there were blank Commissions signed by the King to the purport aforesaid were found with him and carried to the Council who thereupon ordered him to be proceeded against as a spie and referred him to a Council of War Accordingly he was soon afterwards tried by a Court Martial where he did not excuse himself or extenuate his fault but very modestly handsomly acknowledged their allegations against him and the justice of his cause of which he told them he was no way ashamed but if it must be so would willingly lay down his life in the owning of it He told them moreover that he was bound indispensably by the Laws of God and this Kingdom to do what he did and so referred himself to them They very earnestly pressed him to reveal the other parties engaged with him and gave him some fallacious hopes of life if he would freely declare them but those offers prevailed not with him being resolved to suffer and take all upon himself rather then to ruine others whom they could not fasten upon without his discovery So the Court proceeded to Sentence which was that he should be hanged over against the Exchange in Cornhill in Exchange time which after some little preparation was executed he being brought in a Coach from the Mews with the Executioner vizarded with him and a Troop of Horse to guard him to the said place where the Sheriffs received him into their charge After he alighted and some words passed between them concerning the said discovery he told them they should not expect it and desired them to forbear any further trouble to that purpose and so ascended that ladder which reached unto heaven wherein he prayed very fervently for the King and the Church and commended his soul into the hands of the Redeemer and so concluded his last breath which at the falling of his body mounted his soul to heaven in whose blissful mansions he nows sings Hallelujah for ever Colonel Eusebius Andrews beheaded on Tower-hill August 22. 1650. THis Gentleman a most sincere and religious Protestant being by profession a Counsellour of Grays-Inn and who during the War had followed the Kings fortune out of Conscience of his obedience and duty was most wickedly trapand by the said Council of State and their Officers to his lamentable death a Narative of the whole take as followeth On Monday the 24 of March 1649. Collonel Andrews was taken prisoner at Graves-end by Major Parker and by a Troop of Horse that night conveighed to the George in Kings-street Westminster The next day he was convented before the President Bradshaw Sir Henry Mildmay and Thomas Scot three members of the said Council delegated by them for the taking of the Examination of him and of Sir Henry Chichley Doctor Henry Edwards and Mr. Clark casually found in the same Inne with Mr. Andrews These Gentlemen examined him so punctually to every action and circumstance that had passed on his part since he took up Armes and especially since the render of Worcester and his return from thence to London and also concerning his several Lodgings Names Acquaintances Removes Abodes in the Country correspondencies by Letters and interests in places and persons as if they had kept a Diary for him Which considered and that Sir John Gell Baroner Major Bernard Captain Smith Captain Benson and Capt. Ashley with whom he had the last and most questionable correspondency were all in custody he found himself to be betrayed but could not at present guesse by whom but well saw that he had better be fair in his Confession then to deny what he saw by the perfectness of his Examiners would be proved against him by the discovery of those formerly secured and examined before his coming up and so resolved to bear the worst and not so much to shame himself or the matter as to deny things evident or easily proveable but rather to cast himself upon God and come off as well as he could with a truth in his mouth In his Answers he would have been circumstantial but was kept close to the Question At his departure he desired he might set down his own Narrative according to his own sense which was granted him to prepare and to send or bring them as there was opportunity And having totally and as much as in him lay excused his fellow-prisoners as to any thing related to his Delinquency he was with them committed to the Gate-house Wednesday following he was re-convented and re-examined and on Friday again convented and delivered in his Narrative to the Lord President and by him without further words returned On Saturday he was re-called and then as at all times before used and treated with civility being only much pressed to discover some great Persons his supposed Confederates their aym being as he supposed at Sir Guy Palms Sir John Curson and Sir Thomas Whitmore c. But it was a great blessing in his unhappiness that it was not cumulative nor fatal to any of his friends and familiars who yet knew nothing of the reason of his imprisonment more then by common same On Sunday next he was called out of his bed and by two Messengers his keeper and his man brought into a Boat at Kings-bridge Westminster and thence carried to the Tower The Warrant which was read at the Lieutenants house imported That he was committed close prisoner for high Treason in endeavouring to subvert the present Government to be kept till delivered by Law He was designed for a Prison-lodging by Col. West the Lieutenant but upon notice of his quality he was put into the custody of Mr. Slaidon one of the Warders in his house equally convenient with the best At his first coming to the Tower he had but two shillings in his Purse and supposing he should be provided for at the States-charges he sent to the Lieutenant to know what he would order for him who returned that if he had money he might have what he would but at his provision nothing