The ORDINARY of NEWGATE his Account of the Behaviour, Confessions, and Last Speeches of the Malefactors that were Executed at Tyburn on Wednesday the 7th of February, 1704/1705 .

AT the Sessions held at Justice-Hall in the Old-Bailey , on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, the 15th , 16th and 17th of January last , Six Persons, viz. 4 Men and 2 Women, receiv'd Sentence of Death. The two Women being found with Quick Child, and Two of the Men having obtain'd Her Majesty's gracious Reprieve, are respited from present Execution; and the other Two, namely, Joseph Johnson< no role > , and John Norton< no role > , are order'd for it.

The Day on which they receiv'd that Sentence, I visited them in the Condemned Hold. And from that time forth to this, I had them brought up twice every Day to the Chappel in Newgate , where I instructed them in the Word of God, pray'd with them, and exhorted them to Repentance, and to the making a careful and right Use of the few Moments which they had to live in this World; wherein they had (at least some of them) so far as it appeared, done so much Evil, and no Good at all; and wherein they had now so little time to stay, to undo the one, and perform the other, i. e. To repair those great Defects and hainous Offences, both of Commission and Omission, which (by the Providence and Justice of God) had brought them to this Condemnation, and if not rectify'd by the present Amendment of them all, even those of them who might possibly expect to live longer than the rest, would bring them at last to that wofull State of Eternal Condemnation, which is far, nay infinitely, beyond the dreadfulness and Misery of any Temporal Judgment, how terrible and severe soever it might be.

On the Lord's Day, the 21st of Jan. last , I preached twice to them, viz. in the Morning and Afternoon; and took for my Text, these Words of the Prophet, Isai. 55. 6, and 7. (being part of the First Morning Lesson) Seek ye the Lord, while he may be found: Call ye upon him, while he is near. Let the wicked forsake his Way, and the Unrighteous Man his Thoughts; and let him return unto the Lord, and he will have Mercy upon him; and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.

From which Words, I discours'd upon these 4 Heads, viz.

I. The Command which is doubled here, Seek ye the Lord: Call ye upon him.

II. The pressing Exhortation to our Obedience to that Command; from this twofold Consideration; 1. That God is not always to be found; And 2. That he is not always near at Hand, to help those that neglect to seek him, and to call upon him in due time. Seek the Lord, while he may be : Call ye upon him, while he is near.

III. The Disposition requisite for our Seeking the Lord, so as to find him; and calling upon him, so as to be heard. Let the Wicked forsake his Way, and the Unrighteous Man his Thoughts; and let him return unto the Lord.

IV. and lastly, The great Encouragement we have to do this, viz. That God will have great Mercy upon us, and will pardon us, not only a few or small Faults, but many and most heinous Faults, yea all our Sins of what degree, and nature, or number soever they be; provided we do timely and sincerely repent of them. Let the Wicked forsake his Way, and the Unrighteous Man his Thoughts, and let him return unto the Lord, and he will have Mercy upon him; and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.

Having explained and inlarg'd upon those foregoing Heads, I then reduced the Exhortative Part of my Discourse to these following Particulars, viz.

1st, The Necessity of seeking to God; because without him we are under the greatest Loss, and in the most lamentable State that can be imagin'd.

2dly, The Manner of this Seeking. It must be with great earnestness, and the most fervent application of the whole heart. So we find, Deut. 4. 29. If thou shalt seek the Lord thy God, thou shalt find him, if thou seek him with all thy heart and with all thy Soul. And to this purpose, God himself thus speaks by his Prophet. Jer. 29. 13. Ye shall seek me, and shall find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart.

3dly, The Time of doing this: viz. the present time, as soon as ever we can, without any delay. Prov. 8. 17. I love them that love me, and those that seek me early shall find me.

4thly, The great Danger of putting off this Duty, and doing it too late. Prov. 1. 28, 29, 30. They shall call upon me, but I will not answer: They shall seek me; but they shall not find me; for that they hated Knowledge, and did not choose the fear of the Lord, they would none of my Counsel; They despis'd all my Reproof.

