Knowledge in a dying Hour I was so long in opening those Two Heads that I had no time for Application only address'd my self to the Auditory which was then the most Numerous I ever before or since saw in Havant and I will because I can give you some brief Account of that for I took some Notes of it which are as followeth I shall instead of the several Uses that might be made of this Doctrine I have been discoursing of apply my self in a few Words 1st To Young Ones 2dly To the Relations of this deceased Person 3dly To this Society 4thly To all and every one of this great Congregation 1st To you that are Young You are come this Evening to the Funeral of a young Gentlewoman who was called away by Death in the Flower of her time She was fit to die and therefore she died to live But how is it with you I beseech you consider you may die even now in your youth as well as she Ay! But are you as well prepared for it as she was Oh! Dreadful dying without an Interest in the Lord Jesus Christ You had better never have been Born then die to go to Hell for ever which will most certainly be your Portion if you die in a Christless State Oh that you would take example by this blessed Virgin to Fly youthful Lusts To remember your Creatour in the days of your Youth And now Oh! now in the Morning of your Age to look Heaven-ward I may say of the deceased as Simeon said of the Lord Jesus in his Infant-state Luke 2.24 Behold this Child is set for the fall and rising of many in Israel and for a Sign which shall he spoken against Oh! So verily this young Saint as a glorious Star was shining in this Horizon for the fall and rising of many that is both in Judgment and in Mercy to many in these parts In Judgment to be a greater and more Terrible Condemnation to those Obstinate young ones that will still keep on in their Lusts still continue in their Sins still slight and Contemn the Tenderness of Grace in the Gospel after so great and amazing an instance of the Riches of free Grace the fulness of divine Love extended unto her In Mercy to you who will be affected with what God did abundantly for her in a way of special Grace and therefore will be looking unto Christ as Believing there is the same Free-grace the same rich Love the same bottomless Ocean of Pardoning Healing and Soul-saving Mercy for you as she found as she tasted as she Ravishingly Experienc'd in the day of her Distress Oh! hear this dead Saint speaking to you in David's words Psal 66.16 17. Come and hear all ye that fear God and I will declare what he hath done for my Soul I Cryed unto him with my Mouth and he was Extolled with my Tongue Oh! hear her thus speaking to every Soul of you You young Men and Maids that are yet in the Gall of Bitterness and in the Bond of Iniquity that are minding nothing but the satisfying your Lusts that have no sense of Heaven and Eternity or what will become of your Immortal Souls for ever I was once in the same condition and running on in the same excess of Riot I was once as dead as Carnal as Vain as Frothy as you are But God broke my heart and Melted my Soul with Trembling and Affrightning Shakings under the vvoful Apprehension of a lost Condition and a Flaming Hell that I look'd every Moment to be plung'd into And then he comforted and Reviv'd me with a Sensible Manifestation of redeeming Love then he made knovvn to me the Wonders of Soveraign Grace in fully Revealing and discovering Christ with the avail of his Pretensions Death and Sufferings to my Soul I Cryed to him in the day of Distress and he Graciously Vouchsaf'd his Ear He brought me up out of the Horrible Pit out of the Miry Clay and set my Feet upon a Rock even the Rock of Ages with whom I am now in Glory and shall be so for ever Oh! Therefore you my former Carnal Companions be intreated to seek the Lord whilst he may be found and to call upon him while he is yet near Do not let a Dalilah's Lap deprive you of an Abraham's Bosom Do not for the fading Pleasures of a Transitory Life Subject your precious Souls to eternal Ruin Oh! Let my Case the unexpressible Sorrows I have gone through for Sin and the true pleasures I have found in the ways of Grace and Holiness have a powerful convincing and perswading Effect upon you The good Lord help all you young ones to hear this dead Saint thus speaking to you 2dly My next word is to you that are the Relations of this blessed Person and 't is what our Saviour said to the Mourners about the Damsel we read of Matt. 9.24 The Maid is not dead but Sleepeth So your Daughter your Sister your Relation for vvhom you are in so much Bitterness and because of vvhom your hearts are ready to break vvith sorrovv