confession Last Expressions solemn Warning of that Murderer to all persons especially to Young men to beware of those Sins which brought him to his miserable End. By INCREASE MATHER Teacher of Church of CHRIST The SECOND EDITION Deut. 19. 20. 21. And those which remain shall hear and fear and shall henceforth commit no more any such Evil among you â— 21. And thine eye shall not â—…ity but Life shall go for Life Eye for Eye c. Prov. 28. 17. A man that doth violence to the blood of any person shall flee to the pit let no man stay him Boston Printed by R. P. Sold by J. Brunning Book-seller at his Shop at the Corner of the Prison-Lane next the Exchange Anno 1687. To the Reader THe Sermons emitted herewith both that of mine and that also delivered by my Son are published to gratify some who have been perhaps too importunately desirous to have it so The Person that occasioned the Preaching of them is now uncapable of receiving Benefit by them Whether they were blessed for any saving Good to his Soul the Lord knowes and it becomeâ— us to leave Secret things with GOD. Late Repentance is seldom true There are who think that many who perished in the Floud were by means of that Judgment brought to true Repentance To this sense some interpret that Scripure 1. Pet. 4. 6. otherwise we read not of more than one man in all the Book of God that was brought home to Christ but a few hours before his death Nevertheless the Lord knows how to make the woful death as to his Body of a great Sinner to occasion the Conversion and Salvation of many Souls If any be awakned by this sad Example to turn from those sins which proved the ruin of a miserable man and if these Sermons such as they are may be a meanes to further the work of Repentance towards God Faith in our Lord Jesus Christ in any that shall read them the Design of this Publication will be attained As for the Exhortation annexed to these Discourses it was delivered on the same day with that Sermon preached by my Son whom the Lord Jesus hath fixed in the same Church to which I am related but in the after part of the day The Reverend and worthy Author has not had time to transcribe his whole Sermon only that part of it which concerned the then Condemned Malefactor Many have earnestly desired that it might in this way be made publick And because it is most suitable that the Best should come last it is in this Publication added to the other Sermons The Lord prosper his Truth by whomsoever spoken or written for the Good of Souls Increase mather March 26. 1686. NUMB. XXXV 16. And if he smite him with an Instrument of Iron so that he die he is a Murderer the Murderer shall surely be put to DEATH A Great part of this Chapter is taken up in declaring who should have benefit by the City of Refuge and who might not expect advantage thereby There are Two sorts of Man-slayers 1 One may kill his Neighbour Accidentally tho he had no design of Hurt to him nor any Displeasure against him The City of Refuge was for such 2. A Man may in Hatred or in Passion kill another and then then the City of Refuge could not secure or save him from the hand of Justice To intimate which is the Scope of the Words which have been now read wherein we have two things 1. A Criminal 2. The Punishment to be inflicted on such a Criminal 1. A Criminal He is a Murderer There are three Particulars mention'd which if they concur the Person is guilty of Murder 1. If he smites another man h. e. if he does so not accidentally but designedly 2. If the Instrument which he smites him with be of Iron that makes the Murder to be the more evident In the Verses following it is added That if he smite him mortally with a Stone or with Wood he shall be accounted a Murderer The Jewish Writers tell us (a) v. Grotium Ainsworth in loc That if a man were slain there was diligent enquiry made concerning the Instrument whereby he was killed If it was with a Stone or with Wood they examin'd whether the stone or wood were of that Bigness as that the dead man might probably receive his Deaths Wound thereby But they say If it were with an Instrument of Iron no enquiry was made as to the greatness of it because the least nail of Iron might easily kill And it is to be presumed that a man will not strike another with an Instrument of Iron except Blood and Murder be in his Heart 3. If the Wound prove mortal then the Striker is guilty of Murder Tho a man should smite another and that with an Instrument of Iron if Death does not follow he is not guilty of that high degree of Murder which the Text speakes of but if he smite his Neighbour so that he dye then he is a Murderer 2 Here is the Punishment to be inflicted on such a Criminal The Murderer shall surely be put to death Only Gods Order was to be observed he was to be put to death in a Judiciary way Amongst the Jews the Avenger of blood was to be the Executioner as the 19th ver in this chapter shews where it is said that the Avenger of blood himself shall slay the Murderer The Hebrew word for the Avenger pf bloud is GOEL which is sometimes translated a Redeemer The word properly signifyes one that is near a kin The next Kinsman had right to Redeem he also was to be the Avenger of blood Only before Execution could be done the Magistrate was to pass a Judgment The Man-slayer was sent from the City of Refuge whither he fled unto the place where the Fact was done there to have his Tryal If the Magistrates of that Place found him not guilty he was returned to the City of Refuge there to be in safety till the death of the High Priest and then to be set at Liberty But if he was found Guilty of Murder he was to be put to death publickly by the hand of Justice The DOCTRINE then before us as suited to the present Occasion is That Murder is a Sin so great heinous as that whoever shall be found Guilty of it must be put to death by the hand of publick Justice The Explication and Confirmation of this Doctrin may be set before us in 3 Propositions Prop. 1. Murder is when a man does voluntarily unjustly take away the Life of another person So that there are 3 Things implied in Murder 1. The Object slain must be one of Man-kind To take away the Life of another Creature is not Murder The Sixth Commandment saith Ye shall not kill The Hebrew words are
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-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
