Mad who does not make sure of this But you cannot make sure of 〈◊〉 if you do not Repent within the 〈◊〉 three or four hours that are now before you If any man propound an Hereafter unto himself to make sure of a Pardon in I would say unto him Thou Fool This Night thy Soul may be required of thee And let me add the words once used in a case of sudden and extream Hazzard save thy self to Night for To morrow thou mayest be Slain Counsil 3. Seek a pardon and seek it HOPEFULLY Despair not of it but that your sins which have been like Scarlet may yet become as Wool and that your sins which have been as Crimson may become like Snow To quicken this Hope in your Souls Consider the Boundless Mercy of the infinite God It may be that your sins have had most bloody Aggravations as being against much Light and much Love and against very solemn Vows unto the contrary Yet a Pardon is attainable if you slight it not What is Gods Design in our Pardon it is to magnifie His Grace and as the Apostle speaks that he may Commend His Love Well then then greater our Pardon is the greater will Gods Glory be Hence it was the plea of the Psalmist in Psal. 25. 11. O Lord Pardon my Iniquity for it is great What a FOR is that How strange an Argument is this The Despairing Soul thinks God will not Pardon my Iniquity FOR it is Great But if we really Turn to God the greatness of our sins will become no less than a plea for the Pardon of them For Great Sinners will give Great praises if they may tast of his pardoning mercy Be not then Discouraged from industrious endeavours hereabout but remember that when our Lord Jesus hath said in Ioh. 6 37. Him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out None of our Names are excepted there Remember also that there are some now Triumphing with God in Heaven that once were guilty of the very same Sins which We are now terrified withal Where is Abraham that once was an Idolater what became of Menasseh the Conjurer and of Magdalâ—n the Strumpet Is it not an Epitaph written by the Apostle upon the Grave of Rahab Rahab the Harlot perished not yea did not even some of those that Murder'd the Lord Jesus Christ Himself afterwards partake in the pardoning vertue of His Blood which with wicked Hands they had been shedding of see also 1 Cor. 6. 9 10 11 And why may not YOV come to be pardoned as well as theâ— if you tread in their steps by a serious and sedulous making after it Perhaps you have been ready to Sin But it is an Attribute of God in Neh. 9. 17. He is ready to pardon Have you gone on a great while in Sin and grown old and gray and horribly Ripe in your Evil wayes yet hear that Charm in Ier. 3. 1. Thou hast played the Harlot with many Lovers yet Return unto Me saith the Lord. In the primitive times there was one Victorius a very old Man converted unto Christianity the Church would not receive him for some time for thought they Old Sinners do not use thus to turn and Live But he evidenced the Reality of his Conversion so that they sang Hymns about it in the Christian Assemblies and it was every where proclaimed Victorius is become a Christian Victorius is become a Christian Even so may it come to be a shout over the oldest Sinner among you all That Old Wretch has got a Pardon after all Behold I have an Order to make an Offer of a Pardon within these Walls this Day and in the Name of the Eternal King I make it unto every Soul among the many hundreds of People here A Preface once Angrily made by Moses let me Chearfully and Ioyfully make thâ—â— Day Hear ye Rebels But that which I thus Preface is The glorious King â—f Heaven will receive every one of you to Mercy if you will now at last lay down your Arms. I am to assure you There is Hope in Israel concerning this thing Do not say with them in Eze. 7 3 11. Our Hope is lost No to all your other Sins I beseech you add not that of Despair which will be at least equal to the greatest of them which you have already perpetrated What a nefandous Blasphemy was that of Spira one of whose Roarings was My Sin is greater than the Mercy of God! That is the Cursed Language of Despair which let no man indulge Don't connt the Day of yet over with you Saiest thou I am afraid the Spirit of God has done striving with me nay if thou art afraid of it then it is not yet come to pass He may be striving in those very Fears Saist thou I fear I have committed the Vnpardonable sin If thou fear it then thou hast never Done it They that are conscienciously solicitous and suspicious about it are yet Clear from the great Transgression O then come to God at the Door Hope thus opened for you Counsel 4. Seek a Pardon and seek it BELIEVINGLY It is to be Enjoy'd by none but a Believing Soul To Excite this Faith Consider The proper and only Gospel-way to a pardon 'T is by Faith as we are minded in Rom. 5. 