Oh! She is not dead but Sleepeth Indeed as to you she is dead and you will see her no more with a mortal Eye but unto God she is alive and with him wâ—ll live for evermore Oh! Therefore Assuage your Grief dry up your Tears make no Bevvailing for her for she is better and in a far better State than you Oh! therefore turn your Lamentation for her into Imitation of her think not of her Immature death but of her holy and examplary Life and be ye followers of her who through the abundant increase of Faith and exercise of Patience was fitted for the Kingdom above and is now with the triumphant inheriting the Promises being in Possession of that Inheritance which is Incorruptible Vndefiled which fadeth not away And as to her outward Man she is but fallen asleep and will be awakened again at the joyful Morning of the Resurrection Though she be now with Job saying to Corruption thou art my Father and to the Worm thou art my Mother and my Sister though after her Skin Worms will destroy her Body yet in her Flesh shall she see God I will therefore commend the Apostle's Words to your serious Consideration which I hope may afford you some matter of Consolation at least be a rational Ground for the alleviation of your present Sorrow on this sad Occasion 1 Thes 4.13.14 But I would not have you to be Ignorant Brethren concerning them which are asleep that ye Sorrow not even as others which have no hope for if we believe that Jesus died and rose again even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him Again v. 16. For the Lord himself shall descend from Heaven with a shout with the Voice of the Archangel and with the Trump of God and the dead in Christ shall rise first On which sweet Conclusion and most comfortable truth I would ground my pressing Exhortation
which as yet is none of the softest like the Babe in Elisabeth's Womb leap within me for Joy This indeed indeared you very much to me and set me a Longing to be partaker of your Heavenly Gift and though I had several Letters from several Persons that spake very largely of you and the wonderful Things God did by you and that at such a Rate if I had not known them to be Men of Sobriety Faithfulness and eminent Piety I should certainly have Judg'd they had flown in their Language above the Capacity of an Hyperbole to bring 'em safely off yet early at my Return when I went my self to Chichester and saw the unusual Seriousness of the vast Auditory and the extraordinary Going forth of your Spirit both in Prayer and Preaching I was strangely amazed and forc'd to say with the Queen of Sheba The half of your deserved Fame was not told me and made this Remark in my own Breast There was no such Sight to be seen any where in our Israel and therefore left others to consider of it and speak their Minds And if the Lord goes on as he has graciously and wonderfully begun Chichester will be the Place of Religion in the South of England and we may take in the rest of the Points of the Compass Verily you have or rather the Great Jehovah by you lighted such a Candle there that the Enemies of Free-Grace with all their Tricks and Artifices with all their Growling and Grumbling with all their Lying and Slandering with all their Noise and Clamour yea with all their Cunning and Priest-craft will never be able to put out for Magna est veritas prevalebit Dagon must and shall fall before the Ark of the Living God Dear Brother I am in a large Field whilst I have your noble Chichesterian Acts under review which will be for ever your Praise in the Gates of the Daughter of Zion and your Eternal Rejoycing in the day of the Lord Jesus and so very large is this Field that I despair of finding the way out and therefore must be forc'd to stand still breaking forth in the Apostle's Admiration O the Depth of the Riches both of the Wisdom and Knowledge of God how unsearchable are his Judgments and how are his Ways past finding out Or taking up the Dictates of the Holy Spirit in the Mouth of Balaam According to this time it shall be said of Jacob and of Israel Ay and now of Chichester too what has God wrought And though you did good even beyond Conception very much good even beyond Parallel whilst these Parts were Blessed with your Presence yet really the Good by way of Emphasis and which will be the most Sparkling Jewel in the Crown wherewith your Master will crown you in the Day of his Appearing was your speaking Peace to this Blessed Saint whose Sad Life is the Subject of the following Tract You were chosen out by the Lord of the Harvest and preferr'd before any of his Labourers to bring a Message of Peace and Comfort to her drooping Soul great Pains were