and let it lie Speechless still and never cry The Life and Death of that Great Prelate and Martyr the most Reverend William Laud Lord Archbishop of Canterbury and Primate of all England Beheaded January 10. 1644. THE Fate of this Learned and Magnificent Prelate first and signally verified that Presage of King James No Bishop no King he being the Usher to that miserable calamity which in the same manner and method the same way of death befel that most Blessed Prince for that Prophetick Saying was to be accomplished in every Point not only of Regiment but in the concerns of natural Life like Hippocrates his Twins to live and die together His Originals were from an honest and well-reputed Parentage of good esteem and credit in the Town of Reading the place of his Nativity his Father a Clothier his Mother of the Family of the Souths of a gentile extraction by which side Sir John Robinson is related to him The Estate they had was such as neither so low to cloud or obscure his promising natural Endowments or so advanced as to serene them and shew them to the world in that Pomp and Lustre to which at some distances they exerted themselves and by degrees mounted to the top 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of Ecclesiastical Promotion and Dignity in this Kingdom From his Seed-place and Nursery of Reading he was transplanted to St. Johns Colledge in Oxford where he gave present signs of his Future Glory being observed by all men as the Ornament of the House and whole University He continued here having passed through all the Honourable Employments of his Colledge till his worth could be no longer concealed and much beholding was he to that his Modesty of Nature which so long hid him from publick employment and gave him time and opportunity of laying in that Stock and Provision of all kind of Learning which his unwearied diligence did so freely spend in the several Places and Provinces he so wisely discharged being Chaplain first to the Earl of Devonshire and Proctor of his University From Batchelor of Divinity he proceeded Doctor became Chaplain to Dr. Neat then Bishop of Rochester afterwards translated to York who preferred him to King James who made him Prebend of Bugden and Westminster Dean of Glocester and Archdeacon of Huntington and lastly President of his own Colledge Soon after he was made Bishop of St. Davids by the same bountiful Master but King Charles finding his great abilities took him into more especial favour giving him the Bishoprick of Bath and Wells made him Dean of his Chappel and one of his Privy Council then Bishop of London and Chancellor of Oxford and in conclusion Archbishop of Canterbury Dr. Abbots his Predecessor in that See Remisseness and Indifferency concerning the ceremonies used in the Church of England was the cause that the Gangren of Non-conformity was so far spread that it was no lesse trouble then it raised Envy and Obloquy against him to strive to enjoyn and take order for the strict Observation of the said Rites being every where called Innovations By this means Episcopal Government was by many traduced many Books and Libels printed against them wherein this Prelate was sure to bear the greatest burthen the chief of those Writers were Bastwick Burton and Mr. Pryn who were afterwards sentenced in the Star-Chamber and suffered in the Pillory But that which mainly and chiefly helped forward his ruine was his recommending or enjoying the use of the English Liturgy in the Scotch Church which was received there with so much exasperation that it mightily promoted the Wars then in intention and designment by the Faction in that Kingdom Soon after Libels were thrown about full of sedition and railing and scurrilous jeers against him which were seconded with a Tumult and rabble of Londoners assaulting his House at Lambeth for which one of the chief Thomas Bensted was hanged in St. Georges Fields in Southwark He was falsly by such People reported for a Papist whereas what stronger proof can be brought for his firmnesse in the Protestant Religion than that Book of his against Fisher the Jesuit which like a Hammer hath beaten all the Romish Arguments into pieces an unanswerable Work and of which they will never clear themselves brag and vapour what they please As to his Religion this will suffice for the morality and integrity constant tenour of life let him be judged by his Diary published in part by Mr. Prin. He had little intermission of his pen or intention of mind against the Roman Faction whatsoever his Enemies have reported of him to the contrary having before his eyes as his main aim the glory and prosperity of this Church in the right and solemn Worship of God He first began the reedifying of that ruinous and decayed Cathedral of St. Pauls London towards the charge whereof he expended great sums of money out of his own purse and this was reckoned to him as Superstition though in the account of sober and wife men it was a noble zeal to Gods House The North-door of that Church he repaired wholly with his own money the Workmen not knowing whence their wages came In sum for these joynt Graces and Vertues Piety Learning magnificence prudence and humility he is hardly to be paralled by any of his Predecessors many have had one or two of them but wanted the other in him they were a bright constellation whose lustre made this Church glorious to the envy and wonder of the Nations about us But the time of Gods visitation being come for the unfruitfulnesse negligence and unthankfulnesse of the Clergy a generation of men were raised up as scourges to inflict the Divine Judgments For in the beginning of our dissentions as soon as the businesse of the Earl of Strafford was over the mad multitude fell a raving and crying no Bishops no Bishops In the beginning of the year 1641 and the latter end of 1640 this Reverend Prelate was committed from the Black Rod to the Tower whither not long after ten more of that sacred Order were sent after him He continued in the Tower four years before any charge was brought against him though he all along petitioned and desired the Parliament he might come to his trya◠which could not be obtained till the year 1644 a full account whereof 2s also of his death we have here subjoyned It would trouble Plutarch if he were alive to find out a fit Parallel with whom to match him All therefore I shall do at the present time and t is the last publique Office I shall do him is to lay down the story of his death and sufferings together with a view of those plots and practises which were set on foot to pluck a few years from a weak old man and bring him to an unnatural calamitous end For though that maxime in Philosophy is most true and certain that corruptio est in instanti that death comes to us in a moment or in the