1. We are Iustify'd by Faith We must Request and Expect our Pardon to come swimming down unto us in the Blood of the Lord Jesus Christ alone and we must keep our Eye upon Him under that Notion in John 1. 29. The Lamb of God which takes away the Sin of the World We must look upon our Pardon as purchased and procured for us by the Death of our Lord Jesus Christ who in the Eternal Covenant of Redemption Engag'd unto His Father That He would make His own Soul an offering for the Sins of all His Chosen ones We are to take the Merits of the Lord Jesus Christ as they are profered unto us in the Tenders of the Gospel and lay the whole Stress of our Guilty Souls thereupon for ever It is said in 1 John 1. 7. The Blood of Iesus Christ cleanseth us from all Sin Wherefore we must Renounce all Dependence upon any Righteousness of our own for our pardon Let us not place any Trust in any Good Works or in any Good Frames of our own as tho' they could render the Holy God propitious to us It is said in Job 9. 2 3. How should man be Iust with God If He will contend with him he cannot answer Him one of a thousand The Iews give this Exposition of it The pleas which men fetch from any Good thing in themselves for the pardon of their sins are so weak and so trifling and so foolish that the Great God would scorn to give an Answer to one among a Thousand of them Alas we must not so much as ascribe the Inclinations of God to Impute the Righteousness of Jesus Christ unto us â—nto any Humiliations and Reformatiâ—ns
which we may be dispos'd unto We are to ly before the Lord as Loathsome Undone Wretched Creatures and Shout Grace Grace concerning all the Methods of our pardon Here to speak as Ierome of old All Hands are Dissolved because nothing done by our Hands will be found to answer the Righteousness of God It was a thing prescribed in Ancient Directiores for the Visitation of the Sick that the Sick Man should be taught to say O my God I now place the Death of the Lord Iesus Christ between me and my Sins Behold words fitted for every Sin-sick Soul What else can we say seeing we are told in Acts 26. 18. Men receive the Forgiveness of Sins and are Sanctify'd by Faith in Christ Iesus And hence even one of the greatest Giants among the Romish Philistines having argued a great while for the Interest of our own Merits in the pardon of our Sins at last he comes to that memorable issue of all Tutissimum est By Reason of the uncertainty of our own Righteousness and the Danger of vain Glory 't is the safest course to Repose our whole Trust in the Mercy and Grace of God alone Indeed I pray why then did you Bellarmine Dispute with so long and strong a Sophistry against the safest course in the World I beseech you Let none of us take any other course for the pardon of our Sins Counsel 5 Seek a Pardon and seek it PENITENTLY And there are especially Two Expressions of Repentance which we are to be exercised in They are conjoyned in Prov. 28. 13. He that Confesseth and Forsaketh his Sins shall find Mercy VVherefore 1. Confess all your Sins if you would have the pardon of them It was said upon a devout purpose of Confession in Psal. 32. 5. I said I will Confess my Transgressions unto the Lord and thou forgavest the Iniquity of my Sin How much more will an exact performance of it have such a Consequence In some Cases our Sins must be confessed unto Men. Indeed our secret Sins must not be divulged until God Himself have in a manner brought them out but then we are by our own ingenuous Confessions to perfect the Discovery So David so Ionah thought tho' they could say unto God Against thee thee only have I sinned scarce any but God being privy to their Miscarriages And thus Achan when others were made Sufferers by his being a Sinner and God was pointing at him as the Troubler of all the Neighbourhood his Duty then was that My Son Confess and Give Glory to God But be sure Sins committed before Men must be Confessed unto Men. VVhen Iosephâ— Brethren had been Brethren in Iniquity they heard one another with a bitter Confession saying We are verily Guilty When the Publicans and Souldiers such people that had sinned publickly of old came to a better sense they Confessed their sins no doubt aâ— publickly as they could We must give all men to see that we do not Approve of Sin by our taking shame to our selves for what sin they have seen us overtaken with and like the Convicted Leper crying out Vnclean Vnclean But in all Cases our sins must be confessed unto God who knows them all and whom they have all affronted and â—â—used It is said in 1 John 1. 