man as most in the World who when he came to dye thus expressed himself to a Minister that treated with him about his Soul I said he never knew what Fear meant tho' I have bin amongst drawn Swords and before the Cannons mouth I feared not death but now you tell me of a Second Death it makes my Soul to shake within me That 's a Death the Thoughts whereof may make the soul of the stoutest Sinner in the world to tremble for that 's a death which is ETERNAL The things which are seen are temporal but the things which are not seen are ETERNAL The death of the Body that 's seen and is soon over but what becomes of the Soul when a Sinner dyeth they that stand by him do not see but if he dye impenitent the Death which is not seen takes hold on him and it is eternal The God against whom he has sinned liveth for ever to punish him And a fearful thing it is to fall into the hands of the ever-living God. O run not into the mouth of the Second Death into the wide Mouth of the fiery Pit which has devoured Millions of Millions of immortal souls and know you for certain that if you die impenitent your Damnation will be no ordinary one for you have not only transgress'd against the Law of God with a high hand but sinn'd against the Gospel too The Sermons which you have heard formerly or might have done will be as so many witnesses against you before the Judgment seat of Christ the 3 Sermons which have bin preached to you in publick since your Condemnation the pains that has bin taken with you in private by one or other of the Lords Servants all these will aggravate your Condemnation when you shall be judged again before all the world at the last Day if you dye impenitent Consider 3. There 's yet a Possibility that your soul may be saved Notwithstanding all that has bin spoken to you don't despair repent but do not despair I would not have you say as Cain did My sin is greater than can be forgiven The Lord is a merciful God. Tho' Men cannot forgive you God can and He will do it if you unseignedly repent believe on the Lord Jesus There is infinite Merit in the Death of Christ if your bloody soul be wash'd in his blood it shall be made whiter than the Snow That Sin which you must now dye for God has forgiven to others upon their true Repentance Manasseh filled the streets of Jerusalem with innocent blood but when he humbled himself and besought the Lord for Mercy God was entreated of him O therefore Repent and then though your Body must dye your Soul shall live and not dye I have but two words more to say to you and then I shall take my leave of you for ever 1. Be sure that you be sincere in your Repentance Many times men under Fears will seem very penitent whenas they do but flatter God with their mouths and lye unto him with their tongues Thus it was with Pharoah and with many a sinner whose hard heart was never broken nor changed we see often that sinners on sick beds when they behold Death Eternity before their eyes will confess their sins and promise Reformation but if the Lord spare restore them they are the same that they were before And we have known Instances among our selvs of men that when they have bin Captive and in Turkish Slavery they have pretended to a sense of those sins which provoked the Most High to bring that misery upon them and have written seemingly pious penitent Letters to their Friends but now God has delivered them they are as vain as profane as ungodly as ever in their lives before nay some of them worse For the Truth is if men be not humbled and converted by such signal Dispensations many times they are judicially everlastingly hardned They never leave sinning until they have sinned themselvs into Hell past all hopes of Mercy or Recovery To come nearer to you I have known some more than one or 2 or 3 that have bin condemned to dye and whilest they remained under that Sentence they seemed very penitent but they were pardoned for they had not bin guilty of Murder as you have and since that have bin as wicked as ever O then look to your self that you do not dissemble with GOD and Man and your own Soul too And let not the Fear of Punishment only but the Sense of Mercy break your heart 2. In this way of sincere Repentance Betake your self to the City of Refuge Go to Christ for Life The wilful man slayer had as you heard but now no benefit by the City of Refuge so shall impenitent Sinners have no Salvation by Christ but they that have a real sight of their Sins and flee from the Avenger of blood unto Christ for life He is ready to succour them Poor man has the fiery Serpent stung thy soul then look unto the Brazen Serpent look unto the Lord Jesus that you may live and not dye forever Build your hopes of Salvation on Christ His Righteousness alone Don't think you shall be saved only because good men have pray'd for you or for the Confession of your sins which you have now made or for the sake of any thing but CHRIST And I pray the Son of GOD to have Compassion on you The Last Expressions solemn Warning of James Morgan As they were in Short-hand taken from his Mouth at the Place of Execution Mar. 11. 