order to this their reclaim they would take occasion from that degree of Punishment which at present they endure to reflect seriously upon those several evils and inconveniencies which by the just Judgment of God attend upon sin even in this life And for this meditation they may find abundance of matter supplyed by observing the circumstances of their present condition They are in restraint and other men enjoy their liberty and so might they have done too if they had used their liberty more soberly they are exposed to scorn and contempt disgrace and obloquy while other men live in Credit and repute among their neighbours and thus they might have lived too if they had sought the praise of God and man by a Faithful continuance in well doing They are employed at hard drudgery and severe Labour under their fierce and Aegyptian Task-masters while others follow their callings with mirth and cheerfulness maintain their Families by a prudent and moderate industry take paines in an honest way but are forced to take no more then the conveniency of their concerns engages them to and what is the condition of other men might have been theirs if they had so pleased themselves but because they refused an honest labour they are brought now to this forced and constrained drudgery Surely no way is so foolish as the path of iniquity and no Fool so unwise as the sinner is He loses his ends by those very methods whereby he pursues them and runs upon mischief by those very ways by which he seeks to avoid it the pride of his heart made him ungovernable and in Bridewel he finds a severe check for his pride He hated labour and there he finds a drudgery more toilsome than any of those labours that industrious men are usually engaged in he was of a gadding and a vagrant humour but there he hath a close restraint he loved sloth and pleasure but there he wants both and instead of them meets with the Lash and the working-house to correct the riot and laziness of his former conversation It is possible that sinners when they are under the smart may murmur at God and his providence towards them in all this but if they will but seriously consider the tendency of things they will have reason to acknowledge that what they call severity is the greatest mercy imaginable for it is much for our interest that sin should be made uneasie to us that the Paths of it should be hedged with Thorns and that sinners should meet with rubbs and blocks in their way for fear the pleasure of sin should prove a bate to them to tempt them to swallow the hook more glibly and the more uninterruptedly to pursue those ways the end of which will be destruction and perdition at that dreadful day of judgment when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from Heaven with his mighty Angels In flaming Fire taking vengeance on them that know not God and obey not the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his power 2 Thes 1. 9. And this brings me to another direction suitable to the condition of those that are concerned in the Meditations of this Chapter and that is Thirdly When these offenders have in their most retired thoughts considered the several inconveniencies which attend sin and sinners in this life it would be a very useful instance of spiritual wisdom in them to carry their thoughts further to those punishments which are due to it in the world to come Suitable in this case is the counsel of our Saviour to the impotent man whom he found and healed at the Pool of Bethesdah sin no more lest a worse thing come unto thee S. John 5. 14. For although heavy are those afflictions which they are under already more heavy are those which they may still expect unless the grace of God and a timely repentance prevent both in this world and in the next grievous it is for men to consider that they are slighted by their friends that their kindred and acquaintance forsake them that they are accounted and that justly the fiâ—th and off-scouring of the world but more grievous is it for them to think that they are rejected of God accounted by him as reprobate Silver Vessels in which there is no pleasure Vessels of dishonour here hereafter likely to be Vessels of wrath and indignation Now at present accursed children without Christ aliens from the Commonwealth of Israel strangers from the Covenants of promise Without hope without God in the world hereafter like to be of the number of those Goats which shall be cast to Christs left hand those tares whose end shall be to be burned those unprofitable Servants whose lot it shall be to be cast into utter darkness and whose dreadful sentence that shall be which our Saviour mentions St. Mat. 25. 41. Depart from me ye cursed into everlasting fire prepared for the Devils and his Angels Shame is burdensome to an ingenious spirit and God hath planted a keen and quick sense of it in our natures for this very purpose that it may be a check to sin and a present punishment to those that do things deserving shame and however mildly men or women may be used when they come to Bridewel yet a punishment it is barely to be sent thither in that it brings a blot to their Name and a stain to their reputation and will be a note of infamy upon them even after they are delivered from that place Now if shame be grievous as indeed it is there is another shame and a more lasting one attends the wicked after they are delivered from this For as the righteous shall go into everlasting glory so also the wicked shall go into a place of shame and everlasting contempt Dan. 12. 2. Here only our grosser actions and such are scandalous are exposed there our very secret thoughts Here the greater miscarriages of our lives there the naughtiness of our hearts Here men only and usually but few are spectators of our infamy and disgrace but there we shall be made in a worse sense then that in which the Apostle spoke it Aspectacle to the world and to Angels and men Even God himself the God of mercy and all consolations shall laugh then at their destructions The Good Angels who rejoyce in Heaven at the Conversion of one sinner that repenteth shall shout at the ruine of those transgressours against their own souls and the Devils who were their tempters to sin here shall be their tormentours for it there and all mankind shall behold their shame and none shall endeavour to cover it none shall pity it But if the sense of shame be but a weak argument to those that have cast off all shame let them consider that that is a place of pain too If fire be tormenting there they shall converse with everlasting burnings if the gnawing of a Viper in
they shall give a very dreadful account for all those mercies that they have abused here and therefore very little reason have they that are righteous to murmur at those afflictions which shall so soon end or to envy to the wicked those mercies for which they must give so sad a reckoning Secondly When good men suffer under that Imprisonment which is the result rather of their misfortune then their 〈◊〉 they have little reason to complain as if they suffered more then they did deserve for how innocent soever we may be before men there is no man but is guilty before God He that punisheth a man of upright intentions and just purposes meerly because he cannot pay the Debt which he hath contracted and which he desires if he could to satisfie is cruel and unmerciful and as he hath shown Iudgment without mercy so there is a time coming wherein he shall want the mercy himself which he denied to others and as he hath shown no mercy to others so in his Case also mercy shall rejoyce against Iudgment St. Iam. 2. 