9. If we Confess our Sins He is Faithful and Iust to forgive us our Sins We are to confess our sins before the God of Heaven both very particularly and very sincerely We may do well to take a Catalogue of Duties Required and Sins Forbidden in all the Commandments of God and Examining by that Glass what Spots we have had in our Hearts and Lives we should Bewayl them all before God And Bewayl them without any Excuses or Defences to Extenuate them in our Lamentations An Vpright man lies in the Dust Let us lay our selves there and so Enlarge upon our own Vileness as becomes A Spirit without Guile Such a Confession as this must be made if we would have any marks of a pardoned Soul upon us 2. Forsake all your Sins if you would make Genuine your Confession of them When you have once Vomited up your Sins by Confessing of them O do not return to them as A Dog to his Vomit Come to say as in Job 34. 31. I will not offend any more and study to Do what you say As The Burnt Child will dread the Fire So let us Dread all the Sins which our Souls have been scorched with and let us not espouse any Way of wickedness If any of us will go on still in our Sins let us not forget what will come of it no less truly than that in Psal. 68 21. God shall wound the Head of such an one as goeth on still in his Trespasses But O what horrible wounds are those which the Omnipotent Hand of the Great God shall be the Inflicter of Do not venture to go on in any course of Sin but be able to say I hate every false way and especially be able to say I kept my self from mine Iniquitie Albeit any Sin may have been as dear as a Right-eye or a Right-hand unto you nevertheless Away with it Whatever bad course you have heretofore been us'd unto abhor it now with a very hearty and zealous Detestation and say What have I any more to do with Idols 'T is a New Life that we are now to be studious of and we may not promise a pardon to our selves while we continue in Sin Tho' God at first Iustify the Vngodly yet he will not let a Iustified man remain ungodly any more no he teaches him to Deny all ungodliness and Live Godlily Soberly and Righteously in this present Evil World II. But there is a very particular USE of these things to be Regarded by one among us who is never to see the light of another Sabbath more T is Hugh Stone that I am now more immediately concerned with and therefore let him as a man just come unto the very side of the black River of Death give earnest heed unto what shall now be said before we part Unhappy Man you must now Dy before your time for your being wicked â—vermuch and because you have been a Man of Blood you must not Live out all your Dayes I am a little to invert the Words of my Text in my Speech â—nto you and say Why don't you seek 〈◊〉 have your Transgression pardoned and your Iniquity taken away For you shall sleep in the Dust before this Week be out and if we seek you next Friday Morning you shall not be among us T is a great Favour of God unto you that you have liberty to hear a Sermon or two before the Execution which you are Sentenced unto your Monstrous Hands hurried your poor Wife out of the World with a greater and more cruel Expedition You may lament it with an inexpressible Bitterness that you have no better improved those hundreds of Sermons which you have enjoyed heretofore But I now beseech