85 / 6. I Pray God that I may be a Warning to you all and that I may be the last that ever shall suffer after this manner in the fear of God I warn you to have a care of taking the Lords Name in vain Mind have a care of that sin of Drunkenness for that sin leads to all manner of sins and Wickedness mind have a care of breaking the sixth Commandment where it is said Thou shalt do no Murder for when a man is in Drink he is reaready to commit all manner of Sin till he fill up the cup of the wrath of God as I have done by committing that sin of Murder I beg of God as I am a dying man and to appear before the Lord within a few minutes that you may take notice of what I say to you Have a care of drunkenness ill Company and mind all good Instruction and don 't turn your back upon the Word of God as I have done When I have bin at meeting I have gone out of the meeting-house to commit sin to please the lust of my flesh Don't make a mock at any poor object of pity but bless God that he has not left you as he has justly done me to commit that horrid sin of Murder Another thing that I have to say to you is to have a care of that house where that wickedness was commited where
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
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
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
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
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
Speakest thou not unto me knowest thou not that I have power to crucify thee have power to release thee But it is more fitly spoken by Jesus Christ unto you Knowest thou not that I have power to destroy thee soul body in hell forevermore knowest thou not that if thou passest a day or two more without a due regard unto me thou canst not be saved therefrom tho' the life of all the Angels in heaven should be proffered for thy ransom and speakest thoâ— not unto Me O thou deplorable soul speak and seek and look unto Him as for Life eternal May last Request unto you is O give get all the Honour you can unto that Jesus from whom you look for your Salvation While you are secking to look well unto Him O see that you speak well of Him and do well for Him until you shall speak and do be among the living on the earth no more Surely you have by presumptious things enough reproached him already The sharp Ax of Civil Justice will speedily cut you down O for a little good fruit before the blow Manifest your penitence for your Iniquities by a due care to excel in tempers quite contrary to those ill Habits and customs whereby you have heretofore blasphemed the worthy Name of Christ Christianity Especially employ the last minutes of your Life in giving a zealous Warning unto others to take need of those things which have bin destructive unto you Tell them what wild Gourds of death they are by which you have got your Bane point out before them those pathes of the destroyer which have led you down so near unto the Congregation â—f the dead When the numerous croud of spectators are 3 or 4 days hence thronged about the place where you shall then breathe your last before them all then do you with the heart-piercing groans of a deadly wounded man 〈◊〉 of your follow-sinners that they would turn new every one from the evil of his way Beseech of them to keep clear of ill Haunts ill Houses with as much dread of them as they could have of lying down in a nest of poisonful Snakes Beseech of them to abhor all Vncleanness as they would the deep ditch which the abhorred of the Lord do fall into Beseech of them to avoid all Excess in Drinking as they would not rott themselves with more bitter Liquors than the Waters of Jealousie Beseech of them to moderate and mortifie all inordinate Passions as they would not surrender themselves into the hands of Devils that will hurry them down into deeper Deeps than they are aware Beseech of them to Shun idle Swearing as a Prophanity that the GOD to whom Vengeance belongeth will not permit to go unpunished Beseech of them to avoid Curses on themselves or others lest while they like Mad-men so throw about fire-brands arrows death they bring upon their own heads as you have done the things which they are apt rashly to be wishing of Beseech of them to beware of Lying as they would not be put to need crave be denied a drop of water to cool their tongues in the place of Torment Beseech of them to be as averse to all Stealing as they would be to carry coals of fire into the Nests that they so feather by their dishonesty Beseech of them to prize the means of Grace to sleep At or keep from Sermons no more to love the Habitation of God's