13. But whatsoever may be said of the prosecutor God is not unjust to punish those that are sinners against him by the hands of those that are more sinful then themselves nay very frequent it is for God to correct the sins of those that belong to him by the hands of those that are more unrighteous than they Thus the sins of Israel are punished by the Caldeans of David by Saul of Ioseph by his wicked Brethren and in these cases they that afflict shall bear their sin because they have used severity to those that have not deserved it at their hands but those that are afflicted have no reason to repine at the Justice of God as if he were unrighteous to make use of wicked men as his Rod and his Scourge and the Instruments of his displeasure against them for their particular transgressions committed against him Thirdly Another consideration to allay the impatience of such mens spirits may be this that those very miseries which they groan under are sent by God with designs of love and mercy the afflictions of their Bodies are sent as Physick to their Souls and the sufferings of one as improvements of the other To this import are those many assertions in Scripture that all things work together for good to them that love God Rom. 8. 28. That our light afflictions which are but for a moment work for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory 2 Cor. 4. 17. and while our outward man perisheth our inward man is renewed day by day ver 16. of the same Chapter And therefore it would be spiritual prudence to convert our murmurings into spiritual cautions and holy diligence how we may improve all our sufferings to so great and to so spiritual purposes which if we should do we shall have no reason to grieve that we have suffered so much but much reason to rejoyce that these our sufferings have proved unto us so happy an opportunity of enhancing our Crown of glory Thirdly A third duty which I shall direct such Prisoners to is to pray to God for an happy deliverance out of their troubles but with the reserve of a quiet submission unto his Will if he shall see the continuance under their afflictions more fit for them Both parts of this duty are recommended in the example of our Saviour before cited When he was to dye he prayed for the averting of that bitter Cup but when he perceived that God had determined otherwise concerning it he declares his desire to submit rather to the Will of God than choose his own Prayer is a proper remedy against all sorts of afflictions If any man be afflicted let him pray James 5. 13. and as God hath made it our duty to pray so he hath made it his particular style that he is a God learning prayer And if he be attentive to any prayers more than others he is so to the prayers of the afflicted This is more than once asserted in the 102. Psalm He will regard the prayer of the destitute and not despise their prayer ver 17. He hath looked down from the height of his Sanctuary from Heaven did the Lord behold the Earth to hear the groanings of the Prisoners to loose those that are appointed to dye ver 19. 20. Our poverty is the time of our destitution from men and though the rich hath many friends the poor is forsaken of his Neighbours but that which discommends us to men most potently recommends us to God who in divers places of Scripture hath made it his most peculiar stile that he is a Father to the Fatherless a Husband to the Widow adjutor in opportunitatibus a ready help in time of trouble and therefore it is not only our duty that we should but our priviledge and advantage that we may cast our care upon him who careth for us 1 Pet. 5. 7. Among all these duties it is not only allowable but very commendable for those that are Prisoners to endeavour their liberty by all just and prudent methods such as are receiving such supplies as they can get from their more wealthy friends accepting of such contributions as they may have from the charity of merciful and well minded men the offering of such compositions as the meanness of their circumstances will enable them to make and such honest methods as these For our endeavours are very consistent with Gods Providence and our diligence with his blessing and so far is our dependence upon God from discouraging our industry that it is rather proper to promote it for God hears not the prayers of the Lazy but sends an answer to our Petitions in his blessing upon our Diligence But above all things we must be careful that our streights prove not our temptations that our trouble put us not upon any indirect courses to deliver us from it for he that thus endeavours to draw his foot out of the snare doth but by fluttering intangle himself the faster and change not his trouble but his Prosecutour and as man hath been his adversary hitherto so makes God to be so for the time to come and discharges himself from the first rank of men to whom I designed these directions and hath placed himself into the second that of ungodly Debtors And so men may be upon a double account either First with reference to the beginning of their troubles when they fall into these streights by their own profuseness or prodigality or Luxury or negligence or ill husbandry or secondly with reference to the means that they use to extricate themselves out of their troubles as fraudulent compositions or unrighteous arts or unjust concealment of that estate with which they might pay their Debts or any other such ungodly Methods as these The Directions suitable to such as these may be First That they would not appropriate to themselves any of those promises which the Scripture give
many other fraudulent arts and knavish compositions but God is not mocked Conscience will not hereafter be stifled and though we endeavour to Lull it a sleep now it will awake hereafter and torment us and when we have our Liberty the checks of it will be more anxious than the troubles of Imprisonment or if it be seared here it will be uneasie enough hereafter And the more drowned in security we are here the more affrighting will be our amazement hereafter If they will not now then they shall howl and weep their riches shall corrupt their Garments shall be Moth eaten their Gold and Silver shall be Cankered but the rust of them shall be a witness against them and shall eat their Flesh as it Were fire by all their fraudulent compositions and unrighteous conveyances and unjust detention of what is not their own they have but heaped up treasure against the last day but a very sad treasure indeed They have heaped up treasure against the day of wrath and the Revelation of the righteous judgment of God And now it remains that I conclude this Chapter with some office of Devotion not thereby to exclude the office of the Church which is very suitable not to publick only but also private Devotions but though the general exigencies of Christian votaries are provided for therein yet it did not become the Fathers of our Church to descend so low as to all minute circumstances of private Christians and therefore the most obedient sons of the Church have not thought it any waâ— inconsistent with their high esteem for the Liturgy to compose new Prayers for some particular occasions as appears by the Printed labours in this kind as of divers others so particularly of the Right Reverend and Learned Bishop Andrews Bishop Hall Bishop Taylour and of the now living and no less Learned than conformable the Incomparable Doctor Patrick From whom I have borrowed this ensuing Prayer and because I have charity to think that Prisoners may find company in so good an exercise I have here and in other parts of the Book where I have transcribed such patterns of Devotion from others changed the Singular into the Plural which Singular they may replace again if they please when they pray solitary or retain the Plural still as Christians do in the Lords prayer when they use it in their Closets and with this Prayer of our Lord I have concluded this and think proper to conclude with it our other Devotion A Prayer to be used by Prisoners for Debt transcribed out of