is a Fundamental Law of the English liberty that no Free-man shall be taken or imprisoned without cause shewn or be detained without being brought unto his Answer in due form of Law yet here we saw a Freeman imprisoned ten whole weeks together before any Charge was brought against him and kept in prison three years more before his general Accusation was by them reduced into particulars and for a year almost detained close prisoner without being brought unto his answer as the Law requires It is a Fundamental Law of the English Government that no man be disseised of his Freehold or Liberties but by the known Laws of the Land yet here was a man disseised of his Rents and Lands spoyled of his Goods deprived of his jurisdiction devested of his Right and Patronage and all this done when he was so far from being convicted by the Laws of the Land that no particular charge was so much as thought of It is a Fundamental Law of the English Liberty that no man shall be condemned or put to death but by lawful judgment of his Peers or by the Law of the Land i. e. in the ordinary way of a legal tryal and sure an Ordinance of both Houses without the Royal Assent is no part of the Law of England nor held an ordinary way of trial for the English subject or ever reckoned to be such in the former times And finally it is a Fundamental Law in the English Government that if any other case than those recited in the Statute of King Edward 3. which is supposed to be Treason do happen before any of his Majesties Justices the Justices shall tarry without giving judgment till the cause be shewn and declared before the King and His Parliament whether it ought to be judged Treason or not yet here we had a new found Treason never known before nor declared such by any of His Majesties Justices nor ever brought to be considered of by the King and His Parliament but only voted to be such by some of those few Members which remained at Westminster who were resolved to have it so for their private ends Put all which hath been said together and then tell me truly if there by any difference for I see not any between the ancient Roman slaves and the once Free-born Subjects of the English Nation whose lives and liberties whose goods and fortunes depend on the meer pleasure of their mighty Masters But to return unto our Story the passing of the Ordinance being made known unto him he neither entertained the news with a Stoical Apathy nor wailed his Fate with weak and womanish Lamentations to which Extreams most men are carried in this case but heard it with so even and so smooth a temper as shewed he neither was afraid to live nor ashamed to die The time between the Sentence and the Execution he spent in Prayers and applications to the Lord his God having obtained though not without some difficulty a Chaplain of his own to attend upon him and to assist him in the work of his preparation though little preparation needed to receive that Blow which could not but be welcom because long expected For so well was he studied in the Art of dying especially in the last and strictest part of his Imprisonment that by continual Fasting Watching Prayers and such like Acts of Christian Humiliation his flesh was rarified into Spirit and the whole man so fitted for eternal Glories that he was more then half in heaven before death brought his bloudy but triumphant Chariot to convey him thither He that had been so long a Confessor could not but think it a release of miseries to be made a Martyr And as it is recorded of Alexander the great that the night before his best and greatest Battel with Darius the Persian he fell into so sound a sleep that his Princes hardly could awake him when the Morning came so is is certified of this great Prelate that on the Evening before his Passeover the night before the dismal combat betwixt him and death after he had refreshed his spirits with a moderate Supper he betook himself unto his rest and slept very soundly till the time came in which his Servants were appointed to attend his Rising a most assured sign of a Soul prepared The fatal morning being come he first applied himself to his private Prayers and so continued till Penington and other of their publick Officers came to conduct him to the Scaffold which he ascended with so brave a courage such a cheerful countenance as if he had mounted rather to behold a triumph then to be made a Sacrifice and came not there to die but to be translated And to say Truth it was no Scaffold but a Throne a Throne whereon he shortly was to receive a Crown even the most glorious Crown of Martyrdom And though some rude uncivil people reviled him as he passed along with opprobrious Language as loath to let him go to the Grave in peace it never discomposed his thoughts nor disturbed his patience For he had profited so well in the School of Christ that when he was reviled he reviled not again when he suffered he threatned not but committed his cause to him that judgeth righteously And as he did not fear the Frowns so neither did he cover the applause of the vulgar Herd and therefore rather chose to read what he had to speak unto the People then to affect the Ostentation either of memory or wit in that dreadful Agony whether with greater Magnanimity or Prudence I can hardly say As for the matter of his Speech besides what did concern himself and his own purgation his great care was to clear His Majesty and the Church of England from any inclination unto Popery with a persivasion of the which the Authors of our then miseries had abused the People and made them take up Arms against their Soveraign approving himself a faithful Servant to the last By means whereof as it is said of Samson in the Book of Judges that the men which he slew at his death were more then they which he slew in his Life so may it be affirmed of this famous Prelate that he gave a greater blow unto the enemies of God and the King at the hour of his Death then he had given them in his whole life before But this you will more clearly see by the Speech it self which followeth here according to the best and most perfect Copies The Speech of the L. Archbishop of Canterbury spoken at his Death upon the Scaffold on the Tower-hill Jan. 10. 1644. Good People THis is an uncomfortable time to preach yet I shall begin with a Text of Scripture Heb. 12.2 Let us run with patience that Race which is set before us looking unto Jesus the Author and finisher of our Faith who for the Joy that was set before him endured the Crosse despising the shame and is set down at the right hand of the Throne of
but filled with the scornful Reproofs of the Proud by reproaches and such like rancorous Language was ready to die that Morning of his Execution For being a man of a magnanimous Spirit a large Soul and of great employments was more sensible of Indignities so that fitting by his Wife that Morning and leaning on her Breast he fell into a swoon and probably had then departed but that the shrieks and outcries of his Wife recalled him to a more Glorious Death that so Posterity might read his Name with Mr. Bowchers not in the Catalogue of Confessors but enrolled in the Noble Army of Martyrs The time of their Execution was concealed for fear the City should oppose so bloody a Fact but when the Fatal day was come Fiennes drew his Forces into the Marish the common place where they make their Musters and then suddenly caused the Gates to be shut drew Horse and Foot into every street of the City to awe the Citizens and to suppress Insurrections which the Indignity and affront offered to two of their most eminent Fellow-Citizens whose Crime was nothing else but Loyalty might incite them to especially if they should consider that an Issue of Bloud was that day opened that might in the end prove fatal to them and involve them in the same condition if they should see those Persons led to the slaughter and they stand like Sheep and not oppose it for if Fiennes and his Blood-hounds should for any other Vertue as well as Loyalty pass the same Sentence on any of them who should defend them who having refused the Kings Protection are grown so tame as not to venture their Lives for themselves All things being thus made secure the Prisoners