His keeper was upon his delivery to his charge commanded to keep him safe and if he escap'd threatned to be hanged and a Sentinel set immediately at his door and that day two Gentlewomen coming to see him were all imprisoned in the Round-house and next day carried to the Council of State and strictly examined His Waterman that week brought him some money for which and some affectionate words spoken of him he was brought before the President examined rebuked and dismissed and a Centinel set at Mr. Andrew's window that he might not speak to any without His Case was this His Engagement for his late Majesty began in 1642. and continued until the surrender of Worcester 1645. He compounded not for his Delinquency not having a considerable and not willing to own an inconsiderable Estate He took neither Protestation Solemn League and Covenant Negative Oath nor subscribed Engagement At his return to London to a private practice in his Calling for his necessary support John
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
God I have been long in my Race and how I have looked to Jesus the Author and Finisher of my Faith he best knowes I am now come to the end of my Race and here I find the Crosse a death of shame but the shame must be despised or no coming to the right hand of God Jesus despised the shame for me and God forbid but I should despise the shame for him I am going apace as you see towards the Red Sea and my feet are now upon the very Brink of it an Argument I hope that God is bringing me into the Land of Promise for that was the way through which he led his People But before they came to it he instituted a Passeover for them a Lamb it was but it must be eaten with sour herbs I shall obey and labour to digest the sour herbs as well as the Lamb. And I shall remember it is the Lords Passeover I shall not think of the herbs nor be angry with the hand which gathereth them but look up only to him who instituted that and governs these For men can have no more power over me then what is given them from above I am not in love with this passage through the Red Sea for I have the weaknesse and infirmities of flesh and bloud plentifully in me and I have prayed with my Saviour ut transiret Calix iste that this Cup of Red Wine might passe from me But if not Gods will not mine be done and I shall most willingly drink of this Cup as deep as he pleases and enter into this Sea yea and passe through it in the way that he shall lead me But I would have it remembred good people that when Gods Servants were in this boysterous Sea and Aaron among them the Egyptians which persecuted them and did in a manner drive them into that Sea were drowned in the same waters while they were in pursuit of them I know my God whom I serve is as able to deliver me from this Sea of Bloud as he was to deliver the Three Children from the Furnace and I most humbly thank my Saviour for it my Resolution is now as theirs was then They would not worship the Image the King had set up nor will I the Imaginations which the people are setting up nor will I forsake the Temple and the Truth of God to follow the bleating of Jeroboams Calf in Dan and Bethel And as for this People they are at this day miserably misled God of his mercy open their eyes that they may see the right way for at this day the Blind lead the Blind and if they go on both will certainly fall into the Ditch For my self I am and I acknowledge it in all humility a most grievous sinner many waies by thought word and deed and I cannot doubt but that God hath Mercy in store for me a poor Penitent as well as for other sinners I have now upon this sad occasion ransacked every Corner of my heart yet I thank God I have not found among the many any one sin which deserves death by any known Law of this Kingdom And yet hereby I charge nothing upon my Judges for if they proceed upon Proof by valuable Witnesses I or any other Innocent may be justly condemned And I thank God though the weight of the Sentence lie heavy upon me I am as quiet within as ever I was in my life And though I am not only the first Archbishop but the first man that ever died by an Ordinance of Parliament yet some of my Predecessors have gone this way though not by this means For Elphegus was hurried away and lost his Head by the Danes and Simon Sudbury in the Fury of Wat Tyler and his Fellows Before these St. John Baptist had his Head danced off by a Lewd Woman and St. Cyprian Archbishop of Carthage submitted his Head to a persecuting Sword Many examples great and good and they teach me Patience For I hope my Cause in Heaven will look of another Dye then the colour that is put upon it here And some comfort it is to me not only that I go the way of these great men in their several generations but also that my Charge as foul as 't is made looks like that of the Jews against St. Paul Acts 25.3 For he was accused for the Law and the Temple i. e. Religion And like that of S. Stephen Acts 6.14 for breaking the Ordinances which Moses gave i. e. Law and Religion the holy place and the Temple v. 13. But you will say do I then compare my self with the Integrity of St. Paul and St. Stephen No far be that from me I only raise a Comfort to my self that these great Saints and Servants of God were laid at in their times as I am now And 't is memorable that S. Paul who helped on this Accusation against S. Stephen did after fall under the very same himself Yea but here is a great Clamour that I would have brought in Popery I shall answer that more fully by and by In the mean time you know what the Pharisees said against Christ himself If we let him alone all men will believe in him venient Romani and the Romans will come and take away both our Place and the Nation Here was a causelesse Cry against Christ that the Romans will