he died he charged him with this sin which had caused such a blot upon all the profession he had made and what great cause he had to be humbled before God and desired him to tell him as a dying man whether it was his voluntary act and delight in excessive drinking or no and he did profess that he knew it was not the quantity that he had drunk which was not neer so much as at other times he did use without distempering himself However God was pleased to make him tast the bitterness of that cup in that he had given such occasion to sinners to speak evil of the ways of himself upon the stones cried out Oh that I should offend God! And though he did much lament the scandal yet he always said that he looked not upon it as a sin of Drunkenness but a circumvention or to use his own words that something was put into the drink to distemper his head On Saturday during the Sessions he was Arraigned and pleaded Guilty confessing with many tears and wringing his hands that he did through the instigation of the Devil and enticement of that wretched Creature meaning his Harlot thâ—â— he had committed that bloody Fact which was sucâ— an horror to his Conscience that he would not do it again for ten thousand Worlds his carriage and confession was such that he much moved the Honourable Bench and Jury and most of the Beholders On Munday next he received his Sentence of death after which time he was with the other condemned Prisoners and did pray with them four times a day and read to them and sung Psalms with them After the execution of the rest he had time given or procured him by the Honourable Sheriff of London for some daies which he improved to the great advantage of his Soul On Friday night he uttered these expressions in Company with H. B. being the day that the other Prisoners were Executed I find saith he so much sweetness and delight and pleasure in Gods ways and so much folly in the ways of sin that if there were no Heaven to reward nor any Hell to punish I could not but love the waies of God and the people of God O it is so sweet to be in company with them praying and conversing with them over what is in hearing others Swear and Curse that I account it as great a mercy as any almost that I may be in their company O methinks it is a Heaven to me to be with Gods Ministers and People and Prayer now is so sweet that I grudge the time alwaies when I am off from my knees or go down to the Grate Now there is nothing in the World I prize like Christ one Christ above ten thousand Worlds now I do repent and I do believe through mercy it is the Lord's work but I earnestly beg and pray for a more humble and a more broken heart and a more through sense of sin and a greater sorrow for it and beg that God would enable me to come to him to believe in him Lord saith he Faith is thy work Repentance is thy work do thou enable me to repent nay thou hast enabled me to repent and I do from the very bottom of my heart Lord as far as I know my own heart I repent that I should offend so gracious and so merciful a God as thou art Lord and Faith is thy work Lord saith he hast not thou said no man can come to thee except the Father draw him draw me O Lord and I shall run to thee enable me to believe Lord and I shall believe nay I do believe Lord that Jesus Christ his Blood was not shed in vain did Christ die for nothing Lord did he not die to save all repenting and believing sinners of whom I am chief On Saturday at night in Company with Mr. Baker he discoursed thus O my dear Friend taking me by the hand come hither saith he and opening the Coffin look here is the ship saith he in which I must lanch out into the Ocean of Eternity and is it not a terrible thing saith he to see ones own Coffin and Burying cloaths when at the same time I am as well as you do you think it would not daunt you and to go to the Gallows to have the Halter and to die there were this for the sake of the Gospel I should not care were it ten hundred times a worse death but to suffer this cursed death for such horrid sins O this is sad why said I you have a greater mercy in some respect than those that die in their beds for they are full of sickness and pain and cannot so well mind repentance as you who are well and have nothing else to mind Ah Sir saith he their sins are of a far less nature than mine and so they do not need so much repentance as mine do my dying for such horrid sins makes my repentance to be so much the more hard Oh saith he I believe it it is a hard work to die I could carry it out as bravely as any do you think I could not But to consider that as I die and am sentenced from Gods Bar so I must be for ever immediately either be everlastingly happy or everlastingly miserable To consider this would make a stout heart to tremble those poor Creatures that were here the other night meaning the other condemned Prisoners they know not what it is to be in an Eternal state and if they are gone to Hell O Lord how miserably are they disappointed who hoped for to have gone to Heaven and are sent from thy Bar to endless burning Lord what a mercy is it that I have a little time longer left let it be improved to thy glory and let my soul live and I shall praise thee The Last Lords-day he lived he desired to be alone and spent it in wrestling with God by prayer and in other duties in order to his preparation for his great change by death that then he expected the next day in which duties he found so much of God that he had some fore-tasts of the joys of Heaven and when we asked him what of God he had found that day he replyed that he had such pleasure and delight in mourning for sin and praying unto God that he was loath to come off from his knees at night there were some Ministers that sate up with him and spent that night in Prayer with him and for him and in conference on Munday morning came T. D. to him before day thinking it was his last day for an order was sent on Friday for his Execution on Munday and said to him Thomas how is it with you now your last day begins to dawn he said blessed be God I am not affraid to die because I hope I shall go to Jesus Christ after some time in Prayer for him we desired him to spend some time in that Duty which he performed with so much