Egyptian darkness for evermore On the heel of the former this second Proposition taketh hold 2. SALVATION will most undoubledly be the Fruit of a Believer's Looking unto the Lord Jesus Christ The great God who once said unto upright man Obey and live now saith unto lapsed man Believe be saved and truly an Exceeding great multitude whom no man can number have bin happy witnesses to the Fulfilment of it It is that which our Lord has ordered to be proclaimed unto every creature I mean as the Hebrews do by that Phrase unto every man in the world Marc. 16. 16. He that believeth shall be saved And when a convinced Jayler was solicitous about his everlasting Weal the Messengers of heaven gave him this Testimony which surely the convinced Prisoner that I have before me may very reasonably look upon himself as concerned in Act. 16. 31. Believe on the Lord. Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved Thus also it is represented as the Property the Priviledge of true Believers in Heb 10. 39. We are of them that believe unto the saving of the soul Verily a man does no sooner look unto Jesus Christ in away of Beleeving than a Sentence of Salvation is passed upon him and all the Promises yea and all the Attributes of the Eternal Jehovah are engaged for the execution of it ¶ Shall we descend unto some Particulars Every part of that Salvation which Jesus Christ is the Author of ever follows upon Looking Believing for it As those three comprehensible and inexhaustible Treasures of life in 2. Cor. 13. 14. even the Grace of our Lord Jesus Christ and the Love of God and the Communion of the Holy Spirit are to be got by Booking So particularly the voice the sweet soul-melâ—â—ng voâ—ce of the Lord Jesus Christ unto Sinners is LOOK unto Me and you shall be Justified Hence not to speak of the large Discourses on this point in the Epistle to the Romans concerning whom the spirit of Prophecy fore-saw that they would apostatize from their Orthodox Perswasion and Professions herein It is said in Joh. 3. 18. He that believeth on the Lord Jesus Christ is not condemned No he is in Christ and there shall not one Condemnation fall upon him as the Appostle else-where has it tho' he may have deserved a Thousand Million He is saved from the horrendous Wrath Curse of God. The Free Grace of God forgives all his transgressions and accepts him as righteous imputing the Righteousness of Jesus Christ unto him the just holy God that was once angry with him every day now sayes unto him Fury is not in me Fury is not in me And he rejoices with such a white stone put into his hand as that Paralitick had unto whom it was said Son be of good theer thy sins â—re forgiven thee Yet again The voice of the Lord Jesus unto sinners is Look unto Me and you shall be Adopted Hence is it averr'd in Gal. â— 10. Yâ— are the children of God by Faith in Christ Jesus Thus these blessed believing Lookers shall be saved from the doleful Family of the Devil they shall be taken into the number they shall have a Title to the Felicity and Dignity of them that are the sons of God the Angels now call them Brethren and the Almighty Magnificent Governor of the world saies unto them Ye are my sons my daughters Besides all this the Voice of the Lord Jesus unto sinners moreover is Look unto Me and you shall be Sanctified in regard of this it is that He has said in Joh. 3 36. He that believeth hath everlafling life the Seed the Spring of it is in Him. Truly such a man shall be saved from his slavery to the Enemies of his soul He shall be renewed in his whole man after the Image of God and be enabled more more unto a dying to sin and a living in Grace his spirit his soul his body his All is now under an enobling Dedication unto the Service of shewing forth the praises of God a curious Needle-work made by the fingers of the eternal Spirit covers him adorns him makes him more excellent than his neighbour And Oh what peace even the peace of God that passeth all understanding O what Joh even Joy unspeakable full of glory Oh what Assurance Oh what Perseverance in this life will flow from these unto the saved Believer Finally the Voice of the Lord Jesus unto sinners likewise is Look unto Me and you shall be Glorified On this score has the beloved Disciple said in 1. Joh. 5. 13. You that believe on the Name of the Son of God may know that ye have eternal life Oh how firmly is Eternal Life ensured unto Believers Certainly those Christ-prizing Ones shall be saved from the second Death they shall awake in the upper world in the future world they shall behold the Face of God and Christ in Righteousness and be satisfied with His likeness The Lamh shall feed them and lead them to Fountains of Living water they shall enter into the Joy of their LORD they shall drink of the Rivers of pleasure at the right hand of GOD for ever more they shall so partly at their Dissolution they shall so fully at their Resurrection they shall so in the Heaven of Heavens until the very Heavens be no more Such is a little of the Be ye saved which all Believers hear from their heavenly Friend from their Undertaker on high So great Salvation will a Believing LOOK procure But that this Gospel may have a fit and fult dwelling in your hearts there is one Proposition more to be laid into your Understandings 3. The Lord Jesus Christ in His Gospel does graciously earnestly INVITE all men thus to Look unto Him and be saved That ever-glorious One whom God has exalted to be a Prince and Saviour to give Repentance unto His Elect with Remission of sins He hath with a matchless degree of Favour and Fervour too adâ—isâ—â— Man-kind about this matter He hath reviv'd a dying world with such sweet words of his mouth as these O ye perishing Out-casts I am a Saviour infinitely able ready to relieve the Distresses which you are plung'd into I require you and entreat you therefore that you don't keep at a distance from me And for this cause it is that in Isa 65. 1. he makes according to the Apostolical Interpretation in Rom. 10. this proffer even to the very Heathen O let the blackest blindest Negroe at the further end of this Assembly count himself bound to answer such a Call Behold me behold me q. d. O that you would LOOK at me for my SALVATION We have indeed a most precious Bible in our hands that Book of Life I see in those hands too that must dye pinion'd before many dayes have roll'd away man do you first look downward upon that and so look upward unto Him from whom it comes it is a Bible iudited by the Spirit of