used and many Essays made to effect a Cure upon her but alas all in vain No Words were wanting no Labour was spared no Gospel ways untryed for the easing her distressed Mind but all to no purpose If Prayers and Tears if publick and private Wrestlings with God if setting a-part Solemn Days if the spending part of many Nights if communicating of Experiences if opening and inculcating of the Promises if frequent Visits and labouring all manner of ways with her What shall I say If imparting the very Secrets of my Soul and all the Mysteries and Wonders of Grace my Gracious God ever made known to me in his Christ had any thing availed she had not been in those Shades of Horrid Darkness you found her For I can say in all Sincerity as Paul to the Corinthians My Mouth was opened my Heart was enlarged towards her Oh! how often did my Soul Mourn in Secret because I could not help her How many Tears did I shed in private because no words I spoke could take hold on her I was too unworthy of such an Honour My Poor Labours through the Influence of a Divine Blessing awakened her out of a Natural State but Success was denied to my Endeavours how great soever to Administer any Ease or Comfort That was your alotted Task by him with whom is the Residue of the Spirit Oh! to this end were you Born and for this cause came you unto Chichester to bear Witness unto the Truth to Gospel-truth Light and special Grace for the lifting up this Dear Languishing Soul who would not see who could not believe there was any Love or Redeeming Mercy for her till it was confirmed to her from your Lips then she saw the Beauty of the Lord as the Morning and the Glory of Jehovah her Righteousness as the Noon-day There was indeed before a Wind a Gale of Gospel-Truths that continually blew upon her but the Lord was not in the Wind There was a Fire of Zeal kindled in the Breasts of Ministers and many others always flaming in her Bosom but the Lord was not in the Fire and therefore though there was Balm enough fetch'd from Gilead and applied to her Wounds yet this Sorrowful Daughter of Jerusalem was not Healed till you came and God came with you as a Welcome Messenger of Salvation Then Oh! then the Son of Righteousness arose with Healing in his Wings in the Horizon of her Soul Then did the day break and the Shadows began to fly away and then did her Beloved come leaping over the Mountains and skipping over the Hills unto her Oh! Happy was the time wherein you first saw her and Blessed was the day in which it was told her Behold there is a Watch-man of the Lord 's sending a Work-man of the Lord 's preparing go and hear what he has to say to you As the Lord's way of Judgment so his ways of Mercy are in the Deep and his Footsteps coming towards a Poor Creature for Good and Comfort are not known So far am I from the Mode of this Generation to envy you or repine that you should do that in a few days which I could not do in many Months that the Lord knows I Love Honour Prize and Value you the more for it and you are much dearer to me since than ever you were before To you therefore I dedicate this short History of her Life and Death as that which of right belongs to you You knew her and was well known to her You pittied her in her doleful Agonies and took a great deal of Pains with her to help her out of the Deep Pit into which she was so horribly sunk The Lord reward you yea he will abundantly reward you for all your great Labour of Love to her precious Soul You were very high in her Esteem and exceeding Dear she never spoke of you but with wonderful Respect heartily
blessing God for you You had the Satisfaction to see her in her latest Hours the very night she died which was a great Comfort to her Friends and though she was under a Cloud at that Moment yet a little after you left her the Cloud was dispell'd and she was in a Transport of Glory and went to Heaven in a Chariot of Triumph She had Beauty for Ashes the Oil of Joy for Mourning the Garment of Praise for the Spirit of Heaviness and she is now a Tree of Righteousness the Planting of the Lord that he may be for ever Glorified in the aboundant Riches of his Grace and Mercy towards her and with whom she is and ever will be glorified to all Eternity And now my Dear my very Dear Brother I hope your Candid Eye will overlook the many Imperfections of these Scribbling Lines and cover with the Mantle of Charity what you see amiss in the subsequent Tract And I hope also none will be so unjust to entitle you to the Weaknesses and Impertinencies appearing therein because your Name is inscribed to it The good Lord increase your eminent Gifts add to your Matchless Zeal inflame