once he said I have felt a great work on my distressed soul This your son was lost and is found was dead and is alive Doleful nights have I seen the Thoughts of my sins did sorely oppress me when I would be crying to my dear Saviour for His mercy He would seem not to pitty me but to say Thou hast been a servant of the Devil and of thy Lust and dost thou now come to me I have been calling to thee and thou hast been hardening thy heart at my Calls and dost thou expect mercy after all And then the Devil would put in saying Thou hast been my Vassal so long thy Cries for Mercy are now all too late I have also seen the face of an Angry God and that is the most terrible thing that was ever seen I then found no sâ—ay for my distressed soul but Free-mercy Free-mercy The Lord now put under me His everlasting Arms and gave me an heart still to pray say Lord Iesus Mercy for Thy own sake Mercy for thy Name 's sake My Redeemer would say Thou art a great sinner and an old sinner The Answer of my soul was Truth Lord but even such sinners have already found mercy at thy hands I come to thee for with thee the fatherless find mercy He would break forth into very High Expressions his great Comfort was fetch'd from that Promise in Maâ— 11. 28. Come to Me and I will give you rest He would now cry out O the Riches of Free-grace There are thousands of thousands ten thousand times ten thousand in the third Heaven rejoicing over a great and an 〈◊〉 sinner coming to Glory O glorify Free-grace for ever He would say O blessed Sickness blessed sickness what a friend hast thou been to me and now Welcome Death or Wecome Life what my dearest Redeemer please O that I could declare to my Relations and my Neighbours yea that I could declare to Kings and Worlds what the Lord has done for my soul He would reflect on the Humiliation of the Lord Jesus Christ with an amazed a transported soul he would break forth into a great Adoration of it and say O this wonderful mercy to undone sinners He would also make that one of his Admirations O the glorious work of faith which doth role it self on Christ alone He bewailed it with a peculiar Bitterness That he had been for the change of Government But 〈◊〉 said he believed that God would restore 〈◊〉 us the judges as at the first the counsellours as at the beginning pastors according to His own heart He was likewise much concerned about the Interest of Christ in the world about the Success of the Prince of Orange whose glorious Expedition we had then by the edges a small notice of he talk'd in strains that seem'd surprisingly prophetical His counsil to every one was To make their Calling Election sure And he would often say O I am an old sinner but a young Convert I am fifty yeers old and have lived but seven weeks all this whiâ—â— To his Brethren he said You are care full about a Garment for me under my weakness this winter but Brothers I have a better Garment than you can provide for me the long white Robe of theâ— Righteousness of Jesus Christ will cover me all over He kept praying praising singing psalms till his end came and then being taken speechless senseless his friends apprehended they should hear him speak no more Thus he lay for divers hours drawing on but at length he just came to himself again and sprang up in his bed spreading his arms abroad as tho' going to leap into the Arms of a Redeemer and Shouting O my friends Heaven rings all over at this They wonder at this a great and an old sinner coming to Heaven Behold in my father's house are many mansions if it had not been so my Saviour would not have said it But He is gone to prepare a place for one O the Riches of Grace O glorifie Free-Grace for ever more And so he went away to the Rest of God Despair not That alone will mercy bar To faults that like the Sands Mountains are FINIS ERRATUM Page 46. Line 14. r. Day of Grace
in those words I have sinned what shall I do unto thee q. d. Tho' I am clear of many things which my Friends do accuse me of yet my sins before God are so manifest and so multiplied that I can do nothing for the vindication or expiation of my Miscarriages The Object of it is intimated in those words O Thou preserver of Men which are by some rendred O thou Observer of Men q. d. God has Observed more amiss in me than ever I found in my self For the Petition it is with an Expostulation It is Why hast thou set me as a Mark against thee so that I am a Burden to my self The Sorrows of men are the Arrows of God they that 〈◊〉 shot full thereof are sensible of 〈…〉 in every one of their 〈◊〉 Why hast thou is here a Deprecâ—tion of the evil mentioned Well if we now pass on to 〈◊〉 Text we shall have there both◠〈◊〉 and an Argument For the Petition it is here with an Expostulation too T is Why dost thou not Pardon my Transgression and take oway my Iniquity As before Why dost Thou was as much as to say O do it not so here Why dost thou not is equivalent unto saying O do it And it seems to follow upon the Title newly put upon the Great God O thou Preserver of Men q. d. Lord since thou art the Preserver and the Pardoner of so many Sinners