Jesus Christ and preserved by His Providence and the very scope of this the principal business of it is to come from the Third Heaven as a Letter with thy name mine every man 's on the Endorsment of it bespeaking the beleeving looks of every Reader unto a saving Jesus But there are likewise many special passages to this purpose sparkling and glittering like so many Jewels in the Cabinet of God. It is a Rule which our Lord Jesus has given about His Exhortations in Marc. 13. 37. What I say to one I say to All And will not the same square to His Invitations also Yes the old loving Invitations which were more immediately given to other people do likewise call upon us upon whom the ends of the world are come upon Thee and thee and thée Well we are informed in Joh. 7. 36. That when our Lord Jesus was Incarnate among the moving Dust-heaps and Potsherds of the earth here below once on the eight day of the Feast of Tabernacles when there was a vast Confluence of People going to draw water from he Pool of Siloam singing the words of the Prophet With joy shall ye draw water out of the wells of Salvation Lo then He took occasion to stand that He might be seen to cry that he might be heard to say If any man thirst let him come to me drink So then all the needy dying souls of men are still are thus offered the only Appointed Anointed Redeemer of men does thus counsil them Let me hear from you whensoever whereinsoever you want Salvation But how many other such amazing lines has He also sent down from the Excellent Glory into a desolate world It is the Lord Jesus Christ who has compared the Goâ—â—â—l of Salvation unto a well-fraught Vessel sailing up a River whereahout He makes that loud loving Out cry O Never never was there an O yee's vouchsased unto the world like to This in Isai 55. 1. Ho every one that thirsteth let him come and partake hereof It is the Lord Jesus Christ too who concludes this miraculous Book with that remarkable Period when He would put a full Stop to inspired infallible Writings He does it by exposing His Salvation unto general Acceptation in Rev. 22. 17. Whosoever will let him take the water of life freely In a word For the suller Inculcation of such a marvellous Thing we have this immortal King laying upon us in the name of Him that is Higher than the highest in 1. Joh. 3. 23. A Commandment to believe We have Him hence also annexing the Sanctions of a Commandment hereunto laying Bonds Graplings of Iron upon the Consciences of men We have Him both upon Mount Ebal upon Mount Gerizzin giving accents to His Look unto Me. He discharges the dreandful rumbling Thunderclaps of such denunciations as that in Joh 3. 36. He that believeth not shal not see life And many more such Threats and Menaces does He roar out of Sion with wherein the smoke of the Fire and Brimstone reserved in a hot Hell for the Portion of Vnbelievers is blown under the Nostrils of men Yea and He presents no less châ—â—ming Encouragements to Beleeving than those in the Preface to the Proverbs of Salomon one Text more above all I have found which I must bring to you as Sampson did unto his Relations the Henâ—y which he had light upon it is in Mat. 11. 28. O feed upon it every word in it is a drop of Canaans Hony it is Honey from the Rock He was a renowned Person that once said mallem carere Cibo et Coelo quam hoc Verbo I had rather not have a bit of Bread to put in my mouth I had rather the Sun in the Firmament should shine no more upon me than that I should loose so dear a Word as this Thus our Lord speakes COME gr Deute a most freindly familiar Call q. d. I pray be so kind as to step hither to a Friend But unto whom shall we come Lo He saith come unto Me unto Me that have all things deliver'd unto Me by the Father unto Me that am by Him empowered and employed to pluck never-dying souls from the devouring Jaws of every Death But who shall come mark the Answer Let ALL come But what if we have horrible Burdens of Filth and Fear lying upon us It s no matter sayes our Ever-living and Ever-loving Lord come all ye that Labour and are heavy Laden But what if we do come shall we not miscarry miserably and miss of our Expectations notwithstanding all No no. The Faithful true witness saith unto us I will GIVE you REST. O let the poor fetter'd Prisoner recollect himself James thy name is not excepted in these INVITATIONS It is a Feast of Fat things full of marrow and of wines on the lees well refined which the Lord has made in this Doctrin for the ruin'd Race of sinful men It remains that we make some Vses of it VSE 1. And now Praises Millions of Praises an Eternity of High-praises be given unto our Lord Jesus Christ who speakes such things to the rebellious O the Admiration O the Adoration which the never-enough praised Grace of Jesus Christ should beget in us At the preaching of this Doctrin we have unnutterable cause to do as the Jews did at the building of the Temple in Zech. 4. 7. even to shout Grace Grace concer-cerning it until our Acclamations reach unto the very Heavens It is recorded of the poor slaves among the Brick-kilns in Egypt Exod. 4. 31. That when they heard the Lord had visited the children of Israel and had look'd on their Affliction then they bowed their heads and worshiped behold you have this morning heard that the Lord Jesus Christ hath visited the children of men and bid them in their Afflictions to Look unto Himself O where are the good words where are the kind thoughts that we ought to magnify this Redeemer and His Grace withal David once in an holy Ecstafie of soul 1. Chron. 29. 10 14. Blessed the Lord and said O who am I Verily now all of us have cause to abound with such notes as those Lord who are we that He who sits on the lofty Throne of Eternity should send away unto us that ly starving like odious Beggars among the Ditches and under the Hedges of Hell inviting us to LOOK unto Him and be SAVED The Pharisees of old aspers'd Him with this as His Disgrace but let us cry it up in Him as his Honour This man receiveth sinners The vertuous Elizabeth in Luc. 1. 43. Wondred that the Mother of her Lord should come unto her but what a thing is this that our Lord Himself should Invite us to Look yea to come unto himself That he who sits as King for ever upon the lofty Battlements of Heaven charges the very Angels with Folly should so far smile upon us a company of born-fools wandering about the earth upon
there should be any Esau-like despisers of Jesus Christ and his Invitation or his Salvation in the Congregation God forbid that there should be one such child of perdition as an impenitent unbeliever among us all Some persons there are indeed who make a Scruple of it May I venture to look unto Jesus Christ notwithstanding all my vileness my wretchedness my unworthiness To these it may be safely rejoin'd If you find that God hath wrought your heart to a willingness to close with a whole Christ you should not let your Unworthiness be your Discouragement against doing of it The Invitatitation Look unto me is enough to embolden you unto beleeving looks towards the Lord Jesus Christ notwithstanding all the damps doubts which your misgiving hearts may have about your acceptance in it Syrs the Golden Sceptre is held out you may draw near When Jesus Christ said unto Peter you may come he presently ran over the dangerous waves of the boisterous Sea unto Him Truly so since Jesus Christ sayes to you you may look let no hard suspicions and surmises keep you from doing your duty in it The Canaanitess in Mat. 15. 