are brought from the Castle to the Main Court of Guard being saluted all the way thither by the people who pressed with hazard enough to see and take leave of these Martyrs who would have asserted their Liberty they likewise returned hearty thanks for their dangerous Expressions of their Affections it being a sin next to Malignancy to own them or pray for them To fit themselves for their ends they desired they might have the assistance of Mr. Toogood and Mr. Standfast two Orthodox and pious Ministers of that City to sweeten the Cup they were ready to drink but this Christian Request was most unchristianly denied them and two Ministers of the Faction designed for their miserable Comforters When they were at the foot of the Ladder to that Tree which was presently to bear fruit to Eternal Life it was observed by some of the Murderers that knew the knack of it that the Halters were either too long or short or some fault which made the Executioner go and take them off whereupon the People that were Spectators of this bloudy Tragedy that stood at a distance and knew not the reason of their so doing conceiving that Fiennes had sent a Reprieve suddenly expressed their Joy by loud Acclamations but the deaths-man making his Fatal Instruments fast again and the Guards continuing still upon the place as if they were thunder-struck they stood still astonished and soon changed their Joy into Tears and Lamentations Being thus ready to be offered up as a Sacrifice to the implacable rage and malice of Fiennes and his fellow-Rebels Mr. Robert Yeomans first ascended the Ladder thence to reach his Crown of Martyrdom but before he went up he took care after the example of our Saviour to recommend his wife to his father in Law Mr. Yeomans in this addresse that he had left him a Legacy his VVife then great with child and eight small children the Eldest not able to put on his own Cloaths and so after many Embraces left him and set forward on his way to Heaven Being thus seated in that place of shame and disgrace as it is in its own nature where the Cause doth not change the accursed Tree into a Theatre of Honour and seeing himself made a Spectacle to that City wherein he had lived in plenty and Honour being Sheriffe but the Year before which Office he discharged with as much Magnificence and Bounty as any of his Predecessors And from that Prospect taking a view of many friends that could not well look through their Tears to see him again seeing also others of a far different temper that rejoyced in his sufferings amongst which was Robert Baugh one of the aforesaid Council of VVar in a most devilish cruelty stand jeering and mocking at him to his face here flesh and bloud interposed which transported him to an Expostulation bordering between Indignation and Submission saying Good God what have I done to be here but instantly sorry that humane Frailty should extort any thing from him unbeseeming the Justice of his Cause or the hardness of Christian resolution silencing the Suggestions of such evil Counsellors he composed himself to speak to the People Being weakned by long and many Sufferings he was not able to speak much or loud only as to clear himself from the imputation of an intent to have massacred all that adhered to the Parliament Laying his Hand upon his Breast and fixing his eyes on Heaven the Habitation of the God of Truth he made a solemn Protestation of his Innocency from any such thought and withal professed a firm perswasion of the Justice of that cause for which he suffered adding that if he had more Lives he would sacrifice them all to his Soveraign in that way While he was thus speaking Major Hercules Langrish since dead in Goal and extream want having before betrayed his Master the King in discovering his Majesties Coming to the House of Commons to demand the 5 Members who by that means had time to shift away and Clifton call upon the Executioner to hasten his work they interrupted Mr. Yeomans also and goaded him in the thighs with their Halberts bidding him to make an end for they were yet afraid of his rescue whereupon he desired the Witnesses of his suffering to sing with him the 130 Psalm which he sung with great Devotion and Fervency knowing that he should be presently translated out of Bochim the valley of Tears into that triumphant Quire where with Angels he should sing Hallelujah for evermore Having finished the Psalm and his Prayers and desired God not to charge his Bloud on that City and having prayed for his Persecuters charging his friends not to harbour any revengeful Thoughts against them and in the close of all beginning to defend his cause as words which would leave the deepest impression this Langrish and Clifton caused him to be thrown off the Ladder hardly affording him time to recommend his soul unto God Being thrown off and his Brother M. Haggat staying his Body that swung with the fall this Clifton gave the said Mr. Haggat such a Blow with his Cane that almost struck him to the ground Oh the barbarous Inhumanity of these Villains After Mr. Yeomans was thus executed without any resistance of the Citizens
the Executioner said I shall say but very short Prayers and when I thrust out my hands Then the King called to Dr. Juxon for his Night-cap and having put it on he said to the Executioner Does my hair trouble you who desired him to put it all under his Cap which the King did accordingly by the help of the Executioner and the Bishop then the King turning to Doctor Juxon said I have a good Cause and a Gracious God on my side D. Juxon There is but one stage more this Stage is turbulent and troublesom it is a short one But you may consider it will soon carry you a very great way it will carry you from Earth to Heaven and there you shall find a great deal of cordial Joy and Comfort King I go from a corruptible to an incorruptible Crown where no disturbance can be no disturbance in the world Dr. Juxon You are exchanged from a Temporal to an Eternal Crown a good Exchange The King then said to the Executioner Is my Hair well Then the King took off his Cloak and his George giving his George to Dr. Juxon saying Remember * It is thought to give it to the Prince Then the King put off his Doublet and being in his Wastcoat put his Cloak on again then looking upon the Block said to the Executioner You must set it fast Executioner It is fast Sir King When I put my hands out this way stretching them out then After that having said two or three words as he stood to himself with hands and Eyes lift up immediatly stooping down laid his Neck upon the Block and the Executioner again putting his hair under his Cap the King said thinking he had been going to strike stay for the sign Executioner Yes I will and it please your Majesty And after a very little Pause the King stretching forth his Hands the Executioner at one blow severed his Head from his Body the head being off the Executioner held it up and shewed it to the People which done it was with the Body put in a Coffin covered with black Velvet for that purpose and conveyed into his Lodgings there And from thence it was carried to his House at St. James's where his Body was embalmed put in a Coffin of Lead laid there a Fortnight to be seen by the people and on the Wednesday seven-night after his Corps embalmed and coffined in Lead was delivered chiefly to the care of four of his Servants viz. Mr. Herbert Captain Anthony Mildmay his Sewers Captain Preston and John Joyner formerly cook to his Majesty they attended with others