A MURDERER PUNISHED AND PARDONED OR A True Relation of the Wicked Life and shameful-happy Death of Thomas Savage Imprisoned justly Condemned and twice Executed at Ratcliff for his Bloody Fact in Killing his Fellow-Servant on Wednesday Octob. 28. 1668. By us who were often with him in the time of his Imprisonment in Newgate and at his Execution Robert Franklin Thomas Doolitel Thomas Vincent James Janeway Hugh Baker To which is annexed a Sermon Preached at his FUNERAL The Thirteenth Edition With the Addition of the leud Life and shameful Death of Hannah Blay who was condemned and executed for being guilty of the Bloody Murther committed by Tho. Savage With other new Additions London Printed in the Year 1671. To the Reader IN the following Narrative you have a relation of the bloody Murther committed by T. Savage with an account of the wonderful mercies of God to his poor Soul after the commiting so bloody a sin To which is added a short relation of the carriage and behaviour of that vile Strumpet Hannah Blay during the time of her being in Newgate to her Execution which though it had nothing in it worthy to be related yet she being an instrumental cause of that bloody resolution was thought fit to be inserted that she may remain as an example of shame to all lewd women and a severe example of Gods Justice upon such cruel Monsters who are not content with endangering the Souls of such ignorant young men that have not the fear of God before their eies with their abominable whoredoms and Adulteries but as it were to make sure of destroying both body and Soul together by adding to their former sins the guilt of shedding innocent blood And as you have a wonderful instance of Gods Free-Grace to the Soul of T. S. so the foulness of his Fact the danger of damning his Soul and the twice shameful execution which he suffered may be a means to preserve all young men and Apprentices from being guilty of the like fact And as a help to you herein you are advised to be careful what company you keep That you addict not your selves to drinking or gaming or company keeping which is the ruin of many young men who by getting a habit of keeping company or other Vices are very often drawn to purloin from their Masters to maintain them in their extravagancies by which means they do not only run the hazard of exposing their bodies to publick shame if they be discovered to the great grief and even heart-breaking of their Friends when they hear of ill courses but the wrath of God and eternal damnation of their poor Souls as you may see in the Narrative of T. S. who first began with Company keeping from company keeping to Whoring from Whoring to Thieving and Murther And lastly be careful to spend the Lords day and all other spare time in the service of God as Reading Praying Hearing the Word Preached c. which may be a means to preserve thee from the guilt of sins of this nature and other sins likewise if thou apply thy self seriously to this work But whiles I am advising of others I my self commit an error in exceeding my bounds being confined to a Page I rest A real well-wisher to the eternal happiness of thy immortal Soul BLood doth cry aloud the blood of man when violently shed by cruel hands for private revenge or covetousness or the satisfaction of some such base lust doth cry as far as from Earth to Heaven for vengeance And however some horrible Murders may be seeretly plotted and as secretly effected yet seldom are they long unpunished even in this World for besides that sometimes the guilty-accusing consciences of such persons who have committed this hainous crime do so inwardly lash and torment them that they can find no rest untill they have made discovery of the Fact with their own mouth there is the all-seeing eye of a sin-revenging God which doth find them and a strange hand of his Providence which doth often follow them and entangle them in their steps when they are flying and seeking some hidden place which doth as it were bind them before they are in Chains and deliver them before they are aware into the hands of Justice to be punished But there is another Blood which doth send forth a louder cry namely the Blood of the Lord Jesus Christ which was shed for the sins of men which speaketh better things than the Blood of Abel crying for mercy and forgiveness This Blood hath such prevalency and virtue that when it is applied by Faith unto the most notorious Malefactor guilty of Blood as well as other Wickedness it doth out-cry and drown the voice of Blood and every other sin and washeth the most impure Soul died in sin unto a Scarlet and Crimson hue This Blood we hope was sprinkled upon the Conscience of this Murderer who had a little before embrued his hands in the blood of his Fellow-servant for having given such evidences of his sincere repentance and true Faith unto several of its Ministers and other Christians that were with him before and at his Execution We hope though he were justly punished with the first death by the hand of man for his