Dr. Patrick 's Devout Christian O GOD who art present to us in in all places and hast regard to the sighs and groans of the miserable who humbly implore thy pity and compassion towards them Vouchsafe to look graciously upon us thy afflicted Servants in this place which is most desolate and comfortless unless the light of thy countenance shine upon us We confess that we have too much abused the Liberty which we formerly enjoyed and not so carefully as we ought improved those happy opportunities which were put into our hands Many ways we are sensible we have offended thy Divine Majesty for which we are heartily sorry and acknowledg our selves infinitely indebted to thy goodness that we are not plunged into the depth of misery to bewail our sins in the bottomless pit We thank thee O Lord with all our Souls that we are not shut up into the place of utter darkness and that we have any hopes to obtain the redemption which is in Christ Jesus in whose name we beseech thee to pardon us and to sanctifie the streights wherein we lye to the freeing of our Souls from the bond of all iniquity and the restoring of us to the glorious Liberty of thy children Help us seriously to follow the direction of thy providence in this restraint and now that we are so much alone by our selves to descend into our own hearts to search and try our ways and unfeignedly to turn to thee our God Enlarge our spirits more than ever now that our bodies are confined in fervent prayer for thy divine grace and in chearful thanks givings for the innumerable benefits that we have received from thy divine bounty and in tender pity and commiseration of the sad condition of all distressed people and be pleased to touch the hearts of our Creditours also with a sense of our miseries incline them to accept of what we are able to pay and make us willing to satisfie them to the utmost of our power In the mean time bestow us on the blessing of a contented spirit help us patiently to endure the inconveniences of this place and preserve us from the danger of those temptations which we meet with in it especially from seeking a remedy of our sorrows in the pleasures and intemperance of evil company or any profane mirth whatsoever Be thou our comfort O God and our exceeding joy and the full satisfaction of our Souls in all conditions and when thou art pleased to deliver us from this place and restore us again to our desired freedom O Lord make us ever mindful of the Vows wherein we are now forward to bind our selves dispose our hearts to be sensibly affected with those mercies which we have formerly little regarded that we may never forget to praise thee even for the benefit of a sweeter air than now we enjoy to acknowledge thee in the night season upon our beds and to thank thee for the coursest food and especially that we may rejoyce to go again into the great congregation to praise thee with the most ardent love for all spiritual blessings in Christ Jesus Preserve in us also a grateful remembrance of the kindness of our friends and neighbours especially of those persons to whom we stand particularly indebted when by their charity we shall be released and whatever loss they sustain by our poverty good Lord make it up abundantly to them and theirs out of thy rich grace and mercy requite their love with plenty and prosperity in this world and give them the reward of eternal life glory in the world to come through Christ Jesus our Lord in whose name and words we further pray Our Father which art in heaven hallowed be thy name thy kingdom come thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive them that trespass against us and lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil for thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory for ever and ever Amen CHAP. II. Instructions for such Malefactours as have committed such crimes the punishment whereof is some publick shame or corporal infliction or any other punishment below that of death Applyable in great measure to the condition of those that are in Bridewel FRom Debtors I proceed in the next place according to my promised method to Malefactors and as soon as ever I
our bowels may be thought to be grievous there their worm shall never dye if the smart of the whip be tormenting there it is said that the wicked shall be delivered up to the tormentours and their torment shall never end I know there are dispersed up and down in the Gospel many more sweet and ravishing motives to repentance then these are The Love of Christ ought to constrain us the Grace of the Gospel ought to invite us the promises of it are with enough to encourage us to obedience and men of ingenuous spirits men who will act like men will be drawn by these cords of Love by these cords of a man as the Prophet calls them and they will follow God But the same Gospel hath more rough Arguments then these for men of more rough tempers and where we meet with obdurate sinners as knowing the terrours of the Lord We ought to perswade them We ought to tell them That vengeance is his and he will repay it That tribulation and anguish indignation and wrath shall be the Portion of every soul of man that worketh evil of the Jew first and also of the Gentile That God will consume the wicked from the very beginning of revenges that his wrath will begin to burn against them here and will reach against them everlastingly hereafter If the Present sufferings of offenders raise up in them such thoughts as these are they have then a very useful effect upon them The very end of Punishment is that the wicked may see and hear and feel and be sensible of that hand of God that is stretched out against them and do no more wickedly And if this be the effect of such punishments as in this Chapter have been described they have reason to rejoyce That these chastisements which are not for the present Joyous but grievous have begun to bring forth the peaceable fruit of righteousness that these corrections which are in the Flesh have any way contributed to the saving of the Spirit in the day of the Lord Jesus and that these afflictions which are but for a moment have begun to work in them that fear of God which is the beginning of wisdom that Godly sorrow which is naturally productive of that repentance which is never to be repented of and that reformation of life which if persevered in to the end will entitle them to a far more exceeding weight of Glory And when these motions begin to work in them it is their duty and it is their interest to pray to God for that Spirit that may further convince them of sin and of righteousness and of Iudgment and our Heavenly Father hath promised that he will not deny his Spirit to them that ask it and if they lack Wisdom to direct them in that way with which as yet they are very much unacquainted Let them ask of God who giveth to all men Liberally and upbraideth not and it shall be given them And because that of themselves as of themselves they are they are not sufficient to think any thing that is good much less to do it and much less still to preserve in doing Let them implore the Grace of God which is ready at hand to all those that by Faith and Prayer and sincere endeavours seek after it Let them ask and it shall be given Let them seek and they shall find Let them knock and God will open to them Let them draw nigh to God in sincere purposes of repentance and he will draw nigh to them in his grace and mercy and will enable them to cleanse their hands though they have been sinners and to purify their hearts though they have been double minded and to assist them in such supplications as these I have here subjoyned this ensuing Prayer A PRAYER O LORD our God we beseech thee look down upon us poor and miserable sinners who now groan under the weight of our sins and the punishment of them We desire to submit to thy