Speedy Repentance Urged, Dialogue
THE Character and Carriage and Execution of Hugh Stone.
THe foregoing Sermon having been Preached unto the Guilty Murderer, I thought it my Duty to observe what operation the Truth and Word of God might have upon him; and to answer his own desires, that I would assist him in the last minutes of his life; nor was I altogether ignorant that the Labours that the Famous Perkins used with Prisoners, were so successful, as to encourage those that should make an Example of them.
I have hardly met with so unintelligible a man, as this Hugh Stone. He could and would frequently speak very well, but with many very Reasonabl… things which he uttered, he mingle as great Impertinencies. I know no whether the use of his Reaso… were not sometimes disturbe… by, the Horrour of his mind; fo… he thought himself sometimes haunte… with the Ghost of his Murdered Wife. But his Conversation in the Prison before his Condemnation, was in diverse things very Scandalous; and I could wish there had been more exactness in his Repentance afterwards. His Passions upon any Provocation were so inordinate, as that we did not wonder to see what he was come unto. And as on the one side, I never saw a Man express less fear of Dying, so on the other, I never heard a Man express more care about every Trifle, which he counted himself concerned in.
There was a Minister that walk'd with him to his Execution; and I shall insert the principal Passages of the Discourse between them; in which the Reader may find or make something useful to himself, what ever it were to the Poor Man who was more immediately concerned in it.
Minister.
I am come to give you what Assistance I can, in your taking of the Steps, which your eternal Wea… or Wo, now depends upon the well or ill taking of.
Hugh Stone,
Sir, I Thank you, and I beg you to do what you can for me.
Min.
Within a very few Minutes your immortal Soul must appear before God the Iudge of all. I am heartily sorry▪ you have lost so much time since your first Imprisonment: you … need use a wonderful Husbandry of the little piece of an Inch … remains. Are you now prepared to stand before the Tribunal of …
H. S.
I hope I am.
Min.
And what Reaso… … that Hope?
H. S.
I find all my Sins made so …i… ter to me, that if I were to have … given me this Afternoon, to Live such a Life, as I have Lived heretofore, I would not accept of it; I had rather Dy.
Min.
That is well, if it be True. But suffer me a little to search into the Condition of your Soul.
Are you sensible, That you were Born a Sinner? That the Guilt of the First Sin committed by Adam, is justly charged upon you? And that you have hereupon a Wicked Nature in you, full of Enmity against all that is Holy, and Iust, and Good? For which you deserved to be destroyed, as soon as you first came into this World.
H. S.
I am sensible of this.
Min.
Are you further sensible, … you have Lived, a very ungodly Life? That you are guilty of thousands of Actual Sins, every one of which deserves the Wrath and Curse of God, both in this Life, and that which is to come?
H. S.
I am sensible of this also
Min.
But are you sensible, That …ou have broken all the Laws of God? You know the Commandments. Are you sensible, That you have broken every one of Them.
H. S.
I cannot well answer to that. My Answer may be liable to some Ex…eptions. —This I own, I have broken every Commandment on the Account mentioned by the Apostle James; That he who breaks one is Guilty of all, But not otherwise.
Min.
Alas, That you know your self no better than so! I do affirm to you, that you have particularly broken every one of the Commandments▪ and you must be sensible of it.
H. S.
I cann't see it.
Min.
But you must Remember, That the Commandment is Exceeding Broad; it reaches to the Heart as well as the Life: it includes Omissions as well as Commissions, and it at once both Requires and Forbids. But I pray, make an experiment upon any one Commandment, in which you count your self most Innocent: and … whether you do not presently conf…s your self Guilty thereabout. I may not leave this point slightly passed ever with you.
H. S.
That Commandment, Thou shalt not make to thy self any Graven Image; How have I broken it?
Min.
Thus: You have had undue I…ages of God in your Mind a thousand times. But more than so; that Commandment not only forbids our using the Inventions of Men in the Worship of God, but it also requires our …sing all the Institutions of God. Now have not you many and many a time turned your back upon some of those glorious Institutions?
H. S.
Indeed, Sir, I confess it? I see my sinfulness greater than I thought it was.
Min.
You ought to see it. God help you to see it! There is a boundless Ocean of it. And then for that SIN, which has now brought a shameful Death upon you, 'tis impossible to Declare the Aggravations of it; hardly an Age will show the like. You have professed your sel… Sorry for it!
H. S.
I am heartily so.
Min.
But your Sorrows must be after a godly Sort. Not meerly because of the miseries which it has brought on your outward Man, but chiefly for the Wrongs and Wounds therein given to your own Soul; and not only for the Miseries you have brought on your self, but chiefly for the Injuries which you have done to the Blessed God.
H. S.
I hope my Sorrow lies there.
Min.
But do you Mourn without Hope▪
H. S.
I thank God, I do not.
Min.