your ardent Love that you may Shine more and more in Doctrine and Conversation till you are call'd to Shine in the Celestial Constellation above and till after all your Pious Endeavours and Faithful Labours in your Lord's Vineyard you hear that Blessed Sound from your Lord's Lips whose Mouth is most comfortably Sweet in the day of Grace and will be ravishingly so in the day of Glory Well done Good and Faithful Servant thou hast been Faithful over a few things I will make thee Ruler over many things enter thou into thy Master's Joy Go on as you have begun through the good Hand of your God upon you in the Power and Spirit of Elias to turn the Hearts of the Fathers to the Children that is to inflame the Hearts of Parents with a Desire and Longing after the Salvation of their Children And the Disobedient to the Wisdom of the Just that is Those who have stood out against Gospel-Light and Truth Now to see that closing with Christ in a Gospel-way and to seek to be made Righteous by an imputed Righteousness is the only Spiritual Wisdom And to make ready a People prepared for the Lord that is To Convince People that they are Lost and Undone in themselves and to perswade them without looking for any previous Qualifications to cast their naked Souls before the Lord Jesus to be cloathed upon with his Righteousness which only must be their Happiness if ever they are made Happy So committing you to the Protection of our Dear Redeemer in whom I desire to be esteemed as unfeignedly I am Your most Affectionate though unworthy Brother C. Nicholetts TO THE New-gather'd Church of Christ according to the Gospel-Order in Chichester Grace Mercy and Peace from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ Beloved Friends AS I with all the People of God in these Parts did Rejoyce in and heartily Congratulate your Associating together in the Bond and Fellowship of the Gospel so we fervently Pray this lively Beginning with such ardent Zeal Courage and Faithfulness to the Interest of your and our Lord and Master may have a Prosperous Progression in your building up in the way of Holiness and Righteousness that you may abound more and more in every Good Work and be to the Praise of his Grace who has called you out of Darkness into this marvelous Light It was very delightful to us to hear that you the Children of Judah did go in good earnest Weeping as you went to seek the Lord your God with your whole Heart and with your whole Soul and that you did ask the way to Zion with your Faces thither-ward and did unanimously say one to another Come and let us joyn our selves to the Lord in a perpetual Covenant that shall not be forgotten And accordingly did enter into a Solemn Covenant to live and walk together as Brethren in the Rule and Order of the Gospel and that under the strictest Obligation to obey all the Precepts and to rely upon all the Promises thereof You gave your selves first unto the Lord and then to one another by the Will of God which Coalition I think was of God Did I say I think so Pray give me that word back again and I will give you a better in the room of it I know and am well assured it was of God and have stronger Reasons to produce when called thereunto for my Confidence than the fiercest of your Opposers how Learned soever they may think themselves can answer One reason is this and it is such an one as all but Atheists will acknowledge to have weight in it God so far owning you and so signally honouring you in your first waiting upon the Lord at his Table in a Church-State as to shine down from between the Cherubims amongst you on this Precious I had almost said Peerless Saint this young Daughter of Abraham whose Life is under review who was one of you giving up her self to God in the same Covenant with you at the very time of which she saw that Light she never beheld before It was on your Shoar this fluttering Dove first found a place to rest the Sole of her Foot it was from the Mount of your Moriah this abject Daughter of Zion first pluck'd an Olive-branch of Peace and brought it in her Mouth She departed from us to you a Mara she came back from you to us a Naomi she went out empty but returned full and at her return she had Peace in the inward and Joy did shine in the Face of her outward Man whilst she was with us she was Sowing in Tears with you was her Harvest of Comfort and she returned with great Rejoycing bringing her Sheaves with her Now as Manoah's Wife argued in another Case If the Lord were pleased to kill us he would not have received a Burnt-offering and a Meat-offering at our Hands neither would he have shewed us all these things nor would as at this time