the Nature of his Soul and of Eternity, he express'd a great Desire and Inclination to become the Child and Servant of God; saying he thought himself very happy, (as it had pleas'd Providence to lay him in that low Estate of Misery) that no disorderly Persons were under Condemnation with him, but only one Man, who was always Sober, and so far from interrupting any one in his Duty, that he made it his Business during the whole time that they continu'd together in that deplorable Condition, to forward and promote the great Work he had to do, as he had more Knowledge and more Understanding in his Duty than he himself could pretend to have.

Before the Day appointed for Execution, I preach'd to them, and other Prisoners there present, from the following Words, viz.

He that hateth his Brother is a Murtherer, and ye know that no Murtherer hath eternal Life abiding in him, 1 Joh. iii. 15.

We took Notice, that Hatred toward a Brother, that is, a Man of the same Station and Religion with our selves, as it appeared murderous and pernicious, in Calumny and Destraction, so especially was it seen in those Men who break loose from all civil Society, who range and wander the Night, despoiling and preying upon all they meet. Who go about to Maim and Injure, as Christ went about doing Good, healing the Blind, the Lame, and the Deaf. And the common Practice of Robbers and Plunderers, altho' they do not take away a Man's Life, yet, litterally, one Species of Murther; as sudden Fears, Alarms, and terrible Apprehensions, together with the Loss of several of the Necessaries of Life, and perhaps a continu'd Vexation and Uneasiness, destroy the Constitution, lead to the Grave, and are to be accounted a Degree of Murder.

SECONDLY, we observ'd, that hatred was the forerunner of Murder; and where Hatred was settled in the Mind, Murder was lodged there, because the Murther was stifl'd in their Bosoms, and 'twas only the fear of the Law's edge, and their own self-Love, that prevented its appearing in Practice, to the immediate Ruin and Death of the Person so hated; wherefore, tho' such things cannot be cognizable by Man, yet the Great Creator, who at one View surveys the Heart and internal Recesses of the Mind, accounts of such Inclinations to destroy, such catent Murther, such destructive Hatred, as of real Murther put in actual Execution, &c.

THIRDLY, That Men, in particular, should not injure those whom the Apostles calls the Brethren, Persons of the same Communion. For they go to meet the same Deity, at the same Temple and Altar; put up an harmony of Prayers and Adorations in Concord together; Vow together to retain Peace and Unity, and to live Concord as their great Master commanded them: Wherefore the Apostle saith, that they ought to be so far from hating, that they should lay down their Lives for their Brother, even acquiesce in Martyrdom for the Benefit of other Christians, and the Advantage of their Religion, which must flourish and encrease by the Resolution and Perseverance of its Adherents. And the Hatred that is forbidden in the Text, extends not only to those who are exactly, and in every Point, of the same