THE Sufferers LEGACY to Surviving Sinners OR, Edmund Kirk's Dying Advice to Young Men, Written by his own Hand in Newgate, and delivered to his Friend with a desire the same might be Published, on Friday the 11th of June, 1684. Being the day on which he was Executed at Tyburn, for Murdering his Wife.  
Dear Country Men,  
I Cannot but be very sensible under the condition into which my Crimes have justly involved me, how little I deserve your pity. But yet as I am now come to the last period of my Life, and going before another Tribunal to answer for what I have here done amiss, before the great Judge of Heaven and Earth, I hope you'll so far lay by your just animosities against me, as to give me a hearing, nor can I think of any way so proper to improve the few Minutes I have yet by the mercy of the Almighty spared me, as in setting down the steps and degrees by which iniquity hath taken hold of me: that the sad fate I am now to suffer, as the due and regular Consequence thereof, may be a warning to others; not only, to avoid such gross and heinous Crimes, for which I now stand Condemned, but also those lesser and more remote Evils which were the forerunners hereunto.  
Let him that stands take heed lest he Falls, the best do need this Caution, and had I not thought myself two secure and trusted to my own strength, more than the grace and assistance of the Almighty, this Condition had never been mine. I thank God I was born of good Parents, whose kind instructions and Pious Counsel I rebelliously neglected: Which neglect, as I am in the first place humbly to beg God and their Pardons for, so must I acknowledge that I firmly believe the same, to have a great influence on my present fate; for as the Command hath said Honour thy Father and Mother that thy days may be long in the Land which the Lord thy God hath given thee. So, I cannot but Judge that the shortening of mine, hath been in some Degree or Measure for this my Crime, nor is it less than the greatest aggravation of what I am to suffer, next to that of offending my God, that in this scandalous and Ignominious Death, I am justly Condemned unto, I have brought shame upon my Family and doubled the pains on my Mother that bore me; this though it was the Sin of my Youth, yet where I began to Transgress, I thought fit to Confess. Therefore Youngmen Youngmen! as ye love your Immortal Souls, and expect to live happily here, and enjoy Everlasting Bliss hereafter, be not Disobedient to your Parents, but learn by my Example to avoid this Crime; which was the beginning of those many, I have been since Guilty of.  
In the next place, I would use the advice of Solomon, in the 12th. of Eccle. and the 11th. Verse, remember now thy ●●eator in the Days of thy Youth, while the Evil Days come ●ot, nor the Years draw nigh; wherein thou shalt say I have no Pleasure in them.  
With me alas! the now is almost passed over; wherein I ought to have remembered my Creator, and the hours are upon me, in which I have no Pleasure, no Comfort or Content, in the revolution of my former mispence of those Seasons, and Opportunities that God gave me, but a sad and Doleful remembrance how often I have refused the offers of Grace; and despitefully rejected the motions of God's Holy Spirit, which Day by Day was as a Remembrancer under my Pillow, to rouse and stir me up from a Careless and Sleepy Security in the state of Wickedness and Sensuality which I then lay. But all in vain: Sin had Possession of me; and with her inticeing Dalliances and Bewitching Allurements, (which were then as a sweet and grateful Morsel in my Mouth, but now as bitter as the pangs of Death itself) Betrayed me, and Hurried me from one Degree of Bad to another, till I had accomplished the last course of Iniquity, for which I now Groan.  
But though God's just Judgement hath deprived me of my Opportunity to Serve him as I ought; and left me but a few Minutes to make my Peace with his offended Majesty: yet to you that survive a Day, and Time is offered, if you improve it, Your now, is at present: but how long it may last, before the Night cometh upon you, wherein you can do no Work; is in the Breast alone of God Almighty, who will not be Delayed or put off, when the World and the Devil hath had the first and best of your Youth and Strength, with the Lees and remainders of old Age and Impotence. It is not enough to give over Sin, when old Years incapacitate thee for commission thereof: this thou owest to thy Imbecility and Weakness, and canst not discern whether 'tis thy will or want of Power that makes thee then leave off: 'tis in the midst of thy Youth, when thy Blood Boils, and thy Jovial Spirits are in Fermentation; that thou must put a stop to thy Carieres of Sin and Vanity, and seek and serve thy Creator.  