27. did as one of Ancients expresseth it play the Philosopher â—â—he disputed the case after this rate A Dog may have Crumbs It seems I am a dog Therefore an ingenious a gracious Therefore I may have Crumbs too Thus may you Argue prostrate at the footstool of the Lord Jesus Christ All the Ends of the earth should look unto thee O Lord I am one at the Ends of the earth Therefore I may look unto thee Surely He that hath his Chair in the heavens will deny no part of the Syllogism which shall thus be framed by a wrestling Faith Though you have bin as bad as any among the Corinthians were of old yet if you have arrived unto a due hunger thirst after Jesus Christ you may endeavour to look unto him saying as Samuel to Eli Lord here I am for thou calledst me and He will be far from saying to you as Eli to Samuel No I called not The Question which some will now be ready to ask is and O that many with an earnestness like that wherewith Peter's hearers put forth their What shall we do would ask such a question How shall I look unto Jesus Christ About this there are a few Directions to be given O set your hearts unto the words that shall be testified among you for they are not vain things your very lives yea the lives of your souls are concerned in them I Know then that besides your occasioâ—al glances towards the Lord Jesus Christ which every day ought to be very many at least as many as the stings which the infernal vipers do vex your souls withal there is a Set-work of this nature to be solemnly performed both by them whose dead eyes never yet look'd to Jesus Christ by them whose dim eyes have cause enough to continue looking unto him whom they have already seen Now there are Two things to be premised concerning this Let this be the 1st premised It is highly expedient that you should speedily set apart a time to make attempts about the grand work of Looking unto Jesus Christ It is indeed true that an unbeliever hath no other Assureance of prospering in his Essayes to break the iron Prison doors of his unbelief but such an Who can tell such an Who knowes such an It may be as the Prophets of old were wont much to insist upon If you set your selvs to believe in your own strength the Faith of Simon Magus is all you are like to attain unto Yet you may be quickned to do what you can from the renowned History of the man with the withred hand in Mat. 13. 13. unto whom Jesus saying stretch forth thy hand he tryed to do it without any demurr at the seeming unsuitableness of the Injunction and Behold he stretched it forth and it was restored Let this be next premised It is extreamly requisite that this rare work of Looking unto Jesus Christ should be often renewed Sometimes perhaps the spirit of Jealousy will come upon you you will be fearing Alas I did never yet aright look unto Jesus Christ Now the best way â—â— sectle these troubled waters will be that which Joâ—ah had I will look yet AGAIN And O remember that to do this work often over over again is a thing than which nothing can more tend to your Victory over all the Adversaries of your endless Welfare Yea sometimes if an Half or a Whole of a day were purposely laid out iâ— this work the time will be found not to have â—in lost when Eternity shall dawn upon the world Hence in 1. Pet. 2. 4. they who have already tasted the grace of Jesus Christ are bid still â—o come unto him Some of us before the sands of another hour be run out shall so meet with this King of glory in his Galleries that we may have a special opportunity to catch hold on the feet of the Lord who deigns to sup with us and like Mary cry my Lord my Lord until we have renewed the Looks that have hitherto kept our souls in life O be you thankful for this and do wish your might what your hands find to do And now Hear and your soul shall live O that you would labour in a wise Retirement to â—ifâ— up the wofâ—l eyes of your Hell-stung souls towards the Lord Jesus Christ after such a manner 1. Meditate most affectionately on those thingâ— which may awâ—ken the Christ-ward LOOKs of of your souâ—s It is hinted in Luc. 1. 17. Thaâ—â—â—dinaâ—ily before persons â—an look unto Jesus Christ they must be a people prepared for the Lord. Now to promote and produce this peice or Soul-good there is no Engine liâ—e to Consideration O Consideration what Meâ—icine for souâ— maladies is comaparable to That If we would but let the Angel of CONSIDERATION stir the Pool how probably might we step in and have our unbelieving eyes enabled to look unto our dear Helper who longs to be doing good unto us It 's said of a Convert in Ezek. 18. 28. He considers he turns perhaps it may likewise at last be said of us he considers he looks There are then 2 or 3 savory Meditations to which if you should give a time and room you may hereafter reap the comfort of it I perceive in Hos 14. 2. and elsewhere that the prophets would sometimes put words into the mouths of them that they were travelling for the Salvation of Something of that kind shal now be done by the bringing of those thoughts into your mind which may comport with the Invitations of Jesus Christ Let your first Head of Meditation be an I Must Think with your selves I must look unto Jesus Christ Say to your own souls about Looking to Jesus Christ as Paul did about preaching of Jesus Christ Necessity is laid upon me and woe unto me
Prophet leading me evermore in the way wherein I should go Has the Lord said of him in Psal 2. 6. I have set him as my King upon my holy hill Do you answer Lord I would have Jesus Christ be my King forever Governing Strengthening defending of me whilest I have any being Do this And then labour to rest with glorious Transports and Triumphs now saying Why are thou cast down O my soul Hope in the Lord for thou shalt praise Him who is thy Salvation This is the good way walk therein and you shall find Rest for your souls But O ye souls in peril what is the Resolution that you intend to go out of this House withal Is your answer like theirs in Jer. 6. 16. we will not walk therein Shall yonder Doors anon bear witness against you Here passes by a person that will still neglect â—â— look unto Jesus Christ Alas has all this Rain fallen upon the Rocks Will none of us now with full purpose of heart say before the heart-searching One with him in Marc. 7. 