Crime that through infinite Free Grace and Christ's Blood he hath escaped the second death and wrath of God in Hell The Narrative may give the same satisfaction to others which we the publishers hereof have received which is as followeth THomas Savage born in the Parish of Giles's in the Fields was put out Apprentice to Mr. Collins Vintner at the Ship-Tavern in Ratcliff where he lived about the space of one year and three quarters in which time he manifested himself to all that knew him to be a meer Monster in Sin in all that time he never once knew what it was to hear one whole Sermon but used to go in at one door and out at the other and accounted them fools that could spare so much time from sin as two or three hours on a Lords-day to spend in the Lords Service He spent the Sabbath commonly at the Ale-house or rather at a Base-house with that vile Strumpet Hannah Blay which was the cause of his ruine he was by a young man now gone to Sea first enticed to go drink there and after that he went alone and now and then used to bring her a Bottle or two of Wine which satisfied not her wicked desires but she told him if he would frequent her house he must bring mony with him he told her often he could bring none but his Masters and he never wronged his Master of two pence in his life still she enticed him to take it privately he replied he could not do it because the Maid was alwaies at home with him Hang her Jade saith this impudent Slut knock her brains out and I will receive the Money This she many times said and that day that he committed the Murder he was with her in
therefore begin to ask what shall you do that you and yours may be saved and your servants and Children might escape the snares of Satan and flee youthful lusts And you in good earnest Friends And will you promise as in the presence of God that you will do what you can possibly to discharge your duty and to follow those directions that I shall give you In hopes that some are resolved by the help of God to do what in them lies for the keeping all under their charge from everlasting burnings I shall advise you 1. Be good your selves and labour to be patterns of Holiness and to shew your children and servants by your conversation that you your selves believe that there is a God an immortal Soul Heaven Hell and Eternity let your language be savoury and speak you to be one that hath been with Jesus Let your actions be regulated by the Word and endeavour to let them know that you are not in jest when you speak of God and their souls Psal 10. 1. 2. 2. I charge you as in the presence of God as you will answer the neglect of it at the Bar of that great Judg take an exact account of your servants how they spend their time what company they keep what they do upon the Sabbath if you would make any thing of Religion be as careful that the Sabbath be spent in God's service as the Week-daies in yours I could tell you of a servant that was wont many a time and oft to complain of his Master and say If my Master had ever examined me the Text on the Lords-day or called one to any account where I had been or what I had heard I am perswaded I should never have come to so sad an end as I am like to do 3. Instruct them oft in the matters that concern their eternal welfare Sirs tell them I beseech you with all the earnestness that you can for your lives of the danger of sin give them wholsome advice tell them of the necessity of Conversion allow them a little time to pray and read and let them know that you take notice of any thing that is good in them 4. Pray for them cry to the Lord mightily and say O that Ishmael may live in thy sight Lord hast thou not a blessing O my Father for me and mine O pity dear Lord my children and my servants and let all under my roof be of the houshold of faith and of the Family of the Lord Jesus And now once more I beg you to be in good earnest 't will be the truest evidence of the truth of your grace to be faithful in this work 'T will be your joy upon a death-bed 't will be your Crown in another world Vse 5. One word by way of advice to you young people Brethren you saw yesterday what it was to fall into youthful lusts and to day you have heard something of the danger of these sins Methinks by this time you should be in a rage against sin methinks you should all say Well now I will never spend the Sabbath day as I have done I 'le never come near the company of vile women This I hope shall be a warning to me as long as I live Are you in sober sadness of this mind O that the Lord would keep this always upon your hearts O that you may not now get out into the cold world and shake off the sense of these things But do I not see some weeping eyes aking hearts And what dost thou say poor soul O Sir I am the man you mean But is it possible for me to escape Hell I have lived in almost all those sins for many a year what shall I do I shall answer this honest request and the God of love and power send it home 1. Labour to be acquainted with the Principles of Religion Be much in reading of the Scriptures search you will find never a word there to encourage sin but all against it they will make you wise to salvation consult the word and you will escape the wrath to come which shall surely fall upon those that live and die in youthful sins Psal 119. 9. 2. Labour to understand wherein your happiness lies It lies not in Riches Pleasures and Honours but in the favour of God Psal 4. 