come And see how just the Judgment of God was they crucified Christ for fear lest the Romans should come and his death was it which brought in the Romans upon them God punishing them with that which they most feared And I pray God this Clamour of venient Romani of which I have given no cause help not to bring them in for the Pope never had such a Harvest in England since the Reformation as he hath now upon the Sects and Divisions that are amongst us In the mean time by honour and dishonour by good and evil report as a Deceiver and yet true am I passing through this world 2 Cor. 6.8 Some Particulars also I think it not amiss to speak of And first this I shall be bold to speak of the King our Gracious Soveraign He hath been much traduced for bringing in of Popery but on my Conscience of which I shall give God a very present account I know Him to be as free from this Charge as any man living and I hold him to be as sound a Protestant according to the Religion by Law established as any man in this Kingdom and that he will venture his Life as far and as freely for it and I think I do or should know both His affection to Religion and His Grounds for it as fully as any man in England The second Particular is concerning this great and Populous City which God bless Here hath been of late a fashion taken up to gather hands and then to go to the Great Court of this Kingdom the Parliament and clamour for Justice as if that great and wise Court before
whom the Causes come which are unknown to the many could not or would not do Justice but at their appointment A way which may endanger many an Innocent man and pluck his bloud upon their own heads and perhaps upon the Cities also And this hath been lately practised against my self the Magistrate standing still and suffering them openly to proceed from Parish to Parish without check God forgive the setters of this with all my heart I beg it but many well meaning People are caught by it In St. Stephens case when nothing else would serve they stirred up the people against him and Herod went the same way when he had killed St. James yet he would not venter upon St. Peter till he found how the other pleased the people But take heed of having your hands full of bloud for there is a time best known to himself when God above other sins makes Inquisition for bloud and when that Inquisition is on foot the Psalmist tells us That God remembers but that 's not all He remembers and forgets not the Complaint of the Poor that is whose bloud is shed by oppression vers 9. take heed of this 'T is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God but then especially when he is making Inquisition for bloud And with my Prayers to avert it I do heartily desire this City to remember the Prophesie that is expressed Jer. 26.15 The third particular is the poor Church of England It hath flourished and been a shelter to other neighbouring Churches when storms have driven upon them But alas now 't is in a storm it self and God only knows whether or how it shall get out and which is worse than a storm from without it s become like an Oak cleft to shivers with wedges made out of its own body and at every cleft prophanenesse and irreligion is entring in while as Prosper speaks in his second Book De vit a contemptu cap. 4. Men that introduce prophanenesse are cloaked over with the name Religionis Imaginariae of Imaginary Religion for we have lost the Substance and dwell too much in Opinion and that Church which all the Jesuits machinations could not ruine is fallen into danger by her own The last particular for I am not willing to be too long is my self I was born and baptized in the bosome of the Church of England established by Law in that profession I have ever since lived and in that I come now to dye This is no time to dissemble with God least of all in matter of Religion and therefore I desire it may be remembred I have alwaies lived in the Protestant Religion established in England and in that I come now to dye What Clamours and Slanders I have endured for labouring to keep a Uniformity in the external service of God according to the Doctrine and Discipline of this Church all men know and I have abundantly felt Now at last I am accused of High Treason in Parliament a Crime which my Soul ever abhorred this Treason was charged to consist of these two parts An endeavour to subvert the Laws of the Land and alike Endeavour to overthrow the true Protestant Religion Established by Law Besides my answers to the several Charges I protested my Innocency in both Houses It was said Prisoners Protestations at the Bar must not be taken I can bring no witnesse of my heart and the intentions thereof therefore I must come to my Protestation not at the Bar but my Protestation at this hour and instant of my death in which I hope all men will be such charitable Christians as not to think I would dye and dissemble being instantly to give God an account for the truth of it I do therefore in the presence of God and his holy Angels take it upon my death That I never endeavoured the subversion either of Law or Religion and I desire you all to remember this Protest of mine for my Innocencie in these and from all Treâ—sons whatsoever I have been accused likewise as an Enemy to Parliaments No I understand them and the benefit that comes by them too well to be so But I did mislike the misgovernment of some Parliaments many waies and I had good reason for it For Corruptio optimi est pessima there is no corruption in the World so bad as that which is of the best thing in it self for the better the thing is in nature the worse it is corrupted And that being the highest Court over which no other have Jurisdiction when 't is mis-informed or mis-governed the Subject is left without all remedy But I have done I