7. I will look unto the Lord I will wait for the God of my Salvation how strangely besotted must that Israelite have been who should have declined to have given a Look unto the Remedy which the Almighty had provided for him when the mortal spreading Venome of a Scorpion had set his bloud in a torturing flame Epecially when all the world as I perceive by â—hat the Roman Poet Lucan wrote many Ages after could not help to any other cure of the stinging Strokes which the Tayls of these Presters gave Every Unbeliever here is to be charged with a more bruitish stupid Madness Indeed the Jewish Talmud affirms that a Look mith the eye to the brazen Serpent did the people in the Desart no good unless there were at the same time a look with the heart unto the heavenly Father also But most assuredly without your Look unto Jesus Christ it is impossible that your Souls should do any other than Welter and languish under dolours more scorching than Rivers of burning Brimstone or of running Bell-metal world without end 'T is uncertain what your esteem of Salvation is but surely Salvation should be worth a Look My Friend if the Saviour had bid thee do some great thing wouldst thou not have done it yea thou shouldst have reckoned Salvation to be worth Rocks of Diamonds Thousands of Rams and ten Thousands of Rivers of oyl are not too much to be parted with by him that would have SALVATION What an obdurate heart of Adamant must he then have that shall be disobedient when our Lord only saith LOOK and be saved You have now a season to secure Salvation at so cheap a rate but I may not break off till I have most vehemently and faithfully protested unto you that you shall not alwayes have so You are here mourning over a man in Irons whose life will be done before this week be out and yet who among you can say that your Great Change is not nearer unto you but I do with utmost ardour of spirit declare unto you That if your souls are found Faithless Christless when they are required of you Wo wo unto you ten thousand times for insinitely more than ten thousand Ages He that made you will not have mercy on you He that formed you will shew you no Favour You shall be banished from the light of his countenance for evermore Because you would not look unto the Son of God while the day of His patience did continue you shall miserably perish when his wrath is kindled more than a little Then instead of the delightful sound which the High-Priests Bells do now make of Look be saved or the silver Trumpets wherewith the Lord Christ doth proclaim a Jubilee of Liberty to Captives and opening of the prison to them that arâ— bound you shall hear nothing but the Thunder of his exasperated Jealousy Now you have him offering of Salvation for a Look but if you are such deaf Adders as to disregard the same you shall hearafter look unto him and see nothing but Frowns fierce Lightennings and flagrant sparkling Coals of Juniper about him Alas in the room thereof you shall have from him only those bitter angry astonishing Words in Matt. 25. 41. Depart from me ye cursed into everlasting sire Then O then all your looks unto him will meet with such confusion as the Lord speaks of in Zech. 7. 13. It is come to pass as he cryed they would not hear so they cryed and I would not hear saith the Lord. And will you make such a choice as this ye children of Folly You that have a million times bin hearkning to the bloudy Devil when he has said serve me and take Hell for thy pains will you not hearken unto that altogether lovely Lord who saith unto you Look unto me and I with all my Salvation will be thine Verily the most black mouth'd Oathes and soul Uncleannesses and filthy Drunkennesses of the vilest Debauchee will not pull down sorer Punishment than this UNBELIEF will bring upon the UNLOOKING Sinners who will thus render themselves as the Fat of Lambs before the JVSTICE of the Almighty for their contemning the Lamb of Gods I pray you Brethren do not thus wickedly O do not for want of a Look make it more tolerable for Sodom Gomorrha in the day of Judgment than for you O that the eternal Spirit would rend the heavens come down to rend the hearts which are still shut against all the motions that Jesus Christ does make unto them It is foretold concerning the Day of the Lord 's working upon Israel in Isai 12. In that day shall a man look to his Maker O for the Dawns of such a day upon us wherein it may be said In this day many a man looks to his Redeemer O that every seat within these walls might be full of the believing souls who at this moment say unto the Lord Jesus Christ as he in Psal 5. 3. My voice shalt Thou hear O Lord and I will look up and who will evermore keep looking and looking and looking unto the Lord Jesus Christ until He do arise save them Amen BUt what is thus said unto All is now mainly to be said unto One. I see a Condemed Prisoner here to whom this CALL of the GOSPEL is most particulurly to be directed The Message which I have to bring unto You is like that which the Prophet once carried unto a better man O Set thy Soul in order for thou shalt DY and not live It is indeed a very sorrowful thing unto us to see that a man in his early dayes should thus dy before his time for his being wicked overmuch That when half the Age of a man has not pass'd over you a doelful dreadful Storm of God does hurry you away from your afflicted family Yea that men do clap their hands at you and hiss you out of your
place I hope there are no such flinty bowels here as do not yern over you yet the Land must not be polluted by the sparing of you You have slain a man to your wounding a miserable man to your hurt You that have been wont formerly to say of the Sabbath What a weariness is it must not now be permitted to draw your breath until the Revolution of another Sabbath Behold Now is your accepted time Now is your day of Salvation By that time a few swift hours are flown away your pretious and yet perishing soul is to be hurried away into Eternity But O what a a soul gastring word is that ETERNITY ETERNITY If within 4 or 5 days you have not secured the Salvation of your soul â—â— looking unto Jesus Christ your soul that never-dying Soul of yours that Spark of Immortality which yet takes up its lodging in you must be broken in the place of dragons for as many millions of Years as there are stars in the Sky or drops in the Sea or sands on the Shore and yet be no nearer to the end of the Gnawes Scalds that shall overwhelw it than the first moment that they began Some Sips of the cup which is there alwaies in the trembling hands of the Out-cast Ones have before now made a man in this world to say I desire no greater mitigation of my misery than that I might ly in the room of the Back-log behind the fire on my hearth forever Suerly you don't intend to try how you can grapple with such a Damnation as you are now upon the brink and the Borders of Can your heart be strong or can your handâ— endure in the day that I shall deal with you saith the Lord. I am glad for the seemingly penitent Confession of your monstrous Miscarriages which yesterday I obtained in writing from you and which indeed was no more than there was need of But it now remains yet That you give your dying Looks unto the Lord Jesus Christ for Salvation from all your Guilt and from all the Plagues in the flying Roll which that does