providence in all things and to ackowledg that thou art just and righteous in those evils which thou sendest upon us and thou hast but recompenced upon us the fruits of our doings we have misused our liberty thou hast punished us with thraldom We have sinned in pride and the haughtiness of our hearts and thou hast brought us to shame and disgrace We have sinned by riot and excess by sloth and wantonness and thou hast exercised us with slavery and drudgery and hast made us to serve under Egyptian Task-masters We beseech thee O Lord of thy mercy to teach us how to discern our sin in our punishment to learn repentance and obedience by the things that we suffer and to humble 〈…〉 selves under thy mighty hand that thou mayest deliver us in thy due time However thou dealest with us now cast us not from thy presence hereafter howsoever thou exercises us with shame at present make us not then in our perdition to be a spectacle to the World and to Angels and to Men But let the sense of thy wrath at present instruct us in thy fear and withdraw us from the errour of our ways that our Soul may be saved in the day of our Lord Jesus Give us thy spirit O God further to convince us of sin and of righteousness and of judgment and to guide our feet into the way everlasting Give us thy wisdom to direct our steps and to lead us into those paths which as yet we are very much acquainted with Grant us thy grace to enable us to do those things which thou requirest of us As thou hast given us a heart to will what is good so of thy good pleasure give us strength to do and to persevere in well doing And whensoever of thy goodness it shall please to deliver us from this miserable condition wherein we are grant that we may return from the folly of the wicked to the wisdom of the just Let the time past of our Lives suffice us to have fulfilled the lusts of the flesh and for the time to come teach us to live more soberly and righteously and godly than hitherto we have done that we may adorn the Gospel as much by our repentance as we have dishonoured it by our looseness that we may break off our sins by repentance that we may work with our hands the thing that is good that we may commit our selves to thee well-doing that we may provide for the things that are honest in the sight of God and men that we may serve thee in this world and be happy in another and all this we beg of thee and what else thou shall see needful for us in the name and mediation of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ In whose name and words we further pray Our Father c. CHAP. III. Directions for those that are tried and cast for their lives but have them spared by the mercy of the King or the Bench. FRom these that in Law are counted lesser
a brand in the hand some the lash and publick whippings but those are violations of the Eighth Commandment and both of them place men in the Number of those Thieves of whom St. Paul hath said expresly that they shall not enter into the Kingdom of God 1 Cor. 6. 10. He that shall kill a man in his heat and passion is counted here not guilty of Murder but Manflaughter but both these are violations of the sixth Commandment and both make us liable to the judgment to come Nay more that very passion which we make the alleviation of our crimes here is counted Murder in the the sight of God For so our Saviour expresly asserts Math. 5. 21. 22. Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time Thou shalt not kill and whosoever is angry with his Brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment and whosoever shall say unto his Brother Racha shall be in danger of the Councel but whosoever shall say thou fool shall be in danger of Hell-fire Where we see different degrees of causeless anger have different degrees of punishment but all of them are violations of that Commandment Thou shalt do no murder and all punishable more or less in the judgment to come And as for those that are acquitted here let them examine whether they are clear before God and if of that crime whether of others as great perchance and as crying in the account of God And to them who escape with life and liberty as well as to others is appliable that of our Saviour unless ye repent ye shall all likewise perish My second exhortation to such is that for the time to come they would endeavour to live without offence in the sight of God and man New mercies require new acknowledgments and we have no way of shewing our gratitude to God but by doing things that are pleasing in his sight God hath granted them life let them improve it to his honour they have had the pardon of the King let them seek forgiveness of God also they have dishonoured themselves and their profession let them endeavour to adorn the Gospel for the time to come by a more spotless conversation Let them heartily repent of all their publick and private crimes against God and against men that when they come to dye they may be fitter to dye than they were when they were Tried for their Lives and for this among other things let them pray in this or such like address to God A PRAYER O LORD our God we acknowledge before thee our manifold transgressions the sins of our hearts the sins of our Lips the sins of our Lives our unclean thoughts our filthy discourses all our unrighteous actions we are here Prisoners in one place but very different is the Lot which thy Providence hath assigned to us such of us O Lord whose days thou hast measured out to the oppressour give us grace to repent of those sins which have caused this punishment and the less mercy we find with men the more let us find with God As many of us as have found thy mercy in our Lives and Liberties give us grace to be sensible of thy mercies and to live closer with our God who hath delivered our feet from falling and our soul from the snare and our life from the Grave Let the shame we endure make us truly sensible of those sins that have caused it and however we have had disgrace here let us not be confounded when we stand in judgment make us mindful of thy eternal judgment and prepare us for it that when we come to die we may be fitter to die and fitter to give an account to God Lead us O Lord by thy councel guide us by thy grace give repentance and pardon here and bring us to thy glory hereafter through our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ In whose c. CHAP. IV. Considerations suited to the condition of Malefactors as are actually under the sentence of condemnation for death WHat hath been already written in this discourse is designed to prevent if possible mens wretched arrival at the height of wickedness and by such considerations as the nature of the subject would suggest to stop their carier in wickedness before they proceed from lesser crimes to those that are Capital But there always was and always will be a generation â—f men that are reprobates to every good work that have their consciences seared with a hot Iron that turn a deaf ear against all good Counsel and harden their hearts against all good advice and as for these seeing milder Methods will do no good upon them necessity enforces to practice those that are more severe God says nay which is more swears that he does not delight in the death of a sinner but that he should turn from his wicked way and live but yet it is consistent both with his Justice and mercy to make death the Portion of such as by their wickedness pursue it and to make Perdition the inheritance of those that by the obstinacy and perverseness of their way unavoidably run upon it And the same method is very consistent with the rules of Justice and mercy among men Nay very often it is that severity upon offenders is mercy to the innocent and compassion to the wicked is cruelty to the just for the slackening of Justice encreases the number of Malefactors and if severe laws were not made and executed against Malefactors honest men would not be safe but the Nation would be soon overrun with Robbers and Murderers and all sorts of evil doers for as Solomon observed long ago Because Sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily therefore it is that the heart of the Sons of men is thoroughly set in them to do evil Eccl. 8. 