forgive all the World all and every of those bitter Enemies which have persecuted me and humbly desire to be forgiven of God first and then of every man whether I have offended him or not if he do but conceive that I have Lord do thou forgive me and I beg forgivenesse of him And so I heartily desire you to joyn in Prayer with me Oeternal God and merciful Father look down upon me in mercy in the riches and fulnesse of all thy mercies look upon me but not till thou hast nailed my sins to the Crosse of Christ not till thou hast bathed me in the bloud of Christ not till I have hid my self in the wounds of Christ that so the punishment due unto my sins may passe over me And since thou art pleased to try me to the utmost I humbly beseech thee give me now in this great instant full Patience proportionable Comfort and a heart ready to dye for thy Honour the Kings happinesse and this Churches preservation And my zeal to these far from arrogance be it spoken is all the sin humane frailty excepted and all incidents thereto which is yet known to me in this particular for which I now come to suffer I say in this particular of Treason but otherwise my sins are many and great Lord pardon them all and those especially what ever they are which have drawn down this present Judgment upon me and when thou hast given me strength to bear it do with me as seems best in thine own eyes and carry me through death that I may look upon it in what visage soever it shall appear to me Amen And that there may be a stop of this issue of bloud in this more than miserable Kingdom I shall desire that I may pray for the people too as well as for my self O Lord I beseech thee give grace of repentance to all Bloud thirsty people but if they will not repent O Lord confound all their devises Defeat and Frustrate all their designs and endeavours upon them which are or shall be contrary to the Glory of thy great Name the truth and sincerity of Religion the establishment of the King and His Posterity after Him in their just Rights and Priviledges the Honour and Conservation of Parliaments in their just power the Preservation of this poor Church in her Truth Peace
there being no danger of Opposition they wade on in Bloud commanding Mr. Bowcher to ascend the Ladder He had written what he had intended to speak being very large exhorting those who had set their hands to this Plow meaning the defence of the Kings cause not to be too hasty as terrified with their Sufferings to take them off and words to such purpose describing the Schismaticks according to the Character of them drawn by the Pensil of the Holy Ghost in Scripture phrase in which he was excellently well read being confest by his very enemies to be a very Religious man instancing in that remarkeable place of S. Jude Proud Boasters Heady Unstable c. But it was not permitted him to speak all out by those men who knew themselves so much concerned at last pressed on to the acceleration of his end by those who were swift to shed bloud he desired to sing Psal 16. which being ended he began to recommend himself to God by pathetical Prayers and Ejaculations wherein he was interrupted by a Factious Levite one Rosewel who called him Hypocrite and Apostate reviling him that after so strict a conversation and so much time spent in the Profession of Religion he should render all suspected for hypocrisie by so obstinate perseverance in Rebellion against the Parliament This shook not the constancy of this Resolved Martyr who held up with St. Bernard Scutum Conscientiae contra Gladium Linguae the Buckler of a good Conscience against the Blowes of a malicious Tongue and so sustaining himself with that comfortable Promise of our Saviour Blessed are you when men shall revile you c. he yielded himself to the will and desire of his Murderers The Factious Priest in his very fall from the Ladder pursuing him with the same odious Names of Hypocrite and Apostate thereby if possible to disturb the Peace of his Soul in the moment of his Death a devilish Practise in extending Malice even to the Endeavours of a second Death These two Glorious Martyrs now lying under the Altar having thus through their Ignominious deaths in a Glorious cause and with a pure Conscience rendred their Souls to God the sad Spectators smite their Brests and return Never was there so general a Face of sorrow such bitter lamentations heard in that City as on that day Their Bodies taken down were both carried to Mr. Yeomans his House Father in Law to the Martyr In the Evening M. Bowchers Body was conveyed to his own House a sad Spectacle to his poor Widow and seven Orphans and at night both were interred Mr. Yeomans at Christ-Church Mr. Bowchers at St. Warburghs their Funerals being attended by those Orthodox Ministers the Persecution had left and by most of the honest well-affected Citizens though they knew that they could not express this Piety to the dead but to the hazard of losing their Liberties and plundering their Estates This most horrid Fact no History no not that of the Anabaptists in Germany comes near so that it is miserably and cruelly beholding to a Parallel in the same Kingdom the deplorable Butchery of Mr. Tompkins and Mr. Challoner in London which soon after followed as it doth here in order of time Mr. Tompkins and Mr. Challoner Condemned by a sentence of a Court Martial and executed in London July 5 1643. THe rebellious faction having sacrificed those Gentlemen to the Moloch of their disloyal cruelty under the vizor of a blessed Reformation in one of the chiefest Cities in the West thereby to strike terror in the minds of all men who should dare to be honest and be according to their duty faithful to their Soveraign to which in spight of all their specious pretences they saw the wisest and sobrest part of the Nation