house and the place where His Honour dwels lest God do soon send their froward barren souls to dwell in silence where there never shall be a Gospel-Sermon heard never never as long as the Almighty sits upon His Chrystal Throne And when you have given these Warnings upon the Ladder from whence you shall not come off without taking an irrecoverable step into eternity O remember still you give unto Jesus Christ the honour of LOOKING to Him for His Salvation Remember that if you would do a work highly for the honour of Him This is The work of God that you Believe on Him. Even after your eyes are so covered as to take their leave of all sights below still continue LOOKING unto Him whom you have heard saying Look unto Me. And now let the Everlasting Saviour LOOK down in much mercy on you O that He would give this Murderer and extraordinary Sinner a place among the Wonders of free Grace O that this wretched man might be made meet for the Inheritance with the Saints in Light being kept from such an unrepenting and deluded heart as unquenchable fire will find Fuel in And be thou pleased O Holy Lord God Almighty to sanctifie this Example so that the Sinners in this Zion may be afraid that Fearfulness may surprise the Hypocrites thereof and they may all hear and fear and do wickedly no more Amen Amen AN EXHORTATION To A CONDEMNED MALEFACTOR Delivered March the 7th 1686. By JOSHVA MOODY Preacher of the Gospel at Boston in New-England Ezek. 33. 9. If thou warn the wicked of his way to turn from it if he do not turn from his way he shall dy in his iniquity but thou shalt deliver thy soul Josh 7. 19. Give glory to the God of Israel and make Confession to Him and tell me what thou hast done Isai 55. 7. Seek the Lord while he may be found call ye upon him while he is near Let the wicked forsake his Way and the unrighteous man his Thoughts and let him return unto the Lord and He will have mercy upon him and to our God for He will abundantly pardon Printed at BOSTON by R. P. Anno 1687. To the Reader IT was the Motion of many and the Importunity of some that drew from me my consent to make this almost extemporary discourse thus public The Prisoner sent to me on the After-noon before the Sabbath a writing under his hand wherein he own'd the Justice of God in bringing him to this untimely End and the Righteousness of the Sentence of Man upon him together with a Confession of those sins that he had lived in all his dayes of which there is something spoken in the Sequel adding 2 Requests viz. that I would take some Notice of him in my Sermon and that I would give warning to those of his Follow-Siners that had been guilty of the like evils lest they also become like monuments of divine Justice Such reasonable requests especially from a dying man I could not deny My Subject that day was Isa 12. 1. and my Business at that time to discourse of the necessity means marks of the turning away of God's Anger which I judged not unsutable for a person in his condition accordingly did as there was occasion apply my self particularly to him in my Sermon which is not so proper to insert here What was directly spoken to himself or to others at his desire so far at least as my memory would serve me is committed to the Press and added as an
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
way to leave men to undo themselves thereby to prevent their being everlastingly undone But doubtless there have been such Examples in the world of men that have been thus saved and who can tell but thou mayst make one more 5. Heartily bless God and wonder at His Kindness therein that He did not suddenly take thee away with His stroke as He has done many such a sinner as thou hast been Many a Drunkard has staggered and reeled into the Pit has dropt into Hell in a moment and gone full of Drink into the place where there is not a drop of water to cool his tongue Bless Him that he did not choak thee with a Lye in thy mouth or make thee fall down dead as soon as ever thou hast vented it So were Ananias and Sapphiraâ— serv'd Act. 5. 5 10. Bless him that He did not stop thy breath just when some execrable Curse or Oath was out of the evil Treasury of thy filtthy rotten heart crawling up that open Sepulchre of thy throat Bless him that he did not strike thee dead in the place when thou wert profaning of His Sabbaths and for not sanctifying that holy Rest unto God that He did not in the twinkling of an eye send thee to the place where thou should have no rest night nor day O bless him for this time of Patience and Forbearance for a space to repent that Divine Long-suffering has afforded thee Bless Him that He has given thee a longer time of Consideration Preparation for a latter end that that poor wretch had who was by thy cruel hand hurried away into Eternity in a little time When thou gavest him his death's wound Vengeance might have