have told us such things as these So I may argue in this If God was displeased with you or if you were out of God's way If the Fervor of your Zeal was mingled with the Leaven of Spleen and Prejudice if you were influenced to this Imbodying by Church-dividing Principles I say if any of these things much more if all these things were so as your Adversaries with more Spite than Reason with more Malice than shew of Truth do alledge against you Would God have so filled your first Assembling with the Glory of his Presence as to bruise Satan under the Feet of this dejected Damsel that had been so long Rampant in her and to speak effectual Peace to her down-cast Soul who since the hour of her first Conviction never knew what a Moments Peace was before Now he that can infer a wrong way or God's
the Doctrine of Imputed Righteousness if the Absoluteness of the Covenant of Grace if believing Justification to be an immanent and instaneous Act if the excluding Works and all other Concauses whatever with the Merits of Christ in the matter of our Justification be Antinomianism the Lord keep me an Antinomian whilst I live for in the firm Truth of these great Points I desire to be found believing when I dye Oh! my Dear Friends and Brethren hold fast the Form of sound Words keep close to the Blessed and Glorious Truths of the Gospel do not give heed to the Seducing Fables of Men who cry up Inherent Righteousness and previous Qualifications in order to a Regenerate State making an Idol of them Singing Songs of Triumph to them as Israel did about the Golden Calf These be thy Gods O Israel that brought thee up out of the Land of Egypt 'T is the Honour of your Pulpit that no other Sound but that of Aaron's Golden Bells no other Melody but Grace Grace has as yet been heard there No Trash of Legal Righteousness or Humane Glittering Performances as Antecedaneous to a closing with Christ have been bellow'd forth within your Virgin-Walls that are yet undefiled and God of his Mercy still keep them so with the Language of the Beast For though you have had many Preachers yet they have been all acted by the same Spirit spoke the same thing borne Witness to the same Truth even Salvation by the Blood of Jesus without any Hay or Stubble of Man's Endeavours And if the Opposers of the everlasting Gospel gratifie their Luxuriant Fancies by Nick-naming it Antinomianism Oh! let not that discourage or disturb you Fourthly My last Advice to you is That you would have a special care of your Walking you have the Light Oh! Walk as Children of the Light You are Foundation Stones I heartily with none of you may prove rotten or unsound ones for that will prove very pernicious to your future Building and most dreadful to your own Souls in a dying Hour Remember Oh! Remember Holiness becomes the House of our God for ever Holiness is the Crown of the Church-Militant and it will be for ever the Glory of the Church-Triumphant You have many Eyes upon you many envious ones that are impatiently watching for your halting Oh! therefore I beseech you I most humbly and earnestly beg you for the Lord's sake for your Souls sake for the Gospel's sake for your Friends sake take special heed to your Steps and that in every respect Oh! do not fill Gath with Joy or the Streets of Askelon with Triumph put no occasion of insulting in the Mouths of the Uncircumcised by any Failing or Miscarriage Grieve not the Spirits of your Friends by giving your Enemies any just cause to upbraid you But walk in all things in all cases according to the Rule of the Gospel Loath Sin and leave it yea hate the very Appearance of Evil Remember the Son of God walks up and down among you to observe you with his Eyes as Flames of Fire you are not now in the wide World but in the Sacred Boundaries of Mount Zion and therefore you cannot Sin at so cheap a Rate as you did before Oh! that you would follow the Footsteps of your Dear and Precious Sister She has left you a Copy Oh! that you would Write after it Oh! that you may so live Oh! that you may so dye as she did Then comfortable will it be for you here and happy will it be with you hereafter As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord so walk ye in him rooted and built up in him and stablished in the Faith as ye have been taught abounding therein with Thanksgiving And we will not cease to Pray for you and incessantly to desire That ye might be all filled with the Knowledge of the Will of God in all Wisdom and Spiritual Vnderstanding That ye might walk worthy of the Lord unto all well-pleasing being Fruitful in every good Work and increasing in the Knowledge of God Strengthned with all Might