Had I taken this Advice, I had never left my God; and consequently had never been left by him: but so it is, that the great Deceiver of Souls, if he can but make us put off, or quench our Young Desires to the Things of God and our own Souls; in which there is only true and lasting Pleasure to be obtained: he lays before us, in all her Gaudy Embellishments, and enticeing Braveries, the Lust and Vanities of this naither World: with which we are as it were Spirited and Stolen away from the Land of true Enjoyment, to drudge in the Mines of Slavery and Infelicity: and yet as if there were no better Life, we go on Contentedly, and like Born Bondslaves sing at the Oar, and think ourselves Happy.  
But dear Countrymen, look to it be times, and let my Fate be your Example. Time was when I had as great a delight in Vanity, as the most Debauched amongst you The Day was lost in my apprehension, in which I met no Jovial Companion to Drink or Carouse away my Hours; the Night misspent, that was not Improved in the Embraces and Dalliances of some Dalilah. The Sentence came dully and insipidly from my Lips that was not Graced with an Oath; and I looked on myself with shame when I let slip an Injury without a Revenge. But could you stand in my Place; and feel the Pangs that I bore; or hear the Rebukes that my Conscience gives me: You would say as I do, that if I had ten Thousand Worlds at my disposal, I would give them all for a quiet Conscience, and a sight of Forgiveness with God Almighty, through the Blood of my dear Redeemer Christ Jesus. You would then say that the Pleasures of Sin were as Thorns and Briers in your Sides: the Debauches and Excess of Company, the worst of all Pains and Trouble: the Embraces of your Beloved and Endeared Harlots Vanity and Vexation of Spirit: your Oaths and Excesses a Fight a 'gainst the Almighty, and Contending with Omnipotence, and the love of Revenge: the seeds of Murder. think of this at present, and shun my Fate:  
For had it been formerly told me, I should ever have come to this End, or have done that crying Sin of Murder; for which I justly stand Condemned: I should certainly have answered in the Words of Hazael, to the Prophet Elisha, when he inquired of him the reason of his Weeping, Because sayeth the Prophet, I know the Evil that thou shalt do unto the Children of Israel: for their strong Cities shalt thou set on Fire; and their Youngmen shalt thou slay with the Sword; and shalt dash their Infants against the Stones; and rend in Pieces their Women with-Child. To which Hazael replied, what is thy Servant a Dog, that I should do this great Thing: yet all this, was afterwards Accomplished by him; and in like manner, giving way to the beginnings of Vice, have I run this Course, till my guilty Hands were all over Imbrued in Innocent Blood: And justly therefore may I cry out and exclaim against myself, that I am now worse than the Brute that Perisheth; and I have nothing of Cleanliness or Humanity about me. But Oh! Lord my God look down upon me, and Rebuke me not in thy Anger; neither Chastise in thy Wrath: for thine Arrows have light upon me, and thy Hand lieth upon me; there is nothing Sound in my Flesh, because of thy great anger; neither is there Rest in my Bones, because of my Sin; for mine Iniquities are gone over my Head: and as a weighty Burden they are too heavy for me. My Bones are Putrified and Corrupt because of my Foolishness. My Eyes are full of Burning, I roar for very Grief of my Heart. But O Lord I power mine whole desire before thee; and my sighing is not Hid from thee. It may be now expected that I should give some account what were the Reasons and Motives that Instigated me to this Crime. But alas! when I consider the slender Inducements I had thereunto, I must only clap my Hand upon my Breast, and confess it was the Evil Counsellor within me, my own vile and Corrupted Heart, that agreed with the Seducements of Satan, to bring this Tragedy to an Accomplishment.  