very much inclined and to give more flagitious authority to their illegal and salvage proceedings by perpetrating the same violences in the Metropolis of the Kingdom before the faces of al the English Courts of Judicature thereby to amuse the weaker and unintelligent sort of people upon whom their main design was bottomed as if they had the Law clearly on their side in that horrid rebellion proceeded further in the same manner against these two Martyrs the cause of whose Deaths take as followeth being upon the same account with their preceding fellow sufferers After that the Faction had waded so far in their disloyalty against the King as to levy a War against him had seized most of his Magazines Cities and places of Defence had possest themselves of all his Ships and therewith infested those places which stood for him had defied and bid him battle wherein his Sacred Person was alike endangered with the meanest of his Rebels in which it pleased God so to assist the King that those at Westminster found themselves deceived in the Kings strength he suddenly after Edg-hill fight marching up to Branford near London and putting the Members and the tumultuous Cititzens into a deserved consternation and confusion and yet amidst all these terrors of War had offered them terms of Peace laying aside the great advantages his Majesty might promise himself from the state of affairs in which his successes had placed him yet notwithstanding all his repeated proposals for an accommodation nothing could be effected with those men whose ears were deaf to the charms of Peace though never so prudent and rational as being widely distant from those ends and designs which they had laid in the War being the spoil of three Kingdoms When I say these Gentlemen perceived into what a miserable condition the whole Nation reflecting tenderly also upon bleeding Ireland was like speedily to be reduced by the dissembled covetousnesse rebellious obstinacy implacable malice and devilish cunning and subtilty of their popular cheats upon the multitude then did several worthy Citizens endeavour to interpose and obviate those growing mischiefs which they did foresee would inevitably fall upon this Church and State First of all therefore they addrest themselves by way of Petition earnestly sueing to the two Houses that they would vouchsafe to hear their Soveraign and not preclude or prejudice the way to an agreement by a resolute fixednesse in those courses which they humbly shewed could not but be dreadful and destructive to the Publick A Petition to this effect with many thousand hands and hearts was accordingly tendred whereunto they received a slight answer that the Houses would do what in their wisdom they thought fit and that the Petitioners were as their duty was to acquiesse and rest in their Counsels and determinations which should provide without their direction for the safety of the Kingdom From this Answer to this purport and effect they soon wel perceived what the temper of those men was and that their first whimsie that dark cloud of jealousies and fears was big with a tempestuous storm impending over the lives and estates of the King and his good Subjects They saw a seditious and pragmatical person continued Lord Mayor
no truly Loyal Person ever was brought who was within the reach of their griping talents that ever escaped with his skin so aptly might that Fable of the Fox to the Lyon be rather unmoralized Vestigia cerno Omnia te advorsum spectantia nulla retrorsum It was in vain to move either their Honour Conscience or Duty or to plead ones own their ambiguous salvo's and reserves to themselves and their forward facing of others out of reason by their Janus-like cause which was for and against the King like the Basilisk killed all whom it directly aspected or were brought before them This Gentlemâ—ns fare was huddled up at Essex House before a Council of War held there on the walls whereof any man then might have red the Event The grand pillâ—r raiser and support of that unnatural War being proprietor thereof and at that present personally inhabiting it who was just come from Newbery first Fight where as yet he had left himself unrevenged Without any more adoe therefore but a setting Mr. Kniveton at their Bar as the mark and aim of all their impotent malice he was condemned to be hanged as a Spie for maintaining and managing intelligence with and from the Enemy that was the King whom they said they fought for but on what Article of War I never could tell and I presume the Reader can hardly imagine Little respit was afforded for the time of Execution for the Faction were enraged that any man should presume to tell them that it was Treason to counterfeit the Kings Seal and if such continual Messages upon every of their actions should be brought and declared it might in time open the eyes of the people to understand the Law and leave them in conclusion to its Justice and their due demerit He was brought therefore on the day he suffered as aforesaid on foot from Newgate being accompanied with Mr. Benson a Bookseller his acquaintance in Fleetstreet to a Gibbet erected over against the Exchange where he may most properly be said to have Sealed his Cause with his Blood being sent of another Message to Heaven where his Bliss and Happiness shall have no Terme Captain Burleigh Martyred at Westminster February 10. 