6. Seek first the Kingdom of Heaven and the righteousness thereof set your affections on things that are above and not on things below 3. To be sure keep the Sabbath strictly and attend upon a powerful Ministry Then is the time to buy Provisions to live upon for ever 4. Keep good company Get out of wicked mens society Mark those that walk soberly and that mind their souls and make much of them and beg an interest in their Prayers and take their advice If you once grow weary of good company I shall have little hopes of you and it 's a sign God means good to poor souls when they are very desirous to be in with them that are dear to God A warm Christian-companion O Sirs you cannot value him too highly 1 Cor. 15. 33. 1 Pet. 4. 4. Heb. 6. 12. 5. Take heed of sinning against conscience Let David's Prayer be yours Ps 19. 13. Keep back thy servant from presumptuous sins let them not have dominion over me 6. Take heed of putting off Repentance remember now thy Creator now is the acceptable time O if you value your lives make hast and delay not an hour but go home fall upon your knees beg of God to give you repentance unto life give God no rest day nor night till he have charged your heart and made you see your need of a Christ and made you to give your self to Christ O cry out this night a Christ dear Lord a Christ for my poor soul or I am lost for ever Eccles 12. 1. Psal 119. 62. 7. Be much in consideration commune now and then with your heart think seriously whither you are going and ask your soul what a condition it is in what it hath to bear it up against the fear of death what provisions are made for eternity look into your purse what mony hast thou that will go currant in another world Spend much time in thinking I askt this poor boy how he spent his time in prison he answered in prayer reading and consideration 8. Neglect not Prayer ask and you shall have seek and you shall find knock and it shall be opened unto you be frequent and serious in this duty forget not secret Prayer and look after your Prayers and be not content except you hear of them again 9. Be diligent in your calling be not slothful in your worldly business idleness is the devils shop Rom. 11. 12. 10. Hold out to the end remember what they shall have that conquer resolve for Christ and Heaven upon any terms Well Sirs now my work is done have I been beating the air what will become of these two Sermons yesterday you heard one out of the Cart and from the Gibbet and to day from the Pulpit and what are you resolved to do what shall the tears prayers and intreaties of that dying young man be so soon forgotten if they are can the commands of the living God be so easily contemned is there nothing in all that I have been speaking what are you still of the same mind that you were or are you not I say again I must leave you and a thousand to one whether I shall ever see you or speak to you more once more I charge you as you love your own soul as you fear the wrath of God and the flames of hell Flee youthful lusts FINIS
be inflicted upon him that he had but a few Weeks more to live and then he would be Tryed and Condemned and Executed but they told him that the punishment of Temporal Death was but small in comparison with the punishment of eternal Death in Hell which he had deserved and was exposed unto They told him that so soon as Death should make a separation between his Soul and Body that his Soul must immediately appear before the dreadful Tribunal of the Sin-revenging God and there receive its final doom and be irreversibly sentenced to depart from the presence of the Lord in everlasting fire if he were found under the guilt of this or any other sin They asked him if he knew what Hell was telling him what a fearful thing it would be for him to fall into the hands of the living God how intollerable the immediate impressions of Gods wrath would be upon his Soul what horrour and anguish he would there be filled withal and how he would be bound up in Chains of darkness until the judgement of the great day and then told him of the Glorious Appearance of the Lord Jesus Christ to Judgment that Soul and Body should be then joyned together and condemned together and punished together with such exquisite torments as never entered into the heart of man to conceive declaring the extremity and the eternity of the Torments of Hell which were the just demerit of his sins Then they asked him whether he had any hopes of escaping this dreadful punishment of hell He answered that he had They enquired into the grounds of his hopes he told them that he repented of his fault and hoped God would have mercy on his Soul They asked him whether he thought his Repentance would procure for him a Pardon He knew no other way They told him that God was just and his justice must be satisfied and there was no way for him to do it but by undergoing the eternal torments of Hell and did he know no way of satisfying Gods Justice besides and pacifying his anger that was kindled against him No he knew not any and 〈◊〉 did he hope to be saved He answered yes They â—â—quired whether ever he had experience of a gracious change wrought in him Herein he could give no account and yet hoped to be saved Yes They told him his hopes were unsound having no good foundation and he would find himself disappointed that it was not his repentance his tears and prayers though he ought to use them as means that would save him if he fixed the Anchor of his hope upon them That if he hoped to be saved in the condition which for the present he was in he would certainly be damned That he must cast away all those groundless hopes he had conceived and endeavour to despair in himself that being pricked and pained at heart through the apprehensions of the wrath of God ready to fall upon him and seeing no possibility of