cloathed in Mourning Suits and Cloaks accompanied the Herse that night to Windsor and placed it in that which was formerly the Kings Bed-Chamber next day it was removed into the Deans Hall which Room was hanged with Black and made dark with Lights burning round the Herse in which it remained till Three in the Afternoon about which time came the Duke of Lenox the Marquess of Hertford the Marquess of Dorchester the Earl of Lindsey having obtained an Order from the Parliament for the Decent Interment of the King their Royal Master provided the Expence thereof exceeded not five hundred Pounds at their coming into the Castle they shewed their Order of Parliament to Col. Whichâ—ott Governour of the Castle desiring the Interment might be in St. Georges Chappel and by the Form in the Common-Prayer-Book of the Church of England this Request was by the Governour denied saying it was improbable that the Parliament would permit the use of what they had so solemnly abolished and therein destroy their own Act. To which the Lords replied there is a difference betwixt destroying their own Act and dispensing with it and that no power so binds its own Hands as to disable it self in some cases all could not prevail the Governour persisting in the Negative The Lords betook themselves to the search of a convenient place for the Burial of the Corps the which after some paines taken therein they discover a Vault in the middle of the Quire wherein as is probably conjectured lieth the Body of King Henry the Eighth and his Beloved Wife the Lady Jane Seamor both in Coffins of Lead in this Vault there being room for one more they resolve to interre the Body of the King the which was accordingly brought to the place born by the Officers of the Garrison the four Corners of the Velvet Pall born up by the aforesaid four Lords the pious Bishop of London following next and other Persons of Quality the body was committed to the Earth with Sighs and Tears especially of the Reverend Bishop to be denied to do the last duty and Service to his Dear and Royal Master the Velvet Pall being cast into the Vault was laid over the Body upon the Coffin was these words set KING CHARLES 1648. I cannot let pass this Horrid Act of treason without letting the world know of the Damnable hypocrisie of that Arch Traytor Oliver Cromwel The Day assigned for Murdering of the King being come the Council of War sate which then managed all A Letter without name was addressed to the Council to represent to them by Reasons Conscience of and Prudence the formidable Consequence of so strange and execrable an Execution Cromwel seemed to be much toucht at it which caused some then present to suspect that he had a hand in procuring it and proposed it to the consideration of the Council many of which began to relent and lean toward Compassion Cromwel observing it made a Turn toward the Door and sent one of his Confidents to those to whom the Execution was committed to command them to dispatch the business then returning to the Council-Table made a large discourse shewing the Inconvenience of this Execution and advised them so to secure the Person of the King that he might neither do nor receive hurt which Discourse was seconded by others and re-assumed by himself with a great many words to lengthen out the time until one briskly entring into the Chamber told them Gentlemen you may cease to consult the Work is done the King is executed upon which Cromwel fell down upon his Knees with great Devotion and made an Eloquent Prayer giving Glory to God and acknowledging his Divine Justice A Letter worthy Perusal written by King Charles to his Son the Prince from Newport in the Isle of Wight Dated Nov. 29. 1648. Son BY what hath been said you may see how long We have laboured in the search of Peace Do not you be discouraged to tread those waies in all those worthy means to restore your self to your Right but prefer the way of Peace shew the Greatness of your mind rather to conquer your Enemies by pardoning them then by punishing If you saw how unmanly and unchristianly this implacable disposition is in our ill-willers you would avoid that Spirit Censure Us not for having parted with too much of Our own Right the Price was great the
I find a great Reward of it for I have found their Prayers and their kindness now in this distress and in this condition and I think it a great reward and I pray God reward them for it I am a great sinner and I hope God will be pleased to hear my prayers to give me faith to trust in him that as he hath called me to death at this place he will make it but a passage to an eternal Life through Jesus Christ which I trust to which I rely upon and which I expect by the Mercy of God And so I pray God bless you all and send that you may see this to be the last execution and the last bloud that is likely to be spilt among you And then turning to the side-rayl he prayed for a good space of time after which Mr. Bolton said My Lord now look upon him whom you have trusted My Lord I hope that here is your last Prayer there will no more Prayers remain but Praises and I hope that after this day is over there will a day begin that shall never have end and I look upon this my Lord the Morning of it the Morning of that day My Lord You know where your Fulness lies where your riches lie where is your only Rock to anchor on you know there is fulness in Christ If the Lord comes not in with fulness of Comfort to you yet resolve to wait upon him while you live and to trust in him when you die and then say I will die here I will perish at thy feet I will be found dead at the feet of Jesus Christ Certainly he that came to seek and save lost sinners will not reject lost sinners when they come to seek him He that intreateth us to come will not sleight us when we come to intreat him My Lord there is enough there and fix your heart there and fix your eyes there that eye of Faith and that eye of Hope exercise these Grace now there will be no exercise hereafter As your Lordship said here take an end of Faith and take an end of Hope and take a Farewel of Repentance and all these and welcome God and welcome Christ and welcome Glory and welcome Happiness to all Eternity and so it will be an happy passage then if it be a passage here from misery to happiness And though it be but a sad way yet if it will bring you into the presence of Joy although it be a Valley of Tears although it be a shadow of death yet if God will please to bring you and make it a passage to that happiness welcome Lord. And I doubt not but God will give you an heart to tast some sweetness and Love in this bitter Potion and to see somthing of Mercy and Goodness to you and shew you some sign and token of good so that your soul may see that which we have had already experience of blessed be God for it many Experiences many Expressions not only in words nor tears God hath not left us without much Comfort and evidence and I hope my Lord you that have given so many Evidences to us I hope you want none your self but that the Lord will be pleased to support you and bear up your Spirit and if there want Evidence there is Reliance my security lies not in my knowing that I shall come to Heaven and come to Glory but in my resting and relying upon him when the Anchor of Faith is thrown out there may be shakings and tossings but there is Safety nothing shall interrupt Safety although somthing may interrupt Security my safety is sure although I apprehend it not and what if I go to God in the dark