A sermon occasioned by the execution of a man found guilty of murder preached…

4. Acknowledge an Holy & Righteous hand of God in leaving thee to this great Transgression. Confess what thou hast done and give glory to God for what He has done: Say, He is just for I have sinned. Yea, and glorify him for this, that He ⟨p. 98⟩can make even this Sin, at least the punishment▪ Attending it, a means to bring thee to Repentance for all the rest of thy sins which else thou mightest have gone on securely in, unto endless Perdition. This prodigious sin of Murder, together with thy being brought to Condign Punishment for the same, may (through the Sovereign Grace of God, who can bring good out of evil) be an occasion by its loud cry of blood in thine •ars to awaken thee out of that sleep from which thou mightst else have never awakened, till everlasting burnings had awakened thee. The Lord blessed Manasseh's being brought into Chains to put him upon seeking the God of his Fathers; and the same God can bless this Chain with which thou art now bound, as a means to bring thee to everlasting Liberty. It's one of the Lords ways of Dealing with men to bring them to good; viz. when they are bound in Fetters, and holden in Cords of Affliction, to show them their work and their Transgression that they have exceeded in, and then to open their ears to Discipline and to command them to return Jo•. 36. 8. 9. 10. Yea, and he can cause them to return by Sealing Instruction at such a Time and in such a way. Thus can the Lord bring back thy soul from the pit tho' thy body must go thither. It is I confess a strange way to leave men to undo themselves, thereby to prevent their being everlastingly undone: But ⟨p. 99⟩doubtless there have been such Examples in the world, of men that have been thus saved; and who can tell but thou mayst make one more?

4. Acknowledge an Holy & Righteous hand of God in leaving thee to this great Transgression. Confess what thou hast done and give glory to God for what He has done: Say, He is just for I have sinned. Yea, and glorify him for this, that He ⟨p. 98⟩can make even this Sin, at least the punishment Attending it, a means to bring thee to Repentance for all the rest of thy sins which else thou mightest have gone on securely in, unto endless Perdition. This prodigious sin of Murder, together with thy being brought to Condign Punishment for the same, may (through the Soveraign Grace of God, who can bring good out of evil) be an occasion by its loud cry of blood in thine ars to awaken thee out of that sleep from which thou mightst else have never awakned, till everlasting burnings had awakned thee. The Lord blessed Manasseh's being brought into Chains to put him upon seeking the God of his Fathers; and the same God can bless this Chain with which thou art now bound, as a means to bring thee to everlasting Liberty. It's one of the Lords wayes of Dealing with men to bring them to good; viz. when they are bound in Fetters, and holden in Cords of Affliction, to shew them their work and their Transgression that they have exceeded in, and then to open their ears to Discipline and to command them to return Jo. 36. 8. 9. 10. Yea, and he can cause them to return by Sealing Instruction at such a Time and in such a way. Thus can the Lord bring back thy soul from the pit tho' thy body must go thither. It is I confess a strange way to leave men to undo themselves, thereby to prevent their being everlastingly undone: But