The ORDINARY of NEWGATE his Account of the Behaviour, Confession, and Last Speech of Deborah Churchill< no role > This name instance is in a workspace. , that was Executed at Tyburn , on Friday the 17th of December, 1708 .

AT the Sessions held at Justice-Hall in the Old-Baily, on Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, being the 8th , 9th , 10th , and 11th instant, Nine Persons, (viz. five Men, and four Women) were found Guilty of such Crimes as deserv'd Death, and so the Sentence of it was pass'd on them accordingly; and another Woman, namely, Deborah Churchill< no role > This name instance is in a workspace. , formerly condemn'd for Murther, and then respited, was now call'd to her former Judgment, and order'd with the rest to prepare for Death. Of these ten Persons, Churchill only is appointed to die, and the rest have (by Her Majesties gracious Reprieve) a further opportunity to shew to the World their Repentance and Amendment of Life. I hope they will take great Care (and God give them Grace) so to do.

As soon as they had receiv'd Sentence, and I could conveniently come at 'em, I visited 'em, and had them twice a day (while under this Condemnation) in the Chapel of Newgate ; where I pray'd with them, and read and open'd the Word of God to them; endeavouring to make them sensible of the miserable condition their wilful Sins had brought them into, and of the necessity of their earnest Application to God for Mercy and Pardon. I did to that purpose constantly represent to them how infinitely Happy, or how infinitely Miserable they should be, according as they did or did not improve this their short time. I gave them Rules and Instructions from the Word of God, that might (thro' his Divine Grace) direct and guide them in the great Work of Repentance, which was now before them, and on the due performance of which in this World, depended their Eternal Life and Felicity in the next.

On the Lord's Day, the 12th instant , I preach'd to them both in the Morning and Afternoon, upon part of the Gospel for the Day, viz. Matt. xi. 10. the Words being these: For it is written, Behold, I send my Messenger before thy face, which shall prepare thy way before thee.

In speaking to which Words, I shew'd;

I. Who that Messenger was, and what Life he led, viz. a Life of Austerity and strict Piety; shunning all the vain Pomps and sinful Delights of the World, as it became one that was to preach Humility and Repentance to Men, in order to the preparing their Hearts to receive the Grace of the Gospel of Christ. And here I observ'd by the by, how necessary it is for Men to read the Scriptures, and make themselves well acquainted with them; inasmuch as they contain the Mysteries of God's holy Religion and the Means of our Eternal Salvation; and were therefore often quoted and referr'd to by our Blessed Saviour himself, as we see here in the Text, and several other places of the Gospel, and likewise by his Evangelists and Apostles, in their Divine Writings.

Then I proceeded to shew;

II. What that Message was, of which the Text speaks, viz. the Preaching of Repentance and Amendment of Life.

On those two Heads I inlarg'd, and particularly on the latter; shewing,

1. The Nature

2. The Necessity

3. The Means

4. The Advantages

1st, The sure

2ly, The only

3dly, That without Repentance God's Pardon cannot be obtain'd; and without God's Pardon, there is no Salvation: So that if we neglect to repent in this World, we can expect nothing else but Eternal Death and Misery in the World to come.

Having largely and distinctly discours'd upon these Particulars, I concluded at both times with suitable Exhortations and Applications to the Condemn'd; who (as far as I could observe) behav'd themselves as it became Persons under such unhappy Circumstances. And when I was with them in private, they (i. e. some of them) express'd a great deal of Sorrow for their past Sins, and seem'd to be resolv'd upon a new Life, if God would be pleas'd to spare them a longer continuance in this World. I hope those of them who have obtain'd their Desire herein, will remember their Promise, and be so considerate and so just, as to perform it.

And as to her who is now order'd to suffer that Death she has been condemn'd to, she acknowledg'd the Justice of God in it, and her Desert of it; as having by her lewd Conversation brought it upon her self. She gave me the sad Account of her former wicked Life; of which the substance here follows.

Deborah Churchill< no role > This name instance is in a workspace. , alias Miller< no role > , condemn'd the 26th day of February last , for abetting and assisting in the Murther committed in Drury-lane , by Richard Hunt< no role > , William Lewis< no role > , and John Boy< no role > , upon the Body of Martin Were< no role > , on the 12th of January, 1707-8 . She deny'd her being concern'd in that barbarous Fact, or having set any Person upon it, as it was alledg'd: But she confess'd indeed, that she then was with Hunt, and that he was an Acquaintance of hers, and had kept company with her for Seven Years together, in a lascivious and adulterous way; during which time she had observ'd him to be a very passionate and dangerous Man, and was her self sometimes afraid of her Life, when he was in his Passion; and that when they went abroad together, he was always very quarrelsom, and ready to draw upon any-body that he fancied did affront him: But upon such occasions she always endeavour'd to prevent, and often restrain'd him from doing mischief. And tho' she was sensible that at some time or other he might in his Rage do mischief either to her self, whom he frequently threatned, or some others when he was in her company, and so she might (as it has prov'd) be involv'd in his Crime, and the dismal Consequences thereof; yet she was so bewitch'd, that she could not leave off his company. Now she was very much concerned and afflicted, and cried bitterly for her past Follies, and Abuse of the good Education which her Parents and Friends (Persons of great Worth) had given her, who in her younger years was by them carefully brought up in Religion and good Manners: But she had wickedly thrown off all those good things which were endeavoured to be fix'd in her, and abandon'd her self to all manner of Filthiness and Uncleanness with greediness; which now prov'd her Shame and Misery, and made her sometimes even despair of God's Mercy, when she sadly reflected upon her past Life, and consider'd how great and heinous an Offender she had been in those things which are so contrary to the Divine Purity, and the Profession of Christ's Religion and Virtue. Thus she grievously lamented and bewail'd her sinful and miserable Condition, and said, she heartily repented of all the Guilt she had contracted to her self by her soul Sins, and of the Dishonour which she fear'd she had thereby brought upon her Family, and particularly her poor Children, who were likely to suffer for her Faults, she having had two by her first Husband, whose Name she commonly went by, but seldom by her second's, who about two or three Years ago (she could not well remember the time) was married to her in the Fleet Prison , upon Agreement first made between them both, That they should not live together, nor have any thing to do with each other. Which Agreement was strictly perform'd; and so she continued freely to keep company with Hunt, as she had begun to do in her former Husband's time, who being a very unkind and bad Husband to her, had thereby given occasion to her going astray in this manner. She said she was about 31