in the World why should not I share in thy Mercies among the rest For the Argument the force of the plea for a Pardon here seems to ly in this It will else quickly be too late The terms of it are For now shall I sleep in the Dust and thou shalt seek me in the morning but I shall not be which in short is I shall quickly be dead and 〈◊〉 To Not be is a Scripture-Sacred-Phrase for Dying denoting not a total 〈◊〉 but a vast Alteration comeing upon us by Mortality which is also here styled Sleeping with respect unto the condition of the Body in the Grave And whereas we read of the Morning in this place it may be an Allusion to the Morning Sacrifices usual among the people of God and it may carry this Import with it q. d. Lord if a Morning or two hence thou shouldest Look to find me on my Knees as I am now before thee it will be too late I shall be departed into that State where in I can make no Prayer to thee and have no Pardon from thee World without End Wherefore the Doctrine unto which you are now to give a very great Attention is this Men should be very Imporâ—â—â—â—â— in their Prayers to the Eternal God That their Transgression may be pardoned and their Iniquity taken away before the Sleep of Death bring their Great Change upon them For the clearing of this Truth we have now Two Enquiries that ly before us Our first Enquiry is to be What is implied in the Pardoning of Transgression and the Taking away of Iniquity For answer to this In general The Glorious Benefit of JUSTIFICATION is herein implied If you ask for a Description of Iustiâ—ication then know That it is an Act of Gods Free Grace Releasing a Believer from the Guilt of Sin and Accepting him as Righteous thro' the Obedience of the Lord Iesus Christ. There are two things which a Religion still pretends to make provision for to remove thâ— greatest of our Troubles to obtain the greatest of our Desires The Christian Religion does both of these in a very admirable manner The First is done in Iustification The Distress of a Guilty Sinner lies in this point What shall I give for the sin of my Soul Behold that matter in Iustification very wonderfully provided for The Psalmist of old called this a Parable and A Dark Saying even this The precious Redemption of a Soul by the Messias alone Blessed be God that we can with satisfaction penetrate a little way into the Mystery But I may not give you a full Discourse upon this illustrious Head of Divinity whicâ— indeed the Standing or the Falling of the whole Church is concerned in the right stating of and as I may not so I need not insist upon it because you have the published Writings of many Learned Men on this very point which I 〈…〉 â—ecommend unto your 〈…〉 suppose you are all of the Disposition which our famous Wilson would often express by saying I Love nothing so much as to see a Preacher keep close to his Text and the Scope of it and therefore I shall now keep Close to my Text by offering to you a few Conclusions relating to IVSTIFICATION All which the Terms used in my Text suggest unto us but in all I must also keep close to the Man whom I do here most particularly design the edification of Conclusion 1. My Transgression The Hebrew word for it Notes a Transgression out of Pride And my Conclusion from it is 〈◊〉 There is a wicked and a cursed Pride in the Sins of men The First of our sins was founded in a cursed Pride the most of our Sins are tainted with it The first sin of Adam had Pride for a main ingredient of it It was propounded unto him in Gen. 3. 5. Ye shall be as Gods Honour and Grandeur was the Bait which he was taken with and his Pride affected a higher condition that that which his Maker had plac'd him in The first Sin of Satan too had Pride for its Original Hence we are advised in 1 Tim 36. he that is lifted up with pride falls into the condemnation of the Divel It is thought that his Dissatisfaction at some Priviledges which he foresaw Mankind likely to be the subject of was that which prompted him to the Rebellion and Apostasie in which he is now King over the children of pride T is thus in all the Sins which those have been the Parents of there lies Pride at the bottom of them all What Sâ—lâ—mon sayes of one Sin Only by Pride comes contention the like may be said of All Sin Mainly by Pride comes Transgression Upon the Root of Pride it is that there grows all the Disobedience to God which is at any time comâ—mitted in the World It was the Sâ—ying of the Prophet in 〈…〉 If ye will not hear my soul shall weep in secret Places for your pride From our Pride it is that we do not Hear the voice of God unto us in his Ordinances oâ— in His Providences T is Pride that makes us thick oâ— Hearing when ouâ— God councels us to Do Iustice and love Meâ—cy and walk Humbly with Him Every Sin as one sayes of every man hath a Pope in the Belly of it something that Exalts it self against all that is called GOD. The Sinners whom Solomon calls the Fools are those whom David calls the proâ—d If men were not proud Fools they would never espouse a way of wickedness men Sin with an High Heart and that makes them Sin with an