expose you to The Man-slayer of old had a City of Refuge to befriend him Behold I do this day in the name of Jesus Christ point you to such an one O poor soul LOOK look up and run unto it O don't sit down on this side a full Resignation of your self unto Jesus Christ lest the Everlasting and the ever-burning Vengeance of the Almighty do overtake you in your doing so For your Assistance herein besides what I have more privately said to you since you first writt to me your desires of speaking with me I have now only these Requests to make unto you My first Request unto you is That you would at this hour think of an interest in Jesus Christ as you will quickly at the hour of your death of your judgment Surely when the Executioner is laying the cloth of Death over your eyes the Look with the Shriek of your soul will then say O now a 1000 worlds for an interest in Jesus Christ Surely a few minutes after that when your naked soul shall appear before the Judgment seat of the most High you will again have it over An Interest in Jesus Christâ—s now worth whole mountains of massie gold O let this be now the settled opinion of your awakned heart reckon that if God help you to give one Look unto Jesus Christ it will be a greater merey to you than if not only a life in this world but all the Riches honour pleasures of it were bestowed upon you My next Request to you is That you would look upon Jesus Christ as not only able but willing to be your Saviour It is true that you have murdered your own soul many Thousands of times by leading a life of most horrid Impietyes It is true that after all you have murdered the Body and no thanks to you if not the soul of your Neighbour too Yea It is true and O that the Rock in your bosom might flow with tears at the stroke of such a thought that you have by sin wickedly murdered the Lord Jesus Christ Himself Yet yet is the Lord Jesus Christ from yonder heaven this day pleading with you O look upon Me as one ready to be thine He that saies Look unto me all ye end of the earth also saith Poor man do thou look unto me from thy Dungeon yeaâ— and when thou shalt be at the end of the Town upon thy Ladder also Oh Jesus Christ is that Saviour who said once to a Malefactor in the after-noon wherein he was hang'd This day shalt thou be with me in Paradise Christ is that Saviour who made a pardoned Discipile of one from whom he was put to cast out â— devils perhaps as many fiends as your soul has bin the Castle of Multitudes of such bloody creatures as the infamous Manasseh was have been taken under the merciful wings of Jesus Christ O thou Prisoner of hope it is not an utterly impossible thing that Jesus Christ should take from the Gallows unto Glory My Third Request unto you is That your looks unto Jesus Christ may be very humble exceeding sincere and exceeding earnest O while you are looking to Jesus Christ be loathing of your self Abhor and condemn your self as most worthy of all the crushes that you can have in the wine-press of Omnipotent Fury of all the howling Torments between the Mill-stones in the Pit below And let every way of wickedness become hateful yea more bitter than death unto you as rendring you obnoxious hereunto Nay set open the Door of your soul unto the Saviour that is knocking at it for this very thing that he may make it an evil aâ—d a better thing unto you to for sake the Lord for if you go out of the world with any sweet morsel in your mouth or with any harboured beloved lust of which you don 't truly say Lord turn me from it I do most solemnly testify unto you It had bin good for you that you never had been born you shall becomeas a glowing Iron fully possessed by the hot wrath of God you shall be made as a fiery Oven fill'd with his indignation without any Ease without any End. Be also most importunate in your Sighs Cries unto Jesus Christ for such desireable things urge hard tâ—â— for the life of a soul that shall never die If the Court should say to you Beg hard you shall live Oh how aflectionate would you be Soul the Lord Jesus Christ saies that thing to you If thou canst heartily look beg thou shalt not be hang'd up among the monuments of my vengeance in chainâ— of darkness forevermore How can you now be silent or sensless or not strive in prayer or not stir up your self to take hold of such boundless mercy It was indeed the insolent speech of Pilate unto Jesus Christ when he had Him at his Barr
Appendix to those more studied sermons which the Lord put into the heart of other of His Servants to preach For his sake that is gone and publish for the good of others that survive The good Lord follow the whole with his blessing and grant that all Israel may hear fear so that there may no more such great wickedness be done in this our Land. Joshua Moody VVHat I have to say to the poor condemned Prisoner shall be under these I we Heads viz. Something 1. By way of Conviction and Awakning 2 By way Encouragement and Counsel First To begin with Matter of Conviction Awakening and tho' I understand he is already somewhat considerably affected concerned yet more of that may be useful for him And here I shall use all Plainness and Freedom taking it for granted that dying men are past all expectation of Flatteries or Complements and that plain dealing which will do most Good will find best Acceptance 1. Thou standest here before the Lord and his People at this Time as a solemn Example of that sacred Text Numb 32. 23. You have sinned against the Lord and be sure your sin will find you out This day is this Scripture awfully fulfilled upon you You have owned under your hand that you have lived all your dayes in those abominable sins of Cursing Swearing Lying Drunkenness and Sabbath-breaking such sins as that the least of them however you have made a light matter of them without deep Humiliation sincere Application to the Bloud of Christ iâ— enough to exclude you forever from any Inheritance in the Kingdom of Heaven 1. Cor. 6. 9 10. And those that have been acquainted wiâ—â— you think you have not wrong'd your self iâ— that Confession Besides all the other evils thâ— your own heart is privy to and many more which the All-seeing God has observed in you I speak not this to upraid you but further to humble you and withal to tell you that you glorify God by this Confession Thus you say you have liv'd and these sins you traded in till now at last the Lord has left you to commit that great horrendous Sin of Murder in the doing of which you have even fill'd up your measure and all the rest of your sins do in this one sin find you out and light upon you You may look at this sin as part of the punishment of your former and other sins And it is one of the Lord 's most righteous but withal most tremendous waies of punishing Sin viz. with Sin or by Sin Lesser sins are punished by leaving men to greater sins Thus did the Lord punish the Gentiles Rom. 1. 