11. Righteous therefore and just it is that the wages of sin should be death death eternal by the Law of God and death temporal by the Laws of God and man but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord But to what acts of Faith and repentance to direct the Malefactor that he may lay hold of that eternal life will require much Spiritual skill and prudence The Right Reverend Bishop Taylour and the Learned Doctor Hammond and some others have written diverse things very accurately towards the Lessening of that esteem which some men have of the efficacy of a death-bed repentance If I should here lay down their opinions in express terms as they have delivered them in all probability I should drive those whom I now write to into utter despair but if I should endeavour to assert and maintain the contrary those surriving Malefactors into whose hands this Book shall come would in all likelyhood make use of it as a further encouragement to delay their repentance to the hour of death Seeing therefore it is hard to Minister to the comfort of some without giving occasion to the Presumption of others I
think it not safe to handle that point in a Treatise which will be read both by the condemned and reprieved But judge it more prudent to leave the Conduct of the souls of dying men in that particular to those Ministers that shall visit them near the approaches of their death For the supply of which in such cases I suppose there is some provision made in all places of this Nation but in this City very plentifully They have a particular Minister allotted to them whose duty it is wholly to attend this affair to his assistance there are allotted by the order of the Honourable the Court of Aldermen and upon the motion of the Right Worshipful the present Sheriffs the Ministers of Ludgate and both the Counters and Diverse other Ministers of this City out of their Pious compassion towards them very frequently contribute their spiritual aids who may privately Minister to them such comfort as their condition is capable of without danger of occasioning presumption and spiritual security to other Malefactors who at such times are not within hearing But such other considerations as I may safely let down without this danger I shall here insert First The condemned Malefactor ought humbly to confess his sins and this when accompanied with other requisites of repentance has a promise of pardon So we have it expressed by the beloved Disciple St. John 1. 9. If we confess our sins he is Faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness So in Hosea 14. 2. Take to you words that is of confession and supplication and turn to the Lord your God say unto him take away all iniquity and receive us graciously so will we render the Calves of our lips For this pardon upon a true and sincere confession Solomon depends by Faith in his Prayer at the Dedication of the Temple 2 Chronicles 6. 36 37 39. If they sin against thee for there is no man that sinneth not and thou be angry with them and they turn and pray unto thee and say we have sinned we have done amiss we have dealt wickedly then hear thou from the Heavens even from thy dwelling place their Prayer and their supplication and forgive thy People which have sinned against thee and that Faith that Solomon had in this Prayer of his was founded upon that promise which we find in Lev. 26. 40. 42. If they confess their iniquity and the iniquity of their Fathers with the trespass that they have trespassed against me and that also they have walked contrary unto me Then will I remember my Covenant That is his Covenant of mercy and forgiveness And suitably to the Faith of Soloman and the promise of God David found it Psalm 32. 5. I acknowledged my sin unto thee says he there and my iniquity have I not hid I said I will confess my transgressions unto the Lord and thou forgavest the iniquity of my sin And where the sin against God is complicated with injustice towards men as in condemned Malefactors it always is there it is requisite that the sinner confess to men and shew his Zeal against unrighteousness by discovering the combinations of wickedness that he hath been acquainted with for it is hardly conceivable that they thoroughly repent of their unrighteousness who at their death desire it should go unobserved and unreformed and unpunished in others Secondly These confessions where they are accepted with God are always accompanied with a deep sorrow and contrition of Spirit for those sins that we acknowledge otherwise they are Hypocritical but together with this they are often a sacrifice acceptable to God Psal 51. 16 17. For thou desirest not Sacrifice else would I give it thee thou delightest not in burnt offerings the Sacrifices of God are a broken and contrite Spirit a broken and a contrite Heart ô God thou wilt not despise And so to the same effect we find it in the Prophet Isaiah ch 57. v. 15. For thus saith the high and the Holy one that inhabiteth eternity whose name is Holy I dwell in the high and holy place with him also that is of a pure and contrite Spirit to revive the Spirit of the humble to revive the heart of the contrite ones Thirdly To that repentance that will find pardon there ought to be joyned a forsaking of sin and we are to explain the place before cited 1 St. John 1. 9. by that other place from whence it seems to be taken Prov. 28. 13. He that covereth his sins shall not prosper but whoso confesseth and forsaketh them shall have mercy And by this the Scripture every where describes saving repentance calling it a turning from our evil ways returning from the folly of the wicked to the wisdom of the righteous cleansing our hands and purifying our hands with many other expressions importing a thorough reformation of the whole man in life and heart and lip many parts of which because they are always wanting in the late conversion of old Transgressours the above mentioned Divines have very much doubted of the efficacy of such a death-bed repentance to the great intents of mercy and pardon and if it be said sincere intentions are often accepted by God instead of performances it is possible it may be as difficult to distinguish between the integrity Hypocrisie of mens purposes as between the truth and falseness of their conversion and therefore it is more prudent to leave the decision of such questions to the Oral solution of such Divines as shall either out of Duty or Christian Charity visit them then to deliver it in Printed rules where it may be read by those who have more need to be pressed to a speedy Conversion then be perswaded of the efficacy of a late repentance Fourthly After such acts of confession and contrition and repentance as the condition of the Malefactors is capable of let them cast themselves upon God by a holy Faith and reliance mixed with fear and trembling both these conjoyned are and neither of these single is suitable to the condition of these condemned sinners They ought to have a Faith in the mercy of God as sufficient to pardon the greatest sinners that return according to the terms of the Gospel for else it were in vain to pray to God if we thought him wholly inexorable but this Faith of theirs ought to be joyned with a holy trembling for fear lest their repentance should not be such as God will accept and lest their preparations should not be according to the Preparation of the Sanctuary or else their Faith may soon degenerate into presumption Where the first is wanting men run into despair This seems to be the sin of Cain who said as it is in the marginal interpretation of our Bibles and suitable enough to the signification of the Hebrew verb 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 there used My iniquity is greater then that it may be forgiven This seems to be the sin of Judas he knew he had