1647. THe Execution of this Person was the absurdity of Law the contradiction of Magna Charta the infringment and violation of Nature and if it could be strained higher than an affront and Rebellion against the supreme power of the Universe it would passe with a lesser ignominy than the merit of this Cause will afford it That men tyed by their allegiance by several Oaths of Fealty by the benefit of their protection and advantages they received under the Government of so excellent a Prince were to be dispensed nay must be discharged from that Duty and Obedience they ought him and that the Parliament as they had subdued their Lawful King might give Law to him propound their own insolent terms and demands and rigidly insist on them secure his Person under pretence of publick safety administer the Kingdom themselves sequester and seize their Estates who resisted them in these violent and unheard of outrages all this I say might be as otherwise it could not be helpt as the sad state of the miseries of the Kingdom then was with some kind of patience endured but to see and hear to be upon the place where so many undutiful unchristian contempts after the Votes of Non Addresse were put upon the King in that place which he had chosen for his refuge and Sanctuary I can hardly allow any man in this case the glory of Martyrdom whose frame and temper had but the least ingredients of natural not to pride it in loyal compassion if he durst do that which bravery and courage prompted him to the Law and his obedience required and God commanded Yet I do not the less wonder and stand amazed at this butchery upon several considerations which though they be of different respects yet do center universally in this that they will make the murder of this person prodigiously infamous to all persons concerned in it First not to meddle with the Laws whose Divine stamp was most treasonably defaced in this act we will consider this attempt of Captain Burleighs in the invariable latitude of common humanity His pretended crime was the beating of a Drum in the Isle of Wight upon the news the Islanders had received that the Parliament had rejected the King upon their Votes of Non addresse and had resolved to settle the Kingdom without him when his Majesty was confined a close Prisoner to Carisbrook Castle This was misconstrued according to the left-handed learning of those times for Treason whereas had there been any sympathetical Musick in those Drums they would have made a noyse and Alarm of themselves borrowed from those groans and sighs the captive Prince made to his more compassionate walls who burst to give vent and eccho to those doleful notes And could men not allow that soft and tender-heartedness to men to Christians to Subjects to a Subject too well reputed and esteemed of in his Island as a good and honest man one who out of conscience and integrity and for no other sinister end whatsoever had faithfully served his Soveraign abroad that is had crost the Sea to do his devoir and there having weâ—ried himself and his fortunes had retired to his home as a shelter against his hard pursuing destinie where in privacy he thought to shroud himself No he finds death in the place of it first he is chiefly concern'd in the publick sorrow and distress of his Soveraign those breaths of grief soon pierce his ears and those Royal lamentations heightned by a generous Spirit quickly transport and possess him and by this most laudable and glorious action which signified only a courage to rescue what villany had captivated and hindred their wicked attempts no farther then by affording a brave and imitable example of Loyal magnanimity to all true Subjects in all exigencies and dangers of their Princes be becomes a sacrifice to their Moloch of Anarchycal Tyranny We will view him in the next consideration as his case stood in direct opposition to that of Major Rolfe then an Officer in the Army and of very great trust and intimacy with Cromwell who was tryed at the same time and Assizes by the same Commission Judges and Jury and then certainly nothing can appear more flagitious and hainously arbitrary than this Gentlemans condemnation Contraria juxta se posit a magis elucescunt contraries opposed one to another make each of them appear the clearer and so will it prove in the memory of this Noble Person which will hereby appear in a most venerable splendor Rolfes Crime was this he was accused by one Mr. Osborne and another gentleman then attending on the King in the Isle of Wight where this Rolfe had a Charge to have consâ—ired the death of the King and that particularly by assassinating him with a Brace of Pistols
this pretended Court but also that no Earthly power can justly call Me who am your KING in question as a Delinquent I would not any more open My mouth upon his occasion more than to refer My self to what I have spoken were I alone in this case alone concern'd But the duty I owe to God in the preservation of the true liberty of My People will not suffer Me at this time to be silent For how can any free-born Subject of England call Life or any thing he possesseth his own if power without Right daily make new and abrogate the old fundamental Law of the Land which I now take to be the present case Wherefore when I came hither I expected that you would have endeavoured to have satisfied Me concerning those grounds which hinder Me to answer to your pretended Impeachment but since I see that nothing I can say will move you to it though Negatives are not so naturally proved as Affirmatives yet I will shew you the Reason why I am confident you cannot judge Me nor indeed the meanest man in England for I will not like you without shewing a reason seek to impose a belief upon My Subjects * * Hereabout I was stopt and not suffered to speak any more concerning reasons There is no proceeding just against any man but what is warranted either by Gods Laws or the municipal Laws of the Country where he lives Now I am most confident that this dayes proceeding cannot be warranted by Gods Law for on the contrary the authority of obedience unto Kings is clearly warranted and strictly commanded both in the Old and New Testament which if denied I am ready instantly