What if I come to him as Nicodemus did staggering in the night It is a night of trouble a night of darkness though I come trembling and staggering in this night yet I shall be sure to find comfort and fixedness in him And the Lord of Heaven be the strength stay and support of your soul and the Lord furnish you with all those Graces which may carry you into the besom of the Lord Jesus that when you expire this life you may be able to expire it into him in whom you may begin to live to all Eternity and that is my humble Prayer Holland M. Bolton God hath given me long time in this world he hath carried me through many great accidents of fortune he hath at last brought me down into a condition where I find my self brought to an end for a dis-affection to this State to this Parliament that as I said before I did believe no body in the world more unlikely to have expected to suffer for that cause I look upon it as a great Judgment of God for my sins And truly Sir since that the death is violent I am the less troubled with it because of those violent deaths that I have seen before principally my Saviour that hath shewed us the way how and in what manner he hath done it and for what cause I am the more comforted I am the more rejoyced It is not long since the King my Master passed in the same manâ—er and truly I hope that his purposes and intentions were such as a man may not be ashamed not only to follow him in the way that was taken with him but likewise not ashamed of his putposes if God had given him life I have often disputed with him concerning many things of this kind and I conceive his sufferings and his better knowledge and better understanding if God had spared him life might have made him a Pr. very happy toward himself this Kingdom I have seen and known that those blessed souls in Heaven have passed thither by the gate of sorrow and many by the gate of violence and since it is Gods pleasure to dispose me this way I submit my soul to him with all comfort and with all hope that he hath made this my end and this my conclusion that though I be low in death yet nevertheless this lowness shall raise me to the highest glory for ever Truly I have non said much in publick to the People concerning the particular Actions that I conceive I have done by my Counsels in this Kingdom I conceive they are well known it were somthing of vanity methinks to take notice of them here I 'le rather die with them with the comfort of them in my own bosom that I never intended in this Action or any action that ever I did in my life either malice or bloudshed or prejudice to any creature that lives For that which concerns my Religion I made my Profession before of it how I was bred and in what manner I was bred in a Family that was looked upon to be no little notorious in opposition to some liberties they have conceived then to be taken and truly there was some mark upon me as if I had some taint of it even throughout my whole
strength of thy grace I have both kept the true faith and have fought for my King the Lora's Anointed's cause without any wavering for which and in which I die I do willingly resign my flesh I despise the World and I defie the Devil who hath no part nor share in me And now what is my hope my hope Lord Jesu is even in thee for I know that thou my Redeemer livest and that thou wilt immediately receive my soul and raise up my body also at the last day and I shall see thee in my flesh with these eyes and none other And now O Lord let thy Spirit of comfort help mine infirmities and make supplication for me with sighs and groans that cannot be expressed I submit my self wholly to thy will I commit my soul to thee as my faithful Redeemer who hast bought it with thy most precious blood I confess to all the world I know no name under heaven by which I may be saved but thine my Jesu my Saviour I renounce all confidence in any merits save thine I thank fully acknowledge all thy blessings I unfeignedly bewail all my sins I stedfastly believe all thy promises I heartily forgive all my Enemies I willingly leave all my Friends I utterly loath all earthly comforts and I entirely long for thy coming Come Lord Jesus come quickly Lord Jesus receive my Spirit The private were to himself his Hat being before his eyes After this he put up divers short Ejaculations As I know my Redeemer liveth Father into thy hands I commend my spirit for thou hast redeemed it O God thou God of truth Lord Jesus receive my spiriâ— and many of the like and so he yielded to Death The Speech of Coronet Michael Blackbourn immediately before his death August 23. 1649. It is expected I should say somethingâ— and indeed it is my desire to say something and but a little I Am not a Gentleman by birth but my Parents are of an honest quality and condition I was brought up in the Protestant Religion and in that Religion I have lived and in that I now dy I have some five or six years since engaged in this War wherein I had no other end or intention but to do my King true and faithful service according to my duty and the dictate of my Conscience I have not done so much service as I desired but I have been always faithful to him and wish I could have done him more and for his Son the King that now is I wonder any man of this Kingdom should have the boldness or impudence to life up his hand against him to keep him from his Crown whereof he is Heir apparent and hath as good right and title to it by his Birth-right as any man living hath of his Inheritance or Possession I pray God bless him forgive all my Enâ—mies and Lord Jesus receive my Spirit Dr. Levens executed at the Old Exchange London the 18. of July 1650. THis learned Gentleman was descended of an antient family in Oxford-shire whose chief seat and residence was near Botley within a mile of the Universitie His education was truly generous his profession the Civil Law wherein he was graduated a Doctor and in which he was excellently known before these Wars But when these uncivil broils began he laid aside the practice of that Law which was not onely silenced by the depression and annihilation of the Hierarchy in whose Courts it is most generally used but also despair'd of for any future resuscitation during the Troubles and he took himself to the service of his Sovereign then most unlawfully and uncivilly assaulted and affronted by the Members at Westminster He continued most part of the War in the Garâ—ison at Oxford and his own adjacent dwelling till such time as the surrender of the said City into the hands of the Parliament where he had the same terms and was concluded in the Articles of that Capitulation which being forced to accept and lay down his arms he again resumed his wonted studies From these he was again avocated by those monstrous and horrid actions of those times which indulged not any man his private concerns in the danger and trouble of the publick nor could he forsake or desert his first cause with its fortune and serve the times by a base and abject indifferency He had to the infinite distraction of his mind and trouble of his soul seen the barbarous Regicide perpetrated upon the life of his Sovereign the Royal Family renounced and banished all the friends thereof in most eminent danger to be destroyed and undone for adhehering to them and the Laws in the late War the Church and State renversed and a sad confusion and ruine of the Kingdom unless obviated by Providence and means therewith used to be impendent and unavoidable Upon these and the like