given thee a fatal stroak and sent thee to thy own place before him But he is gone and thou art left and forborn a little tho' but for a very little longer let the Goodness of God lead thee to Repentance 6. See that of thy self thou hast no way left to satisfy Justice or pacify divine Anger Say within thy self Wherewith shall I come before the Lord before whose dreadful Tribunal I must appear within a few hours And then say to thy self I have no thousands of rams nor 10 thousands of rivers of oyl and if thou hadst hear the Lord saying to thee that they would avail nothing no nor would the first-born of thy Body be an expiation for the sin of thy soul All thy confessions prayers tears will not answer for the least of a Thousand of those sins under the guilt of which thy soul is now lying Shouldest thou spend every precious moment of thy short time in Confessing Praying fighing groaning weeping all that would not doe No no Here thou standest a guilty Creature condemned of God man and canst not strike one stroke toward thy own Salvation nor deserve that God should do it for thee God has judged thee and men have judged thee worthy of Death and do thou judge thy self worthy of Damnation too A self-judging and self-condemning frame is a suitable frame for thee to be in this day 7. Humbly heartily like a poor laborious heavy laden perishing shiftless Creature cast thy self down at the Footstool of the Throne of Grace crying and looking for the Mercy of God through the Merits of Christ unto thy Pardon Acceptance And Oh the height and depth and length and breadth of the Grace of God in Christ There 's room for a Curser Swearer Lyar Drunkard yea and a Murderer too to ly at that Footstool with hope Then fly for refuge to lay hold on that hope that is set before thee Heb. 6. 18. Flee away to the City of Refuge and I do assure thee from God that the Door stands ready to receive thee and Oh make haste for the Avenger of blood is at thy very heels The City of Refuge under the Old Testament was only to entertain the Man-slayer not the Murderer him that killed a man unwittingly and unwillingly while the wilful Murderer was by express Command from God to be deliver'd up But herein as in all other things does the Antitype out doe the Type Jesus Christ who was and is the Substance of that shaddow invites Murderer as well as Man-slayer and has declared it to be the Father's Will and his own Resolution that whosoever comes to Him He will in no wise cast out Joh. 6. 37. The same Advice which was given to the Murderers of Christ as has been hinted to thee Act. 3. 20. I do now in the name of the Lord give to thee Repent and receive Christ and thou shalt be saved Thou hast sorely angered God already by all that Course of sin that thou hast lived in and principally by this last great sin that thou art condemned for now do not anger Him yet more by neglecting to embrace his Son. Thou hast done all these Wickednesses now don't add to all the rest that which will be unspeakably more than all the rest the rejectof a Saviour yea of a Saviour thus openly freely heartily offering himself to thee even to thee in particular in this solemn Ordinance and that as verily as really as if He should by an audible voice call to thee by name from Heaven and invite thee to come Set thy heart to these things that from the Lord I am Testifying to thee this day for they are thy life Hearken then as for thy life as for thy last or at least that which is next to thy last And that which I have to say to thee is this Behold Jesus Christ is for thy sake come into this place this day this Sabbath this thy last Sabbath which should therefore be a great Day to thee and here He stands cries to thee that if thy guilty soul be heated scorcht by God's Anger and made thirsty after Righteousness which may put out that flame allay that heat and in which thou mayst be found in that day Lo here it is for thee Open thy mouth wide and He will abundantly satisfy thee Hear Christ saying to thee Thou condemned Malefactor I pitty thy case my bowels do yern over thee and tho' dye thou must by a violent death as to the taking away thy bodily life yet I profess I have no delight in thy destruction I have no pleasure in thy death and tho thou dye Temporally I would have thee live Eternally Again hear the same Lord Jesus asking thee expostulating the case about thy soul What doest thou mean to do with thy soul whither shall it got when it leaves thy body what care hast thou taken about it I 'm afraid but little hitherto Hast thou provided a place of rest for it Why if thou be at a loTs and it is a good step to thy being found if thou dost feel thy self lost if thou art afraid lest the devil should get it at last whose slave thou hast too much bin all thy days and art willing to be effectually eased of
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