A True ACCOUNT of the BEHAVIOUR, CONFESSION, AND Last Dying SPEECHES, Of the Criminals that were Executed at TYBURN, On Wednesday the 24th of January, 1694 .

THe Ordinary visited the Condemned Criminals, being 16, whereof were 12 men, and 4 women, every day till the time of Execution.

On the Lords day, he preacht on this Text in the forenoon, viz. the fourth verse of the 1st Chapter of Amos: Thus saith the Lord, Seek ye me, and you shall live. Whence four general heads were insisted on.

1. Wherein doth the sincere seeking of God consist.

2. The excellency of this comprehensive duty.

3. In what ways must we seek the Face or Favour of the Lord.

4. Rules or directions in seeking him, so as to obtain an interest in him.

1. Seek God not immediately in himself, as your mee Creator, for since mans degeneracy from his primitive Integrity in an holy state, the bare Relation of a Creature, as defiled with sin, will not intitle you to divine Mercy. The Lord is a consuming fire to all the workers of Iniquity. But a Sun of refreshment and a Shield of defence only to the upright in heart. Christ only can attemperate and allay the super-excelling brightness of the divine Majesty, that it may not strike Consternation into us, but rather give us a comfortable aspect of Gods infinite excellencies, so as to transform us into an holy state, and to make our addresses to God acceptable.

2. Seek the Lord by vigorous acts of Faith in all Spiritual services, and by an intire resignation of your selves, to his preceptive and providential will, in every state and condition of Life.

3. In renewing your Covenant of Obedience, by Repentance joyn'd with a stricter watchfulness over your hearts, after wandring from God, by relapsing into any sin.

4. Delight in this main duty of seeking the Lord sincerely; because the souls only of such shall live, by thevivacity of spiritual comfort in all distresses; yea, shall reign with the Lord in the Life of eternal blessedness.

To seek God aright, is to abide with him, in an awful reverence of him, for his very goodness, in forbearing to consume us for our remissness in serving him. We must not only exercise a close dependency upon his All-sufficiency to fulfill our desires in praying; but must out of a complacential Love, conform to his holy will in universal Self-denyal, so as to express an infinite satisfaction, in seeking and serving him without satiety.

How great Contempt and Ingratitude is this, when the Lord is so mindful of us, as to visit us continually with the remembrances of his tenderest mercies: yet we wander from God, because we have lost the Government of our hearts, and affections, so that these settle on vain objects, and forsake the Lord, the fountain of Life and Blessedness. Consider, that the Lord at present waits to be gracious, but he will not follow us, with the offers of Life and Salvation, if we trifle with him and them. Therefore neglect not the proper seasons of Grace and Mercy. Let all your services flow from a renewed conscience, that they may be constant and delightsome. Then you may behold the Face of God, so as to unriddle all divine mysteries, you may fetch satisfaction from the Lord in all doubtful cases, and contentment of mind, under every afflictive dismal providence. Yet how remiss and careless are most men in seeking and serving the Lord, as if this were not the purport and comfort of their life.

The Conclusion was thus directed to the Condemned.

How have you consumed your years in Vanity? Do not suffer your lifes, now ready to expire, to be lost in eternal darkness for want of trimming these Lamps with a sincere address to God, that he would sanctify your distresses. Strive the rather for this, because you have long liv'd ignorant of God, and the true design of your being. Is not this properly to live, to serve the Lord in newness of Spirit? What should cause you to count this grievous? Is it not the Seed time of endless Joy and Happiness? If you prize life, return to the fold of Righteousness. Sacrifice your lusts by the mortifying acts of godly sorrow for offending a graclous God, that you may obey the commands of Christ with greater freedom and alacrity. Is not such Love to him the consulting of your own happiness? yet how late and slight is your Repentance? How slack and feeble your Obedience, how partial your Self-denial in mortifying the love of your Lusts. Therefore so seek happiness in Christ, as to acknowledge and imbrace him, to become your only Lord and Lawgiver, equally as you desire him to be your tender-hearted Saviour and Redeemer. Be convinced of this, that the Lord searches the heart, and receives services, not by their number, but their wight of seriousness and sincerity. Do not therefore deceive your selves, in counting this to be an hearty ingenious choice of amendment of life, which is out of constraint, now that death surprizes you with its terrors. Such seeking of God is trifling Hypocrisy, if your sensual Lusts still reign in your hearts. Prepare therefore your selves to fulfill the Will of the Lord in the latitude of it. Let your hearts be ready to break, in a fervent longing to observe his commands in the universality of their obedience, with vigor of delight. A sincere heart will follow hard after God, tho at present he hide his face, as esteeming the disposition of fearing him before his smiles, if this may promote a circumspect conversation. The Lord will prepare great rewards for such, who seek him in sincerity: But where Holiness is not exalted in its power, Satan will take a deeper and firmer possession without suspicion. Let therefore your addresses to God transform you into an imitation of his divine perfections. Do not persist to pour out the strength of your souls on your abominable lusts, so as to cleave to these, in dying. Get all the corrupt affectiens of your souls purged out, so shall a supernatural resemblance of the Deity be instampt upon you, to delight in seeking and serving him, as the essence of your blessedness. Thus, after your godly sorrowing for all your wandrings from the paths of righteousness, Christ will conduct you thorow the sharpest agonies of death, to the fold of heavenly felicity. In this state he will secure you against any temptation, of remitting your delight in him. You shall obtain infinite satisfaction in the injoyment of him: for at his right hand divine pleasures overflow, in the perfect beatifying vision of his Favor, transcending the widest capacities of the soul throughout all the progressive ages of Eternity.

I proceed to give you an Account of the Behaviour and Confessions of the Condemned Criminals.

1. William Day< no role > , alias Trooper Will, Condemned for Felony and Burglary, aged 30 years: He was brought up with his Father, in Husbandry : He furnisht him with a Stock to become a Grasier , which employment he followed some years, and added