flying and and escaping if he looked only to himself he might cry out What shall I do to be saved and enquire after a Saviour and then they spake to him of the Lord Jesus Christ and the way of Salvation by him which before he was sottishly ignorant of as if he been brought up in a Countrey of Infidels and not of Christians The words spoken to him by these two Ministers seemed to take little impression upon him whilst they were present yet after they were gone the Lord did begin to work and he did acknowledg to Mr. B. that two had been with him he knew not their names whose words were like arrows shot into his heart and he did wish that he had those words in writing especially one expression of T. V. That he would not be in his condition for ten thousand Worlds did affect and so affright him that he said it made his hair stand an end An account of a Discourse betwixt T. D. and T. S. about fourteen daies after he was Prisoner in Newgate VVHen I came in and saw him in Irons I said were these Fetters for the sake of the Gospel they would be far more precious than chains of Gold but see here the cursed fruits of Sin that thou shouldst all thy life-time have been a faithful servant of God hast neglected no time to serve the Devil I asked him how old he was he said 16 years old I told him he was a young man but an old sinner then I began to set my self to bring him to a sense of his sin and of his miserable and lost estate and asked him whether he believed there was a God he answered yes and dost thou believe that this God is true he said yes and taking up the Bible I asked him dost thou believe that this is the Word of God he answered yes Then I told him according to this Word he was a damned wretch and God had past a sentence of death upon him and told him plainly that he should not enter into the Kingdom of God but be a companion of Devils in a lake of Brimstone to all Eternity meaning without Repentance Conversion and Faith in Christ Then I turned him to several Scriptures and told him this was the Word by which he must be judged at the 〈◊〉 of God and be damned or saved according 〈◊〉 then he should be found to be converted oâ—â—â—…converted The Scriptures were these 1 Cor. 6. 9. Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the Kingdom of God be not deceived neither Fornicaters nor Idolaters nor Adulterers nor Esseminate nor abusers of themselves with mankind ver 10. Nor Thieves nor Covetous nor Drunkards nor Revilers nor Extortioners shall inherit the Kingdom of God Another Scripture I read to him was Gal. 5. 19. Now the works of the flesh are manifest which are these Adultery Fornication Uncleanness Lasciviousness ver 20. Idolatry Witchcraft Hatred Variance Emulations Wrath Strife Seditions Heresies ver 21. Envyings Murders Drunkenness Revellings and such like of the which I tell you before as I have also told you in time past that they which do such things shall not inherit the Kingdom of God The next Scripture to the same purpose was Rev. 21. 8. But the fearful and unbelieving and the abominable and murderers and whoremongers and sorcerers and idolaters and all lyars shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone which is the second death I told him these were the words of the holy true and infallible God this was the sentence which God had passed upon him as the desert of those abominable sins which he was guilty of for these Scriptures pointed at several of the sins which he confessed he had lived in and had committed as Drunkenness Lying Uncleanness and Murder I cryed you confess your self guilty of these sins and that God threatneth you with eternal death with everlasting torments and exclusion from his Presence and Kingdom not only God's Justice but God's Truth
affection and earnest pleading with God that all the company were exceedingly melted and their hearts beyond ordinary measure warmed and raised that the room did ring with sighs and groans and there was such a mighty presence of the Spirit poured out upon him and on those that joyned with him that we do not remember the time when ever we had experience of the like in which Prayer after the confession of his sins he begged earnestly for pardon and for an interest in Christ saying O Lord wilt thou let me die without a Christ shall I leave this World before thou smilest upon my soul thou hast promised pardon and mercy and salvation to those that do repent and to those that do believe Lord I do repent I do believe if I know my own heart I do repent I do believe Lord I roll my self upon thy Son I cast my self at his Foot for mercy thou wouldst be just if thou dost damn me but thou hast pardoned others and it will be to the Praise of thy Free-Grace to pardon me Lord shall those Prayers that have been made and all those tears that haue been shed for me and all those instructions which have been given me be all in vain with many other expressions in that Prayer which wonderfully affected the hearts of those that were with him that afterwards we looked upon one another wondering at the Grace of God towards him that one so wicked all his days so young being 16. years old so lately acquainted with the wayes of God should have such a spirit of prayer poured out upon him after this he prayed with more life and fervency then before and the nearer he came to his end the more we perceived God was ripening him for his glory After this we took our leave of him not knowing but that was the last day for the Cart stood below and the Coffin fetched down and some of the honourable Sheriffs of London's men came into the Prison but the Sheriff of Middlesex having not