to prove and for the Question now in hand there it is said That where the word of a King is there is power and who may say unto him what dost thou Eccles 8.4 Then for the Laws of this Land I am no lesse confident that no learned Lawyer will affirm that an impeachment can lye against the King they all going in His Name and one of their Maximes is That the King can do no wrong Besides the Law upon which you ground your proceedings must either be old or new if old shew it if new tell what Authority warranted by the fundamental Laws of the Land hath made it and when But how the House of Commons can erect a Court of Judicature which was never one it self as is well known to all Lawyers I leave to God and the World to judge And it were full as strange that they should pretend to make Laws without King or Lords-House to any that have heard speak of the Laws of England And admitting but not granting that the People of Englands Commission could grant your pretended power I see nothing you can shew for that for certaintly you never asked the question of the tenth man of the Kingdom and in this way you manifestly wrong even the poorest Ploughman if you demand not his free consent nor can you pretend any colour for this your pretended Commission without the consent at least of the major part of every man in England of whatsoever quality or condition which I am sure you never went about to seek so far are you from having it Thus you see that I speak not for My own right alone as I am your KING but also for the true liberty of all My Subjects which consists not in sharing the power of Government but in living under such Laws such a Government as may give themselves the best assurance of their lives and propriety of their goods Nor in this must or do I forget the Priviledges of both Houses of Parliament which this dayes proceeding doth not only violate but likewise occasion the greatest breach of their publick Faith that I believe ever was heard of with which I am far from charging the two Houses for all the pretended crimes laid against Me bear date long before this late Treaty at Newport in which I having concluded as much as in Me lay and hopefully expecting the two Houses agreement thereunto I was suddenly surprised and hurried from thence as a Prisoner upon which I account I am against My will brought hither where since I am come I cannot but to My power defend the ancient Laws and Liberties of this Kingdom together with My own just right Than for any thing I can see the higher House is totally excluded And for the House of Commons it is too well known that the major part of them are detained or deterred from sitting so as if I had no other this were sufficient for me to protest against the lawfulnesse of your pretended Court. Besides all this the Peace of the Kingdom is not the least in my thoughts and what hopes of settlement is there so long as Power reigns without rule of Law changing the whole frame of that Government under which this Kingdom hath flourished for many hundred years nor will I say what will fall out in case this lawless unjust proceeding against me do go on and believe it the Commons of England will not thank you for this change for they will remember how happy they have been of late years under the Reign of Queen Elizabeth the King my Father and My Self until the beginning of these unhappy Troubles and will have cause to doubt that they shall never be so happy under any new And by this time it will be too sensibly evident that the Arms I took up were only to defend the Fundamental Laws of this Kingdom against those who have supposed My power hath totally changed the ancient Government Thus having shewed you briefly the Reasons why I cannot submit to your pretended Authority without violating the trust which I have from God for the welfare and liberty of my People I expect from you either clear Reasons to convince my judgment shewing me that I am in an Error and then truly I will readily answer or that you will withdraw your proceedings This I intended to speak in Westminster-Hall on Monday 22 January but against Reason was hindred After that horrid Sentence his Majesty was hurried from their Bar As he passed down the stairs the common Souldiers laying aside all Reverence to Soveraignty scoffed at him casting the smoak of their stinking Tobacco in his face no Smell more offensive to him and flinging their foul pipes at his feeâ— But one more insolent than the rest defiled his venerable Face with his spittle for his Majestry was observed with much patience to wipe it off with his Handkerchief and as he passed hearing them cry out Justice Justice Poor Souls said he for a piece of money they would do so for their Commanders That Night being Saturday January 27. the King lodged at White-hall that evening a Member of the Army acquainted the Committee with the desires of the King that seeing they had passed Sentence of Death upon him and the time of his Execution might be nigh that he might see his Children