according to his Glorious Power unto all Patience and Long-suffering with Joyfulness Giving Thanks to the Father who hath made you meet to be Partakers of the Inheritance of the Saints in Light Who hath delivered you from the Powers of Darkness and hath translated you into the Kingdom of his Dear Son My Dear Friends Excuse my Plainness bear with my Earnestness for my Soul loves you and you are very near my Heart I would not have you in the least miscarry or fall short in any thing of the Hopes we have of you for the whole World But as you have begun so hold out hold on and you will certainly Reap at last if you faint not It is but a little while and you shall he where your Heavenly Sister is gone before you even in the Mansions of Eternal Glory with the ever-blessed God In whose Presence there is fulness of Joy and at whose right-hand there are Pleasures for ever-more Now the God of Peace that brought again from the Dead the Lord Jesus that great Shepherd of the Sheep through the Blood of the Everlasting Covenant make you perfect in every good Work to do his Will working in you that which is well-pleasing in his sight through Jesus Christ to whom be Glory for ever and ever Amen And I beseech you Brethren suffer the Word of Exhortation for I have written a Letter unto you in few words with which I bid you heartily Farewel in the Lord Sincerely Subscribing my self Your Truly Affectionate Servant and Brother in our Dearest Jesus C. Nicholetts TO HIS Worthy and much valued Friend Mr. R. W. SIR I Received yours wherein you pressingly desire an Account of that young Gentlewoman Mrs. Mary Harrison who lately went to Heaven from amongst us whose Fame I perceive has reached your Ears Really Sir the Person you enquire after deserves to be known by the whole World For I sincerely think considering every thing and all Circumstances as to the manner of her Conversion and the Fruitful Consequence of it together with the Agonies of her Soul in yearning after Christ and her prodigious aspiring Heaven-ward she has hardly left her Fellow behind her 'T is pitty the Pencil was not in an abler Artist's Hand that her Picture might be drawn to the best Advantage according to the Truth of those lively Colours the many Passages of her Life would afford to set it off for then I am sure it would be as valuable at least in the Eyes of the Serious as any Life whose History has pass'd the Press these many Years and so universally satisfactory that the Censures of the severest Criticks would be turned into Astonishment and Admiration You are pleased to tell me I am the fittest Person to write the Narrative of her Case I confess in respect of my intimate Knowledge of her and frequent Converse both day and night with her and as one to whom
this Maiden-Gentlewoman another was awaken'd by it who is since joyn'd to our Church But I told Mrs. Mary she argued wrongly against her self for if the Gospel were indeed hid from her she would have no manner of Sense of that judgment for all that are Reprobates and so in a lost State the Gospel being hid from them are past feeling having their Consciences seared as with an hot Iron But you said I having thorough Mercy such a quick Feeling and being so awfully apprehensive of the Dreadfulness of the Judgment are so far from having the Gospel hid from you that you may be assured God is Graciously coming towards you to reveal the Beauty and Glory of it unto you This did not satisfie her but persisting in her Despairing Language told me she was in a Perishing Condition and should be Damn'd I asking a Reason of this Desperate Conclusion she with a Ghastly Look and Mournful Accent answered I have been a great Sinner and there is no Mercy or Pardon for me What shall I do What will become of me for ever At the pronouncing of these words she Trembled wrung her Hands and wept bitterly Upon which I applied my self to her in the following Terms Mrs. Mary You through Ignorance as yet of the Gospel are guilty of a great Mistake in inferring an Impossibility of Pardon from the Greatness of your Sins For this is to argue against the Nature of Free-Grace which overtakes and fastens hold on the very Greatest and Worst of Sinners And against the Compact of the Father and the Son in the Covenant of Redemption For as in that Covenant the Father on his part promiseth the sending down of his Spirit to bow and bend the Wills and incline the Hearts of the most Obstinate and Rebellious Sinners to lay hold upon a Saviour by a true and lively Faith So the Son on his part promised to give himself a Propitiatory Sacrifice upon the Cross sufficient to atone the greatest Sins any of the Posterity