notice to be ready his Execution was deferred till Wednesday following Reader here take notice that the report that the reason why he was not Executed on Munday was because he was drunk is an abominable falshood for to our knowledge that were with him he did not eat nor drink that morning When we went up to him again we told him that we perceived he was not to dye that day giving him caution not to think there was any pardon intended for him and one came from the Sheriff to acquaint him with the reason of the delay of his Execution When his Coffin was carried up to him again one asked what he thought and what were the workings of his heart when he saw his Coffin brought back he said he was much troubled and it daunted him to see it for he could willingly have dyed that day to go to Christ On Munday in the Afternoon he had an excessive pain in his Teeth as we judged occasioned by his leaving off his cloaths and putting on some thin apparel to die in and that evening he expressed great willingness to dye and leave this world he said I see and find so much excellency in Christ that he is so pure pure in grace pure in holiness pure in all things Lord I count it an hell to be upon earth I so long to be where I might enjoy thee and he spent some time in Prayer notwithstanding his pain with much affection wherein he said the pain of thee Teeth was great but the pain of Hell was greater On Tuesday the day before he died after some time spent in prayer both by him and H. B. being full of joy he expressed himself thus O my dear friend what a welcome shall I give you when you come to Heaven and say to you come see come see this is the glory that you told me of but all that you ever told me was nothing to what I have found O what a place is this O how shall we love one another then sure it cannot be but Heaven must be a glorious place where God and Christ and Angels be The night before he died a Minister came to Thomas Savage and after other serious discourse for satisfaction of a Christian friend that had seen him before he demanded of him what were now the grounds of his hopes of salvation He made this reply God both in infinite mercy made me deeply sensible of great sins and not only of them but of the vileness of my heart and nature and God hath made me to abhor my self for my sins and I hope truly to repent of them for that which hath been the delight of my soul is now as bad as hell and God hath given me to see that all my own prayers and tears and all the prayers of all the good people that come to me are not able to save A Christ alone I throw my self at the feet of Christ for mercy and if I perish I will perish there I feel longings and breathings after Christ and love him more than my life I long to be with him and I would not be to live any longer this world is a little Hell because of sin I fear not death for I hope the sting of it is taken out for me This last night before his death he desired us to sit up with him in order to his better preparation for the great work he had to do the next day that we might wrestle with God on his behalf that when death approached so near unto him he might have some nearer accesses of God into his soul that when pale death stared him in the face he might see God's smiling countenance which opportunity we readily embraced and spent the former part of the night in Prayer till two of the clock in the morning about which time he desired us to go down into the Lodge that he might have some part of the night for Prayer and Meditation alone and to discourse a while with his friend Mr. Baker to whom he most of all did open his very heart and spake more freely to than to any others whom for that reason we left with him and when we were gone down his friend being with him who told us afterwards he fell into admiration and said What a prodigy am I What a wonder of mercy that God should incline the hearts of his Ministers to come and pray with me and pour out their souls in prayer thus for me For me a Murtherer for me a Drunkard for me so vile and sinful Well I cannot but love God and though I go to Hell yet I will love God for his goodness and graciousness to me already manifested in this world yea though I should be damned for my sin yet I could and would love God What would they venture to come and pray with me a Murtherer How did they know but I might have murthered some of them Pray for me wrestle for me well I know God loves
thee O Lord look down upon me with an eye of pity if it be thy blessed will it is thy infinite mercy that I am on this side the grave and out of Hell O Lord I have deserved to be cast into Torments to all Eternity How have I offended thee and run on in sin and thought I could never do enough to abuse thy mercy Pardon the sins that I have committed wash that bloud from off my soul let not my soul perish to Eternity It was 〈◊〉 horrid crime to shed innocent bloud Pardon that sin O Lord let the blood of Christ cry more for mercy than the blood of that Creature cry for Vengeance O Lord thou hast been merciful to me in giving me time to repent for ought I know her Soul is undone for ever Lord forgive me Lord forgive me I knew not what I did Forgive my Sabbath-breaking lying cursing forgive my drunkenness blot them out of the book of remembrance turn them away behind thee Lord I have repented of them from my Soul that ever I should offend God so good and so merciful and gracious I do believe on thee and do wholly throw my self upon thee I acknowledge it would be just in thee to damn my Soul but it will be infinite mercy in thee to save me and what free grace will it be in the to