Selected quad for the lemma: spirit_n
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A61480
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A narrative of the extraordinary penitence of Rob. Maynard who was condemned for the murder of John Stockton ... and executed at Tyburn, May the 4th : together with the several conferences held with him in Newgate : as also a copy of the papers which he left to be published after his death / by Joseph Stevens.
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Stevens, Joseph.; Maynard, Robert.
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1696
(1696)
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Wing S5498; ESTC R29534
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14,857
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57
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God has made use of this method to awaken me yet I hope it is as an earnest of future mercy The Night drawing on I ended my Conference with him in Prayer The next time I Visited him was in the Evening before the designed Execution Day after the last Sessions but one and going into the Condemned Hole I found him with the rest appointed to Dye very devout in Prayer one of his Expressions I very well remember O Lord I beseech thee let not the good Counsels of thy Minister be thrown away upon me but incline me to be a strict doer as well as an attentive hearer When he had gotten up from off his Knees spake to this effect O Sir This is the best exercise that ever I was ingaged in this is better than a great Estate than Honours and the most ravishing Pleasures of this World If I had kept to this Duty God's Blessings would have a tended me and I had been an happy Man But thanks be to God that he accepts of my late Addresses I ask'd him how it was with him I find said he that God is good and Gracious and delights not in the Afflictions of his Servants my grief is mingled with inward Joy such as the World cannot give nothing delights me so much as the thoughts of God these spirit and bear me up under the shame and reproach I must undergo He asked me What were my Sentiments of him I Answered That if his Expressions did proceed from a broken and contrite Heart I did believe he was in a state of Grace and way of Mercy Upon this we proceeded to Prayer and while upon his Knees was to outward appearance in great Raptures and Extasies After this I gave him further Directions for the management of that little time he had to live and so left him The next Morning being Execution-Day about seven a Clock I went to take my final leave of him concluding and he not knowing to the contrary but that he was to Dye that Day Sir said he the happy time is come this day I hope to be grasped in the Embraces of my dear Redeemer now shall I be wafted over into a blessed Eternity where I shall never weep nor sorrow more where no sin no temptation shall interrupt my Rapturous Enjoyments When first I came into this Frison my Conscience was so enraged that I could not rest night nor day my sleep was disturbed with abundance of ill-aboding Dreams and was perpetually haunted by my injured Conscience for God says there is no Peace to the wicked and I am sure I have found it to be true tho sin be pleasant to the Flesh yet it is very bitter to the Soul but thanks be to God that has given me his Grace to Repent of the Sins of my whole Life and has reduced me to such a blessed Frame and temper of Spirit Then he asked me how and in what sense he should understand that saying of our Saviour Come unto me all ye that travel and are heavy laden and I will give rest unto your Souls I told him that Christ addresses himself to penitent Sinners who are vexed and grieved at their sins entirely desire to forsake them and to be admitted into his Communion and Fellowship and in order hereunto come unto him by Faith and Repentance and they who thus return he will comfort them with peace of Mind here and Crown their Souls with Glory hereafter whereupon he replyed I hope then my condition is good for my Conscience which was so turbulent and out-rageous is calm and peaceable and am filled with a Joyful hope of a blessed Eternity Then he desired me to go to Prayer with him which I did and at length took my final leave of him Execution being over I was informed that he did not Dye with the rest of the Prisoners but respited as was supposed by the Keepers of the Prison till the Sessions following It was I think a Week or thereabouts bâ—â—ore I went to Visit him and the râ—ther because it was generally repoâ—â—ed that he behaved himself very uâ—seemly in the Prison Cursing and Sâ—earing and living after a loose and deâ—auched rate that he had broken his letters and attempted the breaking Gâ—al I inquired of Mr. Tokefield the â—lark and of some others belonging theâ—eto of this matter who told me Thaâ— they never had a Prisoner who carred himself better and that he was often heard to Pray and Sing Psalms But it unhappily falling out that a Criminal who had broken out of one or two Goals being confined in the Condemned Hole with him who was a very Reprobate tempted him to Saw off his Shackles which he did and told him That he could procure his Rescue but being discovered he was Chained down close to a Ring fastned in the Dungeon for such a puâ—pose He told me It was a very great grief to him to be confined wiâ—h such a lewd Person for he often inâ—errupted him in his Devotion and did all he could to be troublesome and vexatious And here he took occasion to give me a large Account of the Murder and Robbery committed in Grub-street for the which he was Condemned to dye though I had before many Discourses with him about it it will not be amiss to Insert HIS RELATION ' Being said he redued to Poverty not for want of Work but through my own Extravagancies I sought all opportunities to gratifie my craving Appetite and joyned my self with such Company which best suited my Wicked Intentions At length Mr. Stockton the Person Murderd was the Man we pitch'd upon to Rob and Rifle and one Evening I together with one Mercer and one Bevin went to this Stockton's House to Drink and he and the rest of us were very Merry but impatiently waiting for such a time of Night as would be most proper for our Intended Robbery I take it upon my Death that I had no Murder in my Heart nor had I any such Bloody Design nor did the rest of my Accomplices mention any such thing before nor after we came in Between the Hours of Twelve and One I think that was his Expression we gave a Signal to each other that it was high time to begin our work Accordingly I laid hold of Mr. Stockton pulling him by the Neck-cloth and Conjuring him to be quiet or otherwise it would be the worse for him One of the other two Seized him while I bound his Kins-woman and the other went up the Stairs to Plunder but presently came down and Swore he could find none of the Money so much talked of Instantly I went up and brought down the Money and to my great surprize found the Poor Man dead I asked who Murthered him One of them Reply'd I did the Old Dog would not be quiet and therefore I Knocked him o' th' Head I said I had rather lost all we came for then this should have happen'd ' When we were coming out Mercer I think he said so