18 c. the Apostle there calls it the Revelation of the wrath of God from heaven when for their Unthankfulness Vanity c. He gave them up to vile Affections and Actions among which Murder is mentioned as one v. 18. 32. Solomon tells us Prov. 13. 21. that Evil pursueth sinners and it is true of the Evil of Sin and the Evil of Punishment both that they do pursue sinners tho there that of Punishment is properly intended as appears by the Opposition unto the Good which shall be repaid to the righteous You have bin pursuing the evil of Sin and the evil of Punishment hath been in the mean time pursuing you and now you are overtaken seized thereby 2. The Great terrible God is dreadfully angry with you for this sin for all the rest that that have bin previous thereunto The only Subject upon which that fearful thing the Anger of God falls is Sin and Sinners for Sin. All His own works are good his Creatures good so owned pronounced in Gen. 1. 31. and therefore the Lord is pleased with them SIN only that is the Devils work Man's work God is angry with You have heard something e'en now of the nature of God's Anger but who knowes the Power of it Psal 90. 11. And you are the person against whom this inconceiveable Anger is enkindled O let this word sink down into the bottom of thy Heart and pierce thy very soul Say to thy self I am the man with whom the eternal GOD the Soveraign of the whole World is angry Think on that Text let thy heart meditate terror the while Psa 7. 11. God is angry with the wicked every day While thou wert Cursing Swearing Drinking to excess c. God was angry with thee even every one of those dayes was he angry while thou wert wickedly transgressing living in a course of open Transgression He was angry all the while Thou wert conceiving Sin and God was conceiving Anger which is now brought forth tho thou tookst no notice of it nor hadst any dread of it before Especially He is severely angry with thee for this execrable Sin of Murder for which there is no expiation but by the death of the Murderer whereof that Reason is given Gen. 9. 1. because man was made in God's Image so that the Killing of a man is the Destroying of the image of God. Murder is a Sin against the light of Nature and so hainous that the Barbarians who had no knowledg of the true God yet concluded that Vengeance followed the Murderer up and down so that tho' he may escape for a while however at length it would not suffer him to live Act. 28. 4. Know then that this is the main thing thou hast to think on this is the most terrible thing before thee not so much the pain or shame of the death thou art speedily to undergoe as the Anger of God that comes with it This is the great Concernment of every man at all times and of thee principally at this time How stand matters between God and thee how is He affected is He angry or pleased Why I tell thee That God whose favour is life and whose Wrath is Death He is angry with thee That Anger of God at which the Heavens shake the Earth moves the Hills quake the Rocks rend Hell it self trembles is now upon thee The Devils believe that there is a God and tremble Jam. 2. 16. do thou believe that and further that God is angry with thee and tremble at it 3. You are by the Law of God and man for this Sin declared to be a person whom the earth cannot bear The Creation groans under you as a common Enemy to mankind and one who by the positive and indispensable Command of God must fly to the pit and no man must stay you Prov. 28. 17. This is the Decree of God and the righteous Sentence of man concerning you You are yet but a young man and according to ordinary course might have lived many years in this world had not your over-much Wickedness brought you to dy before your time as Eccles 7. 17. Not before God's time but before your time i. e. before that time which is usual for man whose dayes are reckoned threescore and ten and sometimes four score
years Ps 9. 10. Also before your time which probably you had lotted on and which men too often do promise themselvs Such as upon any awakenings of Conscience and Calls to Repentance delay put it off while in their Youth it is upon a promise of repenting when they are old and how many in that sense die before their time And here for your further awakning observe the Lord in his Providence making good another dreadful word upon you viz. that bloudy and deceitful men shall not live out half their dayes Psal 55. 23. Thus you are a son of Death God and man have said to thee Oh wicked man thou shalt surely dye 4. Your time is numbred and almost finished Indeed God has numbred all our times Yearâ— and the number of our months is with him Job 1â— 5. But the number of your I cannot say monthâ— but dayes is with your self you your self may number your own dayes The Lord teach you to apply your heart unto wisdom while numbering them Psal 90. 12. You are just now upon the very brink of the Pit the Grave is ready for you upon the very Edge of Eternity are you I say eminently you now walking will be within the line of it very speedily Job could say when a few years are come then I shall go the way whence I shall not return Cap. 16. 22. But you may say Before 4 dayes are come gone I shall be gone to the place from whence I shall not return till the very heavens be no more It made Belshazzar's Countenance to be changed the joints of his loins to be loosed and his knees to knock one against another to see the Hand-Writing upon the wall Dan. 5. 6. and we may imagine or at least one would think you whose very case it is may imagine how his thoughts within him were troubled when the Interpretation laid that dreadful doom upon himself that his Kingdom was numbred finished by God and it was meant of his life All which was lost that night v. 27. 30. It 's true we have none of us any lease of our lives we cannot say what may befal us this night and yet O amazing Madness Folly how apt are we if not to boast of yet to lot upon tomorrow How ready to promise to our selvs many years as the Fool in the Gospel did Luc. 12. 