What was the first chief cause that was the occasion of my Disagreement with my Wife, was her Humour, (which I could now wish I had complied with; it being as I really believe for my Good) to follow me from place to place, and hinder my associating myself with Lewd and Debauched Company: which Disagreement, though at first it was no more than as a small Spark, yet by degrees, the same was blown up to so great a Flame of Dissension, that the Devil told me, no less than her Innocent Blood, could give me a proper Satisfaction for: and upon this, it was that I contrived and perpetrated this Horrid and abominable Fact, for which I now Suffer a greater load of Grief than if Rocks or Mountains overwhelmed me: and had not God of his Mercy, cast in some Beams of his Favour upon me, to support me in this my Doleful Imprisonment; I had long ere this sunk under the weight thereof. Nor can I but observe how just the Almighty hath been in my Punishment, in leaving me to commit this cruel and unnatural Sin, on that very Day which I had so often abused; not only in the neglect of those Ordinances and Assemblies which I ought to have followed and frequented; but in the Commissions of those Excesses, which at other times my Business and Employment in the World, never afforded me so great a leisure for. Whence I would beg and entreat in the Words of a Dying Man, who stands within the prospect of Eternity, all those that are my Acquaintance, and others that value their own Souls, that they would remember to keep Holy the Sabath Day: for God hath commanded it, and he is both a Jealous and a good God: and as he visiteth the Iniquity of the Fathers upon the Children unto the third and fourth Generation of them that hate him; so he shows Mercy unto thousands, of them that love him, and keep his Commandments. And believe me dear Friends, what ever the Devil may Suggest unto you at present, he'll change his note, (as he hath done with me) when you come so near Death as I am: those Sins which he once told me were scarce to be observed, he now aggravates with the greatest loads of Aspersion: insomuch, that were it not for the sight of my Saviour, who Died and Sussered for me; I should wish that a Millstone were hung about my Neck, and the Seas Bottom was my Eternal Grave: but in him is my Trust, in him is my Hope, and thro' him I am willing to taste the bitter Cup prepared for me. In which Faith the Lord preserve me, Amen.  
From NEWGATE July, 11th. 1684. Edmund Kirk.   

His PRAYER.  
MOST Gracious Merciful and Eternal Lord God, thy poor Sinful and Condemned Creature is here approached the Throne of thy Mercy, Confessing, that as I have been a great and Heinous Sinner before thee, so nothing less than the Infinite Mercy of thy Almightiness itself can ever Pardon me. But thou, O Lord, art a God of Mercy, a God of Love and free Grace; and when Sinners approach unto thee, though their Crimes be as Scarlet, thou canst make them as white as Snow, and hast promised so to do: Therefore Good and Gracious Lord, under the Comfort and sense of that Promise, I cast myself down before thee, Beseeching that thou wouldst wash and Cleanse my blotted and Leprous Soul, in the Blood of my Saviour and Redeemer Christ Jesus; O Lord I am Defiled; But he is Clean, I am a Sinner, a great and crying Sinner; But in him was no Guile found. I have offended thee; But he Suffered for me. I have been a Murderer; But he was Murdered for the sake of Sinners, amongst whom I am Chief. Lay therefore the burden of my Sins upon the Cross of my Saviour, and let them not rise up in Judgement against me, at such time as I approach thy Tribunal: It is but a short time, and the Day will be here, a few Minutes that I have to Live; the Sands of my Life are near Wasted, and I must take a farewell of this World, in the midst of Health and Strength, and this through my own Crimes; so that I may charge my own as well as her Blood, which I wickedly and Murtherously shed, at my own Door. For which Crime, as I am justly made an Example to all the World, in a shameful and Ignominious Death. So, O Lord, let this my Fate, deter and warn others from those Courses that lead thereunto, that no other Person may ever fall into that Snare that I am Entangled in, but that my Sufferings may be as a  to others to avoid those Shelves and Sands I am now Sunk into. But, do thou, O Lord, Forgive me, do thou, O Lord, receive me to thyself, when my Soul and Body shake Hands each of the other, that I may dwell Eternally with thee in Everlasting Bliss. All which I humbly beg for the Sake and through the Mediation of Christ Jesus. To whom, with thee and thy Holy Spirit be ascribed all Honour, Power and Glory, now and for evermore  
Amen.   

London, Printed by Geo. Croom, in Thames-street over against Baynard's Castle. 1684.