not be catched thou thinkest to hide thy self in Secret when as God in Heaven can see see thâ—e though thou hast hid it from Man And when thou goest to Thievery thy wickedness is discovered and thou arâ— found Guilty O Young Woman that is Married and Young Man look on 〈◊〉 here be sure in that Solemn Engagement you are obliged one to another Maâ—â—iage â—s an Ordinance of God have a care of â—reaking that Bond of Marriage-Vnion if the Husband provoke his Wife and cause a Difference he sins against God and so does she in such Carriage for shâ— is bound to be an Obedient Wife O you Parents that give your Children in Marriage remember what I have to say you must take notice when you give them in Marriage you give them freely to the Lord and free them from that Service Command you ought to have yet you ought to have a tender regard to them O thou that takest no care to lead thy life civilly and honestly and then Committest that Abominable Sin of Murder here is this Murderer look upon him and see how many are come with their eyes to behold this man that abhors himself before God that is the Sin that I abhor my self for and defire you take Example by me there are here a great many young people and O Lord that they may be thy Servants Have a care do not sin I will tell you that I wish I never had had the opportunity to do such a Murder if you say when a person has provoked you I will kill him 'T is a thousâ—nd to one but the next time you will do it Now I Commit my self into the Hands of Almighty God His Prayer O Lord our Good God thou art a Merciful God and a Gracious and Loving Father Alas that thou shouldest Nourish up Children that have 〈◊〉 against Thee O Lord I must confess thou gavest me opportunity to read thy Written Word Thou art also my Creaâ—or and Preserver but Lord I have not done according to the Offers of thy Grace thou hast not hid from me the opportunities of the Good Things and Liberties of thy House and Ordinances but I have waxed wanton under the Enjoyment of them I have given thee just cause to provoke thee to Anger and thou hast left me to Shame not only on my self but on my Relations O Lord God I do confess that I have sinned against thee and done all these Iniquities against thee and before thine eyes Lord I have sinned especially against thee pardon my Sins of Youth Lord pardon this bloody Sin I stand here Guilty of O Lord hide not thy face from me I humbly beg it of thee for there is no man 〈◊〉 Redeem his Brothers Soul but only the Blood of Jesus Christ must do it Let it be sufficient to satisfie for my poor Soul I hâ—â—e not done any thing that thou shouldest be pleased to shew me thy Love or that I should have any thing from thee but only Everlasting Misery I am unworthy to come to thee yet Lord for thy Mercies Sâ—â—e have pity on me Now I am coming 〈◊〉 Iudgment Lord let the Arms of thy Mercy Receive my Soul and let my sinâ— be Remitted Good Lord let not my sinâ— which Condemn me here in this world rise up to Condemn me in the World to come though they have Condemned me in this world shew mercy Lord when I come be fore thy Iudgment-Seat If my Soul be not humbled Lord humble it let my Petition be acceptable in Heaven thy Holy Mountain I am unworthy to come into thy Presence yet O let me come into thy Kingdom and deliver my Soul from Blood Guilâ—iness in the Blood of Jesus Christ O let my wounded Soul mourn for my sin that hath brought me here Sin brings Ruine to the poor Soul wo is unto me for mine Iniquity If I had gone to Prayer in the morning when I committed this sin Lord God thou wouldest have kept back my hands from shedâ—ing innocent Blood O Gracious God Remember thou me in Mercy let me be an Object of thy pity and not of thy wrath the Lord hear me and pardon my Sins Take care of my poor Children I have scattered them