sinned and he repented of it in some degree and as an instance of it made restitution of the price of blood but had not recourse by faith and Gospel repentance to that blood of atonement and therefore died as a sad instance and dreadful example of horrid dispair and indeed no sin except that one unpardonable one against the Holy Ghost is exempted from forgiveness upon a true repentance And to take away doubt in this the Scripture hath particularly mentioned the greatest sorts as actually forgiven to sincere Penitents As particularly The Blasphemies of Saul the Fornications of Magdalen the extortions of Zaccheus the Murder and uncleanness of David the drunkenness and incest of Noah and the Robberies of the Thief upon the Cross But as there may be an error on this hand so there may be and possibly is more frequently on the other hand toc in relying too confidently upon the pardoning mercy of God in Christ without those Gospel preparations of heart which will sit us to receive it And this seems to be the sin of those very confident but very much mistaken fiduciaries mentioned and reproved by our Saviour Mat. 7. 21 22 23. Not every one that saith unto me Lord Lord shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven but he that doth the will of my Father which is in Heaven Many will say unto me in that day Lord have we not Prophesied in thy name and in thy name cast out Devils and in thy name done many wonderful works And then will I profess unto them I never knew you depart from me ye that work iniquity And if they would guide themselves between presumption and despair it will behave them to take the Advice of St. Peter to Simon Magus so Acts 8. 22. Repent therefore of this thy wickedness and pray God if perhaps the thought of thy heart may be forgiven thee He saith not and so certainly it shall be this possibly might be too confident a presumption to depend upon but if perhaps that an humble hope may be allowed to seek after The carriage of Benhahad to King Ahab may well become them The Kings of Israel are merciful Kings says he and so they The God of Israel is a merciful God this they may with fulness of Faith believe and peradventure he will save us this they may with an humble hope desire And to accommodate a little to this purpose that expression of Queen Esther They may go into the presence of God by humble supplication and prayer and say if we perish we will perish praying unto God we will perish imploring his Grace we will Perish rolling our selves upon his mercy in Christ Jesus and it is possible God may be more merciful to us then we are apt to think he will when we reflect upon the great defect of our death bed repentance The rest I shall refer to the Conduct of their spiritual guides of which number I am bound in duty to be one and shall request them often to read these seven Psalms 6 32 38 51 102 130 143. Paraphrased into Prayers by Bishop Taylour which I have provided for them at my own charge A small Treatise called The Penitent sinner provided for them by the care of the Court of Aldermen and these two Prayers the one taken out of Doctor Patricks Devout Christian the other from Bishop Taylour and with a small alteration accommodated to their condition A Prayer for condemned Malefactors written by Dr. Patrick in his Devout Christian O MOST holy and righteous judge of the whole world give us sinful and miserable wretches leave to prostrate our selves before the throne of thy Grace and to implore that mercy which we have formerly despised or abused We are not worthy we confess to lift up our eyes towards heaven and it becomes us in the greatest dejection of spirit to sigh and groan under the Load of our sins which have been so great and many so bold so presumptuous and shameles that when with an awakened mind we reflect upon them we are ready to sink into Hell and utterly despair of any mercy O God how have we hated instruction and our heart despised reproof And have not obeyed the voice of our teachers nor inclined our ear to them that admonished us How swift have our feet been to run into evil and how backward and averse have we been to any thing that is good O the injuries that we have done our neighbours the abuse of our selves and thy good creatures the prophane contempt or neglect of thee and the duties of thy worship and service * Here let them reckon up the blasphemies debaucheries and violences that they have been guilty of The remembrance of all this is dreadful the burden is intolerable How shall we appear before thee at whose rebuke the mountains quake since we cannot think of our appearance before an earthly judge without shame and affrightment of spirit O Lord work in us a greater dread of thee with a greater shame and confusion of face now that we are in thy presence For which end represent unto us essectually the wickedness the baseness and vileness of our evil doings as well as the guilt and just desert of thee O that we could hate and abhor them more than death which we expect shortly to suffer for them Bestow on us that ingenuous and godly sorrow which worketh repentance and unfeigned purposes of amendment of life If thou through thy great mercy and unexpected providence shouldest grant enlargement of it These purposes come too late indeed we may justly think to find acceptance with thee and therefore not without great fear and trembling and a great sense of our undeserving we look up unto thee acknowledging thy infinite goodness if thou wilt vouchsafe but the smallest hope of mercy Mercy mercy Good Lord cast us not quite out of thy sight for Jesus sake who gave himself for us to redeem us from all iniquity It is the beginning of some mercy and an earnest we hope of more that thou hast made us sensible of our offences Help us to manifest our sincerity by making free and open confession of our crimes and taking the shame of them before others and by acknowledgment that we are unworthy to live and by earnest admonishments to all to be warned by our example and to cease betimes to do evil and learn to do well O that we could glorifie thee O God a little in our latter end after this manner And till we come to receive our deserved punishment help us to spend our time in bewailing our sins in humbling our selves before thee for them in setting our hearts against them in studying and admiring with the greatest affection the holy life of our Lord Jesus in calling other offenders to repentance and exhorting them thereby to give thee glory Deny us not we beseech thee the grace thus to employ our selves that we may have some tast of thy mercy and the fear of death may