considerations this Gentleman very considerable in his numerous acquaintance prudence and integrity became engaged for the Son our present Sovereign as before for his Royal Father several consultations and private meetings were held by him and others in order to this service to which purpose he also received Commissions from the King then in France for several Officers of these Forces designed to be raised and other Instructions as the affair proceeded The Common-wealth as it was then called was in its infancy which made its politick Guardians very cautious and jealous of attempts upon it the Kings interest was no whit the less formidable because his person was beyond the Sea the just indignation and noble anger of his Subjects being ready to boil over upon any sudden motion they had also so oppressed the generality of the people with grievous insupportable Taxes that they might well fear and suspect some more forcible and prosperous enterprise against them by how much their impâ—eties and high provocations had further incensed both heaven and earth Therefore they employed their Emissaries and Spies to give them intelligence if any such designs were on foot and so to countermine all plots against them Their sagacious industry in this soon answered their expectation for these flies prying up and down engaging in all companies assimulating themselves to their complexion opinion and study light at last upon some glimpses of this business which they followed so close that at last they made a perfect and full discovery of the main businesse and that this Doctor Levens was the chief Agitator and manager thereof in whose breast the Cabal was principally lodged and entrusted and upon whose apprehension they might be informed and satisfied in every circumstance An Order was thereupon made by the Council of State and a Warrant signed by Bradshaw the President to seize and bring him before them and to search his Chamber and break up his Trunks for papers he then being at London the place most expedient for the design which accordingly was done a file or two of Musketeers guarding and securing the house where the said Papers were among which
saving of his regret that he had ever served such Masters wished prosperity to the King and Kingdom and so was thrown off the ladder a spectacle more of their shame then his own Captain Brown-Bushel beheaded on Tower-hill April 29. 1651. NOw their hand was in all went to the stake The High Court of Justice proceeded in their blood-bound track and their huntsmen rowzed their game An old sault which had been remedied long ago was brought into play again that these journey men Butchers might not want work for the preparation whereof they had so often adjourned about this time their terrible Session Captain Brown-Bushel was the next criminal for his Loyalty being secured in the Guard at White-hall in 1648. and from custody to custody till this time when he was brought from the Tower to his Trial. The objected offence made up into a Charge of high Treason was his delivering of Scarborough where he had some kind of Command from the Parliament to the King being himself a sea souldier and then a Captain of a man of War He was a very expert and valiant person well esteemed of by all sea-men as he was well reputed by all honest loyal people for this his last service being not inconsiderable for his fortune At the revolt of the Fleet to their due obedience under Sir William Butten to the Prince in the Downs this Gentleman was in London the War being finished and like to renew again where he lay waiting his opportunity of doing further service to his Majesty The rancour of that business festred in the minds of the party at Westminster so that not having any of those Commanders and Captains who were actively diligent in that businesse in their hands they resolved to wreak their fury and displeasure upon this Gentleman and to quit scores with him for the trespasses and fractures of others He had lain so long under restraint that he was hard put to it for sustenance and necessaries of life his poor wife running twice a day from Coven Garden to the Tower to bring and provide his daily meat besides a hundred jaunts to the Parliament and Council of State with Petitions to obtain his liberty or at leastwise get him blotted out of that roll wherein the just number of those who were to be tried at that high Court was before ascertained But all availed nothing they had designed more for the slaughter then they or their Engines could bring into the snare and therefore be must die for number that whatever else they wanted they might not fail in that so that after some adjournments of the Court as before is specified they called him to the Bar and for that crime aforesaid condemned him he in vain obtesting and imploring their favour as in a matter wherein the State and their cause had received little prejudice or disadvantage but seeing their severity could not be mitigated by words he frankly told them he was not afraid to die for his cause and composed himself for his sentence which was pronounced against him after some aggravations of his fact with more then usual acerbity Much stir there was made for a reprieve for him by his wife and friends of hers then in Authority but reason of State as they told her prevailed against all pleas and arguments for mercy though she was flattered but the day he died he should be reprieved and finally pardoned which glad tidings the poor overjoyed woman carried him about noon to the Tower where they were merry and solacing together in which pleasantness of mind about two a clock she left him and at four came the Warrant for his present Execution a most devilish cruelty which as is supposed for fear of the sea-men by whom he was well beloved was executed at six of the clock the night aforesaid upon the ground under the Scaffold where he fearlesly and Christianly suffered and resigned his soul into the hands of his Creator Mr. Love and Mr. Gibbons beheaded on Towerhill August 20. 1651. I Know some scruple will be made against these persons as Presbyterians and sufferers upon another account then of the fifth Commandement as having their own and the Kings interest interwoven with it but all things considered without much reconcilement of the different opinions in this case we may venture to Register and enroll them in this Martyrologie For without all doubt the bottom of their design was the Kings Restauration and however it was clog'd with Salves and Conditions for themselves and their Partie which abates something of the lustre though not of the worth of this Crown yet the main was Loyaltie which they hoped to vindicate and evince to the World who had hard thoughts of them in the matter of the Kings Death in the previous Method thereunto This Confederation was therefore begun just upon the conclusion of that horrid murther that what they could not remedy in that they might compensate in this and by a timely application to his present Majestie redeem themselves into his good opinion and favour forfeited by their former aversenesse to their dutie towards him To this purpose most of the eminent Ministers of that way in London had several meetings and Conferences in consultation and debate of the manner of their proceeding in this Affair Among them Mr. Love appeared to be most active and stirring whether out of Conscience of some unwarrantable undutifull demeanour towards the King duâ—ing the War I take not upon me to determine The