the double imprisonment I lie under of the flesh and bones and am ready for the opportunity to make an escape though in a fiery Chariot All things betwixt God and me are removed from my sight and I see him clearly without reflexion on my Judges and Accusers and submit chearfully to His fatherly Dispensation and Judgement My Judges have done me no wrong they have a Law for their Warrant and my confession for their Evidence neither have capacity to be Chancellors in matters of life Let them go free and the Law-makers and inforcers of it for their errours in constituting them before the padling in blood grow too customary to be thought a sin worthy their confession or sorrow which I desire for the fakes of their souls and the lives of the oppressed and in indeed prescribed Free Christians of the Nation The God of all goodness hath in mercy â—hoked upon me directed counsel'd me comforted and sanctified my afflictito me and I am ready to fall into his merciful Hands as soon as the heavy hand of the Executioner shall have given a Nune Dimitis to Yours c. E. A. ABout the same time he made his Will a taste whereof take in these few following lines If it be the unalterable and uncontrolable Will of God that I Eusebius Andrews Esq shall for my manifold and high Provocations of his Divine Majesty be shipwrackt by that storme which impendeth over my head I most humbly and chearfully submit unto such his good will and pleasure and forgive c. and desire that my body may be privately interred in the Parish Church of Alhallows Bark in London as near as may be to the Reverend Arch-Bishop of Canterbury there with him to expect a joyful resurrection I beseech God to bless my daughter Mavilda Andrews and to supply to her what by my improvidence and the accidents of the late tempestuous times as in my being taken away became deficient and that he would preserve her from want and dishonour and from being by any evil Counsel or example led aside into the foul errors of this Nation in matters concerning her souls health c. Here he gave her and the whole world an account of his faith which was equally distant from Popery Presbytery and Independency all which he charactered professing himself a true son of this Church as governed by Episcopacy and conluded thus I desire such who approve my profession to cover my faults in their charity and to let me be sweet in their memory As for the rest I wish them a seasonable repentance but set no price either upon their opinion or report Vivat Rex currat Lex floreat Grex fiat voluntas Des modo in mina mea He was shortly after beheaded and enrolled into the noble army of Martyrs in Heaven the day and year abovesaid Barnard his accuser and betrayer was hanged four years after at Tyburn for robbing Colonel Winthorps house at Westminster so did God avenge the blood of this Royal and pious person by signal testimony of his unjust and mercilesse prosecution The Speech of Col. Eusebius Andrews immediately before his Execution on the Scaffold on Tower-hill on Thursday August 22. 1650. being attended on by Dr. Swadling AS soon as he came upon the Scaffold kissing the block he said I hope there is no more but this block between me and heaven and to the Lieutenant of the Tower he said I hope I shall neither tire in my way nor go out of it After he had been a good while upon the Scaffold turning to the rail he speaks to the people as followeth Christian Gentlemen and people Your business hither to day is to see a sad spectacle a man to be in a moment unman'd and cut off in the prime of his years taken from further opportunities of doing good either to himself his friends the Common-wealth or especially to God it seldom happens but upon very good cause And though truly if my general known course of life were but inquired into I may modestly say there is such a moral of honesty upon it as some may be so sawcy as to expostulate why this great judgment is fallen upon me but know I am able to give them and my self an answer and out of this breast am able to give a better account of my Judgment and Execution then my Judges themselves or you are able to give It is Gods wrath upon me for sins long unrepented of many Judgements withstood and mercies slighted therefore God hath whipped me by his severe rod of correction that he might not lose me I pray joyn with me in prayer that it may not be a fruitless rod that when by this rod I have laid down my life by this staffe I may be comforted and received into glory I am very confident by what I have heard since my sentence there is more exception made against proceedings against me then I even made My tryers had a Law and the value of that Law is indisputable and for me to make a question of it I should shame my self and my discretion In the strictness of that Law something is done by me that is applicable to some clause therein by which I stand condemnable the means whereby I was brought under that interpretation of that which was in my self intended maliciously being testimony given by persons whom I pity so false yet so positive that I cannot condemn my Judges for passing sentence against me according to legal Justice for equity lieth in higher breasts As for my Accusers or rather betrayers I pity and am sorry for them they have committed Judas his crime but I wish and pray for them Peters tears that by Peters repentance they may escape Judas his punishment and I wish other people so happy they may be taken up betimes before they have drunk up more blood of Christian men possibly less deserving then my self It is true there have been several addresses made for mercy and I will put the obstruction of it upon nothing more then upon my own sin and seeing God sees it fit having not glorified him in my life I might do it in my death which I am contented to do I profess in the face of God particular malice to any one of State or Parliament to do them a bodily in jury I had none For the Cause in which I had long waded I must needs say my engagement or continuance in it hath laid no scruple upon my Conscience it was in principles of Law the knowledge whereof I profess and on principles of Religion my Judgement satisfied and Conscience rectified that I have pursued those ways which I bless God I find no blackness upon my Conscience nor have I put it into the bed-roll of my sins I will not presume to decide controversies I desire God to honour himself in prospering that side that hath right with it and that you may enjoy peace and plenty when I shall enjoy peace and plenty beyond all
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