20. who well deserved the name of Fool had it been for that one evidence of it only But for your part you have your bounds set told you beyond which you cannot pass you know at the utmost the Date of your life and Day of your Death you may die sonner but you must not live longer your end is in your view you have but a few steps thither and had not need take any vain unprofitable or false ones You seem to bewail your sin of Sabbath-breaking well know that you shall never have another Sabbath to break The Lord help you to keep this as you ought I cannot pass this particular without once more commending it to your serious Consideration O chew upon it dwell upon it that a few hours hence you shall cirtainly dye It 's a very awful thing to us to look upon you a person in your Youth Health and Strength Breasts full of milk and Bones moisâ—ned with marrow and then to think that within so many daies this man tho' in his full Strength must dy and methinks it should be much more awful to you 5. Your Death will not expiâ—te your Offence in the sight of God nor cause the Turning away of His Anger from you It s true the shedding of your bloud will take away the Sin from the Land that it shall noâ— ly there else innocent bloud should be imputed to the Land but this doeâ— nothing towards the Satisfaction of Gods Justicâ— in order to the Removal of his wrath from the Murderer Punishment makes no amends for Sin unless it be that which was inflicted upon Christ as he stood in the capacity of a Surety in behalf of the Elect and so bare both their sin and their punishment but otherwise Hâ—ll torments don't satisfy God's Justâ—ce nor quench the fire of his wrath muchless can any bodily suffering do it tho it be the highest even death it self Do not then deceive your self Say not I have sinned its true but am now to suffer the Law and that being undergone I shall then be quitt It is so indeed as to any thing that men can do to thee but thy death does not at all deliver thee out of the hands of Divine Justice Nay rather Sixthly If you get not this Sin and all the rest of your sins done away and so the Anger of God removed your approaching Death will be but the beginning of Sorrows to you However sensually or like a Beast or worse you have lived you shall not dye as Beasts dye so as that there shall be an end of you and all your sufferings together No no such matter Your precious immortal soul must live forever and if you get not the fire of God's Anger put out Know that there is a Fire kindled in his anger that shall burn to the lowest Hell. Without Repentance â—â—to life which is the gift of Christ and for your Comfort I tell you in the midst of all these bitter things I have been speaking to you he is freely willing to give it even to you Oh look up to Him heartily for the same I say unless you get this Repentance unto life your death is but an In-let to the Second death No sooner shall your guilty soul be forced out of your wretched body but it shall appear before God that gave it there to receive another manner of Sentence of Condemnation than what you have already heard from man by which you were condemned to dye but there was room for a Lord have Mercy on your soul to be annexed whereas in that Sentence there will be no mercy upon your soul for your soul is the principal subject of the 2nd death Separating your soul and body asunder was the aim and will be the â—ssue of this Sentence but the death everlasting utter loss of your soul for which nothing can be given to God in Exchange Mat. 16. 26. will be the meaning of this Sentence Theâ— shall your soul be committed into left in the hands of the Devil your master whom you have served that great Murderer Lyar who was so from the beginning and is the father lord of such to be dragged down by him into the place where your fellow-Murderers and fellow-Lyars and fellow-Drunkards are viz. into the lake that burns with fire brimstone which is the second death Rev. 21. 8. there to be tormented with the Devil his angels where the Worm never dyeth and the fire never shall be quenched Marc. 9. 43. 44. You have a scareing vision Rev. 6. 8. of one whose name was Death
against thee as I have done Min. Amen Amen ten thousand times the Lord GOD Allmighty say Amen to this Prayer of yours It would indeed be an excellent thing if you could now come to receive your death with some Satisfaction of soul in this thought That Much Glory is like to come to God by it I am verily perswaded God intends to do good to many souls by means of your Execution This is a greater honour than you are worthy of After the Discourse had been intermitted about a minute or two by reason of the miery way Mor. I beseech you Sir speak to me Do me all the good you can my time grows very short your discourse fits me for my Death more than any thing Min. I 'm sorry so small a thing as a plashy Street should make me loose one minute of this more-than-ordinary precious time a few paces more bring you to the place which you have now in your eye from whence you shall not come back alive Do you find your self afraid to dy there Mor. Sir If it were not for the Condition that my SOUL must by by be in I should not fear my death at all but I have a little comfort from some of Gods promises about that Min. And what shall I now say These are among the last words that I can have liberty to leave with you Poor man thou art now going to knock at the door of Heaven and to beg cry Lord Lord open to me The only way for thee to speed is to open the door of thy own soul now unto the Lord Jesus Christ Do this and thou shalt undoubtedly be admitted into the gloryes of His heavenly Kingdom You shall fare as well as Manasseh did before you leave this undone and there 's nothing remains for you but the Worm which dyeth not and the fire which shall not be quenched Mor. Sir show me then again what I have to do Min. The voice the sweet voice of the Lord Jesus Christ who was once hanged on a tree to take away the Sting and Curfe of even such a Death as yours unto all that close with him His heavenly voice now is Oh that I my Saving work might be entertained kindly entreated in that poor perishing soul of thine Are you willing Morg. I hope I am Min. His Voice further is If I am lodged in thy soul I 'll sprinkle my blood upon it and on my account thou shalt find Favour with GOD. Do you consent to this Mor. This I want Min. But this is not all that he saith His Voice further is If I come into thy soul I will chang it I will make all sin bitter to it I will make it an holy heavenly soul Do you value this above the proffers of all the World Mor. I think I doe and now Sir I must go no further Look here what a solemn sight is this Here lyes the Coffin which this Body of mine must presently be laid in I thank you dear Sir for what you have already done for me Min. When you are gone up this Ladder my last service for you before you are gone off will be to pray with you But I would here take my leave of you Oh that I might meet you at the right Hand of the LORD JESVS in the last Day Farewel poor heart Fare thee well The everlasting Armes receive thee The Lord JESUS the merciful SAVIOUR of Souls take possession of thy Spirit for himself The Great GOD who is a great Forgiver grant thee Repentance unto Life and glorify himself in the Salvation of such a wounded soul as thine forever With HIM and with His free rich marvellous infinite Grace I leave you Farewell FINIS
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