5thly and Lastly, - The infinite Advantage which Men may and shall certainly reap from their seeking to God in due time, and with all the vigor of their Souls. Psal. 119. 2. Blessed are they that seek him with their whole heart. And Psal. 9. 10. They that know thy Name will put their trust in thee: For thou, Lord, hast not forsaken them that seek thee. And this assurance we have from God himself. Amos 5. 4. See ye me, and ye shall live.

On the Lord's Day the 28th of January , I preach'd again to them, both in the Forenoon and Afternoon, upon part of the 2d Morning-Lesson, viz. Matth. 25. 46. And these shall go away into everlasting Punishment, But the Righteous into Life Eternal.

From which Words I shew'd, That there will be a Judgment pass'd upon all Men; and that Judgment shall be twofold, as the Persons to be judged shall be of two different sorts.

I. There shall be a Judgment unto Eternal Death, for Wicked and Impenitent Sinners. These shall go away into Everlasting Punishment.

II. There shall be a Judgment unto Eternal Life, for such as shall have liv'd godly and religiously, or repented truly and sincerely. They shall be accounted Righteous, as having Christ's Righteousness imputed to them; by which they shall obtain that Eternal Life, mentioned in the Text, which imports all the Glory and Happiness of Heaven. The Righteous shall go into Life Eternal.

Upon these I inlarged, and shewed both the Certainty of this Judgment, and how to prevent the Severity of it, viz. by a timely Return to God.

On Tuesday the 30th of January , being the Fast-Day, I preach'd to them again, both in the Morning and Afternoon upon these Words, 1 Pet. 2. 17. being part of the Epistle for the Day - Fear God: Honour the King.

From which Words I laid down this Proposition, viz. That they are the best Subjects and the most Obedient to their Superiours, who truly fear God.

Upon which I inlarged, and particularly on the first Part of the Text, Fear God. Which I made also the Subject of the Lord's Day that follow'd, viz. The 4th Instant, when (to this purpose) I did, both Morning and Afternoon, take for my Text, Job 28. 28. And unto Man he said, Behold the Fear of the Lord, that is Wisdom, and to depart from Evil is Understanding.

From whence I shew'd,

That as the Fear of God, Which is Religion in the Abstract, keeps us from doing Evil, and directs us to that which is good; so the want of this Fear brings Men into Sin and Misery.

This was the Subject of my then Discourses, which I summ'd up with pressing Exhortations to Amendment of Life.

On the 6th Instant , being the Birth-day of our most Gracious Queen, I (according to my Custom) preach'd in the Morning to the Prisoners in Newgate . And this (besides my other Discourses from the Desk) was my 9th Sermon to these Persons since under Condemnation. I took my Text out of one of the Psalms that came of Course then to be read; viz. Psal 30. the latter part of the 12th Verse - O Lord my God, I will give thanks unto thee for ever.

In speaking to which, I laid down this Proposition: viz.

I. That the Service of God consists of these two great Duties, viz. Prayer and Praise. In both which Holy David, who was fervently and constantly exercising himself herein, is a fit Pattern for our Imitation.

Then I shew'd;

I. The Dispositions we ought to be in to present our Prayers, and Offer up our Praises to God.

II. The Subject of our Thanks and Praise, which is general, for all Things and for all Men, as the Apostle directs, Eph. 5. 20. and 1 Tim. 2. 1.

III. The great Priviledge, Benefit, and Advantages of our praising God.

And Lastly, I concluded with a Word or two to the Persons condemned, spoken to this Effect, That if they had, all this while they were under Condemnation earnestly pray'd to God, and heartily endeavour'd to be reconcil'd to him through JESUS CHRIST, and by Faith and Repentance, prepared themselves for another Life; they might now feel great Joy at their approaching Dissolution, in this comfortable Perswasion and Assurance, That their Sins were forgiven them; That all their Miseries were near at