The Sun.
London, England, 1824-05-31 00:00:00

CONDEMNED SERMON.

morning
William Hill W
were conducted from their solitary apart-
agstaff', William Hill,
of Newgate, In Order to perform their last
-Such was the anxiety of the public to
publican
nleldn' Johnte ssttaeoretttl
Ehaoyefa
scdt;elervaboiy)t.
be present on the mournful occasion, that the space in front of
the prison was crowded at an early hour by persons who had
obtained orders of admission from the Sheriffs ; it turned out,
however that too many orders had been issued ; hence from
the confined space allotted to strangers, several failed of ob-
taining admittance to the Chapel, and the Governor and Or-
dinary were obliged to refuse the application of their particu.
la!' friends. -

A little after ten o'clock the Sheriffs arrived, and proceeded
to the Chapel, the 'body of which and the south gallery, which is
appropriated for the females, were crowded by the unfortunate
inmates of the prison, among whom were those who were res-
pited last Tuesday, when their several cases were laid before the
King- n Council. The strangers were then admitted, and in
an instant every space and avenue were crowded almost to suf-
focation.
Every thing being arranged, the unhappy trio who are so
shortly to suffer an ignominious death, were ushered to the con-
demned pew, accompanied by W. Baker,- Esq. who paid parti-
cular attention to them during the service. They were all at-
tired in mourning, and appeared very collected ; indeed their
behaviour throughout was such as became their unhappy situa-
tion. The Morning Hymn having been sung, the Reverend
Ordinary read the Church Service in an impressive manner,
and the unhappy men joined in the responses with apparent
fervour. When that part of the Liturgy was read which is
termed the General Thanksgiving, those prisoners who have
been respited fell on their knees to return thanks for the mercy
extended to them, and several wept, particularly the three
Thompsons.
The Rev. Ordinary delivered an impressive discourse from
Ezekial, chap xxx. verse 11—" As I live, saith the Lord God,
I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked; but that the
wicked should turn from his ways anti live."
The Rev. Divine in the exordium, observed on the mercy of
the Supreme Being in contradistinction to the feeling and dis-
position of mankind, who often, it would appear,seetned to have
pleasure in the death of the wicked, if their conduct on such
melancholy occasions was a safe criterion to judge by. After
dilating on the forbearance of God, who did not speedily execute
his sentence, he drew the necessary inference from the text, viz.
that unless there was a turning from evil whereby life eternal
would be insured, everlasting death would certainly result
from a course of vice and profligacy. The Rev. Ordinary then
alluded to the offences of which his unhappy charge had been
convicted ; this, he said, was a painful but necessary duty. One
had been convicted of burglary, a crime of peculiar atrocity and
a growing evil. The other two were persons of education superior
to most who had preceded them on similar occasions ; they had
been found-guilty of uttering forged and fabricated securities.
Until lately one of them had been a respectable tradesman,
inferior to none, perhaps, who then witnessed his degradation.
Embarrassed in his circumstances, and desirous of retrieving
them,:he had committed an act by which his life was forfeited;
for which offence lie was extremely repentant, and hoped for
that mercy at a High Tribunal which earthly justice had re-
fused. The Rev. Gentleman concluded his discourse by a
•ftircible admonition addressed to the congregation, imploring
them to learn wisdom by the awful spectacle before them. The
,service concluded, the unhappy men were reconducted to their
.cells,