rest were Mr. Jenkins Mrâ— Robinson Doctor Drake Mr. Watson and others Of the Lay-part Captain Titus Mr. Potter an Apothecary in Black-fryers Mr. Gibbons and some else These held intelligence both with the King and the Parliament of Scotland then not agreed but in expectation of a Treaty which was the first thing endeavoured by these men here to be promoted and with desired Effect Concluded Their chief meeting-place was Mr. Love's where their intelligence was communicated Letters read and advice given upon the several Emergencies of that Businesse which proceeded so far that the King and his Subjects of Scotland having ended the Treaty and his Majestie arrived in Scotland whether Cromwel with the English Armie was also advanced and had worsted the Kirks Armie at Dunbar They concluded of raising an Armie in this Kingdom to the assistance of that Nation and the recovery of this from the slavery and Tyrannie it suffered under This passed through so many hands engaged in it and was so publiquely owned that the Council of State had very early notice of the whole Design so that they dained most part of the while in the Net information being given of every daies proceedings and of what additions or accesses of persons to the Design which soon after when they had let it run as far as without danger they might trust it they drew the Curtain and apprehended most of the aforesaid persons and brought them to Trial before a High Court of Justice which was yet
information I thought fit to propose and do humbly crave their pardon if this weak and mean endeavour cannot reach that grandeur of Spirit with which they constantly endured their fiery tryals and dreadful and doleful sufferings I observe the order of time and not of Dignity and shall begin with the right Honourable the Lord Finch of Fordwich who being Lord Keeper of the Seal upon their arbitrary proceedings against the life of the Earl of Strafford wisely withdrew himself and endured banishment and exile from his own Country for sixteen years and then returned and died in Honour His faithful serving his Soveraign in that great employment being all his charge and accusation Mr. Secretary Windebanke who pursued the same course to avoid the Popular fury and died abroad The Right reverend Father in God Matthew Lord Bishop of Ely who with eleven more of his Sacred Order were committed to the Tower in 1641 from which imprisonment he never â—irred till the end of the year 1659 at which time by the means of the ever renowned Lord General the Duke of Albemarle he was set at liberty from thence in kind remembrance of those fatherly counsels and happy advice the said noble Duke had during his restraint in the same place for the same account of Loyalty received from this reverend Bishop who is now reestablished in this same Diocesse to the Honour and support of this restored Church Doctor Featly a very Learned Religious and grave Divine to whom this Church oweth much for his accurate defences of its Doctrine and Discipline being for no other cause committed to Peter House by an Order of Parliament languished there a year and a half and with much importunity was at last removed to Chelsey Colledge for the aire but he died there within three weeks after his coming being too far spent by his barbarous misusage Sir Robert Heath Lord Chief Justice of England known so well for his integrity and moderation and as famous for his constant Loyalty of whom quarrelsome John Lilburn a sworn Enemy to the Royal Party gave so noble a character before his Judges at Guild-hall forced to abandon his Country fled over towards the expiration of the War into France being by the bloody prevalent Faction at Westminster excepted from mercy not long after the Kings death with grief and anxiety of mind to see the miseries and ruines of the King and his Country he himself died at Caen in Normandy and was received no doubt into mercy Judge Bartlet who weathered the same Storm being the first committed of that reverend Robe and long survived their high and insignificant charge and accusation This gives us an Evidence of the intended Justice of the Reformers who would first put out the eyes of the Law that the Subject might see the better Sir Ralph afterwards Lord Hopton who so couragiously and prudently and as an Expert Captain commanded for the King in the West and had so many notable successes after his disbanding in Cornwall he took Shipping with the Prince our now Soveraign into the Island of Scilly and from thence into France following the Kings hard Fortune in all his peregrinations till Death arrested him at Paris and put an end to his Travel Judge Jenkins one of his Majesties Justices in Wales brought to the Chancery Bat for some misdemeanours of Loyalty where he denied the Authority of the Court for that the Seal was contrary to Law as well as the Commissioners whereupon he was sent to the Tower where he persisted in his integrity published several Presidents and Statutes and argued them Rebels and owned the same again at other bars did what he could to set the Army and the Parliament together by the ears desied them and their threats and asserted the King and the Laws against their usurpation was continued a close Prisoner till they were weary of him and then was sent to Windsor in the same quality where he continued of the same mind till without thanks he was permitted the liberty of the Town This brave stout person is yet living but when dead his memory shall endure for evermore Mr. Secretary Sir Edward Nicolas who constantly abode with the King from the beginning of his troubles and afterwards continued the same Service and Office to his present Majesty in all his troubles abroad by no less trouble than Honour having faithfully and prudently managed that employment to the happy effect of his Majesties Restitution Sir Edward Hide now the Right Honourable Earl of Clarendon Lord Chancellour of England the Counsel-Favourite of his late Martyr'd Majesty and therefore no wonder so hated by the Faction at Westminster and traduced by their scandalous Votes being excepted likewise out of their mercy He not only continued the same advice but also saw it in conclusion attain that successe to which it had alwaies been directed but had missed of approbation till the general applause and shouts of our Deliverance The Lord Wilmot afterwards by King Charles the Second made Earl of Rochester who throughout the War particularly at Roundway Down neer the Devizes so valiantly behaved himself passed over with the Prince and my Lord Hopton into Scilly and accompanied his Highnesse in all those difficulties he passed more especially at Worcester and in his Majesties happy conveyance from thence which he principally managed And here I must not omit the Duke of Buckingham with an honourable reference also to his noble Brother my Lord Francis Villers who young at Kingston as in the primitive times gave early testimony to this cause the valiant Earl of Cleveland the Lord Wentworth his Son and other Gentlemen in that Expedition who suffered for their assistance and obedience to his Majesty in those commands As also my Lord Gerard now Captain of his Majesties Life-guard who bore part afterwards as well as before in the calamity and misfortune of the Kings adventures in forrein parts My Lord Wilmot unhappily died a little before the Kings restitution and hath left behind him the sweet favour of a most Loyal affection to his Majesty Nor without due observation can I pass by the Earl of Norwich my Lord Loughborough Bernard Gascoign Col. Far Squire Hales and the rest engaged in that design at Colchester nor Sr. John Owen for the same endeavour in Wales being condemned with the said Earl of Norwich by the High Court of Justice but must give their names and memories their veneration Nor likewise the right reverend Dr. Shelden now Lord Bishop of London and the famous Dr. Hamond who were a long while in restraint and threatned with more cruelties at the same time expecting to have been transported to some forreign plantations Dr. John Berkenhead who so hazardously and in so very great dangers and several imprisonments asserted his Majesties cause in its lowest extremities this Gentleman is so deservedly well reputed that this mite will signifie nothing Sr. Marmaduke Langdale now Lord Langdale a Person not inferiour to any of his Majesties
