The ORDINARY of NEWGATE his Account of the Behaviour, Confessions, and Last Speeches of the Malefactors that were Executed at Tyburn, on Friday the 16th day of December, 1709 .

AT the Sessions held at Justice-Hall in the Old-Baily, on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, being the 7th , 8th , and 9th instant , Eight Men, who were found guilty of Death, received their Sentence accordingly. Four of them are now order'd for Execution: The other Four are respited from it by HER SACRED MAJESTY's most gracious Reprieve, which I hope, and here heartily intreat them, that they will take care to improve to the Glory of God, the Benefit of their Neighbour, and their own Temporal and Eternal Good.

While they were under this Condemnation, I constantly visited them, and had them brought up every day, both in the Morning and Afternoon, to the Chapel in Newgate; where I pray'd with them and instructed them in the Word of God, and in the Duties of Christianity; which they had so much neglected. They seem'd to be very serious and attentive to what I then deliver'd to them, for their Instruction and the Comfort of their Souls.

On the Lord's Day the 11th instant , I preach'd to them and others there present, both in the Morning and Afternoon, upon part of the Epistle for the Day, viz. 1 Cor. 4. the former part of the 5th Verse; the Words being these, Therefore judge nothing before the time, untill the Lord come; who both will bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and will make manifest the Counsels of the hearts.

Which Words, with their Context, I first explain'd in general; shewing, That by them the Apostle do's not mean, that no Judgment should be pass'd upon the open Actions of Men; for it is plain, from Reason and the revealed Will of God, that Evil-doers are to be judged and punished by the Magistrate, according to their wicked Deeds, when they come to be known and prov'd by sufficient Evidence. But for those things that are hidden and secret, and of which it is utterly impossible for such as do not know the Hearts of Men, to make a Judgment, they ought not to be meddled with, nor Sentence pass'd upon them by Men, who are absolutely ignorant of them. And therefore they must wait for the time which God has appointed for the bringing forth those hidden Things of Darkness both to Light and to Judgment, when He shall think fit to judge the World; which He will certainly do one day; and that too, in Righteousness, by that Man (i.e. Christ Jesus) whom He has ordain'd; whereof He has given assurance unto all Men, in that He has rais'd Him from the dead; as the Apostle speaks, Acts 17. 31.

Having enlarg'd on this, I then proceeded to discourse upon these two Particulars.

I. The Necessity and Certainty of a Judgment to come.

II. The Strictness and Severity of that Judgment, which shall be most terrible to impenitent Sinners.

And to these I added some Directions how Men (by Faith and Repentance) might provide against the severity of that Judgment, and avoid their final and eternal Condemnation.

In the Conclusion of both these Discourses, I apply'd my self with particular Exhortations to the Condemned; and then dismiss'd them for that time, with a Prayer, That God would be pleas'd to seal those Truths upon their Souls, which in his Name, and by his Spirit, I had deliver'd to them; and that He would render them effectual to their everlasting Salvation. This I mention to satisfie those inquisitive Persons who are often asking, What method or means I use, or can be us'd, to bring those sorts of Men to Christ, and dispose them for Eternal Life.

As I publickly taught these poor unhappy Creatures, how they might be made happy, so I had some private Discourses with 'em, wherein such of 'em as are now appointed for Death, made the following Confessions to me, viz.

1. Thomas Smith< no role > , condemn'd for a Burglary by him (and others with him) committed in the House of the Right Honourable the Earl of Westmorland, and taking Goods from thence to a very great Value, in October last. He confess'd that he was concern'd in the Robbery, but not in the Burglary: That indeed he was in the House, but did not break it open; for it was so before he broke out of the Goal at Chelmsford in Essex , where he was a Prisoner. This is all he would confess as to this particular Matter. But as to the general Course of his Life, he acknowledg'd it to have been very bad indeed, though perhaps not so bad as some have represented it, and the generality of the World believ'd it to be. For he had never robbed any House in his Life (saving that Honourable Lord's above-mentioned) and, That he never did wrong any Person (as it was so-much reported) at Highgate , or Hampstead , or any other Place thereabouts; but all the Facts that he ever was guilty of, were committed in London , Southwark , and Westminster : And, That those Facts were only the taking off Boxes, Trunks, & suchlike things, from behind Coaches or Wagons, and Handkerchiefs, &c. out of Peoples Pockets in the Streets: Of which sorts of Facts he had committed many; so many that he could not remember them all; neither was it (said he) necessary for him to name them, as being of no use to the Persons he had thus wrong'd, to whom he could not make any Amends or Satisfaction, but by asking their Pardon, which he did. He further said, That he was a Cooper by his Trade; That he was born at Highgate , and was now about 33 years of age; the most part of which time he had spent very ill, though his Mother and other his Friends and Relations (who are very honest) were not wanting in their giving him good Advice, which he did not follow; and for that he is now to suffer; the Providence of God having justly brought him under this Condemnation for the punishment of his wicked Deeds in this World; which Puuishment he pray'd might not be extended to the next. He added, that he had served the Crown at times for some years past, both by Sea and Land ; and that by that Service, and his Trade, (which was not a Bricklayer, as some would have it, but a Dry-Cooper ) he might have maintain'd himself, and lived comfortably, had he been honest. He wish'd, that other ill Livers might take Warning by him, and be wiser and honester than he had been. He said, he was sorry he ever injur'd any Man, and now was unable to make any Reparation for those Injuries he had done to his Neighbour. He also declar'd, That he forgave all those that had been the Cause of his Ruin, and, That he dy'd in Charity with all the World. I asking him (as I was desir'd) how he made his escape out of the Goal at Chelmsford, he told me, That he broke the Ridge of the House, and so open'd himself a Passage, and went away by one of the Clock in the Morning on the 12th day of October last , unknown to any-body, and was in London on the 14th .

2. Aaron Jones< no role > , condemn'd for two Burglaries and a Murther; viz. First, for breaking open and taking by Night several Goods out of the House of Mr. John Moss< no role > at Hampstead , on the 30th of June last : Secondly, for another like Robbery committed in the House of Mr. William Heydon< no role > , on the 11th of October last : And Lastly, For the Murther of one Lamas, about Marybone , as he was walking that way with Mr. Moss the day after the first Robbery, i. e. the 1st of July , when the said Mr. Moss and Lamas there met with this Jones, and another Person concern'd with him, of whom mention shall be made hereafter, who were then (both of them) carrying away some of the Goods stoln out of Mr. Moss's House the Day before. He deny'd both the Buglaries and the Murther, and seem'd to be very stubbon and obstinate in that his Denial; tho' at the same time he confess'd, That he had formerly been guilty of small Thefts, as the stealing of Poultry, and such things; and, That he had been a very lewd and wicked Person; for which he asked God's Pardon and theirs whom he had offended. He said, he was a poor Labouring-man , who came up some few years since to London for Work; That he was about 33 years of age, born at the Devizes in Wiltshire ; and, That he once little thought he should ever come to such an End: But having forsaken God, God had forsook him, and left him to himself; and for his Neglect of Christian Duties, and following ill Courses, God had suffer'd him to fall by this shameful Condemnation.

3. Joseph Wells< no role > , condemn'd for the last-mention'd Facts of two Burglaries and Murther by him committed in conjunction with the aforesaid Aaron Jones< no role > . He (like his