pardon me It is dreadful to lose the body but how dreadful will it be to lose the Soul to all eternity Lord let it not be in vain that I have had so many instructions O let me not go down to Hell let my Soul bless and praise thy Name for ever for what thou hast done for me thou hast been at work upon my heart and thou hast helped me to repent the Lord be praised Lord I desire to be more and more humbled under the sense of my sins for they are dreadfull there are many Souls that have not committed those sins that are now in Hell O what mercy is it that I am not in those flames in those devouring flames Lord as thou hast spared me here spare me to Eternity Let not my Soul perish Lord reveal thy self unto me make known thy love unto me tell me my sins are pardoned tell me that I have an interest in Christ before I go hence and be seen no more that I might leave some testimony behind me that I might tell thy Ministers what thou hast done for me and tell thy people what thou hast done for my soul Lord this will not be only for my satisfaction but for thy glory Blessed Lord pardon the sins that I am guilty of and take away this cursed base heart of mine break this rocky stony heart in pieces these sins of Murder and Drunkenness c. were in my heart before I thought no eye did see me commit those sins but thou didst see me Lord turn my heart to thee and take away this heart of stone and take away this cursed nature for it was this cursed nature that brought me to these sins and to this end and I was in danger of losing my soul to all eternity but Lord though I am a great sinner Christ is a great Saviour He is able to save me from my sins though they be never so great I do believe Lord I speak freely from my heart so far as I know my heart I do believe it is my grief I can sorrow no more for my sins which have been the cause of my offending thee so long and so much One drop of thy Blood sprinkled upon my soul will pardon all my sins Lord cross the black line of my sins with the red line of thy Blood I am not able to answer for one vain thought much less for all my horrid crimes Lord save my immortal soul that I might sing praise to Thee to all Eternity Thou hast pardoned Manasseh that was a great sinner and Mary Magdalen and Paul that were great Sinners and the Thief upon the Cross and thy Mercies are as great thy Mercy and thy Love to Repenting Sinners is not shortned though my sins be great yet thy Mercies are greater than my Sins Lord be with me in my death then let me have some comfortable assurance of thy love unto my soul of the pardon of my sin do thou be my God and my Guide now and to all Eternity Amen This Prayer he put up with much earnestness with great brokenness of heart for sin that all that joyned with him were exceedingly affected and blessed God for the spirit of Prayer they discerned God had so plentifully poured out upon him After we had some other discourse with him we took our leave of him telling him we purpoâ—… 〈◊〉 see him again at the place of Execution After two or three hours when the time of his going from Newgate drew near we were willing to return to see him once more there and the rather because one Minister that had not yet been with him was desirous to visit him and then again after some few words with him we asked him to go to Prayer again once more saying now this will be the last time that we shall pray with you in this place And he did perform this duty with great liveliness that now he excelled himself and the nearer he came to his end the more fervently we perceived he prayed but we took notice that in this last duty in Newgate he was much in praising God and blessing God for his mercy to him to our great astonishment After a few words when this duty was over we took some of us our final farewel of him he expressing his thanks to Gods people for their Prayers for him and to the Ministers for their love and pains with him was commended by us to the grace of God saying Thomas the Lord be with you the Lord of Heaven be with you O the Lord of mercy help you and have compassion on you This morning he expressed himself to his friend H. B. thus Oh my friend we cannot tell how glorious a place Heaven is but if once I get thither could drop down a Letter to you and tell you of the glorious things I there shall find how would it rejoyce your heart and to this friend parting with him said I know God loveth me and that I am going to the Kingdom of Heaven The last Speech of Thomas Savage at the place of his Execution at Ratcliff Gentlemen HEre I am come to die a cursed ignominious Death and I most justly deserve it for I have Murthered a poor innocent Creature and for ought I know have not only murthered her body but if God had no more mercy on her soul than I had of her body she is undone to all Eternity so that I deserve not only death from men but damnation from God I would have you all that look upon me take warning by me the first sin I began with was Sabbath-breaking thereby I got acquainted with bad