Where do you see a Door of Hope?
H. S.
In the Lord Iesus Christ, who has died to save Sinners.
Min.
Truly, There is no other Name by which we may be saved? The Righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ, is that alone, in which you may safely anon appear before the Judgment Seat of God. And that Righteousness is by the marvellous and infinite Grace of God, offered unto you. But do you find, that as you have no Rightetousness, so you have no Strength? that you cannot of your self move or stir, towards the Lord Jesus Christ, though you justly perish if you do not Run unto Him? that it is the Grace of God alone which must enable you to accept of Salvation from the Great Saviour?
H. S.
Sir, my Case in short is This, I have laid my self at the Feet of the Lord Iesus Christ for my Salvation; and had it not been for His meer Grace and Help, I had never been able to do That. But there I have laid and left my self; I have nothing to plead, why he should accept of me. If He will do it I am happy, but if He will not, I am undone for ever; it had been good for me that I never had been Born.
Min.
And you must justifie Him if He should Reject you. You surprize me, with at once giving me so much of the Discourse, which all this while I have been labouring for▪ I can add but this! The good Lord make you sincere in what you say!
—Your Crime lay in Blood; & your Help also, That lies in Blood. I am to offer you the Blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, as that in which you may now have the Pardon of all your sins. Now you may try the sincerity of your Faith in the Blood of the Lord Jesus for a Pardon, by This. Have you an Hope in that Blood, for all the other saving effects of it? shall I expl…in what I mean?
H. S.
Do Sir.
Min.
The Blood of the Lord Jesu…, … not only Sin Pardoning Blood, but … Soul-Purifying and Heart-softening …ood. It embitters all Sin unto the …, that it is applied unto, and … every lust in such a Soul. Are are you desirous of this?
H. S.
With all my Heart?
Min.
The Lord make you so. The Lord Seal your Pardon, in that Blood, which is worth ten thousand Worlds!
But what will you do for that God, who has given you these hopes of a Pardon? you must with a Holy ingenuity now do something for the Honour of that God, whom you have sinned so much against.
H. S.
What' shall I do?
Min.
Why, Confess and Bewail the Sins that have undone you, and publickly Advise, and Exhort, and Charge all that you can, to take heed of such evi… wages.
H. S.
I will endeavour to do it …s God shall help me.
Min.
I pray tell me plainly what special Sin, do you think it was, t…a… laid the first Foundation of your D… struction? where did you begin to lea… God▪ and Ruine your self?
H. S.
It was Contention in my F…mily. I had been used unto something of Religion: and I was once careful about the Worship of God, not only with my Family, but in secret also. But upon Contention between me and my wife, I left off the wayes of God, and you see what I am come to.
Min.
I would pray you to Vomit up all Sin, with a very hearty detestation. You are going (if I may so speak) to disgorge your Soul; if you do not first cast up your Sin, if your Soul and your Sin come away together you cannot but know something of the dismal condition which it must pass into. O what cause have you to fa… out with Sin forever? it has been your only Enemy. Here is the only Revenge which you may allow in your self. You must now bear any Mu…ce against any one man in the World, … forgive even those that have done … the greatest Injuries. Only upon …, be as revengeful as you can: … …ould have you like Samps…n so to … taking of a just Revenge,
H S.
I hope I shall.
Min.
Well, we are now but a very few paces from the place, where you must breath your last. You are just going to take a most awful Step, which has this most Remarkable in it, That it cannot be twice taken. If you go wrong now, it cannot be Recalled throughout the Dayes of a long Eternity. I can but commit you into the Arms of a Merciful Redeemer, that he may keep you from a Miscarriage, which cannot be recal'd & redress'd throughout eternal Ages. The Lord show unto you the Path of Life!
Attend unto these, as the last words that I may speak before the Prayer, with which I am immediately to take a long Farewel of you. You are now just going to be Confirmed for ever. If the Great God presently find you under the power of Prejudice against any of His Truths and Wayes, or of Enmity against what has His blessed
Name upon it, you shall be fixed, and settled, and confirmed in it, until the very Heavens be no more. But they are very Terrible Plagues and Pains, which you may be sure will accompany this everlasting Disposition of your Soul.
On the other side, If God now find your Soul, under the power of Inclinations to Love Him, Fear Him, Serve Him; and to esteem the Lord Jesus above a thousand Worlds; you shall then be Confirmed in the perfection of such a Temper, and of all the Ioy, that must Accompany it. Which of these is the Condition that I now leave you in.
H. S.
Sir, I hope the latter of them.
Min.
The Good God make it so; and grant that I may find you at the Right hand of the Lord Jesus, in the Day of his Appearing. May this Ladder prove as a Iacobs Ladder for you, and may you find the Angels of the Lord Jesus ready here to convey your departing Soul into the Presence of the Lord.
After this Discourse; ascending the Ladder, he made the following Speech.