Repentance for all the wrong he has done to thee and read them o're and o're not to indispose but to comfort thee with the hope that I am in a way of being Saved for though God has made use of this severe means to rouse and awaken my Conscience yet it is I hope out of a merciful design to make me happy in the World to come Be not dismayed at my shameful fall but entirely cast thy self upon God who will defend and comfort thee and turn this temporal Affliction to thy Spiritual and Eternal Good Remember to avoid those sins which thou discoverest me most prone unto and all others which thy own Nature may be prompted and inclined to Never omit thy Duty either publick or private consult the Glory of God in all thy Actions be humble modest meek and condescending and an example of Holyness to thy Sex Let the good of thy Child be thy daily care nourish and cherish it and the more because it is Fatherless and as it grows up instil good Principles into it learn it to know its Creatour and the Duty and Homage it owes him Correct it when necessity requires encourage it to be good and never be backward in well-doing I beseech thee dry up thy Tears and don't contract Distempers by immoderate sorrow I am but going before though after an ignominious and shameful manner and e're long thou must dye too and then I hope we shall both meet in Heaven Our parting is dreadful our adieus are uncooth and formidable but fate has so ordered it and we must rest contented though not without some Reluctancy which is incident to flesh and Blood and now the more provoked on account of this unhappy accasion Dear Heart I must think of stopping my Pen for this is only the Instrument of thy Sorrow and the sad remembrancer of former Transactions and brings afresh to thy mind the many instances of thy slighted and abused Love and this will be to renew thy grief which is burden enough already and to represent the sence of my ill-spent Life I beseech God to pour upon you the Riches of his Goodness to give you all things both for Soul and Body that you may live in his Faith and fear and make up that lost time occasioned by my vexatious and troublesome carriage towards thee This is all I think fit to communicate to thee and it is expressed with an affectionate Heart I shall end with that saying of St. Paul I pray God grant you according to the riches of his Glory to be strengthned with his might by his Spirit in the Inner-man that Christ may dwell in your Heart by Faith that you being rooted and grounded in Love may be able to comprehend with all Saints what is the height breadth length and depth and to know the love of Christ which passes knowledg that you may be filled with all the fulness of God I Rest thy Affectionate but distressed Husband Robert Maynard Sinners remember the Expressions of a Dying Man let them sink deep and be perpetual warnings to you Here ends the Confession of Robert Maynard It may reasonably be presumed that if men are not void of Natural Modesty and bidden adieu to all seriousness these lines will affect them and Spirit them with resolution against the sins which were the ruin and entire overthrow of this poor Creature who was willing to expose his indigested Papers to publick view that they might timely prevent wicked men from falling into endless misery and certainly if such Pathetick Arguings of a Dying Man be not powerful and influential it is much to be feared that men are hardned against reproof and impregnable to good advice Dying men who are seized with a quick and peircing sense of their sins speak with most feeling and least affectation They tell us plainly that sin is pleasant but for a very little time that it puts Conscience into strong Convulsions and Creates a very Hell within a Man's self that it hardens him against serious Exhortations makes him forget God and his Soul and without infinite Mercy will crush him into the Regions below where do dwell Devils and Damned Fiends Who can be better judges of this than they who experience the woful effects of sin And who more obdurate than they who securely live in sin notwithstanding such affectionate warnings I shall therefore make use of this opportunity First To perswade Parents that they take care to bring up their Children in the fear of God that they instil the Principles of the Christian Religion into their Children betimes while they are tender and flexible and subjective to the Admonishments of their Friends It is a sad consideration that Fathers and Mothers are so generally negligent of this most Christian Duty and suffer their Children to grow up with no better an Education than corrupt Nature gives them How often do we hear little Creatures whose tongues are scarce strong enough to pronounce their Mother Language take God's Name in vain Tho they are not sensible of the evil of such Profane Expressions yet their Parents should Correct them and they by a constant observation of their severity would soon learn to avoid the taking of God's Name into their Mouths at every turn tho not out of a sense of their duty to God yet out of fear of Punishment Train up a Child says the Wise Man in the way he should go and when he is old he will not depart from it that is initiate or instruct him First according to his Capacity Or rather Secondly in that course and manner of Life which thou wouldst have him to chuse and follow or as some render it in the beginning of his way i. e. in his tender years as soon as he is capable of Instruction and when grown to Maturity he will not easily deviate from his early Institution the impressions made in Childish years will remain not but that he may fall off and become a Reprobate but for the most part a timely and Pious Education produces a future Religious Deportment And to encourage Parents to this duty of well Educating their Children let them consider that this is an immediate way to procure God's Blessings upon their Families to make their Children when grown up to do good in their Generation to be serviceable and useful to them when Aged or reduced to Poverty But above all this Christian care will be matter of great comfort when they come to Dye 2. Let Masters also be watchful over their Servants pressing them by their Religious Examples to an holy Life Masters are as answerable to God for their Servants as Parents are for their Children And this considered they should keep them in a Religious awe learn them to be sober and modest Exhort them to whatsoever things are Just Honest and of good Report Call upon them to joyn in Family-Devotion to frequent the Church restrain them from the looser sort oblige them to be meek and Courteous