was not done for the Lords stuck at it Some of which having not extinguished all the sparks of honour did by the light thereof discover the injustice of so foul a practice together with the danger might befal themselves if once disfavoured by the Grandees of that potent Faction A thing so stomacked by the Commons that after some evaporations of their heat and passion which broke out into open threats they presently drew and sent up an Ordinance to the Lords tending to dispossesse them of all power and command in their Armies But fearing this device was too weak to hold they fall upon another and a likelier project which was to bring the Lords to sit in the Commons House where they were sure they should be inconsiderable both for power and number And to effect the same with more speed and certainty they had recourse to their old Arts drew down Sir David Watkins with his general muster of subscriptions and put a petition in his hands to be rendred by him to the Houses that is themselves wherein it was required among other things that they would vigorously proceed unto the punishment of all Delinquents and that for the more quick dispatch of the publick businesses of the State the Lords would please to vote and sit together with the Commons On such uncertain terms such a ticklish Tenure do they now hold their place and power in Parliament who so officiously complied with the House of Commons in depriving the Bishops of their Votes and the Churches birth-right And this was it which helped them in that time of need For by this though stale and common Stratagem did they prevail so far upon some weak spirits that the Earls of Kent Pembroke Salisbury and Bullingbrooke the Lords North Gray of Wark and Brews a Scotchman but an English Baron and generally called the Earl of Elgin resolved to yield unto the current of so strong a stream and thought they had made a gaining voyage if by delivering the Lord Arch-Bishop to the Peoples fury they might preserve themselves in the Peoples favour And we know well both who it was and what end he came to who though he knew that the accused party was delivered him out of envy only and that he found no evil he was guilty of yet being wearied with the clamours and the Crucifiges of the common people and fearing that some tumult would be made about it delivered him unto his enemies to be put to death And for those other Lords who withdrew themselves and neither durst condemn nor protect the innocent though far the major part as it is reported it is not easie to determin whether their consciences were more tender their Collusion grosser or their courage weaker All I shall say is only this that Claudius Lysias in the Acts had been as guilty of Saint Paul's death as any of the forty who had vowed to kill him if upon notice of the Plot which was laid to murther him he had brought him down unto the people or not conveied him with a strong guard to the Court of Felix The journies end must needs be foul which such lewd and crooked waies do conduct unto And it is worth your observation that the same day the fourth of January in which they passed this bloody Ordinance as if therein they would cry quittance with his Sacred Majesty who on the same accused the six guilt Members they passed another for establishing their new Directory which in effect was nothing but a total abolition of the Common-Prayer-Book and thereby shewed unto the World how little hopes they had of setling their new form of Worship if the foundation of it were not laid in blood The Bill being thus dispatched in the House of Lords if still they may be called Lords which are so over-loaded by the Common-people there wanted yet the Kings Assent to give life to it which they so far contemned they had more reason to despair of it that they never sought it They had screwed up their Ordinances to so high a pitch that never Act of Parliament was of more authority and having found the Subjects so obedient as to yield unto them in matters which concerned them in their goods and liberties it was but one step more to make trial of them whether they would submit their lives to the self-same tyranny And this they made the first experiment in this kind both of their own power and the peoples patience he being the first man as himself noted in his Speech which words are purposely omitted in Hindes Copy of it that was ever put to death by Ordinance in Parliament but was not the last as we have too sadly experienced Certain it is that by that Ordinance they then made themselves the absolute Master of the Subjects lives and left them nothing that they could call their own but ruine and destruction Just as it was observed by our Gracious Soveraign upon occasion of the Ordinance for the 20th part that the same power which robbed the Subject of the twentieth part of their Estates had by that only made a claim and entituled it self to the other nineteen when soever it should be thought expedient to hasten on the general ruin In which His Majesty proved but too true a Prophet And though perhaps some of the people were well pleased with this bloody Ordinance and ran with joy to see it put in execution yet all wise men did look upon it as the last groan or gasp of our dying liberty And let both them and those who passed it be assured of this that they who did so gladly sell the blood of their fellow Subjects seldom want Chapmen for their own in an open Market And here as it was once observed that the predominant Party of the United Provinces to bring about their ends in the death of Barnovelt subverted all those fundamental Laws of the Belgick liberty for maintenance whereof they took up Arms against Philip the Second so would I know which of those Fundamental Laws of the English Government have not been violated by these men in their whole proceedings for preservation of which Laws or rather under colour of such preservation they did bewitch the people unto that Rebellion It is a Fundamental Law of the English Government and the first Article in the Magna Charta that the Church of England shall be free and shall have her whole Rights and Priviledges inviolable yet to make way unto the condemnation of this innocent man and other the like wicked and ungodly ends the Bishops must be Voted out of their place in Parliament which most of them had held far longer in their Predecessors than any of our noble families in their Progenitors And if the Lords refuse to give way unto it as at first they did the people must come down to the House in multitudes and cry No Bishops no Bishops at the Parliament doors till by the terror of their tumults they extort it from them It