company and so went to the Ale-house from the Ale-house to the Bawdy-house there I was perswaded to rob my Master as also to murder this poor innocent creature for which I am come to this shameful end I was drawn aside I say by ill company pray take heed of that for it will not only bring your bodies to the grave but your souls to hell have a care of neglecting the Sabbaths it is that which hath not only brought my body to the grave but my soul in danger of eternal torments And try the waies of God for the Lord be praised I have found so much of excellency and sweetness in Gods waies that I bless God that ever I came into a Prison And now though I am leaving this world I know I shall go to a better place for I have repented from my soul for all my sins not because I am to die for them but to see that I should do that whereby I should deserve hell ten thousand times over and so dishonour God Now the Lord have mercy on my Soul The Prayer of Thomas Savage at the place of Execution O Most merciful and for ever blessed Lord God I beseech thee look down upon my poor immortal soul which now is taking its flight into another World which now is ready to appear before thy Bar Lord I beseech thee prepare me for it and receive my soul into the arms of thy mercy and though my body die and I come to die this shameful death yet let my soul live with thee for ever Lord pardon all the horrid sins that I have committed the Sabbath-breaking Lying Swearing Cursing Vncleanness and all the rest of my sins that ever I have committed Lord give me a nâ—w heart and give me Faith that I may lay hold and throw my self fully and wholly upon thee enable me O Lord give me saving repentance that I may come to thy Bar and thence be received into glory let me not be a prey to Devils to all Eternity let not my soul perish though my Body die let my soul live Lord let me not be shut out from thy presence and let not all the Prayers and Tears and Counsels and Instructions that have been made and shed on my behalf be in vain pitty my poor soul Lord my immortal soul Lord it would be just with thee to cast me into everlasting burning I have been a great sinner but Christ is a great Saviour O Lord thou hast pardoned great sinners and thou canst do it Lord and Lord wilt thou not do it Lord let me not be a fire-brand of Hell and a prey to Devils to all Eternity let me not then be shut up with Devils and damned souls when my soul takes its flight into another world Lord I haue repented for what I have done from the bottom of my heart I have repented and Lord if thou wouldst damn me thou wouldst be just but how infinitely more would it be for the glory of thy Free Grace to save such a sinner as I am good Lord pour down thy spirit upon my soul O tell me that I have interest in Christ's Blood good Father good Lord before I go hence Lord I am willing I am willing to leave this world I â—an prize thee above all there is nothing I can prize like to thee wilt thou not receive my soul receive it into thy arms and say come thou blessed of my Father dear Father for Jesus Christ sake pitty my poor soul for pitties sake Lord it is not my Prayers or tears will save my soul but if ever I am saved it must be through Free Grace and the Blood of Christ and if there be not enough in that Blood Lord I am willing to be damned Lord look down upon my poor soul and though I have been such a sinner thou art able to pardon me and wash me apply one drop of thy Blood to my soul Lord my immortal soul that is more worth than ten thousand worlds it is true Lord I confess I have taken a great deal of pleasure in sin I have run on in sin and could not invent where to go on Thy day and was wont to study into what place and into what company I might go upon the Sabbath-day forgive me Lord wash me receive me into Thy arms O Lord Oh for one glimps of mercy Lord if thou wilt please to reveal thy self to me I shall tell it to all that behold me it is a mercy Lord that I am not in Hell and that thou shewest me the bitterness of sin before I come into Hell it is a mercy Lord that I have had the Prayers converse and instructions of so many of thy Ministers and people Lord receive my soul one smile Lord one word of comfort for Jesus sake O let me not go out of this world let not my soul perish though I killed a poor innocent creature Lord deal not with me as I dealt with her but pitty me pitty me for Jesus Christ's sake Amen One asked him in the Cart well now Thomas how is it with your soul what sense have you of God's love Sir I thank God though infinite mercy I find God loves me and that now I can chearfully go After his Cap was over his eyes he used these Expressions Lord Jesus receive my spirit Lord one smile Good Lord one word of comfort for Christ's sake tho death make separation between my soul and body let nothing separate between thee and my soul to all eternity Good Lord hear me Good Father hear me O Lord Jesus receive my soul Whilst he did thus pathetically express himself to the people especially to God in Prayer there was a great moving upon the affections of those who stood by and many tears were drawn from their eyes by his melting speeches All this was the more remarkable in this young man being under sixteen years of age when he was first apprehended After he was turned off the Cart he strugled for a while heaving up his body which a young man his friend seeing to put him quickly out of his pain struck him with all his might on the breast several times together then no motion was perceived in him and hanging some considerable time after that and as to all outward appearance dead insomuch as one said to another friend of his namely Mr. B. now he is in Eternity and the people beginning to move away the Sheriff commanded him to be cut down and being received in the arms of some of his Friends he was conveyed by them into a house not far distant from the place of Execution where being laid upon a Table unto the astonishment of the Beholders he began to stir and breath and rattle in his throat and it was evident his life was whole in him from the Table he was carried to a bed in the same house where he breathed more strongly and opened his eyes and his mouth though his teeth were set before and offered