sedateness of their Spirits and in the peace of their consciences and in their mastery over those inordinacies of Soul which often transport men into phrensy Love nothing passionately but God and those Divine beauties though they may transport will never distract the Soul Submit to the disâ—â—â—sâ—tions of God concerning you and think that condition best which his providence hath allotted you and you need never fear that discontent will crack your brain Keep a conscience clear in all things for nothing is so distracting as guilt nothing more sedate then uprightness and integrity In Religion study not the things that are mysterious but the things that are necessary Deep enquiries have often distracted the acutest brains but plain truths never discomposed the most illiterate understanding Believe the Trinity to be a mystery incomprehensible and let it continue so Acknowledge the decrees of God to be unsearchable and pry not into them too curiously Resign your self to the guidance of the Spirit and be content to be ignorant of the manner of its operations and if this you do you will be as wise as God requires you should be more Religious then some men that count themselves more wise then you and more composed in your Spirit then those that distract themselves with mysterious enquiries And this is my second direction to this sort of People to avoid violent passions and nice speculations Thirdly My third direction shall be that when men have recovered the use of their reason they would employ the exercise of it about the best things the service of God the good of mankind and the discreet guidance of their own lives and conversations And surely God in his providence will preserve that reason sound and entire that is employed to so Divine purposes In these generous employments there are many things ennobling to our reason nothing disturbing or distracting To serve God and submit our will to his to hope in his goodness and depend upon his mercy are things easie to be understood and require not an acute brain to perform them But the disputes about God and Religion lead men into endless mazes and Meanders To do as we would be done by requires no great skill and cunning but the methods of Craft and deceit may soon puzzle the shrewdest understanding for the paths of righteousness are plain and easie but the contrivances of the wicked are many of them very distracting And then for those duties which concern the Regulation of our affections there are none of them have any tendency in them to disturb our Spirits but all proper to compose them Anger and impatience enrage the heart but meekness will compose and settle it Thirst of revenge boyls up the blood to unnatural heats but Christian forgiveness makes us at peace within our selves and with others Anxious care and desponding thoughts are very often productive of Phrensy but nothing so proper to quiet and allay all the fluctuations of our minds as Faith and Hope and those other graces that are nearly allied to these If God of his mercy restore our reason in gratitude we are bound to employ it in his service and this is also the best course to preserve the soundness and integrity of it for God will bless that reason that is employed in the exercises of Religion and the duties of Religion naturally tend to the improving and preserving of it The last duty that I shall recommend to them is to pity them that are in the like condition to that wherein they heretofore were to aid them at present with the assistance of their prayers and hereafter their Hospital with the bounty of their purse if God shall enable them to do so To do good and to communicate forget not saith the Apostle for with such sacrifices God is well pleased but our charity is most suitable when it is extended to those who are under those miseries which heretofore were ours Israel must not grieve the stranger because they were strangers in Egypt The believing Hebrews to whom the Apostle writes must remember those that are in bonds as being bound with them and them that suffer adversity as being themselves also in the body And those that have wanted their senses should remember those that want them still remember them always in their prayers and when they shall be able in the largeness of their bounty too I add not further to this Chapter but only the usual conclusion of the rest a Prayer A PRAYER O LORD we desire to return unto thee all possible praise and thanks for all thy mercies bestowed upon us more particularly for that great mercy of restoring us to our former senses We beseech thee teach us to employ our reason in the service of God and the duties of religion to work out our salvation with fear and trembling and to study the things of our peace Subdue in us all disturbing passions and inordinate affections which are contrary to our peace and contrary to thy Gospel Root out of our souls sensual love and restless ambition and all pride and haughtiness of spirit and teach us to regulate our desires according to the rules of reason and religion Preserve our reason which thou hast restored and restore it to those that want it pity their dark and disconsolate condition allay their fears answer their doubts and subdue their distempers and speak peace and health to them and make us truly thankful to God who hath made it to be better with us than it is with them And as thou hast relieved our bodily distempers so heal all our spiritual diseases Make us every day more and more to be religious towards our God just and charitable towards our Neighbours and sober and temperate in our chast and Christian usage of our own bodies Fill us with the fruits of the spirit goodness and meekness and faith and hope and patience and long-suffering and all other Graces here and the fulness of thy glory hereafter through Jesus Christ our Lord. In whose name c. The Close HItherto from the beginning to the ending of this Treatise I have walked in a path untroden by others before me But all along have sincerely aimed at the spiritual good of those that have come under the directions of my Pen. It is very meet that in this as in all other actions the main end that I propound to my self should be the hohour of God and the good of Souls but râ—â—â—er that I have also designed to testifie my duty and respects to the Court of Aldermen whose Stipendiary I am and to the Worshipful Governours of the several places mentioned in this discourse and if they will permit these books to be distributed among the people under their charge I shall pray for a blessing from God upon what I have writ and theâ— shall read and direct them to pray for their Governours and Patrons and Benefactours in the short form following A PRAYER O LORD the giver of every good and perfect gift we return unto thee the tribute of praise and thanksgiving for all the priviledges and advantages reached out to us by the hands of our Patrons and Benefactours We beseech thee give us Grace to walk worthy of all these thy mercies and their favours and restore unto them into their bosomes a hundered fold for all their Christian charity and bounty Granting them in this life all the blessings of thy Grace and favour and in the world to come life and immortality through Jesus Christ our Lord who hath taught us to pray saying Our Father which art in Heaven hallowed be thy name thy Kingdom come thy Will be done in Earth as it is in Heaven Give us this day our daily Bread and forgive us our Trespasses as we forgive them that Trespass against us and lead us not into Temptation but deliver us from evil For thine is the Kingdom and the Power and the Glory for ever and ever Amen THE CONTENTS Of the several Chapters of this Treatise Chap. 1. Directions suitable to those who are Prisoners for Debt which may be applyable to the condition of such as are Prisoners in Ludgate the Fleet or either of the Counters or Newgate as it is the County Prison for Debt Pag. 1. Ch. 2. Instructions for such Malefactors as have committed such crimes the punishment whereof is some publick shame or corporal infliction or any other punishment below that of death Applyable in great measure to the condition of those that are in Bridewel p. 28. Ch. 3. Directions for those that are Tried and Cast for their Lives but have them spared by the mercy of the King or the Bench. p. 45. Ch. 4. Considerations suited to the condition of such Malefactors as are actually under the sentence of condemnation for death p. 60. Ch. 5. Instructions suited to the condition of those who have their Education in the Hospital of Christ-Church p. 77. Ch. 6. Instructions proper for such for whose care Provision is made in the Hospital of S. Bartholomew near Smithfield and S. Thomas the Apostle in Southwark p. 94. Ch. 7. Instructions for those that have been restored to their senses in the Hospital of Bethleem p. 110. FINIS The Reader is desired before he proceed to peruse this Book to mend with his Pen these following mistakes which are not wholly chargeable upon the Printer but in part upon the Copy which was in some places interlined and in others not very fairly writ mispointings and smaller Errata's I have not here noted but such as pervert the sense of which the first is the Grossest and in that as well as the rest the Reader hath the very Pages and Lines noted Pag. 2. l. 9. for Creditors read Chapmen p. 4. l. 26. for we r. be p. 8. l. 27. for Learning r. hearing p. 15. l. 25. after world insert then p. 29. l. last for side r. size p. 31. l. 28. for Heb. 3. 1. r. Heb. 3. 13. p. 37. l. 16. for Devils r. Devil p. 39. l. 9. after are blot out with l. 26. for reach r. reak p. 41. l. 3. after themselves blot out they are p. 49. l. 16. after these blot out as p. 55. l. 19. for Counts r. Courts p. 80. l. 2. for reports r. reporters p. 93. l. 20. blot out in and insert old p. 95. l. 16. for Authority both by r. both by the Authority