of Adam could possibly be guilty of whereby to the Amazement of Men and Angels Pardon is not only a Gracious but a Righteous Act in God and the Sinner may plead for it upon account of that Everlasting Atonement made by the Son of God This the Apostle John who lean'd on Christ's Bosom and thereby knew the Secrets of his Heart and the Wonders of Redeeming Grace flowing from his Lips I say he even he plainly declares and clearly holds forth this adorable Truth in that Gospel-Apothegm 1 Epist 1.9 If we confess our Sins he is Faithful and Just mark that to forgive us our Sins and to cleanse us from all Vnrighteousness Moreover I farther told her this arguing is against the very literal meaning of many Sweet and Precious Promises made by the Lord himself on purpose to put such Poor Distressed Creatures as you are out of Doubt of his Grace and Mercy As that in Isa 1.18 Come now and let us reason together saith the Lord though your Sins be as Scarlet they shall be as white as Snow though they be red like Crimson they shall be as Wool Come Mrs. Mary said I What do you think of this Reasoning from the Richness of the Covenant of Grace and from the Infiniteness of that Satisfaction made for Sin by the Lord Jesus Christ the Mediator of the New Covenant Her answer was This Promise belongs to those that are in Christ but I am far enough from him and have no mind to him nor no Heart to believe in him nor can I do any thing that is good I told her she spoke as a Legalist not yet acquainted with the Way and Mystery of the Gospel which calls Persons from themselves and shews them their utter Inability and Incapacity to do any thing of themselves Then I turn'd her to another Promise Isa 43.24 Thou hast bought me no sweet Cane with Money neither hast thou filled me with the Fat of thy Sacrifices but thou hast made me to serve with thy Sins thou hast wearied me with thine Iniquities I ask'd her what she could say worse of her self than God said of this People so full of all manner of Abominations But yet said I Pray observe the two next Verses 25 26. I even I am he that blotted out thy Transgressions for my own sake and will not remember thy Sins Put me in remembrance let us plead together Declare thou that thou mayest be Justified I told her from these words that a putting God in remembrance of his Gracious Promise to pardon and forgive Sin any Sin all Sins how great soever and to blot out all Iniquities let their Magnitude or Multitude be what it will upon the account of Christ's infinite Satisfaction which he has given to Divine Justice and an humble yet earnest Pleading the avail of it at the Throne of Grace would be more pleasing and acceptable to God and far more Comfortable and Beneficial for her than thus in Diffidence and Despair to lye down under the Sense of Guilt and give up her self as lost precluding thereby the Operation of the Spirit of God which would work a saving Repentance unto Life in her The answer she made was This Promise how Sweet soever in it self it was could be of no use nor afford any Comfort to her in her present Condition for that she could not Pray or Plead at all and her Heart was quite barr'd and bolted against any good Motion or Inclination and she was as one wholly destitute of the Spirit and forsaken of God And then lamentably cry'd out My Day is past and I am Undone Undone I ask'd her if ever she was in the like Condition before She answered No never in her Life Then I told her What she had said was not could not be true if God's Word may be believ'd for according to that none but those who were Once enlightned which she never was before and have tasted of the Heavenly Gift which she never before did and were made Partakers of the Holy Ghost which did never stir in her before and have tasted the good Word of God the relish and savor of which she never before understood and the Powers of the World to come to which she had been hitherto altogether a Stranger can possibly be in danger of having their Day past And therefore this being the first time of God's coming towards her in an awakening manner alarming her Soul with the Sense of a Future State though her Sins were so terribly set in order before her yet her distracting and terrifying Fears were without any Scriptural Ground For as I farther alledg'd this was God's common way of dealing with those whom he design'd special Love and Mercy to first to shew them their lost and undone Condition by Nature as they are the wretched Off-spring of Fallen Adam and to shake them over the Scorching Flames of Hell and make them tremblingly apprehensive of his deserved Wrath and Indignation that so the Redemption