like stragling sheep flying before the Wolf pity the poor Children that go like so many Lambs that have lâ—st their Keeter that they may not come to such a Death as I do 〈◊〉 Lord for the sakâ— of Jesus Christ and the Righteousness oâ— thy Son accept my Soul and receive me into the Arms of thy mercy that I may enjoy Everlasting Rest. Pardon all my sins and let the Prayers of all those that have put up their Petitions for me be accepted for the sake of Jesus Christ. Now I am coming now I am coming thou mayst say I called to thee and thou wouldst not come I must say my sin brought me here O the World and the corrupt nature of man that has proved my ruine O Lord Good Lord let me enjoy Rest for my Soul The desire of my Soul is to be with thee in thy Kingdom let me have a share in that Kingdom Now is the time Lord Jesus the Grave is opening its mouth I am now living though dead in Stn let my prayers be heard in heaven thy holy place thy hands hath made me I know thou can'st Save me hide not thy face from me and affect the hearts of thy people with this sad Obâ—â—ct that they may labour to serve thee betimes and may not give themselves up to profaneness and Wickedness especially that Sin of Drunkenness which is an in let of all Abâ—minations When thou hast thy head full of Drink the Remembrance of God is out of thy heart and thou art unprepared to commit thy self and Family unto God thou art unfit to come into Gods Presence I have cause to 〈◊〉 out anâ— be ashamed of it that I am guilty of it because I gave may to that Sin mâ—re than any other and then God did leave me to practise wickedness and to Murder that dear Woman whom I should have taken a great deal of Contentment in which if I had done I had not been here to suffer this Death Thou art Holy Just and Good and therefore O Lord have mercy on me for the sake of thy Son pity me now Lord I am coming O that I could do thee better Service Many of you that behold me I know wish you never had seen me here Lord Receive my Soul into a better place if it be thy blessed will 't is a day of great Trouble with me my Soul is greatly Troubled give me one Glimpse of Comâ—ort in thy Kingdom by by let me have one dram of thy Grace Accept of me now at this time 't is the last time Good Lord dâ—ny me not give me as the Wâ—man of Samâ—riâ— a Taste of that Living Waâ—er that my Soul may Thirst no more I beg it for the sake of Jesus Christ. Amen After this
He will abundantly pardon It was once the affectionate Out-Cry of a Câ—ndemned but a Converted and a Comforted Malefactor God is a great forgiver God is a great forgiver It is indeed rarely seen that Bad livers to ever become Sincere Paenitents in Old Age. When the Devils have had a Possession of many years they plead a sort of Praescription against the Holy Spirit of God and make their interest so strong that very Extraordinary must be the Influences of the Grace that shall destroy it Scripture seems to pronounce a sinner of an hundred years old to be cursed and Experience commonly discovers a Sinner of Fifty years old to be hardened beyond all recovery The Generality of them that are brought home to God under the constant Dispensations of the Gospel will find that between Fifteen and Thirty is the Age in which most of the Elect become Called ones But as nothing is more Soveraign than the Free-Grace of God He calls both Whom and When he will and He leaves many Civil and Moral people in their Vnbelief when He Renewes the Worst of men and those that not only have done evil an hundred times but likewise an hundred years been in the rebellious Tents of the Ungodly So nothing is more glorious than that Free-Grace which pardons without bounds and forgives the Sins which no Conscience has vigour enough to describe all the Aggravations of Let no man that begins to have sad Thoughts about the State of his own soul â—espair of Mercy from God in Christ it reaches even to she Chief of Sinners It is for a Cain to roar My sin is greater than can be forgiven but perphaps his Despair was not inferiour to his Murder and Austin well replied upon him mentiris Cain Cain Thou liest The Tempâ—er that once told thee T is too soon may now tell thee T is too laâ—e to repent and thou mayest have in thy Thoughts the Voice which once a flagitious man had in his Ears a little before he dyed No Mercy No Mercy But When he speaketh hard unto thee beleeve him not Come and Confess and forsake all thy sins and thou shalt have mercy