matter discoursed of in them And that what I shall say may be the more useful and the more readily applied to the exigencies of those for whom it is designed I shall distribute my matter into several Chapters suitable to those several heads already propounded that whoever shall think fit to make use of this Book may easily find what is proper to his particular condition and if he so please let the rest alone I shall begin with the condition of those who are Prisoners for Debt Directions suitable to those who are Prisoners for Debt which may be applyable to the condition of such as are Prisoners in Ludgate the Fleet or either of the Counters or Newgate as it is the County Prison for Debt c. THere are some who have made great boasts of some excellent 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Universal Medicine for all ailings but those who have better considered things find that it is more prudent to appropriate a particular Medicine to every particular disease and withal to have regard to the temper and constitution of the Patient with other circumstances attending his condition and as it is in our natural infirmities so also is it in our spiritual general applications are seldom of any efficacy against particular sins but he that would be a successful Physitian of souls ought to divide the word aright and not only deliver general truths but take care to bring them home as much as may be to every mans particular case and this course I shall observe in what I have to offer for the good of Prisoners where according to my propounded method I begin with Debtors and these according to the causes of their troubles may be ranked into two sorts First Some there are a more innocent sort of Debtors who have not drawn their miseries upon themselves but have fallen into them by the severe providence of God towards them whether in losses at Sea or the failing of their Creditors whose ruine hastens theirs also or by other methods better known to Trades-men then Divines Besides these Secondly There are another sort who have fallen into want by luxury or ryot extravagancy or ill Husbandry and endevoured to get rid of it by Knavery and Fraud and unjust Compositions rather choosing to tire their Creditors by delaying arts and a seeming patience under their confinement then to discharge themselves of their Debts by more honest and righteous ways and as the cases of these two are different so the directions for them must be different likewise To the former of these my directions shall be First to own and acknowledge the Justice of Gods providence towards them although as yet they cannot tell the particular reasons of it To men under these circumstances Job may be a very suitable pattern who under greater losses then most men usually suffer yet patiently said The Lord gave the Lord hath taken away Blessed be the name of the Lord Job 1. 21. and as proper for them may be the example of Eli who upon the receipt of very unwelcome news very piously said It is the Lord let him do what seemeth him good 1 Sam. 3. 18. and to these they may subjoyn a pattern far greater then either of these that of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ who after he had prayed for the removal of that bitter Cup yet quietly submitted to the pleasure of God in it with that pious ejaculation Not my will but thine be done St. Luk. 22. 42. Too usual it is for men to fret at second causes and to murmur at those who are but as instruments in Gods hand but they that seek for the ground of their troubles no higher then this seek too low for there is a providence above that ordereth all a wisdom above that directs all and a hand generally unobserved by most men that guides all things for the good of those who love and fear him and it is our spiritual prudence to look above these lower causes and observe that higher thus did Ioseph who gratefully acknowledgeth the providence of God in the severity of his Brethren and their unkindness towards him as for you saith he you thought evil against me but God meant it for good Gen. 50. 20. Thus did David when Shimei cursed him Abishai flyeth out in revenge against the Instrument but David discerns the hand of God in it Let him alone let him curse for the Lord hath bidden him 2 Sam. 16. 11. and if Prisoners for debt design for themselves any Christian advantage by their afflictions here they ought to begin the course of their spiritual improvements in discerning the all disposing providence in his just permission and wise ordering of them for the good of those who are exercised thereby Secondly When Debtors have discerned the hand of God in their afflictions it is their duty to exercise that patience which becomes Creatures under their corrections from a gratious Creator It must be confessed that it is very natural for men the more to repine at their sufferings by how much they think themselves the less deserving of them What we deserve we think we ought quietly to suffer but it adds to the fretfulness of our Spirits when we consider that men less righteous then our selves are yet more prosperous then we are this was that which troubled Jeremiah more then any of the evils which we underwent because he saw the Way of the wicked to prosper and them to be happy who dealt treacherously Jerem. 12. 1. This much troubled the mind of Habbacack that God seemed to connive at the wickedness of mankind and to hold his tongue when the wicked devoured the man that was more righteous then he Hab. 1. 13. This troubled Job who was the scorn of them that were at ease and David that the wicked prevailed against him But when good men suffer under the pressures of Imprisonment or such like afflictions they may allay the disquietness of their Spirits by such considerations as these First That that inequality which seems to be in the dispensations of God towards good and bad men is only confined to this World but that all things will be set right in the retributions of another Righteous Lazarus in this life may be brought to those straights as to want a piece of bread but little reason hath he upon that account to fret at his own condition or envy at that of Dives seeing the time is coming when he shall be comforted the other tormented St. Luk. 16. 25. Judgment indeed doth begin at the house of God but that Judgment is mixed with mercy but desperate will the end of those be that obey not the Gospel 1 St. Pet. 4. 17. All the evil things that good men receive they receive in this life and when this life ends they are at an end of their troubles and happiness commenceth that shall never end and all the good things which the wicked men receive they receive only in this World and hereafter