Come and cast the Burdens of a Guilty and Wretched soul upon the Lord Jesus and thou shalt have Rest. Unto the Greatest and the Oldest Sinners yet Return unto me saith the Lord. Exemple I. A while since there dyed at Lancaster a man whose name was Richard Lenten arrived in age to so many years above an hundred That he had lived in Wedlock with his wife for Sixty three years and yet she was Thirty five years younger than himself and he was able to follow his toils at Husbandry very livelily but about a month before his End This man had been all his dayes a poor ignorant carnal and sottish man and unacquainted with the very Principles of his Caâ—echism after he had satt under so many hundreds of Sermons as he had Nevertheless when he was about an hundred years old God blessed the Ministry of His Word unto this mans awakening and he became a diligent Enquirer after the things of the life to come and a Constant Serious Attender on all that was Religious He arrived unto such measures of a well-informed Devotion that the Church which was very strict in the terms of their Communion yet received him into their Fellowship about Two years before he dy'd Wherein he continued under a good Character so long as he continued in the World Exemple II. There dwelt at a Village in this Countrey one who dyed in December 1688. This man had been remarkable for his bad Life till he had spent fifty years in the lewd and rude Courses if notorious Ungodliness Though he had the Benefit of a christian and pious Education yet he had shaken off all the yokes which that had laid upon him Hee became a foul-mouth'd Scoffer at all good men and good things and a great mocker of Church-Members in particular The Vices of Drunkenness and Swearing and Lying made the Characters of his Conversation Sabbath-Breaking and Promise-breaking made him infamous among honest people and his Disobedience to his Parents was not unequal to the rest of his miscarriages Original Sin in the furthest efforts of it fill'd his whole man and his whole way for half an hundred years at which age he left the world and he had sat under sinn'd against the meanes of Grace all this while But yet which you will admire to hear Yet this enormous liver was iudg'd to be converted unto God some few weeks before he died The great God so blessed owned the Ministry which he enjoyed that the Efficacy of it on him became conspicuous to Astonishment He became a serious Paenitent and so devout so pensive that every one saw a New-Creature in him He mourned for all his former faults and caused his Complaints to reach unto the Plague of his Heart as the Root of all He reformed what was amiss in him and applyed himself with an exceeding Vigour to the Saviour for the Salvation of his soul. While the Grace of God was thus beginning its Impressions on him he fell mortally sick and it was not long before he passed out of this world with a marvellous Assurance of his Interest in a better It were Endless to reckon up the extraordinary Expressions that fell from him Behaviours that he had in the sick and last dayes of his life but some of them were such as these O said he What a wonder of Mercy is it to my soul that God halh not cast me immediately into Hell and given me no Time to repent or to beg for an Heart to Repent But 〈◊〉 Mercy hath spared a great Sinner The stoutest man said he that ever lived should he but seriously think on ETERNITY and have no Christ to fly unto it will so sink the the Heart of him that he could never bear it but the Lord will show Mercy to my distressed soul. He gave himself wholly to Prayer and would excuse Watchers from sitting with him that he might be at leisure for Communion with God alone Sometimes he would give a start as he lay and being asked the Reason of it he said O I have a great work to do and but a little time to do it The Conflicts which he endured in his Spirit were unutterable under which heâ— day night kept wrestling with God for His Mercy One morning his Brother enquiring of him how he did he replied O I have had as doleful a night as ever man had I have had three great enemies this night encountering with me the World the Flesh the Devil I have been this night both in Hell in Heaven and I can truly say with David all this night long I have watered my couch with my â—â—ars but as the day broke my Saviour came vanquished the Devil told him that he had no right in me for He had Redeemed with His own Blood To his Father